Local Boards

You may believe that this subject is quite mundane, but Local Boards were an important part of life in the general day to day running of townships in the Victorian era and they give an insight and, sometimes quite often, paint a very grim picture of the standard of life and hardships of our ancestors. 

The first local boards were created under the Public Health Act 1848. The aim of the act was to improve the sanitary condition of towns and populous places. The role of the board was the supply of water; sewerage; drainage; cleansing; paving, and environmental health regulation under a single local body.

The 1848 Act was replaced by the Local Government Act 1858.

A local board of health was allowed to appoint a number of employees, including a surveyor, a clerk, a treasurer, and an officer of health (who had to be a qualified doctor). It was compulsory for the board to appoint an inspector of nuisances (sanitary inspector) to investigate complaints and take action against nuisances. A nuisance was a very broad term and covered a multitude of issues such as unsanitary dwellings, accumulations of refuse and sewage, smoke, dust, smells and industrial emissions, polluted water, noise, adulterated food, slaughterhouse issues and so on.  

Additional powers from the 1858 Act would include: Removal of obstructions and nuisances in the street; Fires and fire prevention; Provision and control of places of public resort; Regulation of hackney carriages; Provision of public bathing houses; Naming streets and numbering houses; Improving the line of streets; Removal of ruinous or dangerous buildings; Provision of public clocks and Provide a market place. Not particularly specified, but also included, was the approval (or refusal) of plans for new buildings and extensions or alterations to existing buildings. 

The townships of the Spen Valley that had Local Boards were: Cleckheaton, Gomersal, Heckmondwike, Hunsworth and Liversedge. The various Boards of the Spen Valley were not all formed at the same time. In 1894 all Local Boards became Urban Districts. 

This page is currently under construction and it is hoped to add details of the meetings held by these various Local Boards. Select the buttons below relative to your area of interest. Other areas will be added in due course.