London County Council

The arms of the London County Council are still seen today on buildings, especially housing, from that era

London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London from 1889 until 1965, when it was replaced by the Greater London Council. It covered the area today known as Inner London.

The creation of the LCC was forced by a succession of scandals involving the Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW), its predecessor, which had not been directly elected. While the Conservative government of the day would have preferred not to create a single body covering the whole of London, their electoral pact with Liberal Unionists led them to this policy. A later Government created the 28 metropolitan boroughs as lower tier authorities in 1899.

The LCC inherited the powers of its predecessor the MBW, but also had wider authority over matters such as education, city planning and council housing. It took over the functions of the London School Board in 1903, and Dr C W Kimmins was appointed chief inspector of the education department in 1904.

The LCC initially used the Spring Gardens headquarters of the Metropolitan Board of Works but by 1906 decided to buy three adjoining plots of land on the eastern side of Westminster Bridge as a site for a single headquarters. The County Hall designed by Ralph Knott was built there from 1909–1933 and passed into private ownership following the abolition of the Greater London Council. A London Residuary Body was appointed with the express purpose of managing the transfer of the assets of the GLC after 1985, making the task of re-establishing metropolitan authority rather more difficult for any post-Thatcher government.

LCC arms on north entrance to Hackney's Pembury Estate on Hackney Downs. The sign to the right is from the LCC's now-extinct successor, the GLC. (October 2005) photo: Hackney Plus (www.hackney.co.uk)

Initially, it had been hoped by many that elections to the LCC would be conducted on a non-partisan basis, but in the Council two political groups formed. The majority group in 1889 was the Progressives, who were unofficially allied with the Liberal Party in national politics. Those who allied with the Conservative Party formed the Moderate group. In 1906, the Moderates added the name Municipal Reform.

The LCC was elected every three years. The Progressives were in control continuously from 1889 until 1907, when they lost power to the Municipal Reformers. Municipal Reform control lasted until 1934 when Labour won power, which they kept until the LCC was abolished.

The County of London, shown within a map of England's 1890 counties

G.Topham Forrest headed the LCC Architect's Department from 1919 until 1935 and, since this co-incided with the initial wave of municipal housebuilding in England, had a major influence over the character of many residential quarters of London. Some LCC estates were erected beyond the LCC boundary where land was cheaper and lower density living was more easily attained. Most of those estates lie within what became known as Greater London, although metropolitan government was suspended between 1985 and 2000 when "unitary" Boroughs took most key land-use decisions at a more local level. In 2005 the Mayor of London is seeking greater influence over housing policy and the distribution of social housing units, partly because some outer boroughs are perceived as unreceptive to higher density layouts and eager to preserve a degree of social stratification.

Leaders of the London County Council

The post of Leader was only officially recognised in 1933. This table gives the Leaders of the majority parties on the council before this time, although in the first term this had little relevance in terms of the leadership of the Council.

Council Chamber of the LCC, from the majority benches

* Sir Thomas Farrer (March 21, 1889 - March 27, 1890)
* James Stuart (March 27, 1890 - March 9, 1892)
* Charles Harrison (March 9, 1892 - March 10, 1898)
* Thomas McKinnon Wood (March 10, 1898 - March 8, 1907)
* Richard Robinson (March 8, 1907 - March 11, 1908)
* Hon. William Wellesley Peel (March 11, 1908 - March 8, 1910)
* William Hayes Fisher (March 8, 1910 - December 19, 1911)
* Cyril Jackson (December 19, 1911 - March 16, 1915)
* Ronald Collett Norman (March 16, 1915 - March 1, 1918)
* Sir George Hume (March 1, 1918 - March 11, 1925)
* Sir William Ray (March 11, 1925 - March 9, 1934)
* Herbert Morrison (March 9, 1934 - May 27, 1940)
* Lord Latham (May 27, 1940 - July 29, 1947)
* Sir Isaac Hayward (July 29, 1947 - March 31, 1965)