Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London

The term metropolitan borough was used from 1900 to 1965, for the subdivisions of the County of London and were created by the London Government Act 1899.[1]

Metropolitan borough (London)
Also known as: Borough
Category	Local government district
Location	England
Found in	County of London
Created by	London Government Act 1899
Created	1900
Abolished by	London Government Act 1963
Abolished	1965
Number	28 (as of 1965)
Possible status	City (1) Royal (1)
Government	Borough Council

History

Parliamentary boroughs covering the metropolitan area were created in 1832. They were Finsbury, Greenwich, Lambeth, Marylebone, Southwark, Tower Hamlets and Westminster. Soon after their creation it was proposed that they should be incorporated for local government purposes[2] and this was also a finding of the Royal Commission on the City of London, but this did not happen.

The metropolitan boroughs were created in 1900 by the London Government Act 1899 which created 28 metropolitan boroughs as sub-divisions of the County of London. Their borough councils replaced vestries and district boards as the second tier of local government.

Some boroughs were formed as amalgamations of parishes, but most were continuations of existing units of local government with the parish vestry or district board elevated to a borough council.[3] With the creation of the boroughs, the opportunity was taken to correct a number of boundary anomalies. All civil parishes in the County of London, continued to exist, although their role was reduced to administration of the New Poor Law and they were amalgamated over time to become aligned with the boroughs.

In 1965 the County of London was abolished by the London Government Act 1963 and replaced with the much larger Greater London. The 28 metropolitan boroughs were also abolished and merged to create 12 of the 32 larger London boroughs[4] and are also known as Inner London boroughs.

List of boroughs

They were the following:

Metropolitan Borough	County	Created	Abolished	Successor(s)	No. on map
Battersea Met. B	London	1900	1965	Wandsworth	28
Bermondsey Met. B	London	1900	1965	Southwark	8
Bethnal Green Met. B	London	1900	1965	Tower Hamlets	6
Camberwell Met. B	London	1900	1965	Southwark	10
Chelsea Met. B	London	1900	1965	Kensington and Chelsea	29
Deptford Met. B	London	1900	1965	Lewisham	11
Finsbury Met. B	London	1900	1965	Islington	4
Fulham Met. B	London	1900	1965	Hammersmith	25
Greenwich Met. B	London	1900	1965	Greenwich	14
Hackney Met. B	London	1900	1965	Hackney	16
Hammersmith Met. B	London	1900	1965	Hammersmith	24
Hampstead Met. B	London	1900	1965	Camden	20
Holborn Met. B	London	1900	1965	Camden	3
Islington Met. B	London	1900	1965	Islington	18
Kensington Met. B (Royal Borough)	London	1900	1965	Kensington and Chelsea	23
Lambeth Met. B	London	1900	1965	Lambeth	27
Lewisham Met. B	London	1900	1965	Lewisham	12
Paddington Met. B	London	1900	1965	Westminster	22
Poplar Met. B	London	1900	1965	Tower Hamlets	15
Shoreditch Met. B	London	1900	1965	Hackney	5
Southwark Met. B	London	1900	1965	Southwark	9
St Marylebone Met. B	London	1900	1965	Westminster	21
St Pancras Met. B	London	1900	1965	Camden	19
Stepney Met. B	London	1900	1965	Tower Hamlets	7
Stoke Newington Met. B	London	1900	1965	Hackney	17
Wandsworth Met. B	London	1900	1965	Lambeth, Wandsworth	26
Westminster Met. B (City)	London	1900	1965	Westminster	2
Woolwich Met. B	London	1900	1965	Greenwich, Newham	13

No. 1 on the map indicates the City of London. This was not a Metropolitan Borough, nor was it part of the County of London. It predated the Metropolitan Boroughs, was not abolished in 1965, and is still in existence.

References

1. London Government Act 1899 c.14, s.1: "Establishment of metropolitan boroughs in London"
2. The Westminster Review: Volumes 25-26, 1 January 1835, Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy - Publisher
3. "London's Boroughs". History Today. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
4. London Government Act 1963 c.33, s.3: "the following administrative areas and their councils (and, in the case of a borough, the municipal corporation thereof) shall cease to exist, that is to say, the counties of London and Middlesex, the metropolitan boroughs, and any existing county borough, county district or parish the area of which falls wholly within Greater London"

Further reading

• "London: Metropolitan Boroughs", Webster's Geographical Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts: G. & C. Merriam Co., 1960, p. 628, OL 5812502M