| AdminHistory | The 1850 Libraries Act (one of the mid nineteenth century so-called 'adoptive acts') was an enlightened piece of legislation which enabled vestries to apply to the Local Government Board to take over the appointment, duties and liabilities of the Public Library Commissioners. However, for a long time these powers were more theoretical than real, and many local authorities - as in the case of the Limehouse District Board of Works - did not make use of them until the 1890s. |