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.

History

s 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 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. 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 and are also known as Inner London boroughs.

List of boroughs

They were the following:

Metropolitan Borough
County
Created
Abolished
Successor
No. on map
Battersea Met. BLondon19001965Wandsworth28
Bermondsey Met. BLondon19001965Southwark8
Bethnal Green Met. BLondon19001965Tower Hamlets6
Camberwell Met. BLondon19001965Southwark10
Chelsea Met. BLondon19001965Kensington and Chelsea29
Deptford Met. BLondon19001965Lewisham11
Finsbury Met. BLondon19001965Islington4
Fulham Met. BLondon19001965Hammersmith25
Greenwich Met. BLondon19001965Greenwich14
Hackney Met. BLondon19001965Hackney16
Hammersmith Met. BLondon19001965Hammersmith24
Hampstead Met. BLondon19001965Camden20
Holborn Met. BLondon19001965Camden3
Islington Met. BLondon19001965Islington18
Kensington Met. B London19001965Kensington and Chelsea23
Lambeth Met. BLondon19001965Lambeth27
Lewisham Met. BLondon19001965Lewisham12
Paddington Met. BLondon19001965Westminster22
Poplar Met. BLondon19001965Tower Hamlets15
Shoreditch Met. BLondon19001965Hackney5
Southwark Met. BLondon19001965Southwark9
St Marylebone Met. BLondon19001965Westminster21
St Pancras Met. BLondon19001965Camden19
Stepney Met. BLondon19001965Tower Hamlets7
Stoke Newington Met. BLondon19001965Hackney17
Wandsworth Met. BLondon19001965Lambeth, Wandsworth26
Westminster Met. B London19001965Westminster2
Woolwich Met. BLondon19001965Greenwich, Newham13

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.