IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): MCC/CL/FIN
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: CLERK'S DEPARTMENT: FINANCE
Date(s): 1864-1965
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 16.53 linear metres
Name of creator(s): MCC | Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
The County Council was required by statute to appoint a Finance Committee, and a recommendation from the Finance Committee was required to enable payments to be made. This prevented the Council committing itself to expenditure beyond its means. In addition to the duty of examining and approving estimates, the Committee also examined and approved all accounts for payment, made arrangements for financing expenditure and raised loans.
The chief financial officer was the County Treasurer. He had responsibility for the conduct of the Financial Department and the control and organisation of the staff. He also prepared, in conjunction with other chief departmental officers, estimates of the expenditure of each committee for the ensuing year.
The County Council had three sources of revenue: the income from charges of various kinds which they are allowed by law to levy; government grants and rates. Charges for services included school tuition, for accommodation at old people's homes, for children maintained in Council homes, for home helps and other health services, although some of these charges were stopped or changed over the course of the Council's operations. Other charges included rentals of properties, smallholdings, fines and court fees, and various licences. Government grants included contributions from the Ministry of Transport towards upkeep of roads, assistance from the Ministry of Agriculture for small holdings, payment from the Ministry of Education for school meals and teacher training, a grant from the Home Office for the Fire Service and a grant from the Ministry of Health for health services.
The balance of the Council's requirements was raised by rates. These were obtained not by a direct levy on the tax-payer but by a precept on each borough and urban district council, as the rating authority. This precept required each authority to pay to the County Council a rate of so many pence in the pound by instalments spread over the financial year. For the bulk of services the County precept was levied over the whole County, but for some services a 'special county rate' was levied. For example, the borough of Acton was responsible for its own public libraries, therefore it would have been unjust for the rate-payers of that borough to pay a County charge for libraries outside their area.
Everyday expenditure on the upkeep of schools and roads, on salaries and wages and on the many other services was known as 'revenue expenditure', as distinct from 'capital expenditure'. The building of a new school or similar project was 'capital expenditure'. In most cases this would be too heavy to charge to the rates in one year, and the money was borrowed in the form of stock issues or mortgages.
The Edmonton Latymer Foundation was the legacy of Edward Latymer (1557 or 1558-1627), an official of the Court of Wards, who by his will dated 1624 left property in the Hammersmith area to provide, amongst other things, clothing and education for eight poor boys of Edmonton and eight of Fulham. Separate groups of trustees administered the property on behalf of the boys in the two parishes.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Records of the Middlesex County Council Clerk's Department relating to finance, 1864-1965, including general papers on a variety of subjects including accounts, audits, estimates, budgets, County stocks, rates, rating and valuation, correspondence, general loans, grants, mortgages, contracts, reports, sale of property, staff salaries, rents, financial regulations, investments, trust funds, borrowing, capital expenditure, war damage, insurance, banking arrangements, housing advances and housing loans.
Papers of the Accounts and General Sub-committee; papers of the Central Purchasing Sub-committee; papers of the Organisation and Method Committee; papers relating to the administration of the Edmonton Latymer Foundation; register of applications to the Local Government Board for consent to borrow loan sanctions; register of applications to the Ministry of Health for consent to borrow loan sanctions; indexes to loan sanctions
Papers relating to rates including correspondence, County rate basis forms of return calculations, revisions of county rate basis, returns by clerks to assessment committees, appeals against rates, calculations for the basis of county rates and revision of county rate basis returns of properties.
Administrative papers of the Finance Department, including office procedures, correspondence, appointment of the County Treasurer and other staff, staff personal files, and superannuation.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
MCC/CL/FIN/01-02: General; MCC/CL/FIN/03: Housing loans; MCC/CL/FIN/04: Loan sanctions; MCC/CL/FIN/05: Rates; MCC/CL/FIN/06-07: Miscellaneous.
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 to these records rests with the Corporation 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 authority, the Middlesex County Council, and with successor authorities.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
Publication note:
For further information on the history of the Middlesex County Council please see Middlesex by Sir Clifford Radcliffe (2 editions, 1939 and 1953), LMA Library reference 97.09 MID; and The County Council of the Administrative County of Middlesex: 76 years of local government, 1 April 1889 to 31 March 1965, by Middlesex County Council (1965), LMA library reference S97.09 MID.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Date(s) of descriptions: April to June 2009