Basic Biographical Details Name: | Local Government Board for Scotland | Designation: | | Born: | | Died: | | Bio Notes: | The Local Government Board for Scotland was constituted by the Earl of Rosebery’s Liberal government in 1892, replacing the Board of Supervision. Its powers were originally concerned mainly with public health and poor relief. Its members comprised three ex-officio members, The Secretary for Scotland, the permanent secretary and the solicitor general, together with three others, a chairman, an advocate and a physician who were responsible for the administration of its staff.
In 1909 Asquith’s Liberal government brought in legislation which required local authorities to assume the power to build rate-financed working-class housing and technical staff i.e. architects, were appointed to set the standards required and supervise its design. In the same year the Secretary for Scotland Lord Pentland received a deputation from the Scottish Miners’ Federation and instructed the Board to instigate a study on miners’ housing, and in October 1912 the succeeding Secretary of State Mackinnon Wood set up a Royal Commission to report on all Scottish working class housing.
Late in 1914 Raymond Unwin was appointed Chief Town Planning Inspector for the English Local Government Board and took charge of the planning and building of the housing developments required for the war effort. In parallel the Local Government Board for Scotland’s ‘technical staff’ moved from a supervisory role to designing and building industrial villages sometimes in a form of partnership with the local authorities. By that date the Board had a staff of some 300 people.
The Board’s building programme ended in 1918, when its role again became supervisory. In 1919 the Board became the Department of Health for Scotland following the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Civil Service chaired by Lord MacDonnell in 1912.
| Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | 125, George Street, Edinburgh, Scotland | Business | Before 1915 | After 1930 | |
Employment and TrainingEmployees or PupilsThe following individuals were employed or trained by this (click on an item to view details): | | Name | Date from | Date to | Position | Notes | | John Wilson | May 1910 | Before 1928 | Chief Architect | | | George Donaldson Macniven | 1915 | 1918 | Depute Chief Architect | |
Buildings and Designs
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Gibson, John | 1985 | The Thistle and the Crown: a History of the Scottish Office | | | | | Rosenburg, Lou | 2016 | Scotland's Homes fit for Heroes: Garden City Influences on the Development of Scottish Working Class Housing, 1900-1939 | | Scottish Centre for Conservation Studies: The Word Bank | |
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