At the election of 1919 (postponed during the World War) there were returned 68 Municipal Reform (or "Moderates"), 40 Progressive, one Independent, and 15 Labour members.
The Representation of the People Act, 1918, rearranged the boundaries of all the London parliamentary boroughs, except the City of London. It provided that the Administrative County of London should be divided into 61 parliamentary constituencies, the City of London returning two members, the others one each (see UNITED KINGDOM). The boundaries of the county electoral divisions are coterminous with those of the parliamentary constituencies.
Ecclesiastical Divisions. To the suffragan bishops must be added those of Willesden (1911), Woolwich (1918) and Kingston (1914). Leading Nonconformist churches were Westbourne Park chapel, Westminster chapel, Christ church (Westminster), King's Weigh House chapel, the Scottish National church, and St. Columba's (Presbyterian). There were in 1921 eight Christian Science churches in London proper, and as many more in extra-London. The head- quarters of the Church Army are at 55 Bryanston Street. To the French churches should be added the Huguenot Episcopal church in Shaftesbury Avenue. The Dutch church in Austin Friars is of great historical interest. The church of the Theosophtcal Society in Tavistock Sq. is a striking building by Sir E. Lutyens. The Cath- olic Apostolic church in Gordon Sq. is one of the largest and most striking ecclesiastical edifices in London. The number of ecclesiasti- cal parishes is now 633.
Finance. Apart from provisional and temporary measures during the World War there have been no important modifications of the financial government of London since 1911. For the year 1919-21 the total sum raised by the General Rates was 22,104,510, an increase of about oj millions over that of 1906-7. The rate for 1920-1 showed an increase of about 10 millions over 1906-7. The total local expenditure of London for 1917-8 (the latest year avail- able) was 30,528,746; the chief items were London County Coun- cil 13.512,674; Metropolitan Borough Councils 5,555,217; Board of Guardians 3,427,456; Metropolitan Water Board 2,645,073; Metropolitan Police 2,679,002; City Corporation 1,314,696; Metropolitan Asylums Board 1,330,557. The average rate for 1919-20 was slightly under los. in the , and the estimated rate for the first half-year of 1921-2 about 7s. lOjd. (equal to an annual rate of 153. gd.). In 1920 the total ratable value of immovable prop- erty in the county of London was 45,638,701 (an increase of 2-3% since 1909).! In 1921, however, it rose to 48,708,752 (9-2% over 1909). A penny rate produces over 200,000 (1921-2). The Equal- ization Fund produces about 1,217,000; but rates still vary from 22s. lod. in Poplar to us. 6d. in Westminster and los. 6d. in the City. The estimated income of the London County Coun- cil for 1920-1 was 27,535,033; that of the City Corporation in 1919-20 was 211,272. The debts of the London local authorities 6n March 31 1918 were as follows: London County Council 47,549,550; Metropolitan Asylums Board 1,191,783; Metropolitan Police 74,345; Metropolitan Water Board 39,255,555; Central (Unemployed) Body 1,200; City of London Corporation and Metropolitan Borough Councils 16,190,366; Guardians and Sick Asylum managers 2,048,448 (total 106,311,247, a decrease of 8 millions since 1908). The aggregate capital expenditure by the London County Council and its predecessors down to March 31 1919 was 98,576,171.
History. The history of London after 1909 was largely the chronicle of an interruption or arrest of its normal growth in population, extent, wealth and progress generally. According to the estimates of the registrar-general the increase in popula- tion from 1911-20 was relatively small. Between 1911 and 1920 the assessable value increased only by about 2|%, as compared with an increase of I2% in 1901-11, and of 20% in 1891-1901. The tonnage of shipping entering and clearing the port had not yet regained in 1920 its pre-war figure, though the inflation of values showed an increase in terms of money. With the excep- tion of relatively unimportant extensions no new tubes or tram- ways had been constructed; new schemes of improvement and extensions in streets, housing, water-supply and the like had been suspended, or only just resumed. The death-rate, which had decreased steadily down to 1912, jumped from 13-6 per 1,000 in that year to 19-2 in 1918, and the birth-rate decreased in a similar proportion. This " arrest," however, had by no means been due to stagnation, because probably no similar period had taken London's citizens more emphatically out of the category of the happy people who have no history and into the realm of excitement and adventure. On May 31 1915, London
1 The retardation of growth in ratable value was largely due to the reduction of assessment of licensed premises in 1910.
was startled by the first hostile attack it had experienced for nine centuries; and from then till May 1918 it was the persistent target of German airmen (see AIR-RAIDS). In all it was reached 25 times by hostile air-ships (seven raids) and aeroplanes (eighteen raids). No fewer than 922 bombs were dropped within the county of London, of which 355 were incendiary and 567 explosive; 524 persons were killed and 1,264 injured. The material damage has been estimated at over 2,000,000, or about one-fifth of that occasioned by the great fire of 1666. East London suffered most severely. Practically no buildings of historic or artistic value were seriously injured. London's de- fence, which was increasingly successful, consisted partly of bar- rage fire from anti-aircraft guns and partly of British " counter-' planes." An " apron barrage " of wire trailed from balloons was also tried. Tube stations, church crypts and so on were used as refuges between the " warning " and " all clear " sig- nals. On June 13 1917, a bomb fell on a County Council school at Poplar, killing and injuring a number of children. On March 7 1918, a single bomb destroyed four four-storey houses in Paddington, wrecked two, and seriously damaged twelve others. The greatest financial damage was done by the raid of Sept. 7 1915, when City property to the value of over 500,000 -was destroyed by fire. (For particulars of damage done elsewhere than in Poplar by the air raid of June 13 1917, see 30.97.)
The war-time restrictions included the great diminution of the lighting of the streets after nightfall; an airship patrol to see that the shading of all lights was properly carried out; the patrolling of voluntary " special constables," taking over many of the duties of the regular police; the multiplication of " flag-days," when little flags were sold in the streets for benevolent purposes usually directly associated with the war; the occupation of the public parks and other open spaces by hutments for one kind or another of Government sen-ice, or by allotments cultivated by private citizens for the increase of the national food-supply; the limitation in the transport services, including the closing of several suburban stations; the restriction of private motoring; the queues outside the provision shops; the commandeering by Government of many of the leading hotels and of numerous large private houses, the latter chiefly as hospitals and convales- cent homes; the closing of a certain proportion of places of enter- tainment, and the temporary abandonment or transference elsewhere of some of the chief annual fixtures in the sphere of sport; the closing (total or partial) of the British Museum, National Gallery, and other public collections; the protection of historic buildings by sand-bags, the temporary removal of their treasures, and the substitution of wood for stained glass; the arrangements for the accommodation and support of many thousands of Belgian refugees; the setting apart of the Alex- andra Palace and other large institutions as internment camps' the appearance of women as omnibus and tramway conductors (an outward and visible sign of the enormous part played by women during the war in providing substitutes for male labour). Aliens, of course, had to submit in London to the general restric- tions, but London never became a " prohibited area."
During the war London and its neighbourhood became the seat of a very extensive production of munitions of all kinds, employing great numbers of women as well as men. One of the unhappy incidents of their activity was the explosion of a muni- tion factory at Silvertown on Jan. 19 1917, followed by a disas- trous fire and the loss of 69 lives (400 casualties in all).
Among other London incidents directly connected with the war may be mentioned the anti-German riots of 1914; the execu- tion of Sir Roger Casement at Pentonville on Aug. 13 1016; the execution in the Tower of Carl Lodz (1914), Miiller (1915), and other spies and traitors; the march of American troops through London on Aug. 15 1917; the burial of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey (Nov. n 1920), the great memo- rial services in St; Paul's Cathedral in honour of Nurse Cavcll (1915); to celebrate America's coming into the war (1917); to render thanks for the restoration of peace (July 6 1919); and the remarkable scenes of rejoicing in the London streets on the proclamation of the Armistice on Nov. n 1918.
