CLERK'S (LEGAL) DEPARTMENT: CONTRACTS

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: MCC/CL/L/CON
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: CLERK'S (LEGAL) DEPARTMENT: CONTRACTS
Date(s)	: 1889-1965
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 132.42 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: MCC | Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

In 1889 County Council policy was directed by 72 members and administered under the leadership of Sir Richard Nicolson, Clerk of the County Council, and a handful of staff. The number of members had risen to 116 by 1952 and by 1965 the County staff numbered some 32,000, of whom 2,000 head office staff occupied the Guildhall and five other offices in Westminster. This indicates the tremendous increase in administrative work under successive Clerks of the County Council.

In the years between the two wars a semi-rural county became an almost completely urbanised area. The introduction of new legislation made ever increased demands upon members of the administrative staff, involving in later years monthly meetings of some 50 committees and sub-committees.

The County Solicitor offered legal advice to the Councillors and was responsible for certain transactions. Sir Richard Nicholson, Sir Clifford Radcliffe and Kenneth Goodacre all doubled as the County Clerk and Solicitor.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Middlesex County Council Clerk's Legal Department relating to contracts, 1889-1965, including registers of contracts; files and plans relating to building construction, maintenance and demolition, including hospitals, workhouses, mortuaries, offices, railway lines, colleges, bridges, roads, drainage systems, schools and courthouses; contract files relating to the County of Middlesex Light Railways Orders 1901 and 1903 and the County of Middlesex (Waltham Cross and Enfield) Light Railway Order 1906; plans relating to the County of Middlesex Light Railways Orders 1901 and 1903, the County of Middlesex (Waltham Cross and Enfield) Light Railway Order 1906, the County of Middlesex Light Railways (Extension and Lands) Order 1907, the Metropolitan Electric Tramways Limited and the Metropolitan Water Board.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

MCC/CL/L/CON/01: Registers; MCC/CL/L/CON/02: Files; MCC/CL/L/CON/03: Plans; MCC/CL/L/CON/04-05: Light railways.

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright to these records rests with the Corporation 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 authority, the Middlesex County Council, and with successor authorities.

Allied Materials

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

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