The parish of St Mary Islington operated as an open vestry. It was added to the bills of mortality area in 1636. The vestry was incorporated by the Metropolis Management Act 1855 as an administrative vestry in the metropolitan area managed by Metropolitan Board of Works. On 21 March 1889 the MBW was abolished and the parish was transferred from the County of Middlesex to the newly formed County of London. Because of the reforms directed by the London Government Act 1899, on 1 November 1900 the old parish was abolished and replaced by the Metropolitan Borough of Islington. The act allowed for the London County Council and the metropolitan boroughs to transfer powers to and from each other, if both the county council and a majority of the boroughs agreed. Unlike municipal boroughs which received a grant of a charter of incorporation, the London metropolitan boroughs had no charters, being created by act of parliament. The first election of councillors was set for 1 November 1900, with a third of the councillors going out of office each year. The borough was divided into wards, with three councillors for each ward. There were aldermen at a ratio of one to every six councillors. The chairman of the council received the title of mayor.
Services
The vestry started work on an electricity supply service at Eden Grove in 1894, which became operational in 1896. New streets were lit with electric light from 1906. In 1936 electricity showrooms were opened at the corner of Holloway Road and Camden Road. The electric supply service became part of the London Electricity Board following the Electricity Act 1947.
Poor law
It was a local act parish so did not come under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 and the vestry continued to be responsible for poor relief, instead of a separately elected board of guardians. This anomaly was rectified by the Metropolitan Poor Act 1867. The parish was large enough in terms of population to avoid being grouped into a poor law union and remained a single parish for this purpose.
The metropolitan borough was conterminous with the Vestry authority, when it was formed in 1900. Statistics compiled by the London County Council, in 1901 show the population growth in London, over the preceding century. The area of the borough in 1901 was. The populations recorded in National Censuses were: Islington Vestry 1801–1899
Year
1801
1811
1821
1831
1841
1851
1861
1871
1881
1891
Population
10,212
15,065
22,417
37,316
55,690
95,329
155,341
213,778
282,865
319,143
Metropolitan Borough 1900–1961
Year
1901
1911
1921
1931
1941
1951
1961
Population
334,981
327,403
330,737
321,795
235,632
235,632
By comparison, after amalgamation with Finsbury, to form the modern London Borough of Islington, the combined area became ; in 2005, this had a population of 182,600, or a population density of 12,288/km². In 1901 Islington the population density was 26,778/km².
Archival records
holds records of the Metropolitan Borough of Islington, including council and committee minutes, rate books and publications.
Politics
Under the Metropolis Management Act 1855 any parish that exceeded 2,000 ratepayers was to be divided into wards; as such the incorporated vestry of St Mary Islington was divided into six wards : No. 1 or Upper Holloway, No. 2 or Lower Holloway, No. 3 or Highbury, No. 4 or Thornhill, No. 5 or Barnsbury, No. 6 or St Mary's, No. 7 or Canonbury and No. 8 or St Peter's. In 1896 as its population had increased the incorporated vestry was re-divided into eleven wards : No. 1 or Tufnell, No. 2 or Upper Holloway, No. 3 or Tollington, No. 4 or Lower Holloway, No. 5 or West Highbury, No. 6 or East Highbury, No. 7 or Thornhill, No. 8 or Barnsbury, No. 9 or St Mary's, No. 10 or Canonbury and No. 11 or St Peter's. The metropolitan borough was divided into eleven wards for elections: Barnsbury, Canonbury, Highbury, Lower Holloway, Mildmay, St Mary, St Peter, Thornhill, Tollington, Tufnell and Upper Holloway.
