LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
Manorial government.
In 1294 the chapter of St. Paul's
claimed view of frankpledge, the assize of bread
and of ale, infangthief, outfangthief, gallows,
tumbril, pillory, and fugitives' chattels in
Chiswick and Sutton, as on other Middlesex
estates. St. Paul's was found to have enjoyed all
the rights from time immemorial except gallows,
which it had only in Finsbury. (fn. 2)
Separate courts were held for Sutton Court
and for the Prebend manor by 1590 (fn. 3) and presumably much earlier. A few court rolls for
Sutton Court survive from between 1635 and
1672 (fn. 4) and court books from 1668 until 1950. (fn. 5)
Court books for the Prebend manor, concerned
almost entirely with land transactions, survive
for 1670-3 and from 1691 until 1937. (fn. 6) For Sutton
Court a court leet and court baron were held at
the manor house at Lady Day and Michaelmas in
1649. (fn. 7) Later a view of frankpledge, followed by
a court baron, was normally held by St. Paul's
in June or July, with special courts baron
which became more frequent from the mid 18th
century. (fn. 8) Courts baron alone were held from
1853, ceasing after 1900. (fn. 9) For the Prebend manor
in the 18th century there were general courts in
the name of Westminster's lessee at least once a
year and special courts, held from 1747 at various
inns (fn. 10) and from 1783 usually at the Roebuck. (fn. 11)
Sessions of the Prebend manor court in Chiswick
ceased after 1882. (fn. 12)
A constable and two aletasters were elected at
the view of frankpledge in the 17th and early 18th
centuries. (fn. 13) Two constables were chosen from
1729, whereupon the election of aletasters
lapsed, (fn. 14) and three from 1791. (fn. 15) In 1787 the
magistrates declined to swear in a third constable,
who had been nominated by the vestry, until he
had been returned at the manorial court. (fn. 16) A
headborough was named only from 1787 until
1840 and aleconners were again chosen from
1795 until 1840. (fn. 17) In 1824 and from 1831 to 1843
two constables were elected, normally one each
for Turnham Green and Strand-on-the-Green.
From 1845 there were constables for Chiswick
and Turnham Green, and a third, also styled
headborough, for Christ Church, Turnham
Green, until the last recorded elections in 1855. (fn. 18)
At courts of the Prebend manor the only election
was in 1811, when the customs were restated and
a combined bailiff, common keeper, and pound
keeper was appointed. (fn. 19)
Parish government to 1836.
There were two
churchwardens in 1580, (fn. 20) chosen annually in
vestry by 1622, together with two sidesmen and
two surveyors of the highways. (fn. 21) Two overseers
for the poor were named annually by 1663, when
the vestry also named the constable. (fn. 22) By 1777
one churchwarden was chosen by the vicar and
the other by the parish. There was a salaried
collector of poor rates from 1788 (fn. 23) and an assistant overseer from 1820, when a select vestry was
formed. (fn. 24) Other salaried officers included a vestry
clerk from 1622, (fn. 25) a beadle by 1702, (fn. 26) and
a woman pew opener before 1784; (fn. 27) aleconners
were paid, although not appointed, by the parish
in the 1820s. (fn. 28) The beadle also acted as sexton by
1795 (fn. 29) and, to retain both posts, was required to
do no other work in 1825. (fn. 30) There are churchwardens' accounts for most years from 1622, (fn. 31)
overseers' accounts for 1678-97, 1736-66, and
1810-16, (fn. 32) vestry minutes from 1777, (fn. 33) and
select vestry minutes from 1820. (fn. 34)
The vestry met at the church in 1622, when it
included the vicar, Edward Wardour, and
Thomas Barker. Members of the Barker family
often attended thereafter, as did successive incumbents. Others present included Arthur Duck
and Chaloner Chute, both of them lessees of the
Prebend manor, the brewer Thomas Mawson
and, in 1794, John Zoffany. (fn. 35) Select vestries
normally met weekly at the workhouse. (fn. 36) From
1631 church rate payers were listed by districts:
Chiswick village or 'the town', Little Sutton, the
Strand, Turnham Green, and Stamford Lane.
Sluts Hole, Corner or Corney House, which
included Grove House, and Sutton Court also
formed districts by 1724. (fn. 37)
Apart from church rates and poor rates, the
parish in 1629 had a small income from tenants of
the church house and lands. (fn. 38) Church rates were
fixed annually and varied between 3d. and 6d. in
the £ in the late 18th century. (fn. 39) Poor rates, fixed
yearly or half yearly, ranged from 4d. to 8d.
between 1696 and 1698 but were often 2s. in the
mid 18th century. (fn. 40) In 1777 it was decided to
assess property in proportion to yearly value
rather than to purchase price. (fn. 41) Sums spent on
the poor were £894 in 1776 and, on average, £786
from 1783 to 1785. (fn. 42) Expenditure was £2,121 in
1803, (fn. 43) as high as £3,240 in 1816, (fn. 44) and £2,158 in
1821; a reduction by one third, to £1,397, by
1831 was ascribed to the establishment of a select
vestry. (fn. 45)
Poor relief was to be considered every month
by the parish officers in 1659. (fn. 46) Payments in 1678
were divided between pensioners, 18 of whom
received from 1s. to 2s. 6d. a week, and 'chance
poor', who were given small sums, nursing,
clothing, and, in one case, a boat. (fn. 47) Three and a
half dozen badges were bought in 1697-8 (fn. 48) and
paupers who had not served any parish office
were to be badged in 1779. (fn. 49) A workhouse was
said to have been built in 1725; (fn. 50) it existed by
1736 (fn. 51) and was enlarged in 1785. It stood near the
Back common at Turnham Green, where it was
hoped to acquire land near by in 1794 and 1801.
The workhouse poor apparently were farmed out
by 1790, when an additional sum was paid to
make up for falling profits from their labour. The
vestry itself scrutinized tradesmen's tenders for
supplying the workhouse in 1795, (fn. 52) as did the
select vestry, which employed a salaried master
and mistress, or matron, in 1823. (fn. 53) Damages
were to be sought from Hammersmith in 1781,
after its beadle had driven a dying pauper into
Chiswick. (fn. 54)
Local government after 1836.
Chiswick in
1836 became part of Brentford poor law union, (fn. 55)
which sold the parish workhouse in 1838 (fn. 56) and
afterwards used the new union workhouse in
Twickenham Road, Isleworth. (fn. 57) The parish lay
within the Metropolitan Police district from
1840 (fn. 58) and had a burial board from 1852. (fn. 59) Under
the Chiswick Improvement Act, 1858, commissioners were elected with powers to construct
a wharf, levy rates, and borrow money for
lighting, paving, and sewerage. (fn. 60) The 19 commissioners included a nominee of the duke of
Devonshire and were served by a salaried clerk. (fn. 61)
They met about twice a month, at first at the
Roebuck, then at Chiswick hall in Chiswick
Mall until 1868, at the boys' National school in
the churchyard until 1873, and thereafter at the
new vestry hall by Turnham Green. (fn. 62) In 1869 the
commissioners adopted sections of the London
Government Act, 1858, in order to control the
siting and quality of new housing. (fn. 63) The vestry
meanwhile had reached a compromise with the
Metropolitan Board of Works over non-payment
of sewer rates between 1857 and 1859. (fn. 64) It also
successfully opposed an attempt to attach much
of Chiswick to Chelsea in 1868, decided to adopt
the Vestries Act in 1872, and consequently to pay
for a hall at Turnham Green in 1874. (fn. 65)
Stamford Brook grounds, at the time of its
transfer to Chiswick in 1878, was being built up
to form part of Bedford Park. Residents of the
new suburb formed a vigilance committee, concerned mainly with sanitation, in 1881 and a
more general Bedford Park committee in 1883. (fn. 66)
A local board was formed for Chiswick in 1883,
under the Public Health Act, 1875. (fn. 67) It met twice
a month at the vestry hall (fn. 68) and consisted of 19
members, one of them to be nominated by the
duke of Devonshire so long as he should hold
500 a. in the parish, although the duke did not
exercise his right after 1891. (fn. 69) The local board
took over the burial board's powers (fn. 70) and also
formed committees for works, audit and finance,
lighting, and special purposes in 1888, when its
officers included a clerk and solicitor, an engineer
and surveyor, a medical officer of health, and a
sanitary inspector. (fn. 71)
Borough of Brentford and Chiswick
Parted saltrirewise argent and gules, in chief the figure of St. Nicholas proper, in base two bars wauy azure, and in fess two seaxes with pionts upward and edges inward, their blades proper and their hilts or[Granted 1932]
Chiswick U.D.C. superseded the local board
under the Local Government Act, 1894, its
district being divided between Chiswick (including Strand-on-the-Green) and Turnham
Green wards. Six wards, with three members
each, were created in 1901: Bedford Park,
Chiswick Park, Grove Park, Gunnersbury, Old
Chiswick, and Turnham Green. (fn. 72) The council,
which met monthly, (fn. 73) secured an Act to build
a river wall and carry out other improvements
and to enlarge Grove Park, by a transfer from
Brentford U.D., in 1911. (fn. 74) Chiswick's wards
remained unchanged in 1927, when Brentford
added its own east, central, and west wards to
form Brentford and Chiswick U.D., which was
incorporated as a municipal borough in 1932. (fn. 75)
The borough retained its 9 wards (fn. 76) until it joined
Heston and Isleworth M.B. and Feltham U.D. in
1965, forming the eastern part of the London
Borough of Hounslow. (fn. 77) Whereas Conservatives
had controlled Brentford and Chiswick B.C., (fn. 78)
the Labour party controlled Hounslow except
between 1968 and 1971. (fn. 79)
London Borough of Hounslow
Parted fesswise azurer and gules a fess wauy argent charged with two other wauy azure, in chief two winges argent joined together and charged with a sword or with point upward, and in the base lion rampant guardant parted fesswise or and argent[Granted 1965]
The offices of the local board and of the U.D.
were at the vestry hall on the south side of
Turnham Green. Designed by W. J. Treherne, it
was an Italianate building of yellow brick with
stone dressings and included a hall seating 700. (fn. 80)
Enlargements were planned by the overseers
in 1896 before it was vested in the U.D.C.,
which temporarily used Sutton Court while
enlarging the vestry hall, reopened as the
town hall in 1901. (fn. 81) After the establishment
of Hounslow L.B. the premises were used
chiefly for the registration of births, deaths, and
marriages.
Under the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885,
Chiswick formed part of the Ealing division of
Middlesex. (fn. 82) A Conservative or Unionist was
returned, often unopposed, until the formation
of Brentford and Chiswick parliamentary constituency in 1919. Unionists were elected in the
period between the World Wars but thereafter
the seat remained marginal, returning a Labour
member in 1945, 1966, and 1970, and a Conservative at other elections. From 1974 Chiswick
has formed part of Brentford and Isleworth,
represented by a Conservative. (fn. 83)
PUBLIC SERVICES.
Nursing was provided
for the poor by 1660, when the vestry sent one
patient to St. Bartholomew's hospital and
another to St. Thomas's hospital (Southwark)
and when a doctor gave individual treatment. (fn. 84) A
salary for medical attendance at the workhouse
was paid before 1823, the recipient being described as 'house surgeon' in 1825. (fn. 85) The vestry
considered providing a place for diseased
paupers in 1793 (fn. 86) but apparently did nothing, as
a room at the workhouse had to be adapted for the
sick in 1822. (fn. 87) Concerned at the number of
inmates suffering from venereal disease, the
parish subscribed annually to the Lock hospital
(Westm.) from 1823. (fn. 88) Payments were also made
to St. George's hospital (Westm.) in 1829. (fn. 89)
The Sisterhood of St. Mary and St. John cared
for the incurable at St. Mary's convent, which
was founded in Kensington in 1868 and moved to
Burlington Lane in 1897. Sisters of the Society
of St. Margaret took over the convent and
its adjoining St. Joseph's hospital in 1910
and still managed them in 1979. The hospital
had 48 beds for women and children in 1921,
when a small nursing home for paying patients
had also opened, and 36 beds for women in
1979. (fn. 90)
Chiswick Nursing Home and Institution, at
nos. 449 and 451 High Road in 1908, was
presumably a private establishment. (fn. 91) Chiswick
isolation hospital, opened in Clayponds Lane,
South Ealing, in 1904, (fn. 92) became a maternity
hospital, serving both areas, in 1921. (fn. 93) A cottage
hospital, endowed by Daniel Mason, opened in
1911 in Burlington Lane and moved in 1912 to
a new building adjoining Rothbury House,
Chiswick Mall. It was used for maternity cases in
1926, when nurses' accommodation was built
and Rothbury House became an administrative block, and rebuilt in 1936. (fn. 94) As Chiswick
hospital, a branch of the West Middlesex hospital
at Isleworth, it was administered by the SouthWest Metropolitan Regional Hospital board
under the National Health Act, 1948, and had 66
beds c. 1963. (fn. 95) The hospital was temporarily
closed from 1975, when it was to be adapted
as a psychiatric unit, and in 1979 lay within
the Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow area
of the North-West Thames Regional Health
Authority. (fn. 96) There was a dispensary at no. 8
Heathfield Terrace, Turnham Green, in 1926
and a new health centre in Fisher's Lane north of
the high road was in partial use from 1977. (fn. 97)
Policing until the late 18th century was
presumably left to the parish constables and
the watch, who in 1680 stopped the earl of
Pembroke's coach as it crossed Turnham Green
but then failed to detain the earl after he killed
a prominent resident. (fn. 98) By 1798 there was
a Chiswick association for the protection of
persons and property, whose 40 members in 1808
were headed by the duke of Devonshire. Subscribers paid 1 guinea initially and thereafter at
least 5s. a year towards a fund, which was used to
advertise rewards and defray the cost of prosecutions. (fn. 99) The association had been revived by
1827, when the richer districts paid for their own
policing. (fn. 1) In 1828 there were horse patrols,
apparently along the high road, where many
crimes took place, and foot patrols over a wider
area. Two parish constables worked during
the day and as many as 4 patrolmen and 6
watchmen were employed privately at night,
being responsible to the assistant overseer at the
workhouse. (fn. 2) Chiswick was included in the
Metropolitan Police Area from 1829 (fn. 3) and lay
within T division, with a station in High Road
west of Windmill Place by 1871. It was superseded by one on the east corner of Windmill
Place, manned by 73 policemen in 1890 (fn. 4) and 131
in 1926. (fn. 5) A new police station, replacing buildings at the corner of Linden Gardens and High
Road, was opened in 1972. (fn. 6)
A parish fire engine was to be repaired in 1781 (fn. 7)
and was the responsibility of the sexton and
beadle in 1804, (fn. 8) being kept then or later in a shed
near the church. (fn. 9) The local board employed a
volunteer fire brigade, with contingents for
Turnham Green and Chiswick, in 1888 and
opened a new fire station, mortuary, and parish
depot on the south side of the high road in 1891.
The station had a new steam engine in 1891 (fn. 10)
and a motor fire escape and ambulance in 1911,
when it was claimed to be one of the best
equipped near London. (fn. 11) From 1937 the fire
services in Chiswick High Road used a former
market near by and the adjoining Linden House,
before moving to a station which had replaced
Christ Church Vicarage, Heathfield Gardens, in
1963. (fn. 12)
Water was to be supplied by the Grand Junction Waterworks Co. under an Act of 1861 (fn. 13) and
was obtained partly from that company but
mainly from the West Middlesex Water Co. in
1888. A constant supply, as promised by the
West Middlesex Water Co. by 1895, had been
provided for nearly every house by 1897. (fn. 14) Under
the Metropolis Water Act, 1902, both companies
were superseded in 1903 by the Metropolitan
Water Board. (fn. 15)
Sewerage was perhaps the chief problem
facing the improvement commissioners, whose
successors in 1888-9 took pride in their having
carried out an expensive scheme for sewage
disposal. (fn. 16) The works and filter beds lay close to
the Thames and south of Corney Lane, where a
power station was later built. (fn. 17) From 1936, under
the West Middlesex Sewerage and Sewage Disposal Scheme, the area was served by trunk
sewers to the central works at Mogden, in
Isleworth. (fn. 18)
Gas was to be supplied along Chiswick High
Road by the new Brentford Gas Co. in 1821. (fn. 19)
The company was taken over in 1926 by the Gas
Light and Coke Co., (fn. 20) which in 1948 still supplied gas from its Brentford works and by 1963
had been superseded by the North Thames Gas
Board. (fn. 21) Many shopkeepers in the high road
favoured electric lighting by 1890. (fn. 22) The
Aberystwyth and Chiswick Electricity Supply
Corporation agreed with the U.D.C. to supply
electricity in 1898 (fn. 23) and continued to do so until
its Chiswick area was bought by the council in
1935. (fn. 24) After nationalization, services were
maintained by the Southern Electricity Board. (fn. 25)
After adopting the Public Libraries Act, the
local board opened a lending library in 1891. (fn. 26) A
new building in Duke's Avenue was presented to
the U.D.C. by Messrs. Sanderson in 1897 and
was extended in 1901 (fn. 27) and again, having been
damaged by a fire from Sanderson's factory, in
1930. Exhibits from a small museum were moved
to Gunnersbury House after the Second World
War but the library retained its collections of
books issued by the Chiswick Press and material
on Hogarth in 1979. (fn. 28)
Waste lands along the high road were acquired
by the local board under the Metropolitan
Commons Act, 1866, and laid out for recreation,
forming Turnham Green common and Chiswick
(formerly the Back) common. (fn. 29) Homefields and
adjoining land east of Chiswick Lane, totalling
10 a., were bought by the U.D.C. from the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1898, with help
from the county council. (fn. 30) The U.D.C. administered Homefields recreation ground, 7½ a. of
Turnham Green common, c. 11 a. of Chiswick
common, 2½ a. of Stamford Brook common, and
1 a. at Strand-on-the-Green in 1911, when it
planned to buy c. 11 a. by the river at Grove
Park. (fn. 31) Land bought from the duke of Devonshire was consecrated as a cemetery in 1888, (fn. 32) a
chapel being built in 1898, (fn. 33) and the grounds of
Chiswick House formed a public park of c. 66 a.
from 1929. (fn. 34) Additional open space in the
southern part of the parish was used by schools or
for private sports grounds. (fn. 35)
Open-air swimming baths beside Duke's
Meadows, in Edensor Road, were open in 1911,
when the council claimed to have pioneered
mixed bathing. (fn. 36) Fashionable with Londoners
in the 1920s, they were extended in 1931. (fn. 37)