Background
While an elected London County Council had been created by the Local Government Act 1888, the lower tier of local government still consisted of elective vestries and District boards of works created in 1855 by the Metropolis Management Act. In addition there were a number of areas outside the jurisdiction of any local authority.
In 1893, a Royal Commission on the Unification of London had been established with the purpose of making proposals on the amalgamation of the City of London with the county. In its report in 1894, the Commission recommended increasing the power of the County Council over the vestries and boards, with county councillors becoming ex officio members of the lower authorities, and the LCC gaining powers to frame by-laws to govern them.
In reaction to the report, the vestries sought a strengthening of the second tier of government in the capital. Charters of incorporation as a municipal borough were sought in 1896 - 1897 by Paddington vestry, the parishes of the City of Westminster and in Kensington.
The London Municipal Society had been formed in 1894 to support the pro-Unionist Moderate candidates in London local elections. The stated policy of the Society at the 1897 vestry elections was "conferring on the local authorities of the metropolis municipal dignity and privileges". In July the Society urged the Government to introduce legislation to create municipalities in London.
In February 1898, a deputation attended the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, and presented him with a memorial calling for municipal government in London. The common seals of nineteen vestries were affixed to the document. Later in the year two private bills to create boroughs in London were introduced to the Commons, one by the member of parliament for Islington West, Thomas Lough, and the second by a group of London local authorities.
Read more about this topic: London Government Act 1899
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