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place them as men of wealth. They were men in their middle age for the
most part - five of them were just over or under fifty - whose religious
adherences were almost equally, but not conflictingly, divided between
the Church and the Society of Friends - a striking tribute to the general
respect given to the Quakers, for there were at the time only sixty families
of the persuasion in the whole parish.
Such was the Board which for purposefulness and efficiency, for harmony
and sense of public responsibility was quite unmatched for at least
a generation. One has only to turn the pages of the minutes for the
first five years to appreciate that it was with perfect sincerity the
Chairman on one occasion wrote:- "Sensible of the responsible nature of
the duties committed to their care and prepared to anticipate in the discharge
thereof from many of their fellow parishioners determined and systematic
opposition, this Board rely with confidence on the support of the
General Board of Health to enable them to carry out those works of sanitary
improvement which the state of the district demands and which they
confidently believe will by the promotion of increased comfort and cleanliness
result in a marked improvement in the physical, social and moral
condition of a large number of their fellow parishioners, more especially
of those belonging to the working classes."
By long and frequent meetings, often two a week, the Board moved
swiftly through the initial stages of creating an administration, The
staff soon comprised a part-time clerk - a local solicitor, who retained
the post for nineteen years: a surveyor, who combined service to the
Board with private consulting practice in the City; a rate collector,
and an inspector of nuisances who also undertook the duties of road surveyor.
In a matter of weeks the Board was poring over plans and surveys
of the parish and alternative schemes prepared by the surveyor f or drainage,
sewerage and the supply of water to the 1,500 or so houses in the
built-up area of the parish. There were to be no half measures about
the reforms; water closets were to replace all cesspools: ample water
for all purposes was to be provided either from wells or from the Lea in
which case it would need to be filtered: there was to be a reservoir to
ensure a constant supply: and sewers which would discharge direct to the
Lea or possibly to a sewage works where manure could be manufactured.
It was rumour of the size of the estimates entailed in these schemes which,
within five monthsof the Board coming into existence, brought it seriously
into conflict with its natural opponents - the smaller ratepayers.
A sum, infinitely larger than any previous public expenditure in the parish,
namely £12,000 was involved. It was too much to expect the shopkeepers
and tenement owners to accept the burden without a struggle.
A public protest meeting organized by a number of disaffected tradesmen
produced a petition to the General Board to which no fewer than 474
or about one third of all ratepayers attached their signatures. It demanded
the abolition of the Local Board on the grounds that it was wholly
unnecessary and prone to indulge in "reckless expenditure on impracticable