LOCAL GOVERNMENT
MANORIAL GOVERNMENT.
In 1294 the
bishop of London claimed view of frankpledge,
infangthief, outfangthief, the assize of bread and
of ale, fugitives' goods, tumbril, pillory, gallows,
and fines in Hackney, as part of his manor of
Stepney. (fn. 9) Separate bailiffs accounted for Hackney and Stepney by the 1380s (fn. 10) but courts for
the whole manor, sometimes with pleas for
Hackney entered separately, were still held at
Stepney in the 16th century. (fn. 11) The bishop was
paid 16s. as the common fine from Hackney in
1349. (fn. 12)
Proceedings for Hackney are recorded on
Stepney court rolls for 1349, 1442, 1509, and
1581-2 and in books for Stepney for 1654-64. (fn. 13)
Two officers, perhaps constables, were elected
for Hackney in 1509, when two chief pledges
were elected for Shacklewell and one each for
Clapton and Homerton. (fn. 14) A general court baron
for Hackney, held immediately after a Stepney
court in December 1581, was concerned largely
with copyholds which had changed hands during
the previous year; it also proposed two names
for the choice of bailiff or collector. (fn. 15) The next
court for Hackney, after a view of frankpledge
at Stepney in April 1582, chose 2 constables, 2
aletasters, and 6 chief pledges or headboroughs:
one and a deputy for Clapton, 2 for Mare Street,
Well Street, and Grove Street, and 2 for Kingsland, Newington, Shacklewell, and Dalston.
Three common drivers were chosen two days
later. (fn. 16) In 1641 the steward of Hackney, who was
also steward of Stepney, summoned the copyholders to meet in Hackney (fn. 17) and in 1642
courts at Stepney were held for Hackney alone
in April and October. The first dealt with
ditches, the assize of bread, and the elections of
a constable and 2 aletasters for the parish and of
a headborough for each of 7 wards: Kingsland
and Dalston, Newington and Shacklewell,
Church Street and part of Clapton, Clapton, the
upper end of Homerton, Mare Street, and the
lower end of Homerton. (fn. 18) By 1654, although the
manors still had the same lord, Hackney courts
were held at Homerton; much less frequent than
those for Stepney, they consisted of a general
court baron in April and December and a view
in April, with one special court in 1655 and three
in 1656. (fn. 19)
Separate courts were held for the Hackney
manors of Lordshold, Kingshold, and Grumbolds, despite the acquisition of all three by the
Tyssen family. Court books or draft court books
exist for Lordshold for 1658-1940 (fn. 20) and for
Kingshold for 1666-1936, (fn. 21) with minutes and
extracts. (fn. 22) It had been claimed in 1331 that the
Templars had possessed pleas and perquisites of
court for what became Kingshold manor; the
Hospitallers, fined in 1511 for default at the
bishop's law day, had held a court at Hackney
in the early 16th century, when rolls had allegedly been lost. (fn. 23) For Grumbolds there are
extracts for 1486-1741; later records include a
minute book to 1925. (fn. 24) In 1711 the lord received
83 quitrents for Lordshold, 21 for Kingshold,
and 5 for Grumbolds. (fn. 25) Uncertainty was such
that a Kingshold transaction of 1798 was
wrongly entered under Lordshold. (fn. 26)
The busiest court, that of Lordshold, consisted
of a view of frankpledge, followed by a court
baron, in April and sometimes special courts. (fn. 27)
The view was held at first usually at Homerton,
where the Coach and Horses was the meeting
place in 1752, and later at Kingsland, at the
King's Arms by 1753 (fn. 28) and at the Tyssen Arms
from 1815. (fn. 29) After 1845, no longer called a view,
the court met at the Manor rooms until 1885 or
later; (fn. 30) enfranchisements (fn. 31) and property transactions were done in lawyers' chambers until 1924.
For Kingshold a view was likewise followed by
a court baron, in Church Street and perhaps
from 1666 at the Green Man, named as the usual
meeting place in 1723; it was held at the Cock
in the late 18th century, later at the Mermaid,
the Tyssen Arms, the Manor rooms, and finally
in London. (fn. 32) Grumbolds courts, annual c. 1500
but later less regular, also met latterly at the
Manor rooms. (fn. 33) Probably all three manors had
a single steward, normally a lawyer. Stewards
exploited the family's absence before and after
the term of J. R. Daniel-Tyssen from 1829
until 1852: Thomas Tebbutt and his son were
involved in William Rhodes's building
schemes (fn. 34) and Charles Cheston, son and successor
of Chester Cheston, ruined Lord Amherst of
Hackney by embezzlement. (fn. 35)
Until 1840 or later (fn. 36) the Lordshold court appointed 2 constables, 2 aletasters, and normally
8 headboroughs; it also suggested 2 names for
the choice of a reeve and appointed 6 or 7
common drivers. A magistrate was excused serving
as headborough in 1718, partly because the
headborough's was an inferior office. (fn. 37) Aletasters
were active in the late 17th century and continued to present the use of false weights and
measures in 1740. (fn. 38) Reeves and drivers were
substantial landowners and were still being appointed in 1885. (fn. 39) Kingshold courts appointed a
constable, an aletaster, and 2 headboroughs until
1841 or later but no officers by 1845. (fn. 40)
Manorial and parochial authority overlapped.
The common drivers reported in 1605 to a large
meeting of inhabitants, which then passed a
resolution on the commons, as did the vestry in
1614 and later. Parishioners claimed to be upholding ancient customs, which were set out by
agreement between the lord and the copyholders
in 1617. (fn. 41) The vestry instructed the constables
and headboroughs about the poor in 1618, before
it had its own beadle, (fn. 42) and again in 1701 and,
after offering payment, in 1712; it barred manorial officers from serving as beadle in 1781. (fn. 43) In
addition to safeguarding the commons, the
Lordshold court in its turn gave orders about
the stocks and whipping post, which the parish
had failed to repair, in 1744. (fn. 44) The steward
denied intentional infringement of parochial
privileges in 1804, after the vestry's protest at
not having been informed of inclosures, and the
vestry promised in 1806 to keep better records,
after the court's complaint that their inadequacy
made it difficult to appoint officers. The vestry
disclaimed any connexion with manorial officers
when asked to meet parliamentary election expenses in 1833. (fn. 45)
PARISH GOVERNMENT TO 1837.
Hackney,
where parish meetings were recorded from
1581, (fn. 46) had an unusual dual form of government
from 1613, when a select vestry was instituted
by a faculty from the bishop of London. In
most parishes a select vestry tolerated open
meetings only to add occasional weight to its own
decisions. In Hackney, perhaps because it attracted
so many rich merchants, the parish officers 'and
other inhabitants' continued to meet every few
months and shared power with the 'gentlemen
of the vestry', for whom the faculty was reissued
in 1679. Both bodies were merged in an open
vestry in 1833, (fn. 47) by which time they had surrendered responsibility for the poor and for lighting
and watching to trustees under Acts of 1763 and
1810; separate vestries for South and West
Hackney had also been created by the subdivision
of the rectory in 1831. Hackney vestry's continued
influence through the election of parish officers
and others as trustees was diminished by the
establishment of the poor-law union in 1837. (fn. 48)
In 1547 Church House of c. 1520 was said to
have been built for meetings on the king's, the
church's, or parochial business. Presumably it
was so used until taken for the free school c.
1616. (fn. 49) Officers recorded from 1554 were 2
churchwardens and 4 laici or sidesmen, (fn. 50) and 2
surveyors of the highways, 4 surveyors of the
poor, and 2 collectors for the poor from 1581.
One churchwarden was elected in 1583, the
second one presumably being named by the
vicar. (fn. 51) A steady source of income which came
to form the 'unappropriated funds' was foreshadowed in 1590, when the vicar and 15 others
excused Thomas Audley from parish offices in
return for money towards repair of the church. (fn. 52)
Inhabitants were first listed by district for the
collection of church rates in 1605. (fn. 53)
The faculty of 1613 was requested by the vicar
and others after trouble from 'the meanest sort
being greater in number'. It appointed the rector,
vicar, assistant curate, churchwardens, and 32
named parishioners, or any 10 of them, to meet
as vestrymen at the church. (fn. 54) Vacancies thereafter
were filled by co-option. In the 1620s the vestry
usually appointed annually 2 churchwardens, 4
sidesmen, 2 surveyors, and 2 collectors; later in
the century overseers, rather than collectors, and
2 sidesmen were chosen. At least 4 of the original
vestrymen and in 1628 both churchwardens
signed with a cross. (fn. 55) There was a parish clerk
before 1625, when the vicar's installation of his
own nominee led to an action in King's Bench
which upheld the traditional right of election
claimed for the parish and exercised by the
vestry. (fn. 56) In 1711 the parish clerk was also given
the office of vestry clerk, apparently a new post
whose duties were again defined in 1756. (fn. 57) A
sexton was paid an increased salary in 1632 and
one was succeeded by his wife as sextoness in
1690; (fn. 58) the office was lucrative enough to be
shared in 1744 and entailed the employment of
pew openers in 1759. (fn. 59) A beadle was to be
appointed in 1657 'for the preventing of multiplying of the poor' and again in 1671; his duties
were reviewed in 1694, when all new lodgers
were to be reported. (fn. 60) Two beadles were paid in
1732-3 and again, as home and out beadles, with
partly differing functions until 1771, in 1753; (fn. 61)
there were three beadles by 1810. (fn. 62) Searchers, to
examine corpses, were originally appointed by
magistrates but from c. 1727 by the vestry until
they were discontinued in 1836. (fn. 63) A verger was
first appointed in 1799. (fn. 64) Most salaried offices,
like those of the early schoolmasters and of
lecturers and others connected with the
church, (fn. 65) were renewed annually; in 1730 they
were those of vestry clerk, beadle, organist,
sextoness, clock minder, organ minder, organ
bellows blower, churchyard keeper, and midwife. Holders of all the offices save that of organ
minder were reappointed in 1760, by which date
6 bearers were also chosen. (fn. 66) Records include a
summary minute book for 1581-1613, vestry
minutes from 1613, (fn. 67) parishioners' meetings minutes for 1762-1824, (fn. 68) churchwardens' accounts,
some with overseers' accounts, from 1732, (fn. 69) poor
rate books from 1716, (fn. 70) churchwardens' rate
books from 1743 and statute labour books from
1720, with gaps, (fn. 71) and lamp and watch rate books
from 1764. (fn. 72)
The vestry met at Easter, for appointments and
audits, (fn. 73) and also irregularly: 4 times in all in
1620, 9 in 1660, 16 in 1700, 4 in 1740 and 1770,
8 in 1810, and 3 in 1820. Attendances ranged
from 7 to 22 in 1660, with an average of nearly
16 which varied little thereafter. In 1712 absentees
were to be asked to attend and in 1719 it was
agreed that if numbers should fall below 13 a
churchwarden and 4 others might prepare proposals for the next vestry; (fn. 74) nine meetings were
dissolved between 1729 and 1753 for lack of a
quorum. It was planned in 1732 and 1759 to
summon one at least every two months and in
1790, without success, to observe fixed dates in
June and August. (fn. 75) The chair was normally
taken by the vicar or his curate. A suggestion
that the vestry should meet at the 'parish house'
(Church House) rather than its room at the
church was rejected in 1781. (fn. 76) Church House, in
use in 1795, was replaced in 1802 by the building
later called the old town hall. (fn. 77)
Wider parish meetings obtruded, as in 1723
when the vestry insisted on its right to choose
a lecturer, although the general public might
afterwards voice its opinion. On legal advice,
the right was conceded to all who paid poor
rates. (fn. 78) Such parishioners were sometimes present in the vestry, as in 1700 when 'others' were
noted after the named attenders. (fn. 79) In 1725 a
separate book was reserved for general meetings
and in 1739 the select vestry forced several
outsiders to withdraw. (fn. 80) The vicar and parish
officers attended the parish meetings, of which
there were 11 in 1763 and 7 in 1770. The parish
meetings submitted names to the magistrates for
appointment as highway surveyors and were
concerned particularly with the poor, although
all matters of parish interest were discussed. (fn. 81)
Petitioners for an inquiry into the leasing of
Lammas lands were accused of treating a session
of the select vestry as a public meeting in 1804.
A new local Act, to create more vestrymen, was
sought in 1813. The vestry claimed that parochial rates and expenditure had always been
effectually controlled by parish meetings, when
it finally admitted an additional 49 inhabitants
in 1833. (fn. 82) The merger resulted from legal opinions that the bishop's faculty, a copy of which
had been withheld by the clerk, was an unsafe
foundation for a select vestry. (fn. 83)
In 1581 the collectors for the poor raised
money to bring up a fatherless child and in 1598
they made 37 payments, including one to the
'poor house'. (fn. 84) Pensioners were to attend church
twice a week in 1620 and were to number not
more than 15 in 1628, when a separate book for
poor rates was to be bought. (fn. 85) Some pensions
were paid for looking after the young or the
sick. (fn. 86) The poor's stock was separated in 1628
from the church stock and consisted of the
income from parish lands which had been acquired through charitable gifts and which were
leased out by the vestry; money in the church
box was added. (fn. 87) When the magistrates decided
that Hackney could afford to contribute to relief
in Stepney in 1676, the vestry claimed that it
was already burdened with extraordinary poor.
In 1708 bread was distributed to up to 74 people,
'as was usual in this parish', whether or not the
amount was covered by gifts. (fn. 88) In 1710 badging
was to be strictly enforced on all paupers except
Henry Rowe. (fn. 89)
Responsibility by 1741 had devolved upon a
workhouse committee, which fixed the poor rate
and was answerable to the parish meetings rather
than the vestry. (fn. 90) An Act of 1763 committed the
poor to a board of trustees, being the vicar,
parish officers, and anyone eligible for office,
including those who had compounded; any five
of them could fix the poor rate. (fn. 91) The early
meetings of the trustees, rarely numbering
more than 12, were held weekly in the vestry
room. Separate rates were introduced, for the
poor and for lighting and watching, and five
collectors were appointed in 1764; an initial sum
was raised by the promise of annuities secured
on the rates. (fn. 92) An Act of 1810 allowed all
householders rated for the poor at £40 a year
to act as co-vestrymen, sharing the vestry's
responsibility for relief although not in other
fields. It also increased the number of trustees,
who might be vestrymen or co-vestrymen, from
53 to 72, and provided for them to form 12
committees of six, which would meet weekly in
rotation, and to delimit six districts: Clapton,
Homerton, Church Street, Mare Street, Kingsland, and Newington. (fn. 93) The enlarged board of
trustees in 1811 met 17 times at the parish house,
with an average attendance of 28. (fn. 94) It was elected
annually after the opening of the vestry in 1833. (fn. 95)
Revenue for the poor in 1628 was £14 10s.
from charities' lands and £2 10s. from £50
stock. (fn. 96) The poor rate, increasingly important as
the payers multiplied, raised £120 in 1669 and
£326 in 1710. (fn. 97) In 1720 nearly two thirds of
expenditure was on monthly payments to 52
pensioners, some with children, a tenth was on
nursing, and the rest on children's clothing. (fn. 98)
The cost of maintaining the poor was £1,725
17s. 5d. in 1775-6, (fn. 99) when the rate was 2s. in the
£, (fn. 1) and an average of £2,376 8s. 5d. for the three
years to Easter 1785. (fn. 2) It was £5,158 in 1803,
over £13,000 in 1813 and 1821, and slightly less
in 1831; the rise, more uneven than that of the
population, produced an expenditure per head
of 15s. 8d. in 1813 and less than half of that
amount in 1831. (fn. 3) Nearly £14,349 was levied but
only £8,849 spent on the poor in 1834-5. (fn. 4)
A workhouse where a child was to be sent in
1709 was presumably outside the parish. (fn. 5) In
1732 rented premises were repaired as a workhouse. (fn. 6) A house on the south side of Homerton's
high street was leased from the Milborne family
in 1741 and in 1761; the parish officers assigned
the lease in 1764 to the new trustees for the poor (fn. 7)
and in 1769 lent them money to buy the site. (fn. 8)
The workhouse management committee met
weekly in the 1740s and 1750s, (fn. 9) when the number
of inmates ranged from 41 to 74. (fn. 10) At first the
committee arranged quarterly contracts for supplies but the poor were farmed by 1755 and in
1764; (fn. 11) direct management was resumed in
1765. (fn. 12) One of the six overseers was to attend on
every weekday at the workhouse under the Act
of 1810. (fn. 13) Accommodation was for 220 in 1775-6 (fn. 14)
and expensive enlargement was carried out in
1810-11 and again in 1813. (fn. 15) Stricter discipline
and more profitable work were sought in 1811
but many rules were not kept by 1822. (fn. 16) The
parish claimed to manage a model workhouse in
1831, when it held 102 men and 153 women,
housed separately, 80 boys, and 60 girls; work
was provided there and a few inmates were
farmed out. In addition outdoor relief was paid
to 398 pensioners and for 35 children to be
nursed. (fn. 17) The buildings apparently had no special accommodation for the religious services
which were held and the schooling which was
recommended in 1815. (fn. 18)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT AFTER 1837.
Although the body of trustees continued until
1899, (fn. 19) the Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834,
vested practical responsibility for the poor
from 1837 in Hackney union until the London
Government Act, 1929, substituted the L.C.C.
in 1930. The union combined the old parishes
of Hackney and Stoke Newington; (fn. 20) initially,
Hackney contributed seven eighths of the annual
cost (fn. 21) and elected 13 guardians (20 by 1872) to
Stoke Newington's 5. (fn. 22) Weekly meetings were
held at the parish house and later at the town
hall and at the workhouse. (fn. 23) The old workhouse
was replaced by a building begun in 1838 and
finished by 1842, (fn. 24) which the trustees sold to the
guardians in 1845, (fn. 25) when further building had
to be done. (fn. 26) The premises in 1849 included a
range along the high street, in front of women's
wards and a small infirmary to the west and
men's wards, with a stone yard, to the east;
farther south stood a chapel of 1848 seating 500
and schools, behind which the grounds stretched
to beyond the new railway line. (fn. 27) The schools
were criticized in 1854, when attended by 45
boys and 79 girls, but had improved by 1857,
when the numbers had risen by 50. (fn. 28) The union
maintained 459 indoor and 2,034 outdoor poor,
42.6 for every 1,000 inhabitants, in 1850; the
proportion fell to 28.9 for every 1,000 inhabitants in 1860 but was 55 in 1870. (fn. 29) Although
some buildings were adapted and others added
for the infirmary, later Hackney hospital, the
workhouse continued to receive both the able
bodied and the infirm and was certified for 1,090
inmates in 1885. (fn. 30) As Homerton central institution it was certified for 1,404 in 1930, when the
guardians derived most of their income from
Hackney M.B. as overseers and when they also
had nearby branch homes, besides one for children at Ongar (Essex). (fn. 31)
From 1833 the trustees and the enlarged vestry (fn. 32)
were still seen as unrepresentative by the Hackney
Magazine, which publicized their proceedings. (fn. 33)
The vestry in 1836 set up a 20-member highways
board, soon renewed under a new Act, (fn. 34) and in
1837 accepted the continuance of the trustees'
lamp board. (fn. 35) It also protested at the high
property qualification for election as guardian and
in 1841 opposed the rates sought by the Tower
Hamlets commissioners of sewers. (fn. 36) Meetings
were normally chaired by the rector or a churchwarden and spent much time over repeated and
rising demands to abandon church rates.
A new administrative vestry, for the whole
parish but with more limited responsibilities,
was installed under the Metropolis Local Management Act, 1855. The Act replaced the
metropolitan commissioners of sewers, successors
to the Tower Hamlets commissioners, with the
Hackney district of the Metropolitan Board of
Works (M.B.W.); the district, which included
Stoke Newington, returned one member to the
M.B.W. (fn. 37) The new vestry superseded the three
church vestries for all but church purposes. It
met, erratically, less than once a month. In
addition to the rector and churchwardens, it
consisted of 119 vestrymen, of whom one third
was elected annually, representing the seven
wards of Stamford Hill, Homerton, Dalston, De
Beauvoir Town, Hackney, South Hackney, and
West Hackney. (fn. 38) It chose the district board and,
after some doubts about their continued existence, the trustees of the poor. (fn. 39) Resenting the
link with Stoke Newington and the division and
vagueness of its own powers, the vestry criticized
the bookkeeping of the former highway and
lighting boards and unsuccessfully sought to
control those parochial charities which had been
apportioned to South and West Hackney. (fn. 40) It
appointed a fire engine committee, as did the
trustees, and a finance committee. (fn. 41) Through a
joint committee also representing the trustees
and the district board, it was responsible for
building a new town hall. (fn. 42)
Hackney district board, meeting weekly from
1855 at the town hall, consisted of 51 members
for the eight Hackney wards and 5 for Stoke
Newington. At first it was often chaired by J. R.
Daniel-Tyssen and represented on the M.B.W.
by George Offor, an earlier opponent of church
rates. The board appointed general purposes and
finance committees and superseded the highway
and lighting boards. Officers included a clerk, a
medical officer of health, a surveyor, and an
inspector of nuisances. (fn. 43) From 1856 the trustees
of the poor met twice a year to make a parish or
poor trust rate, chiefly for the guardians, the
Metropolitan Police, and the fire engines, and
separate general, lighting, and sewers' rates for
the district board of works. Many other meetings
dealt with appeals against assessments. The
trustees' delays in meeting financial calls forced
the guardians to postpone the settling of bills in
1856. (fn. 44)
The district board of works was dissolved in
1894. (fn. 45) No longer linked with Stoke Newington
except in the poor-law union, Hackney was
administered again by the vestry, which maintained the district board's officers and worked,
as the board had done, through committees; (fn. 46) it
called itself a corporate body and was quick to
seek a transfer of powers from the trustees of the
poor, since many vestrymen were also trustees. (fn. 47)
Both vestry and trustees were superseded by
Hackney metropolitan borough council under
the London Government Act, 1899, which also
introduced a single rate. (fn. 48)
Borough of Hackney
Perfess in chief the dexter sidegules with a representation ofHackney tower proper andthe sinister side per fess sableand argent with a maltesecross per fess argent and gules,and in the base six pieces barrywavy argent and azure [Granted 1924]
Hackney metropolitan borough council was
first elected in 1900 and consisted of a mayor,
10 aldermen, and 60 councillors representing 8
wards which remained unchanged until 1936:
Stamford Hill, Clapton Park, Homerton, the
Downs, Kingsland, Hackney, South Hackney,
and West Hackney. (fn. 49) In 1903 the town hall was
the meeting place of the council twice monthly;
in addition to the town clerk, treasurer, and
solicitor, there were departments for the accountant, the engineer and surveyor, public
health, electricity, and libraries. (fn. 50) The borough
received a grant of arms in 1924. (fn. 51) From 1936
there were 8 aldermen and 48 councillors for 16
wards. Most of the wards were altered and
renamed in 1955 but there were still 16 in 1965
when, under the London Government Act,
1963, the metropolitan borough was joined with
those of Stoke Newington and Shoreditch to
form the London Borough of Hackney. (fn. 52) The
new borough had 20 wards in 1971 and 23, of
which 15 lay in Hackney, by 1978. (fn. 53)
The first town hall, which in 1802 had replaced
Church House, (fn. 54) remained in use until 1866.
Rooms were then leased to the M.B.W., the
guardians, who disputed ownership with the
vestry, and several provident societies, and public meetings might still be held there. (fn. 55) A plain
two- storeyed block of four bays, the central two
slightly projecting, it was given a stone cladding
in 1900, with a pediment, balustrades, and more
elaborate doorway. Part was occupied from 1899
by the London City & Midland Bank, which
remained there as the Midland Bank in 1991. (fn. 56)
The second town hall, begun in 1864, was
opened in 1866 in the centre of the rectangular
space called Hackney Grove. (fn. 57) Designed in the
'French- Italian' style by Hammack & Lambert
and faced with Portland stone, it was of two
storeys over a basement and consisted of a
five-bayed central block, balustraded and with a
Doric porch, projecting beyond single-bay
wings. (fn. 58) The estimated building costs were
greatly exceeded. (fn. 59) Extensive alterations by Gordon,
Lowther, & Gunton, opened in 1898, included
wider two-storeyed wings producing an ornate
frontage of 11 bays. (fn. 60) A third town hall was
begun in 1934, finished in 1936, and opened in
1937, replacing houses behind the second one,
of which the site thereafter formed a garden.
'Conventional but not showy', the building was
designed by Lanchester & Lodge and faced in
Portland stone; it was flat-roofed and four-storeyed, with a front of nine bays, the central five
slightly projecting. From 1965 it was the municipal centre of Hackney L.B. (fn. 61) The building
in 1991 retained its unaltered interiors in the Art
Deco style. (fn. 62)
London Borough of Hackney
Per fess in chief per fesssable and argent a maltese crossper fess argent and gules betweentwo oak tress eradicated or fructed gules and in the base gulesthree bells or, the whole within abordure barry wavy argent and azure [Granted 1969]
Conservatives outnumbered Liberals on the
first borough council, elected in 1900. As Municipal Reformers they averted Progressive
control in 1906, by allying with Independents
(Ratepayers' Association), and took overall control in 1912. (fn. 63) Labour, which in 1900 had
unsuccessfully run 9 candidates in Homerton,
the most radical ward, narrowly took control in
1919 but lost every seat to an alliance of Municipal
Reformers and Progressives in 1922 and 1925. (fn. 64)
It regained a majority only in 1934 but kept it
thereafter, both on the metropolitan borough
council and, except in 1968, on its successor.
One Communist was elected in 1945 and two
were elected in 1949. (fn. 65) Apart from Springfield,
all the wards in the former borough elected
Labour members to Hackney L.B. in 1990. (fn. 66)
The turnout in municipal elections was close to
London's average until the Second World War
but lower thereafter. (fn. 67)
Two parliamentary seats were allotted to
Hackney by the Representation of the People
Act, 1867. (fn. 68) Liberals were always returned until
the constituencies of North, Central, and South
Hackney were created in 1885. (fn. 69) Hackney North
returned a Conservative or Unionist until 1945,
except in 1906. Hackney Central voted Conservative until 1900, then Liberal until 1923,
Conservative again in 1924 and 1931, and Labour in 1929 and 1935. Hackney South generally
returned a Liberal, with Conservatives only in
1895, 1900, at a by-election in 1922, and 1931;
it was the first to vote Labour, in 1923, as it did
again in 1929 and 1935. All M.P.s were elected
as Labour from 1945, the boundaries being
redrawn to form the two seats of Hackney
Central and of Hackney North and Stoke Newington in 1955. Hackney South and Shoreditch
formed a third constituency in the 1970s but
Hackney Central was divided between the other
two Hackney seats in the 1980s. The M.P. for
Hackney South, who had joined the Social
Democrat party, was defeated in 1983. (fn. 70) Members included Sir Charles Reed (d. 1881),
chairman of the London school board, and his
successor Henry Fawcett (d. 1884), the 'member
for India', and for South Hackney Sir Charles
Russell from 1885 until 1894, when he became
Lord Russell of Killowen and lord chief justice. (fn. 71)
The financier Horatio Bottomley (d. 1933) represented South Hackney from 1906, despite local
opposition from his own party, and as an independent from 1918 until his imprisonment in
1922. (fn. 72) Herbert Stanley Morrison (d. 1965), later
Lord Morrison of Lambeth, was co-opted as
mayor of Hackney in 1919 and began his parliamentary career as M.P. for Hackney South in
1923. (fn. 73)
From 1889 Hackney's three parliamentary seats
each returned two members to the L.C.C. (fn. 74)