PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT: LONDON AMBULANCE SERVICE

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: LCC/PH/LAS
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT: LONDON AMBULANCE SERVICE
Date(s)	: 1903-1930
Level of description	: Collection View parent record
Extent	: 0.66 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: LCC | London County Council x London County Council

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The question of an ambulance service for street accident cases was first debated by the Council in 1901 but it was not until 1905 that application was made to Parliament for powers to provide such a service. The Bill was rejected by a Committee of the House of Lords but a Metropolitan Ambulances Act was passed in 1909. This Act was permissive only and a long period of debate ensued as to whether the existing services provided by the Metropolitan Asylums Board, the Boards of Guardians and the Metropolitan Police were adequate. Finally, in March 1914, the Council decided to provide a street accident Ambulance Service which was placed under the command of the Chief Officer of the London Fire Brigade. The first station was opened in February 1915 and, by October of that year, the service was in operation in all parts of the County.

On 1 April 1930, when the Council took over the functions of the Metropolitan Asylums Board and the Boards of Guardians it also took over their ambulance services. A unified London Ambulance Service under the supervision of the Medical Officer of Health was then formed from the combination of these services with the Accident Section previously administered by the Chief Officer of the London Fire Brigade.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the London County Council Public Health Department relating to the London Ambulance Service, 1903-1930, including leaflet on facilities provided by the London Ambulance Service with instructions for obtaining the help of the service, 1930; pamphlet "London Ambulance Service - Historical Sketch of the Origins, Development and Present Organisation", 1949; reports on the Ambulance Service, 1892-1939; statistics of use of ambulances attached to fire stations, 1903-1909; inspections of horses and vehicles by the Fire Brigade, 1905-1910. Also daily records of calls received, 1915-1919.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

LCC/PH/LAS/01: General; LCC/PH/LAS/02: Calls received.

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:

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

Allied Materials

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

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