LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
Manorial government.
In 1294 the bishop of London
successfully claimed view of frankpledge, infangthief, outfangthief, the assize of bread and of ale,
fugitives, goods, and amercements of tenants in
Acton, as part of his manor of Fulham. (fn. 13)
Views of frankpledge were held for the vill of
Acton by 1383 (fn. 14) and were taken at Fulham on the
Sunday after Hocktide or another day generally
in April. In 1750, and occasionally thereafter, the
views for Ealing and Acton were taken together.
The main business, apart from paying the common fine and appointing officers, concerned
ditches and highways and the assize of bread and
of ale. From the 16th century courts were increasingly concerned with grazing rights. (fn. 15)
The reeve collected quitrents for both Acton
and Ealing. In 1697 it was stated that there were
eight tenements in Acton from which the reeve
was chosen every third year, Ealing tenants being
chosen for the other years. The reeve received
money, clothing, and food, and the reevable
tenements were the only ones for which a heriot
was paid. (fn. 16) Other manorial officers served Acton
alone. Eight headboroughs were listed in the 14th
and 15th centuries but only two by 1553. Two
aletasters were recorded in 1393 and only one by
1486 and thereafter, until two were appointed in
the early 19th century. A constable occurred in
1461 and there were two by 1528. Thereafter the
two constables, with headboroughs and aletasters, were chosen annually until the views for
Acton ceased c. 1815. In 1816 not enough tenants
attended to form a jury, when the steward
recommended that the vestry appoint manorial
officers and resist encroachments by Chiswick
inhabitants. (fn. 17) By that date business had been
limited to elections and court baron transactions.
Land transfers took place at the court baron for
Fulham until the 16th century, when some were
recorded at the view of frankpledge. A court
baron for Acton was held in 1607 and thereafter
one for Ealing with Acton met regularly in the
autumn for land transactions. By 1750 there were
separate courts baron for Ealing and Acton. The
view and the court baron were the only courts
held every year and from the 17th century they
were often adjourned over succeeding months.
All the courts for Acton apparently were held in
Fulham or Hammersmith. Court baron business
continued to be recorded until 1951, by then
mainly for extinguishment of quitrents, with a
few conveyances and successions to property. (fn. 18)
Enfranchisements began in 1846, most of the
larger properties being enfranchised during the
next 30 years. (fn. 19)
Parish government to 1836.
Two churchwardens were recorded in 1554, (fn. 20) two overseers
in 1583, (fn. 21) and two sidesmen from 1586 until the
17th century. (fn. 22) A parish clerk occurred in 1456 (fn. 23)
and two surveyors from 1627. (fn. 24) From 1777
the vestry clerk received a salary to carry out the
business of the parish officers (fn. 25) and from the
early 19th century he was also paid annually as an
assistant overseer. The parish clerk and vestry
clerk were different men in 1810. (fn. 26) Two inspectors of weights and balances were elected in 1798,
and a beadle was appointed in 1800 to keep order
in church, remove paupers, and report on new
residents likely to become chargeable, for which
he received a salary and uniform. (fn. 27) Churchwardens' accounts exist from 1674 to 1819, with a
summary from the late 16th century, (fn. 28) overseers'
accounts and poor rate books from 1772, (fn. 29) a
highway surveyors' rate book from 1775 to
1811, (fn. 30) and vestry minutes from 1775. (fn. 31)
A vestry was held in 1586 with 14 present, but
meetings were recorded only occasionally before
1775. The church rate, which included provision
for the poor, was 3d. in the £ in 1675, when it
raised £25 7s. 4d., and 4½d., in 1703, when it
raised £51 10s. 9d. Eighteenth-century rates
were generally annual and between 3d. and 4d.
Vestries met in the church but were usually
adjourned to the Cock, the King's Head, or
another inn, until a new vestry room was built in
1781. Apart from elections, business mainly concerned apprenticeships and payments to the
poor. Although the vestry met monthly, only the
meetings which elected officers or made orders
were minuted: eight meetings were recorded in
1776, six in 1780, and five in 1785. In 1800 the
agenda was to be announced in advance and the
monthly vestries on Sundays were to be confined
to settling the overseers' accounts. The rector,
William Antrobus, and his curates attended
regularly from 1798. A select vestry was
approved in 1821 (fn. 32) but a meeting of 43 inhabitants reversed the decision, whereupon the open
vestry continued to handle poor relief. (fn. 33)
A separate poor rate apparently began in
1772. (fn. 34) The rate was 5d. in 1772, 7d. in 1790, and
20d. in 1801, and usually exceeded 1s. in the early
19th century, with two or more rates a year. In
1776 c. £220 was spent on the poor and in the
early 1780s c. £290 a year. (fn. 35) From 1818 c. £1,000
was collected annually (fn. 36) and in 1836, the last year
of parish poor relief, £1,174 was raised and £786
16s. was spent on the poor. (fn. 37) The parish was
rated as a whole rather than by districts. (fn. 38)
Objections to the poor rate grew from 1785,
when there were refusals to pay (fn. 39) and the vestry
rejected a move to assess parishioners on improvements to their property. (fn. 40) Protests (fn. 41)
eventually led to a revaluation by John Trumper
and Richard Davis, (fn. 42) which thereafter formed
the basis of rating. There were further disagreements in 1807 and 1821 and in 1823 Sir Richard
Birnie, a resident, refused to sign the poor rate as
a magistrate, whereupon some assessments were
reduced. (fn. 43)
In 1629 William Ball of Willesden sold his
house in Acton to the parish officers, who paid a
rent for it as the parish house until 1681. There
was no workhouse, but almshouses were built in
1725 on the site of a house in the Steyne which the
churchwardens had bought from Charles Fox in
1681 for the use of the poor. (fn. 44) Pensioners were to
be badged in 1706 but only one regular pension
was paid, out of Ramsay's charity, in 1708. (fn. 45)
Paupers were forbidden to keep dogs in 1792,
when there were 14 receiving regular relief.
Increasing poverty was met in 1799 by providing
cheap meat, bread, and coals, paid for by voluntary subscriptions. In 1800 weekly allowances of
2s. 6d. to 12s. were arranged for 17 paupers and
clothing was distributed yearly and half yearly to
the aged. (fn. 46) A scheme of 1832 for part of Acton
Green common to be cultivated by the poor was
dropped when the bishop of London, after
pressure from some residents and outsiders,
withdrew his consent. (fn. 47) Acton was thought not to
be a poor parish in 1828, when only three able
bodied men were unemployed. (fn. 48)
By the late 18th century the vestry was
assuming several functions of the manorial court.
In 1792 it ordered that pigs should be controlled
and from 1785 it dealt with encroachments on the
wastes and lanes. In 1792 six inhabitants were
allowed to inclose waste in front of their houses
on making payments into the parish funds, (fn. 49) and
compensation was also paid by the Grand Junction Canal Co., the G.W.R., and others for
removal of common rights. (fn. 50) The vestry in 1810
sued a Hammersmith builder, who had erected
six small houses on his strip in Church field, and
won confirmation of common rights, (fn. 51) and it
viewed an inclosure on Old Oak common in 1826
to protect the commoners there. (fn. 52) It also began to
press for the general inclosure of wastes such as
Acton Green common in 1794 (fn. 53) and of all
commons in 1805 and again in 1813, although
without success. In 1816 gatehouses were
planned at the entrances to the common fields
and a gate was to be put up at the north end of
Acton Lane, to protect South field. (fn. 54)
A temporary board of health, similar to one in
Ealing, was formed in 1831 to counter the threat
of cholera, with the rector as president and eleven
other members. (fn. 55)
Local government after 1836.
Acton joined
Brentford poor law union in 1836. (fn. 56) The vestry in
1848 appointed a short-lived committee to help
the medical officers and guardians carry out the
Nuisances Removal Act. (fn. 57) From the late 1850s
there was disagreement between those who
wished for improvements to attract new residents
and those who wanted to do nothing until an
increased population made improvements
necessary. A meeting was called in 1859 to
consider improving the footpaths and lighting
the streets. Vestry meetings were moved from
mid afternoon to 7 p.m. despite opposition, and
those concerned with improvement drew such
large numbers that they were adjourned to the
George every time. In 1861 it was resolved to
meet again before 3 p.m. and in 1862 it was finally
agreed to adopt street lighting. (fn. 58)
In 1865 the Local Government Act, 1858, (fn. 59)
was adopted to deal with sewerage, (fn. 60) and a local
board of 12 members met twice monthly from
1866. A small house in High Street was rented for
offices and a salaried clerk was appointed. The
board also took over responsibility for the highways and for street lighting. A salaried surveyor
and inspector of nuisances was appointed and
committees for works and for finance were
formed in 1866. Other committees were formed
later, often of a temporary nature, such as a
drainage committee in 1883 and a fire brigade
committee in 1899. The local board exercised
strict control over building, which led to
criticism in 1869 and accusations of partiality.
Examples of discrimination, supplied by 'Lucifer
Doubtful' and published in the Acton Press,
prompted the board to print a detailed refutation.
Bylaws operated against the small builder, who
could not afford to observe the regulations, and it
was alleged that many sewers were being put
down in Horn Lane to accommodate gentlemen,
while the badly flooded parts of Acton Green and
around Bollo bridge had very few. (fn. 61)
Acton became a U.D. under the Local
Government Act, 1894, and was divided into
North, East, and West wards, returning 7, 4, and
4 members respectively. Four different wards,
North-East, North-West, South-East, and
South-West, each with 4 councillors, were
created in 1906. (fn. 62) The incorporation of Acton as
a borough, discussed as early as 1900, (fn. 63) was
achieved with the grant of a charter in 1921. (fn. 64)
The borough council consisted of a mayor, 6
aldermen, and 24 councillors, representing the 4
wards of the former U.D. (fn. 65) Conservatives controlled the council in the 1930s and the Labour
party after the Second World War. (fn. 66) Acton
remained a separate M.B. until 1965, when it was
included in Ealing L.B.
Borough of Action
Gules, an oak tree issuing from the base proper; on a chief or charged with a pale gules the arms of the Middlesex County Council, between on the dexter an open book and on the sinister a cog wheel, both proper [Granted 1921]
An office was built by the local board in High
Street, at the foot of Acton hill, in 1870. (fn. 67) In an
Italianate Gothic style, it was used after 1910 by
private firms until its demolition c. 1930. (fn. 68) New
municipal offices on the Priory estate, next to the
swimming baths, were opened in 1910, (fn. 69) accommodating both the council and departments
which previously had been dispersed. A threestoreyed building, with its main entrance in
Winchester Street, it was of red brick with stone
facings in a free Renaissance style. The adjacent
High Street site was opened as the King George
V garden, but eventually was used for the new
town hall, opened in 1939, which contained an
assembly room. (fn. 70) After the formation of Ealing
L.B., Acton town hall housed an information
bureau, cash office, and the registrar of births,
deaths, and marriages. (fn. 71)
Acton formed part of the parliamentary constituency of Middlesex until its inclusion in 1885
in the new Ealing division, which also contained
Chiswick and returned a Conservative member.
In 1918 Acton became a separate division of
Middlesex, returning a Conservative, as it did
thereafter except between 1929 and 1931 and
between 1945 and 1959, when there was a Labour
member. As Ealing-Acton, the constituency was
enlarged to include part of east Ealing and
Twyford, with effect from 1974. (fn. 72)