EALING

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: ACC/2208
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: EALING
Date(s)	: 1817-1922
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 13.51 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: Parish of Ealing

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Ealing vestry met from two to four times a year between 1704 and 1715, with from 5 to 19 attenders. In the early 19th century it was thinly attended, except on special occasions, and met at the Cross House, north of Ealing church, possibly the former church house. A new Cross House, often called simply the vestry room, was built in St. Mary's churchyard in 1840 and replaced in 1880 by the vestry hall in Ranelagh Road.

Churchwardens and overseers were recorded in 1599 and two surveyors of the highways in 1654. There were separate overseers for Upper Side (Ealing) and Lower Side (Old Brentford) by 1675, one churchwarden and one overseer being elected for each from 1798 and two overseers for each from 1834. An assistant overseer was employed in 1812. Highway trustees, under an Act of 1767, were elected by the vestry, with which they were often at variance. The office of vestry clerk, filled by Thomas Jullion from 1796 until 1834, lapsed in 1836 but may have existed in an honorary capacity until its revival shortly before Ealing adopted the Vestry Clerk's Act in 1869. There was a beadle by 1797, whose duties were defined in 1808 and 1833, and a parish clerk in 1654, whose office in 1802 was combined with that of sexton.

The poor of each ward were relieved by its overseer until 1814, when they were administered jointly by the assistant overseer. Paupers increased greatly during the 18th century, as did the poor rates, which stood at 4 or 5 shillings in the pound in the 1790s and even higher later. A workhouse and stock for the poor to work on were to be provided in 1698, whereupon a house for 8 poor was acquired in 1701. After abortive plans for its extension, a new workhouse was built west of St. Mary's Lane in 1728. The inmates were employed at spinning and later at casual labour, but their work was never profitable: tools were lacking, men were outnumbered by women, and women by children. In 1797 the workhouse was badly overcrowded. In 1803, when there were 150 inmates for 55 beds, the parish vainly promoted a Bill to take over 14 acres of common at Ealing Dean for a workhouse, and in 1812 the existing workhouse was enlarged. Its state was found acceptable in 1820 and again in 1836, when it could accommodate 360 and had only 84 inmates.

Both Ealing and New Brentford were included in Brentford poor law union in 1836. Agitation for a local board of health was repeatedly frustrated by Old Brentford, with the result that in 1863 the highway trustees were superseded by a local board only in part of Ealing. Northern Ealing, being rural, was not included until 1873, when the board's membership was raised from 9 to 12.

In 1894 Ealing became an Urban District Council and in 1901 the first municipal borough in Middlesex, with 6 aldermen and 18 councillors representing 6 wards: Drayton, Castlebar, and Mount Park north of Uxbridge Road, Lammas, Manor, and Grange to the south. Ealing absorbed Hanwell Urban District and Greenford Urban District, which included Perivale and West Twyford, in 1926, and Northolt in 1928. A Bill to achieve county borough status was defeated in 1952 and Ealing, Acton, and Southall boroughs united in 1965 to form Ealing London Borough.

From: 'Ealing and Brentford: Local government', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 7: Acton, Chiswick, Ealing and Brentford, West Twyford, Willesden (1982), pp. 144-147 (available online).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Rate books from Ealing, Hanwell, Greenford, Perivale and West Twyford parishes, 1817-1922. Also other records from Ealing Parish including Vestry notice books; Vestry Clerk's letter books; Churchwarden's financial accounts and papers relating to poor relief and the Poor Law Union.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

ACC/2208/E: Ealing; ACC/2208/G: Greenford; ACC/2208/H: Hanwell; ACC/2208/P: Perivale; ACC/2208/T: West Twyford.

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright: City of London

Finding aids:

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

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

These records were transferred from Ealing Town Hall between 1985 and 1987. They had come from various sources but most had been taken to the Town Hall and held in strongrooms belonging to the Treasurer's Department. (Acc/2208).

Allied Materials

Related material:

Later rate books from Ealing Municipal Borough, and adjacent Boroughs, of which only a sample have been brought to LMA are uncatalogued and are therefore not available at present. Some records relating to the parish of Ealing had already been deposited at London Metropolitan Archives by the Parish of St. Mary, Ealing (DRO/37). See also the records of St. George, Old Brentford (DRO/59) and St. Mary the Virgin, Perivale (DRO/73). Other records relating to Ealing are kept at Ealing Local History Library, Central Library, 103 Ealing Broadway Centre, London W5. These include Vestry Minute Books (1797-1879; 1896-1923) and Poor Rate Books (1674-1836) for the Parish of Ealing.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's 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