CHAPTER XXII.

Ealing and its Municipal Eife.1

The Upper Side and the Lower Side of the Parish.—The Old Highway Board.-A Reminiscence or 1856.-A Move.-Opposition.--Ealing Local Board.-The First Board.-Operations.-Final Abrogation of Old Highway Board.-Systematic Progress.-The Public Buildings.-The Lammas Park.-The Common and Green.— The Electric Light.-A Change of Name.-Development.

O give a history of the municipal life of Ealing would necessitate a considerable investigation into the history of years long past, which would probably be not only uninteresting but unprofitable, the records being such as often form the dull and dreary story of a town, whose only period of life was the weekly market and the occasional election of a Member of Parliament. The Ealing of the past comprised not only the Ealing now under the District Council, but the town of Brentford and the village of Ealing. The first was the county town of Middlesex, where the elections were held, and in this relationship ought to have assumed a character far in advance of anything it has hitherto assumed. Doubtless, a Mayor and Corporation ought ages ago to have been its natural aspiration (probably the good time has yet to come). The village of Ealing, or Upper Part, as it was called, was regarded as a

1 By Mr. Charles Jones, M.Inst.C.E., F.S.I., Engineer and Surveyor to the Ealing Urban District Council.

very insignificant adjunct to the town of Brentford, and, so far as any municipal life is concerned, was only of importance inasmuch as it contained the parish church of St. Mary, and the Cross House, where, of necessity, parish work had to be done, very often much to the disgust of the lower town, when voters had perforce to travel from Brentford to Ealing to secure their local votes, and to take part in the various matters which affected the interests of the parish at large. The governing body really consisted of residents, principally drawn from the gentry of the neighbourhood, selected from the lower and upper districts, and known as the Highway Board. These were elected for life, and, as records testify, did their duty in a manner satisfactory, and up to date, so far as the necessity of the times. required.

These necessities, with the light of the present day cast upon them, were, indeed, meagre in the extreme. Brentford High Street was lighted, by order of Parliament, for the convenience of the Royal personages who occasionally passed that way, but beyond that, darkness reigned supreme, both in the upper and the lower district; in the village, the author of this paper remembers, as late as 1856, seeing the ladies of the community going to church on a Sunday evening, carrying an old-fashioned lantern to light the way. At this time there were two or three lamp-posts in the vicinity of the village Green. They had been a private speculation, and lasted but a short period. The cost was more than even the more enlightened of the inhabitants cared to pay for, and the village soon returned to its almost primeval darkness.

About the year 1856, however, a feeling of interest began to make itself felt; several new residents came to the village, who, attracted by its sylvan beauty, had taken up their abode in the place, and realized the fact that after sun

set they might as well be living in the wilds of Australia or New Zealand, and an agitation was commenced to bring about a better state of things. A small committee was formed, consisting of some four or five of the older residents, with two or three new comers, and, after many meetings and much consultation, it was decided to take action. But as is common in all progressive movements in England, paradoxical though it may appear, progress was slow. At last, however, it was decided that a local Parliament, upon the newest type, should be established. This was easier said than done, and, as Brentford was in the parish of Ealing, it had to be consulted, and year after year the battle was fought, and remained with the stronger brigade, so far as votes were concerned, viz., Brentford.

The outcome of the opposition was of the greatest importance, so far as the future progress of the village was concerned; the committee before mentioned took advice, and under that advice applied to the Local Government Board to form an independent district under the Public Health Act. An enquiry by a Government officer was held, the report was favourable, and on the 13th of May 1863, the Ealing Local Board came into existence.

From this date the real municipal life of Ealing may be said to have begun. The circumstances of the Upper District were so entirely different from the town of Brentford that the separation was undoubtedly a boon to both places, and tended eventually to the prosperity of both, when divided, in a way which would have rendered prosperity almost impossible had the parish still remained undivided. At the time of the separation, Ealing, the village, contained somewhere about 5,000 persons, with an acreage of 3,225. The whole district was not, however, included within the lines laid down by the Local Government Board, the northern portion, from about the top of

PP

Castle Bar Hill to the Brent, being excluded, as considered far too rural. The Government decision was an unfortunate one, as within ten years the whole of the northern district was taken in, and large expense had to be incurred which would not have been the case had the district been incorporated in its entirety in 1863. It may not, however, be wondered at that a comparative stranger to the district could not take in the future as some who lived upon the spot felt justified in doing. The opening of the District Railway was looked upon as an important factor, and so it proved, years before the Metropolitan District Railway was extended so far as Ealing.

The first Board consisted of nine resident men, whose names may still be recorded as the pioneers of Ealing progress. These were as follows, viz.: Rear-Admiral Sir R. Collinson, C.B., Messrs. A. H. Johnson, Sen., J. Meacock, C. N. Atlee, E. Pearce, LL.D., George Wood, J. Berry, J. Slark, and G. F. Tippett. A. H. Johnson, sen., was the first chairman, with Alex. Hemsley as clerk, and Charles Jones, C.E., as engineer and surveyor.

At this period, as before mentioned, there were no public lamps, the roads and paths, with the exception of the main Uxbridge Road, were in a deplorable condition, kerbing and channelling was a thing unknown, the drainage of the district was by ill-conditioned sewers, into which the overflow from cesspools ran, ultimately discharging into the various ditches along the line of roads, and water for household purposes was drawn principally from shallow wells.

The rateable value of the property thus forming, under Government warrant, the district of Ealing, was £17,500, a small enough basis for the work which was ultimately carried out, and which undoubtedly formed the foundation of Ealing's prosperity; but fortunately the men elected to set the good work on a fair course were far-seeing men who, possessing considerable means of their own, went in