Boards of improvement commissioners were ad hoc urban local government boards created during the 18th and 19th centuries in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and its predecessors the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland. Around 300 boards were created, each by a local act of Parliament, typically termed an improvement act.Ed. Juliet Gardiner, The Penguin Dictionary of English History The powers of the boards varied according to the acts which created them. They often included street paving, cleansing, lighting, providing watchmen or dealing with various public nuisances.Hampton, W., Local Government and Urban Politics, (1991) Those with restricted powers might be called lighting commissioners, paving commissioners, police commissioners, etc.

Older urban government forms included the corporations of ancient boroughs, vestries of parishes, and in some cases the lord of the manor. These were ill-equipped for the larger populations of the Industrial Revolution: the most powerful in theory, the corporations, were also the most corrupt; and many new industrial towns lacked borough status. While Binfield states that the first improvement commission in Great Britain was the Manchester Police Commission, established by the Manchester Improvement Act 1765 (5 Geo. 3. c. 81), followed by the Birmingham Street Commissioners established by the Birmingham Improvement Act 1769 (9 Geo. 3. c. 83),Clyde Binfield et al., The History of the City of Sheffield 1843 - 1993: Volume I: Politics the Webbs list the Commissioners of Scotland Yard, formed by the London and Westminster Streets Act 1662 (14 Cha. 2. c. 2) for sewerage and street-cleaning in the City of London and City of Westminster,Webb & Webb 1922, p.239 and then New Sarum by the New Sarum Improvement Act 1736 (10 Geo. 2. c. 6), and Liverpool in 1748 by the Liverpool Improvement Act 1747 (21 Geo. 2. c. 24),Webb & Webb 1922, p.242 as well as various harbour commissioners from 1698.Webb & Webb 1922, p.241 Jones and Falkus give the number of such bodies created:

Period 1725–49 1750–59 1760–69 1770–79 1780–89 1790–99 Number 4 17 31 36 39 33

Improvement acts empowered the commissioners to fund their work by levying rates. Some acts specified named individuals to act as commissioners, who replenished their number by co-option. Other commissions held elections at which all ratepayers could vote, or took all those paying above a certain rate as automatic members. During the mid-19th century, some commissions came under Chartist control, for example, the Manchester Police and Gas Commissions, the Leeds Improvement Commission, the Bradford Highway Commission and the Sheffield Highway Commission.Richard Price, British Society, 1680-1880: Dynamism, Containment and Change

Improvement commissioners were gradually superseded by reformed municipal boroughs (from 1835) and boards of health (from 1848), which absorbed commissioners' powers by promoting local acts.Bryne, T., Local Government in Britain, (1994) From 1872 England and Wales were divided into urban and rural sanitary districts, with improvement commissioners districts (also termed improvement act districts) becoming a type of urban sanitary district. Those improvement commissioners still acting as urban sanitary authorities by 1894 had their districts converted into urban districts, governed instead by an elected council.Local Government Act 1894 Harbour commissioners remained separate in many cases, and they or their successor body are the competent harbour authority in many UK ports.

In Ireland the first and best known improvement commission was the Dublin Wide Streets Commission by the Parliament Street Act 1757 (31 Geo. 2. c. 19 (I)), which covered the area of Dublin Corporation and the adjoining liberties. Newtown Pery was governed by improvement commissioners from 1807 until 1853, when it was absorbed into Limerick city. The Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840 (3 & 4 Vict. c. 108) abolished most corporations, but the ad hoc improvement commissioners were superseded by standardised town commissioners appointed under the terms of acts of Parliament of 1828 and later.

List

Note for table: 'ICD' stands for improvement commissioners district.

Pre-1848

Improvement commissioners districtCountyCreatedAct of Parliament Commissioners of Scotland Yard Middlesex 1662 London and Westminster Streets Act 1662 (14 Cha. 2. c. 2) New Sarum ICD Wiltshire 1736 New Sarum Improvement Act 1736 (10 Geo. 2. c. 6) Gloucester ICD Gloucestershire 1750 Gloucester Streets Act 1749 (23 Geo. 2. c. 15) Wide Streets Commission Dublin 1758 Parliament Street Act 1757 (31 Geo. 2. c. 19 (I)) Chester ICD Cheshire 1762 Chester (Poor Relief, etc.) Act 1762 (2 Geo. 3. c. 45) Birmingham Street Commissioners Warwickshire 1769 Birmingham Improvement Act 1769 (9 Geo. 3. c. 83) Winchester ICD Hampshire 1771 Winchester Improvement Act 1771 (11 Geo. 3. c. 9) Bath ICD Somerset 1789 Bath Improvement Act 1789 (29 Geo. 3. c. 73) Chichester ICD Sussex 1791 Chichester Paving and Improvement Act 1791 (31 Geo. 3. c. 63) Exeter ICD Devon late 18th century Exeter Improvement Act 1806 (46 Geo. 3. c. xxxix) Worthing ICD Sussex 1803 Worthing Town Act 1803 (43 Geo. 3. c. 59) Lichfield ICD Staffordshire 1806 City of Lichfield Improvement Act 1806 (46 Geo. 3. c. xlii) Norwich ICD Norfolk 1806 Norwich Improvement Act 1806 (46 Geo. 3. c. lxvii) Sheffield Improvement Commission Yorkshire 1818 Sheffield Improvement Act 1818 (58 Geo. 3. c. liv) York ICD Yorkshire 1825 York Improvement Act 1825 (6 Geo. 4. c. cxxvii) Wantage ICD Berkshire 1828 Wantage Improvement Act 1828 (9 Geo. 4. c. xc) Ryde ICD Hampshire 1829 Ryde Improvement and Market Act 1829 (10 Geo. 4. c. xxxix) St Leonards-on-Sea ICD Sussex 1832 St. Leonards Improvement Act 1832 (2 & 3 Will. 4. c. xlv) Herne Bay ICD Kent 1833 Herne Parish Improvement Act 1833 (3 & 4 Will. 4. c. cv) Canterbury ICD Kent 1787 Canterbury (Streets) Act 1787 (27 Geo. 3. c. 14) Downham Market ICD Norfolk 1835 Downham Market Improvement Act 1835 (5 & 6 Will. 4. c. 52) Crediton ICD Devon 1836 Crediton Improvement Act 1836 (6 & 7 Will. 4. c. 25) Milton next Sittingbourne ICD Kent 1838 Milton-next-Sittingbourne Improvement Act 1838 (1 & 2 Vict. c. ii) Walton on the Naze ICD Essex 1841 Walton Improvement Act 1841 (5 & 6 Vict. c. xxiv) Severn Navigation Commissioners Gloucestershire and Worcestershire 1842 Severn Navigation Act 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c. xxiv) Wells-next-the-Sea ICD Norfolk 1844 Wells (Norfolk) Improvement Act 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. xciv) Ventnor ICD Hampshire 1844 Ventnor Improvement Act 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. cv) Westminster Improvement Commissioners Middlesex 1845 Westminster Improvement Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. clxxviii)

Post-1848

Improvement commissioners districtCountyCreatedAct of Parliament Whittlesey ICD Cambridgeshire 1849 Whittlesea Improvement Act 1849 (12 & 13 Vict. c. 32) Llandudno ICD Caernarfonshire 1854 Llandudno Improvement Act 1854 (17 & 18 Vict. c. cii) Milford ICD Pembrokeshire 1857 Milford Improvement Act 1857 (20 & 21 Vict. c. 74) Chiswick ICD Middlesex 1858 Chiswick Improvement Act 1858 (21 & 22 Vict. c. 69) West Worthing ICD Sussex 1865 West Worthing Improvement Act 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. xxvii)

Converted into urban districts in 1894 By 1894 many earlier bodies of improvement commissioners had been replaced by local boards or borough corporations. There were 30 towns across England and Wales where the improvement commissioners were still the primary form of local government, acting as the urban sanitary authority. These districts, all converted into urban districts under the Local Government Act 1894, were:

Abergavenny Bethesda Bilston Bingley Bradford-on-Avon Crediton Downham Market Fleetwood Hove Kington Knaresborough Leek Llandudno Lytham Maryport Milford Haven Milton-next-Sittingbourne Newton-in-Makerfield Oundle Rhyl Ross-on-Wye Runcorn Spalding Stourbridge Surbiton Walton-on-the-Naze Wantage Wells-next-the-Sea Wellington Whittlesey

Sources

References

See also Special district (United States)