LOCAL TAXATION DEPARTMENT

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: MCC/LT
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: LOCAL TAXATION DEPARTMENT
Date(s)	: 1916-1965
Level of description	: subfonds View parent record
Extent	: 0.88 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: MCC | Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Local taxation licences were necessary for keeping a dog, employing a game-keeper, carrying a gun, killing or dealing in game and were obtainable at any Post Office or directly from the County Council. The Council was also responsible for the issue of minor excise licences required by hawkers, pawnbrokers, resreshment house keepers and money lenders. In all these cases it was the Council's duty to ensure that the necessary licences were taken out and renewed. All these functions were carried out by the Local Taxation Department in which was employed a staff of inspectors and enquiry officers who worked from offices in Brentford, Tottenham and Willesden. When necessary the Council prosecuted offenders. It was also empowered to impose monetary penalties, the payment of which avoided the necessity for court proceedings.

The Local Taxation Department was also responsible for the registration and licensing of all motor vehicles kept in the County and for issuing driving licences to County residents. For registration and licensing purposes, the person keeping and using a motor vehicle was regarded as its owner, and once a vehicle had been registered, all changes of ownership, as well as changes in the use of the vehicle, had to be reported. Factors which were considered before a vehicle was licensed included ownership, construction and use, and in the case of goods vehicles the weight.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Middlesex County Council Local Taxation Department, 1916-1965, including Section Heads meetings notes; Inspector's Conferences notes; correspondence with the Ministry of Transport; statistics relating to licences; papers relating to overtime and leave; petrol allowances; papers relating to the administration and control of licences for hawkers, moneylenders, pawnbrokers and refreshment houses; papers relating to dog, gun and game licences; notes on local taxation licences; papers relating to vehicle registration and licensing including correspondence and registers; and examples of application forms and licences.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

MCC/LT/EL: Minor excise licences; MCC/LT/GEN/01: General; MCC/LT/GEN/02: Local taxation licences; MCC/LT/VE: Vehicle registration and licensing.

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.

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