| Metropolitan Commission of Sewers | |
| Abbreviation: | MCS |
| Predecessor: | Sewer commissions of: |
| Successor: | Metropolitan Board of Works |
| Type: | Ad hoc board |
| Status: | Statutory authority |
| Purpose: | Public health, sewerage, drainage |
| Headquarters: | 1 Greek Street |
| Location City: | London |
| Location Country: | United Kingdom |
| Coordinates: | 51.5149°N -0.1313°W |
| Origins: | Metropolitan Commission of Sewers Act 1848 |
| Region Served: | Inner London |
| Membership: | 21 |
| Membership Year: | 1854–1856 |
| Leader Title: | Chairman |
| Leader Name: | Richard Jebb |
| Leader Title2: | Engineer |
| Leader Name2: | Joseph Bazalgette |
| Board Of Directors: | Commissioners |
| Parent Organization: | Government of the United Kingdom |
The Metropolitan Commission of Sewers was one of London's first steps towards bringing its sewer and drainage infrastructure under the control of a single public body. It was absorbed by the Metropolitan Board of Works on 1 January 1856.
| Short Title: | Metropolitan Commission of Sewers Act 1848 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Long Title: | An Act to consolidate, and continue in force for Two Years and to the End of the then next Session of Parliament, the Metropolitan Commissions of Sewers. |
| Year: | 1848 |
| Citation: | 11 & 12 Vict. c. 112 |
| Royal Assent: | 4 September 1848 |
| Original Text: | https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=411FAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA1113 |
| Collapsed: | yes |
| Short Title: | Metropolitan Sewers Act 1852 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Long Title: | An Act to continue and amend the Metropolitan Sewers Act. |
| Year: | 1852 |
| Citation: | 15 & 16 Vict. c. 64 |
| Royal Assent: | 30 June 1852 |
| Collapsed: | yes |
| Short Title: | Metropolitan Sewers Act 1853 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Long Title: | An Act to continue and amend the Metropolitan Sewers Acts. |
| Year: | 1853 |
| Citation: | 16 & 17 Vict. c. 125 |
| Royal Assent: | 20 August 1853 |
| Repealing Legislation: | Statute Law Revision Act 1861 |
| Status: | repealed |
| Collapsed: | yes |
| Short Title: | Metropolitan Sewers Act 1854 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Long Title: | An Act to continue and amend the Metropolitan Sewers Acts. |
| Year: | 1854 |
| Citation: | 17 & 18 Vict. c. 111 |
| Royal Assent: | 11 August 1854 |
| Collapsed: | yes |
| Short Title: | Metropolitan Sewers Act 1855 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Long Title: | An Act to empower the Commissioners of Sewers to expend on House Drainage a certain Sum out of the Monies borrowed by them on Security of the Rates, and also to give to the said Commissioners certain other Powers for the same Purpose. |
| Year: | 1855 |
| Citation: | 18 & 19 Vict. c. 30 |
| Royal Assent: | 15 June 1855 |
| Collapsed: | yes |
The commission was formed by the (11 & 12 Vict. c. 112), partly in response to public health concerns following serious outbreaks of cholera. The commission's mandate was renewed and amended with supplementary acts:
Commissioners included Sir Edwin Chadwick, Robert Stephenson and Thomas Field Gibson.
The new body combined eight local boards of commissioners that had been established by earlier acts of Parliament:
The area covered by the Metropolitan Commission was defined as the City and Liberties of Westminster, the borough of Southwark, the areas of the previous commissioners and "any such other place in the Counties of Middlesex, Surrey, Essex and Kent or any of them, being not more than twelve miles distant in a straight line from St. Paul's Cathedral, but not being in the City of London or the liberties thereof". No area was to be exempt from the commission's jurisdiction by virtue of being extra-parochial or beyond the ebb or flow of the tide. The headquarters of the commission were at 1 Greek Street, Soho.
The City of London was excluded as it had its own Commission of Sewers dating back to 1669.
The commission surveyed London's antiquated sewerage system and set about ridding the capital of an estimated 200,000 cesspits, insisting that all cesspits should be closed and that house drains should connect to sewers and empty into the Thames (ultimately, a major contributing factor to "The Great Stink" of 1858).
The commission was notable in that it employed Joseph Bazalgette, first as assistant surveyor (from 1849), taking over as engineer in 1852 after his predecessor died of "harassing fatigues and anxieties". Bazalgette was then appointed chief engineer of the commission's successor, the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1856, and by the end of the decade after "The Great Stink" – his proposals to modernise the London sewerage system were being implemented.
The Archives are held at the