London Board School

The School Board for London (known colloquially as the London School Board and often abbreviated to the LSB) was an institution of local government and the first directly elected body covering the whole of London.

The Elementary Education Act 1870 was the first to provide for education for the whole population of England and Wales. It created elected school boards, which had power to build and run schools where there were insufficient voluntary school places; they could also compel attendance. In most places, the school boards were based on borough districts or civil parishes, but in London the board covered the whole area of the Metropolitan Board of Works – the area today known as Inner London.

Between 1870 and 1904, the LSB was the single largest educational provider in London and the infrastructure and policies it developed were an important influence on London schooling long after the body was abolished.

The entire board was elected every three years, with the first elections held in November 1870. The LSB originally consisted of forty-nine members elected from ten divisions, based around London's constituencies or the Districts formed under the Metropolis Management Act 1855. Four divisions, representing the City, Southwark, Chelsea and Greenwich returned four members each. The divisions of Lambeth, Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Westminster returned five members each. Finally, Finsbury and Marylebone returned six and seven members respectively. The membership increased over time: to 50 in 1876 when Lambeth was given an extra member, to 51 in 1882 when the representation of Chelsea increased to five members and to 55 in 1885 when Lambeth was sub-divided into two smaller divisions: Lambeth East and Lambeth West with four and six members respectively.

The electoral system of the LSB contained several innovations. Firstly, the board's election of 1870 was polled by secret ballot, being the first large-scale election to use this approach in Britain. Secondly, the cumulative voting system gave electors a number of votes equal to the number of seats in the division in which they were voting. The elector could use up as many of their votes on a single candidate as they wished, which meant that minority interests often found representation.

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