Owen, David Edward.

The government of Victorian London, 1855-1889 : the Metropolitan Board of Works, the vestries, and the City Corporation / David Owen ; edited by Roy MacLeod ; with contributions by David Reeder, Donald Olsen, and Francis Sheppard.

Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1982.

xv, 466 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Of all the major cities of Britain, London, the world metropolis, was the last to acquire a modern municipal government. Its antiquated administrative system led to repeated crises as the population doubled within a few decades and reached more than two million in the 1840s. Essential services such as sanitation, water supply, street paving and lighting, relief of the poor, and maintenance of the peace were managed by the vestries of ninety-odd parishes or precincts plus divers ad hoc authorities or commissions. In 1855, with the establishment of the Metropolitan Board of Works, the groundwork began to be laid for a rational municipal government. Owen tells in absorbing detail the story of the operations of the Metropolitan Board of Works, its political and other problems, and its limited but significant accomplishments -- including the laying down of 83 miles of sewers and the building of the Thames Embankments -- before it was replaced in 1889 by the London County Council. His account, based on extensive archival research, is balanced, judicious, lucid, often witty and always urbane.

0674358856
9780674358850

City of London (England). Corporation History 19th century.
Metropolitan Board of Works (London, England) History 19th century.
London. Corporation.
Metropolitan Board of Works.
Londres (Angleterre). Corporation Histoire 19e siècle.
Londres (Angleterre). Metropolitan Board of Works Histoire 19e siècle.
City of London (England). Corporation.
Metropolitan Board of Works (London, England)
London Metropolitan Board of Works
Corporation of London History 19th century.
London (England). Metropolitan Board of Works History 19th century.
Local Government history
Public Health Administration history
Politics and government
London (England) Politics and government.
London (England) History 1800-1950.
London (England) History 19th century.
London.
Londres (Angleterre) Administration.
Londres (Angleterre) Histoire 19e siècle.
Londres (Angleterre) Histoire 1800-1950.
England London.
City of London (England) / Corporation History 19th century
Geschichte 1855-1889

History.

MacLeod, Roy M., editor.
MacLeod, Roy M.

Location: Library main 37397
Call No.: PO6929; ID:88-B8354
Status: Available