List of heads of London government
General Purpose Authorities
Chairmen of the Metropolitan Board of Works
- Sir John Thwaites 1855-1870
- James Macnaghten Hogg 1870-1889
Leaders of the London County Council
The post of Leader was only officially recognised in 1933. This table takes into account the usual convention in British local government that the Leader is the Chairman of certain important committees.
- Sir Thomas Farrer 1889-1890
- James Stuart 1890-1892
- Charles Harrison 1892-1898
- Thomas McKinnon Wood 1898-1907
- Richard Robinson 1907-1908
- Hon. William Wellesley Peel 1908-1910
- Cyril Jackson 1910-1915
- Ronald Collett Norman 1915-1917
- Sir George Hume 1917-1925
- Sir William Ray 1925-1933
- Herbert Morrison 1933-1940
- Lord Latham 1940-1947
- Sir Isaac Hayward 1947-1965
Leaders of the Greater London Council
- Bill Fiske 1964-1967
- Desmond Plummer 1967-1973
- Sir Reg Goodwin 1973-1977
- Sir Horace Cutler 1977-1981
- Ken Livingstone 1981-1984
- John Wilson 1984
- Ken Livingstone 1984-1986
Chairman of the London Residuary Body
- Sir Godfrey 'Tag' Taylor 1985-1996
- Ken Livingstone 2000-
Special Purpose Authorities
Chairmen of the London School Board
- Lord Lawrence 1870-1873
- Sir Charles Reed 1873-1881 (Died in office)
- Edward North Buxton 1881-1885
- Rev. Joseph Diggle 1885-1894
- Lord George Hamilton 1894-1895
- Marquess of Londonderry 1895-1897
- Lord Reay 1897-1904
Leaders of the Inner London Education Authority
Although ILEA was created in 1964 and came into its powers in 1965, the post of Leader did not exist until April 1967. For the period 1964-67 the de facto Leadership was shared between the Chairman of the Education Committee, James Young, and the Chairmen of the Authority, Harold Shearman (from 1964-1965) and Ashley Bramall (1965-1967).
- Christopher Chataway 1967-1969
- Lena Townsend 1969-1970
- Ashley Bramall 1970-1981
- Bryn Davies 1981-1983
- Frances Morrell 1983-1987
- Neil Fletcher 1987-1990