The Metropolitan Board of Works is established…
December 1855 CE
London's growth had rapidly accelerated with the increase in railway commuting from the 1830s onward.
However, its local government is chaotic, with hundreds of authorities having varying fields of responsibility and overlapping geographic boundaries.
Providing a specific service in a given area might need the co-ordination of many of these authorities.
In 1835 elected municipal boroughs had been set up covering every major city except London.
The City of London, only the very core of the sprawling metropolis, had been untouched by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 and had resisted all moves to expand its borders to include the poorer inner-city districts surrounding it.
This means that three counties have authority over the metropolitan area: Middlesex covers the area north of the Thames and west of the River Lea, Surrey the area to the south and south-west, and Kent the far south east.
In 1837 an attempt had been made to set up a London-wide elected authority; however, the wealthier districts of Marylebone and Westminster had resisted this and ultimately defeated the move.
In 1854 the Royal Commission on the City of London had proposed to divide London into seven boroughs, each represented on a Metropolitan Board of Works.
The proposal to divide the city into boroughs had been abandoned, but the board of works is set up in 1855 as the principal instrument of London-wide government.
It will remain so until the establishment of the London County Council in March 1889.
Its principal responsibility is to provide infrastructure to cope with London's rapid growth, which it will accomplish.
The MBW is an appointed rather than elected body.
This lack of accountability will make it unpopular with Londoners, especially in its latter years when it will fall prey to corruption.
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