Graphical version

London Metropolitan Archives

PUBLIC CONTROL DEPARTMENT: EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES AND REGISTRATION OF THEATRICAL EMPLOYERS


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): LCC/PC/EMP

Held at: London Metropolitan Archives

Title: PUBLIC CONTROL DEPARTMENT: EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES AND REGISTRATION OF THEATRICAL EMPLOYERS

Date(s): 1905-1962

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 2.22 linear metres

Name of creator(s): LCC | London County Council x London County Council

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

The term 'public control', as used in the Council's organisation, embraced various services of a regulative character, mostly exercised by some form of licensing control. Largely unobtrusive in their operation, and producing no spectacular effects, they were all carried out in the public interest and, in some respects, for the protection of the public or certain sections of it.

Their administration was conditioned by trends in the legislative provisions under which they were operated, by shifts and changes in social usages, and by the development of the Council's policies towards the matters to which they related.

The Council obtained powers in 1905 for registering agencies for domestic servants and agenices for theatrical performers. Since then the Council's powers were extended and applied to every kind of employment agency and related to fees and charges, the character of the applicant, and the conduct of the agency. With changing social conditions there was a change in the pattern of employment agency business, for example, the number of domestic staff agencies declined. By 1963 there were about 1,200 employment agencies in London. About 400 were theatrical, variety, concert, television, or film actor agencies; about 250 were clerical or secretarial agencies, and there were about 40 nurses agencies. About 200 applications were made each year for licences to start new employment agencies. Most of the applicants had no previous experience and few of the new businesses remained open for more than a year or two.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the London County Council Public Control Department relating to Employment agencies and the Registration of Theatrical Employers, 1905-1962, including registers of theatrical employers; registers of infringements by employment agencies and theatrical agencies; registers of complaints against employment agencies and theatrical agencies; sample of Public Control Department files on individual employment agencies and theatrical employment agencies; Public Control Department files on cases of special interest; copies of relevant by-laws and regulations; printed lists of applicants for licences.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

LCC/PC/EMP/01: Registers; LCC/PC/EMP/02: Sample case files; LCC/PC/EMP/03: Reports.

Conditions governing access:

These records are available for public inspection, although records containing personal information are subject to access restrictions under the UK Data Protection Act, 1998.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright: City of London.

Physical characteristics:

Fit

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Acquired with the records of its parent body, the London County Council.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

Publication note:

For further information on the history of the LCC please see Achievement: A Short History of the London County Council by W Eric Jackson (1965), LMA Library reference 18.0 1965, The London County Council 1938, LMA Library reference 18.7 SER 4, and The Youngest County: A description of London as a county and its public services, 1951, LMA Library reference 18.0 1951.

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: April to June 2009


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Agents | People by occupation | People
Employment agencies | Employment services | Employment
Legislation | Law
Regulation | Business practice and regulation | Business management | Management
Theatrical organizations | Cultural organizations | Cultural administration
Organizations

Personal names

Corporate names
LCC | London County Council x London County Council
Public Control Department | London County Council

Places
London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe