Series PR1/11 - Croydon Parish: Improvement Commissioners' Records

Croydon Improvement Commissioners were constituted by an 1829 'Act for lighting, watching and improving the Town of Croydon in the County of Surrey; for providing Lodgings for the judges at the Assizes holden in the same town and for other purposes relating thereto'. Twenty local people were appointed at a Public Vestry on 2nd June 1829, and the first meeting, at which the Vicar of Croydon was elected Chairman, was held on 11th June. The minutes of the Commissioners, which form a complete series, show their wide-ranging responsibilities. They provided lighting for Croydon's main streets, funded out of a specially levied rate, and organised the town's gas supply. They provided accomodation for Judges attending the Surrey Assizes, which were regularly held at Croydon, and were also responsible for the maintenance of law and order within the parish. They maintained the town gaol, and funded and equipped a small force of constables, headed by Superintendant of Police William Smith, until the formation of the Metropolitan Police Force in 1839. At various times, they also ran the local Fire Brigade, maintained public pavements and (at the meeting of 24th July 1829) compiled a list of street names, someof which were subsequently changed. During the 1840s, growing concern with public health was reflected in a growing number of compalints about open sewers, dung heaps and other public nuisances. In March 1848 the Commissioners were presented with a report on the sanitary condition of Croydon, which highlighted the lack of any proper sewerage or drainage system, and which resulted in the division of the parish into five sanitary districts, with a Commissioner appointed to each. Ultimately, however, the Commissioners were unable, or unwilling to instigate real change, and they were replaced by the Local Board of Health in 1849.