Metropolitan Borough of Battersea
Encyclopedia
Battersea was a civil parish and metropolitan borough
in the County of London
, England. In 1965 the borough was abolished and its area combined with parts of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth
to form the London Borough of Wandsworth
. The borough was administered from Battersea Town Hall on Lavender Hill and the building is now Battersea Arts Centre
.
and County of Surrey
. It included the exclave of Penge
.
the civil responsibilities of the parish were passed to the Metropolitan Board of Works
. The two parts of the parish were assigned to different districts by the act establishing the MBW: Battersea was included in the area of the Wandsworth District Board of Works
and the hamlet of Penge in that of Lewisham District Board of Works
. Penge became a civil parish in its own right in 1866.
On 25 March 1888, a separate vestry was formed as a local authority for The parish of Saint Mary Battersea excluding Penge. In 1889 the Local Government Act 1888
reconstituted the area of the Metropolitan Board of Works as the County of London
, and Battersea was transferred from Surrey to the new county.
The population of the parish in 1896 was 165,115 and it had adopted the Public Libraries Act 1850
immediately on obtaining local independence in 1888, with its own vestry. For electoral purposes the parish was divided into four wards and had 120 elected vestrymen.
divided the County of London into twenty-eight metropolitan borough
s, and the vestries and district boards were dissolved. The parish became the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea, with the borough council replacing the civil vestry.
The Metropolitan Borough included within its bounds Battersea
, Battersea Park
, Clapham Junction and parts of Wandsworth Common
and Clapham Common
.
In 1913 John Archer
became mayor of the borough and the first black mayor in the country.
motto was Non Mihi, Non Tibi, Sed Nobis, or "Neither for myself, nor for yourself, but for us".
In 1955 the borough received an official grant from the College of Arms
, based on the old device. The colours in the shield were reversed, and a bordure or heraldic border added. The bordure consisted of silver and blue waves, representative of the River Thames
, and bore sixteen gold stars for the sixteen wards of the borough. The new crest on top of the helm was the dove of the 1901 design, with the addition of sprigs of lavender
, for the old lavender fields of the area, and Lavender Hill
, the main road of Battersea. The old motto was retained.
Civil Parish 1801-1899
Metropolitan Borough 1900-1961
(allied to the Conservatives
) gained a majority. The Progressives regained the council in 1912, holding power until 1919 when the Labour Party
gained control. In 1931 the borough come under Municipal Reform control again. Labour regained power in 1934, retaining it for the rest of the borough's existence.
Elections of the whole council were held every three years. Elections were cancelled during the two world wars (1914-1918 and 1939-1945). The 1952 election was postponed for a year so that it did not clash with elections to the London County Council
. The number of councillors returned at each election was as follows:.
Local elections
No Municipal Reform candidates were nominated after 1946, and Conservative candidates were nominated at local elections for the first time.
In 1949 the wards were redrawn, with fourteen wards returning three to five councillors each:
The latest ward to be redrawn was Fairfield ward
, with three councillors.
the borough was originally part of the parliamentary borough of Battersea and Clapham, which consisted of two divisions, Battersea
and Clapham.
In 1918 the metropolitan borough was divided into two constituencies:
The boundaries of the two constituencies were adjusted in 1949 to reflect the redrawn borough wards:
The constituencies continued unchanged until 1970. when the Battersea constituency largely succeeded these two. The current MP is Conservative Jane Ellison
.
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 created by the London Government Act 1899....
in the County of London
County of London
The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government Act 1888. The Act created an administrative County of...
, England. In 1965 the borough was abolished and its area combined with parts of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth
Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth
The Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth was a Metropolitan borough under the London County Council, from 1900 to 1965.The borough was formed from five civil parishes: Clapham, Putney, Streatham, Tooting Graveney and Wandsworth...
to form the London Borough of Wandsworth
London Borough of Wandsworth
The London Borough of Wandsworth is a London borough in southwest London, England, and forms part of Inner London.-History:The borough was formed in 1965 from the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea and much of the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth, but...
. The borough was administered from Battersea Town Hall on Lavender Hill and the building is now Battersea Arts Centre
Battersea Arts Centre
The Battersea Arts Centre is a performance space near Clapham Junction in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth that specialises in music and theatre productions.-History:...
.
Ancient parish
As an ancient parish, Battersea was part of the Hundred of BrixtonBrixton (hundred)
Brixton Hundred or the Hundred of Brixton was an ancient hundred in the north east of the county of Surrey, England. Its area has been entirely absorbed by the growth of London; with its name currently referring to the Brixton district...
and County of Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
. It included the exclave of Penge
Penge
Penge is a suburb of London in the London Borough of Bromley. It is located south east of Charing Cross.-History:Penge was once a small town, which was recorded under the name Penceat in a Saxon deed dating from 957...
.
Parish in the Metropolis
In 1855, under the Metropolis Management Act 1855Metropolis Management Act 1855
The Metropolis Management Act 1855 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the Metropolitan Board of Works, a London-wide body to co-ordinate the construction of the city's infrastructure. The Act also created a second tier of local government consisting of parish vestries...
the civil responsibilities of the parish were passed to the Metropolitan Board of Works
Metropolitan Board of Works
The Metropolitan Board of Works was the principal instrument of London-wide government from 1855 until the establishment of the London County Council in 1889. Its principal responsibility was to provide infrastructure to cope with London's rapid growth, which it successfully accomplished. The MBW...
. The two parts of the parish were assigned to different districts by the act establishing the MBW: Battersea was included in the area of the Wandsworth District Board of Works
Wandsworth District (Metropolis)
Wandsworth was a local government district within the metropolitan area of London, England from 1855 to 1900. It was formed by the Metropolis Management Act 1855 and was governed by the Wandsworth District Board of Works, which consisted of elected vestrymen.Until 1889 the district was in the...
and the hamlet of Penge in that of Lewisham District Board of Works
Lewisham District (Metropolis)
Lewisham was a local government district within the metropolitan area of London, England from 1855 to 1900. It was formed by the Metropolis Management Act 1855 and was governed by the Lewisham District Board of Works, which consisted of elected vestrymen....
. Penge became a civil parish in its own right in 1866.
On 25 March 1888, a separate vestry was formed as a local authority for The parish of Saint Mary Battersea excluding Penge. In 1889 the Local Government Act 1888
Local Government Act 1888
The Local Government Act 1888 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales...
reconstituted the area of the Metropolitan Board of Works as the County of London
County of London
The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government Act 1888. The Act created an administrative County of...
, and Battersea was transferred from Surrey to the new county.
The population of the parish in 1896 was 165,115 and it had adopted the Public Libraries Act 1850
Public Libraries Act 1850
The Public Libraries Act 1850 was an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament which first gave local boroughs the power to establish free public libraries...
immediately on obtaining local independence in 1888, with its own vestry. For electoral purposes the parish was divided into four wards and had 120 elected vestrymen.
Metropolitan borough
In 1900 the London Government Act 1899London Government Act 1899
The London Government Act 1899 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the administration of the capital. The Act divided the County of London into 28 metropolitan boroughs, replacing the 41 parish vestries and District Boards of Works administering the area...
divided the County of London into twenty-eight metropolitan borough
Metropolitan borough
A metropolitan borough is a type of local government district in England, and is a subdivision of a metropolitan county. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts, however all of them have been granted or regranted...
s, and the vestries and district boards were dissolved. The parish became the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea, with the borough council replacing the civil vestry.
The Metropolitan Borough included within its bounds Battersea
Battersea
Battersea is an area of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is an inner-city district of South London, situated on the south side of the River Thames, 2.9 miles south-west of Charing Cross. Battersea spans from Fairfield in the west to Queenstown in the east...
, Battersea Park
Battersea Park
Battersea Park is a 200 acre green space at Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth in England. It is situated on the south bank of the River Thames opposite Chelsea, and was opened in 1858....
, Clapham Junction and parts of Wandsworth Common
Wandsworth Common
Wandsworth common is a public common in Wandsworth, south London. It is close to Clapham Common and Wandsworth Common railway station. It is wholly in the London borough of Wandsworth...
and Clapham Common
Clapham Common
Clapham Common is an 89 hectare triangular area of grassland situated in south London, England. It was historically common land for the parishes of Battersea and Clapham, but was converted to parkland under the terms of the Metropolitan Commons Act 1878.43 hectares of the common are within the...
.
In 1913 John Archer
John Archer (British politician)
John Richard Archer was a British race and political activist. In November 1906, he and Henry Sylvester-Williams became among the first people of African descent to be elected to public office in Britain, with Archer becoming a councillor and later Mayor in Battersea.Archer was born to Richard...
became mayor of the borough and the first black mayor in the country.
Coat of arms
In 1901 the borough adopted an unofficial coat of arms, consisting of a shield vertically divided blue and white, the division line being indented. This design was taken from a flag dating from 1803. On top of the shield was a dove bearing an olive branch. The LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
motto was Non Mihi, Non Tibi, Sed Nobis, or "Neither for myself, nor for yourself, but for us".
In 1955 the borough received an official grant from the College of Arms
College of Arms
The College of Arms, or Heralds’ College, is an office regulating heraldry and granting new armorial bearings for England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
, based on the old device. The colours in the shield were reversed, and a bordure or heraldic border added. The bordure consisted of silver and blue waves, representative of the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
, and bore sixteen gold stars for the sixteen wards of the borough. The new crest on top of the helm was the dove of the 1901 design, with the addition of sprigs of lavender
Lavender
The lavenders are a genus of 39 species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. An Old World genus, distributed from Macaronesia across Africa, the Mediterranean, South-West Asia, Arabia, Western Iran and South-East India...
, for the old lavender fields of the area, and Lavender Hill
Lavender Hill
Lavender Hill is a hill near Clapham Junction in South London, England. The street name Lavender Hill is a continuation of St John's Hill and forms the section of the A3036 as it rises eastwards out of the Falconbrook valley at Clapham Junction, and retains that name for approximately 1.5 km...
, the main road of Battersea. The old motto was retained.
Area and population
The area of the Borough was 2163 acres (8.8 km²). The population recorded in the Census was:Civil Parish 1801-1899
| Year | 1801 | 1811 | 1821 | 1831 | 1841 | 1851 | 1861 | 1871 | 1881 | 1891 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 3,365 | 4,409 | 4,764 | 5,311 | 6,617 | 10,560 | 19,600 | 54,016 | 107,262 | 150,558 |
Metropolitan Borough 1900-1961
| Year | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1941 | 1951 | 1961 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 168,907 | 167,743 | 167,739 | 159,552 | 117,140 | 105,870 |
Politics
The first election to the council was on 1 November 1900, with the Progressive Party taking control of the new borough. They retained power until 1909, when the Municipal Reform PartyMunicipal Reform Party
The Municipal Reform Party was a local party allied to the parliamentary Conservative Party in the County of London. The party contested elections to both the London County Council and metropolitan borough councils of the county from 1906 to 1945.-Formation:...
(allied to the Conservatives
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
) gained a majority. The Progressives regained the council in 1912, holding power until 1919 when the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
gained control. In 1931 the borough come under Municipal Reform control again. Labour regained power in 1934, retaining it for the rest of the borough's existence.
Elections of the whole council were held every three years. Elections were cancelled during the two world wars (1914-1918 and 1939-1945). The 1952 election was postponed for a year so that it did not clash with elections to the London County Council
London County Council
London County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...
. The number of councillors returned at each election was as follows:.
Local elections
| Year | 1900 | 1903 | 1906 | 1909 | 1912 | 1919 | 1922 | 1925 | 1928 | 1931 | 1934 | 1937 | 1945 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Progressives | 37 | 38 | 29 | 2 | 29 | ||||||||
| Municipal Alliance | 17 | 16 | 25 | ||||||||||
| Municipal Reform | 52 | 25 | 11 | 21 | 25 | 22 | 31 | 18 | 15 | 5 | |||
| Labour | 41 | 33 | 29 | 33 | 23 | 37 | 40 | 50 | |||||
| Discharged servicemen | 2 |
No Municipal Reform candidates were nominated after 1946, and Conservative candidates were nominated at local elections for the first time.
| Year | 1949 | 1953 | 1956 | 1959 | 1962 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | 34 | 37 | 46 | 34 | 40 |
| Conservative | 21 | 18 | 18 | 21 | 12 |
| Liberal | 3 |
Wards
From 1900 to 1949 the borough was divided into nine wards, returning either three, six or nine councillors:- Bolingbroke (6 councillors)
- Broomwood (6)
- Church (6)
- Latchmere (6)
- Nine Elms (9)
- Park (6)
- St John (3)
- Shaftesbury (6)
- Winstanley (6)
In 1949 the wards were redrawn, with fourteen wards returning three to five councillors each:
- Bolingbroke (3)
- Broomwood (3)
- Church (4)
- Latchmere (4)
- Lavender (3)
- Newtown (3)
- Nightingale (5)
- Nine Elms (3)
- Park (4)
- Queenstown (4)
- St John (4)
- Shaftesbury (3)
- Stormont (3)
- Thornton (3)
- Vicarage (3)
- Winstanley (3)
The latest ward to be redrawn was Fairfield ward
Fairfield (Wandsworth ward)
Fairfield is one of the most central wards in the London Borough of Wandsworth, London, containing Wandsworth High Street, Old York Road and the council buildings themselves...
, with three councillors.
Parliamentary constituencies
For elections to parliamentParliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
the borough was originally part of the parliamentary borough of Battersea and Clapham, which consisted of two divisions, Battersea
and Clapham.
In 1918 the metropolitan borough was divided into two constituencies:
- Battersea NorthBattersea North (UK Parliament constituency)-Elections in the 1960s:-Elections in the 1950s:-Elections in the 1940s:Francis Douglas was appointed Governor of Malta, leading to a by-election....
(Church, Latchmere, Nine Elms and Park wards) and - Battersea SouthBattersea South (UK Parliament constituency)Battersea South was a parliamentary constituency, originally in the County of London and later in Greater London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system.It was created for the 1918...
(Bolingbroke, Broomwood, St John, Shaftesbury and Winstanley wards)
The boundaries of the two constituencies were adjusted in 1949 to reflect the redrawn borough wards:
- Battersea North (Church, Latchmere, Newtown, Nine Elms, Park, Queenstown, Vicarage and Winstanley wards)
- Battersea South (Bolingbroke, Broomwood, Lavender, Nightingale, St John, Shaftesbury, Stormont and Thornton wards)
The constituencies continued unchanged until 1970. when the Battersea constituency largely succeeded these two. The current MP is Conservative Jane Ellison
Jane Ellison
Jane Elizabeth Ellison is a British Conservative Party politician, who was elected at the 2010 general election as Member of Parliament for Battersea.Ellison was born in Bradford and studied at the University of Oxford...
.