Local board of health
Encyclopedia
Local Boards or Local Boards of Health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales
from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera
epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate slaughterhouses and ensure the proper supply of water to their districts. Local boards were eventually merged with the corporations of municipal borough
s in 1873, or became urban district
s in 1894.
and some other areas in the Metropolis
already under the control of sewer commissioners
.
The Act was passed by the incoming Liberal
government, under Prime Minister Lord John Russell
, in response to urges by Edwin Chadwick
.
In the latter case a superintending inspector appointed by the General Board would hold an inquiry into the sewerage, drainage, supply of water, state of burial grounds and other matters relating to the sanitary condition of the town, and where necessary define boundaries for the district of the local board.
Where the boundaries of a proposed local board's district were the same as an existing local unit, the act was applied by Order in Council. Where a new district was created this was done by provisional order of the General Board, confirmed by parliament.
Where a local board district coincided with a borough, or was entirely within a borough's limits, all the members were selected by the corporation. Where a district was entirely outside a municipality, all the members were elected. In districts which were partly in and partly outside a borough the board had a mixture of selected and elected members. Selected members did not have to be members of the corporation. Borough mayors were ex officio board members.
Those entitled to elect board members could have multiple votes depending on how much property they owned. This ranged from one vote for owners of property worth less than fifty pounds, to six votes for those holding more than 250 pounds of property. It followed that board members were generally wealthy property owners or members of the professions.
, in whose department a Local Government Act Office was formed to administer the local boards. In 1871 a separate agency was again formed entitled the Local Government Board
, with a President who was frequently a Cabinet
member. The Local Government Board also took over the duties of the Poor Law Board
.
The method of electing members of the board remained the same, although existing or new boards could now be divided into wards.
The local board also took over any lamps, lamp posts and gas posts provided by the Lighting and Watching Act, and was given a new power to provide a market place where one was required or inadequate.
The number of local boards was inflated in 1862 - 1863, as communities adopted the act in order to avoid being grouped into Highway Districts
under the Highways Act 1862. Many of these local government districts had a population of less than 500, and several less than 100. Further legislation was passed in 1863 to limit the population of a new local government district to 3000 or more. Some of these small authorities survived as urban district
s until the County Review Orders
of the 1930s.
designated local government districts as urban sanitary districts
, with the local board becoming the urban sanitary authority. The titles of the district and board did not change however, the local board assuming extra duties as a sanitary authority.
Local boards and local government districts were finally abolished by the Local Government Act 1894
, when all urban sanitary districts became urban district
s. A new urban district council was to govern the district. The new council was to be directly elected by all those entitled to voted in parliamentary elections, replacing the weighted property voting system used for local boards.
England and Wales
England and Wales is a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom...
from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate slaughterhouses and ensure the proper supply of water to their districts. Local boards were eventually merged with the corporations of municipal borough
Municipal borough
Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002...
s in 1873, or became urban district
Urban district
In the England, Wales and Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected Urban District Council , which shared local government responsibilities with a county council....
s in 1894.
Public Health Act 1848
The first local boards were created under the Public Health Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c.63). The aim of the act was to improve the sanitary condition of towns and populous places in England and Wales by placing the supply of water, sewerage, drainage, cleansing and paving under a single local body. The act could be applied to any place in England and Wales except the City of LondonCity of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
and some other areas in the Metropolis
County of London
The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government Act 1888. The Act created an administrative County of...
already under the control of sewer commissioners
Metropolitan Commission of Sewers
The Metropolitan Commission of Sewers was one of London's first steps towards bringing its sewer and drainage infrastructure under the control of a single public body. It was a precursor of the Metropolitan Board of Works.-Formation:...
.
The Act was passed by the incoming Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
government, under Prime Minister Lord John Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, KG, GCMG, PC , known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was an English Whig and Liberal politician who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century....
, in response to urges by Edwin Chadwick
Edwin Chadwick
Sir Edwin Chadwick KCB was an English social reformer, noted for his work to reform the Poor Laws and improve sanitary conditions and public health...
.
General Board of Health
The act created a General Board of Health as a central authority to administer the act. There were three commissioners:- the president of the board being the First Commissioner of Her Majesty's Woods and Forests, Land Revenues, Works and Buildings, the other two members being appointed by warrant. The board was originally to be dissolved after five years, but acts of parliament were passed annually allowing for its continuation. Chadwick was appointed a Commissioner, and the Board was strongly associated with him. The board finally ceased to exist on 1 September 1858. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PHchadwick.htmForming a local board of health
Local boards could be formed in two ways:- By a petition of one tenth of the inhabitants rated to relief of the poorPoor LawThe English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief which existed in England and Wales that developed out of late-medieval and Tudor-era laws before being codified in 1587–98...
in any city, town, borough (municipal or parliamentary), parish or place with a defined boundary not having less than 30 such qualified ratepayers. - By the General Board if the death rate exceeded twenty-three in a thousand in any place.
In the latter case a superintending inspector appointed by the General Board would hold an inquiry into the sewerage, drainage, supply of water, state of burial grounds and other matters relating to the sanitary condition of the town, and where necessary define boundaries for the district of the local board.
Where the boundaries of a proposed local board's district were the same as an existing local unit, the act was applied by Order in Council. Where a new district was created this was done by provisional order of the General Board, confirmed by parliament.
Membership of a local board
Members of local boards were either:- Selected by the corporations of municipal boroughMunicipal boroughMunicipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002...
s - Elected by owners of property and by rate payers
Where a local board district coincided with a borough, or was entirely within a borough's limits, all the members were selected by the corporation. Where a district was entirely outside a municipality, all the members were elected. In districts which were partly in and partly outside a borough the board had a mixture of selected and elected members. Selected members did not have to be members of the corporation. Borough mayors were ex officio board members.
Those entitled to elect board members could have multiple votes depending on how much property they owned. This ranged from one vote for owners of property worth less than fifty pounds, to six votes for those holding more than 250 pounds of property. It followed that board members were generally wealthy property owners or members of the professions.
Powers of a local board
The powers and duties of a local board of health were enumerated in the act:- Employees: A local board of health was allowed to appoint a number of employees including a surveyor, an inspector of nuisances, a clerk, a treasurer and an officer of health (who had to be a qualified doctor).
- Sewers: The local board took over ownership of all public sewers in its district. Where private sewers operated for profit, the local board could purchase them.
- Street Cleansing: The local board was required to clean the streets in its district, removing dust, ashes, rubbish, filth, dung and soil.
- Public Lavatories: The local board could provide "public necessities" (as the act called them).
- Slaughterhouses: The local board was to regulate slaughterhouses, and was allowed to provide such facilities itself.
- Street Paving: The local board took over the public streets in the district, and could also require that private streets be paved.
- Pleasure Grounds: The local boards were allowed to provide and lay out pleasure grounds.
- Water Supply: The local board was allowed to supply water, but only if a private company could not provide the service.
- Burials: The local board was allowed to provide houses for the reception of the dead prior to burial. They could also apply to the General Board to have an existing graveyard closed.
- Land: The local board could purchase land.
Local Government Act 1858
The 1848 Act was replaced by the Local Government Act 1858 (21 & 22 Vict. c. 98). The act came into force in all existing local board of health districts on 1 September 1858. The act made some changes to the procedure for constituting a local board and gave them some additional powers. There was also a change in nomenclature: the authorities created by the 1858 act were simply entitled "Local Boards" and their areas as "Local Government Districts".The Local Government Act Office and the Local Government Board
When the General Board of Health was abolished in 1858 its responsibilities in respect of local government passed to the Secretary of State of the Home DepartmentHome Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
, in whose department a Local Government Act Office was formed to administer the local boards. In 1871 a separate agency was again formed entitled the Local Government Board
Local Government Board
The Local Government Board was a British Government supervisory body overseeing local administration in England and Wales from 1871 to 1919.The LGB was created by the Local Government Board Act 1871 The Local Government Board (LGB) was a British Government supervisory body overseeing local...
, with a President who was frequently a Cabinet
Cabinet of the United Kingdom
The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the collective decision-making body of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, composed of the Prime Minister and some 22 Cabinet Ministers, the most senior of the government ministers....
member. The Local Government Board also took over the duties of the Poor Law Board
Poor Law Board
The Poor Law Board was established in the United Kingdom in 1847 as a successor body to the Poor Law Commission overseeing the administration of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act...
.
Constituting local boards
The procedure for adopting the act and constituting a local board was laid out in sections 12 - 17 of the act, and was similar to that in the 1848 act. Changes made included:- Improvement commissionersImprovement commissionersBoards of improvement commissioners were ad-hoc boards created during the 18th and 19th centuries in the United Kingdom. They were an early form of local government.The first Improvement Commission was the Manchester Police Commission, established in 1765...
could adopt the act for their district, the board of commissioners becoming in addition the local board. - Petitions from ten per cent of the ratepayers of places other than those with a "known or defined boundary" to adopt the act were now made to the Secretary of State. If one in twenty ratepayers objected to the formation of a local board they now had the right to petitionRight to petitionThe right to petition government for redress of grievances is the right to make a complaint to, or seek the assistance of, one's government, without fear of punishment or reprisals.-United States:...
against it. - The power to create a local board where there was excess mortality was abolished.
The method of electing members of the board remained the same, although existing or new boards could now be divided into wards.
Additional powers
The Town Police Clauses Act of 1847 had included model clauses for the government of towns which could be adopted in all or in part by existing borough corporations, local boards of health or improvement commissioners. The application of these was very uneven, so they were incorporated into the 1858 act, all local boards gaining these powers. Areas covered by the clauses were:- Removal of obstructions and nuisances in the street
- Fires and fire prevention
- Provision and control of places of public resort
- Regulation of hackney carriages
- Provision of public bathing houses
- Naming streets and numbering houses
- Improving the line of streets
- Removal of ruinous or dangerous buildings
- Provision of public clocks
The local board also took over any lamps, lamp posts and gas posts provided by the Lighting and Watching Act, and was given a new power to provide a market place where one was required or inadequate.
Number of local boards
The number of local boards peaked at 721 in 1873. In that year the Public Health Act 1872 merged local boards into municipal boroughs and improvement commissioners where they shared the same district. 419 of the local boards had been formed under the Public Health Act 1848, the remaining 302 under the Local Government Act 1858.The number of local boards was inflated in 1862 - 1863, as communities adopted the act in order to avoid being grouped into Highway Districts
Highway district
Highway Districts were areas in England and Wales united for the maintenance and repair of highways. They were first formed in 1862 and consisted of groupings of civil parishes in rural areas...
under the Highways Act 1862. Many of these local government districts had a population of less than 500, and several less than 100. Further legislation was passed in 1863 to limit the population of a new local government district to 3000 or more. Some of these small authorities survived as urban district
Urban district
In the England, Wales and Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected Urban District Council , which shared local government responsibilities with a county council....
s until the County Review Orders
Local Government Act 1929
The Local Government Act 1929 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made changes to the Poor Law and local government in England and Wales....
of the 1930s.
Sanitary Districts and Urban Districts
The Public Health Act 1875Public Health Act 1875
The Public Health Act 1875 was established in the United Kingdom to combat filthy urban living conditions, which caused various public health threats, including the spread of many diseases such as cholera and typhus. Reformers wanted to resolve sanitary problems, because sewage was flowing down the...
designated local government districts as urban sanitary districts
Sanitary district
Sanitary districts were established in England and Wales in 1875 and in Ireland in 1878. The districts were of two types, based on existing structures:*Urban sanitary districts in towns with existing local government bodies...
, with the local board becoming the urban sanitary authority. The titles of the district and board did not change however, the local board assuming extra duties as a sanitary authority.
Local boards and local government districts were finally abolished by the Local Government Act 1894
Local Government Act 1894
The Local Government Act 1894 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level under the Local Government Act 1888...
, when all urban sanitary districts became urban district
Urban district
In the England, Wales and Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected Urban District Council , which shared local government responsibilities with a county council....
s. A new urban district council was to govern the district. The new council was to be directly elected by all those entitled to voted in parliamentary elections, replacing the weighted property voting system used for local boards.