The Metropolitan Borough of Stoke Newington was a

metropolitan borough A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of districts of England, local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan distr ...

in the

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 A ...

between 1900 and 1965 when it became part of the

London Borough of Hackney The London Borough of Hackney ( ) is a London boroughs, London borough in Inner London, England. The historical and administrative heart of Hackney is Mare Street, which lies north-east of Charing Cross. The borough is named after Hackney, Lond ...

Formation and boundaries

Predecessor authorities

The borough was the successor to two local authorities: the

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

Stoke Newington Stoke Newington is an area in the northwest part of the London Borough of Hackney, England. The area is northeast of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington (parish), Stoke Newington, the ancient parish. S ...

parish in the County of London and the

South Hornsey South Hornsey was a local government district in Middlesex, England from 1865 to 1900. The district was formed in 1865 when the Local Government Act 1858 was adopted in the southern part of the parish of Hornsey. South Hornsey Local Board was ...

Urban District An urban district is a division generally managed by a local government. It may also refer to a city district, district, urban area or quarter Specific urban districts in some countries include: * Urban districts of Denmark * Districts of Germa ...

Council in

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. Under the

Metropolis Management Act 1855 The Metropolis Management Act 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c. 120), also known as the Metropolis (Management) Act 1855 or the Metropolis Local Management Act 1855, is an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom tha ...

Stoke Newington had been grouped with the neighbouring parish of Hackney under the administration of the Hackney District Board of Works. The union with Hackney was very unpopular with the inhabitants of Stoke Newington, and following unsuccessful attempts to end it in 1864, 1880 and 1890, the parish regained independence in 1894. Stoke Newington Vestry consisted of 60 vestrymen, elected from five

wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

. South Hornsey formed the southern part of the parish of Hornsey, consisting of the

Brownswood Park Brownswood may refer to: *Brownswood (ward), Hackney, London, England *Browns Wood, Walton, Milton Keynes, England *Brownswood Recordings Brownswood Recordings is a London-based independent record label founded by Gilles Peterson in 2006. Th ...

area south of

Finsbury Park Finsbury Park is a public park in Harringay, north London, England. The park lies on the southern-most edge of the London Borough of Haringey. It is in the area formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey, succeeded by the Municipal ...

, of

Clissold Park Clissold Park is an open space in Stoke Newington, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is bounded by Greenway Close (to the north), Church Street (south), Green Lanes (west) and Queen Elizabeth's Walk (east); the south-east corner abuts St M ...

and two detached areas entirely surrounded by the parish of Stoke Newington. The exclaves of South Hornsey effectively cut off the south-eastern section of Stoke Newington from the rest of the parish. A

local board A local board of health (or simply a ''local board'') was a local authority in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulat ...

was formed to govern the area in 1867, becoming an urban district under the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The act followed the reforms carried out at county leve ...

Formation

The London Government Act 1899 provided that the County of London should be divided into metropolitan boroughs. The new authorities were to based on existing parishes with simplified boundaries. It was intended that each borough would have a population of between 100,000 and 400,000 inhabitants. Where an area fell below the threshold of 100,000 inhabitants, it might still be constituted a borough if it had a rateable value exceeding 500,000 pounds. Stoke Newington presented a problem, as its population fell well below the prescribed limits. It was recognised that there were three possibilities: to recombine the parishes of Hackney and Stoke Newington into a single borough; to divide the existing parish of Hackney and combine the wealthier northern section with Stoke Newington to form a municipality with the boundaries of the Hackney North parliamentary constituency; or to add neighbouring areas of Middlesex to increase the population. The first two options were rejected due to the experience of ''"intolerable and interminable feuds"'' between the districts when they were previously ''"forced together"'', and because the

First Lord of the Treasury The First Lord of the Treasury is the head of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury exercising the ancient office of Lord High Treasurer in the United Kingdom. Traditional convention holds that the office of First Lord is held by the Prime Mi ...

Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (; 25 July 184819 March 1930) was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As Foreign Secretary ...

recognised that there was ''"great ill-feeling and mutual ill-will... between the inhabitants of the two districts"''; it was therefore decided to merge the bulk of South Hornsey, with a population about 20,000, with Stoke Newington. While this still created a borough of only about 50,000 inhabitants, and thus ''"the smallest borough in London, the anomaly would be a gradually diminishing one, because the population in this district was rapidly increasing. When dividing London up into boroughs they could not avoid creating some anomalies as to size."''

Boundaries

Under the 1899 legislation, boundary commissioners were appointed to set the boundaries of the new boroughs. The existing parish boundaries frequently divided houses or related to field boundaries that had disappeared with the urbanisation of the area. The commissioners realigned the boundary lines so that for the most part they ran down the centre of roads, railways or watercourses. To the north, the borough had a boundary with Middlesex, marked by the course of the New River and the

Seven Sisters Road Seven Sisters Road is a road in north London, England which runs within the boroughs of London Borough of Islington, Islington, London Borough of Hackney, Hackney and London Borough of Haringey, Haringey. It is an extension of Camden Road, runnin ...

. Stoke Newington's boundaries with the two neighbouring metropolitan boroughs within the County of London were as follows: *

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

to the west and south: the centres of Blackstock Road, Mountgrove Roads, Green Lanes, (diverting to take in Petherton Road and Leconfield Road) Matthias Road and Boleyn Road. * Hackney to the east and north east: the centre of the ancient

Ermine Street Ermine Street is a major Roman road in England that ran from London (''Londinium'') to Lincoln ('' Lindum Colonia'') and York ('' Eboracum''). The Old English name was ''Earninga Strǣt'' (1012), named after a tribe called the ''Earninga ...

, known here as Kingsland High Street, Stoke Newington Road and Stoke Newington High Street, then following the

North London Railway The North London Railway (NLR) company had lines connecting the northern suburbs of London with the Port of London further east. The main east to west route is now part of London Overground's North London Line. Other NLR lines fell into disus ...

from

Stoke Newington railway station Stoke Newington is a station on the Weaver line of the London Overground, serving the Stoke Newington area of the London Borough of Hackney. It is down the line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between and . Its three-letter stat ...

to Bethune Road. (The area to the east of the main road, including

Stoke Newington Common Stoke Newington Common is an open space in the London Borough of Hackney. It lies between Brooke Road to the south and Northwold Road to the north, straddling a railway line and the busy Rectory Road. The common is in area. The common was origin ...

, never formed part of Stoke Newington administratively, lying within the parish of Hackney).

Coat of arms

The long association with the dean and chapter of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

is represented by the red background and crossed swords. The cross is from the arms of William Patten, first lord of the manor and rebuilder of the church of St Mary, in 1550. The trees represent the ancient forest, and the green lion, that of

John Dudley John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1504Loades 2008 – 22 August 1553) was an English general, admiral, and politician, who led the government of the young King Edward VI from 1550 until 1553, and unsuccessfully tried to install Lady Jane ...

. The

griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (; Classical Latin: ''gryps'' or ''grypus''; Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk ...

refers to

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; 1660 – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, merchant and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translati ...

, and the banner, the arms of Sir

Thomas Abney Sir Thomas Abney (January 1640 – 6 February 1722) was an English merchant and banker who served as Lord Mayor of London from 1700 to 1701. Abney was the son of James Abney and was born in Willesley, then in Derbyshire but now in Leicestershi ...

. The Latin motto translates as ''Look to the past and the future'', the arms were granted on 12 June 1934. When merged to found the London Borough of Hackney in 1965, oaks from these arms were put in the new

coat of arms of the London Borough of Hackney The coat of arms of the London Borough of Hackney is the official heraldic arms of the London Borough of Hackney, England. The coat of arms were granted on 25 July 1969. The present arms is mainly based on the arms of the former Metropolitan Borou ...

. The coat of arms of 1934 replaced an unofficial device adopted by the council on incorporation in 1900. At the top of the shield was a representation of the parish church. The lower part of the shield featured the arms of the cities of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

on the left, and the attributed arms of the

Kingdom of Essex The Kingdom of the East Saxons (; ), referred to as the Kingdom of Essex , was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was founded in the 6th century and covered the territory later occupied by the counties of Essex ...

representing

on the right. These armorial devices were chosen to represent the union of Stoke Newington in the County of London and South Hornsey in Middlesex. The crest was formed by a tree, recalling Stoke Newington's origin as a village in the Middlesex Forest.

Population and area

Constituent parishes 1801-1900
Statistics compiled by the

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

, in 1901 show the population growth in London, over the preceding century. The figures compiled by the council for 1891 do not agree with those that appear in the census reports, however which gave a population of 47,988 for the area. Metropolitan Borough 1900-1961
The area of the parish of Stoke Newington was in 1891. Following the addition of most of South Hornsey and the boundary adjustments with Hackney and Islington, the area of the borough in 1901 was . The populations recorded in National Censuses were:

Politics

Incorporated vestry

In 1891 as its population had increased the parish of St Mary Stoke Newington was divided into five wards (electing

vestrymen A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or regio ...

): Lordship (15), Church (15), Manor (12), Clissold (9) and Palatine (9).

Borough council

The borough council consisted of 30 councillors and 5

aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking membe ...

. In 1900 the boundary commissioners divided the borough into six wards for the election of councillors:
The first council elected consisted entirely of "Non-Party" candidates, although ''The Times'' noted that they were "Conservative in character". The entire council continued to be described as Independent or Non-Party until the 1934 election when the Labour Party gained 13 seats to the Independents' 17. Labour gained control of the council in 1945, taking all of the seats on the council. The Conservative Party first ran in the 1949 election, winning control from Labour by 23 seats to 7. The wards of the borough were redrawn in 1953, with the area divided into ten wards, each electing three councillors. This reflected the change in settlement in the area, in particular the construction of new estates of council flats, including the

's large

Woodberry Down Manor House is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. Located in North London, it lies immediately east of Finsbury Park, west of Stamford Hill and south of Harringay. The area was originally known as Woodberry Down. However, the constru ...

development which housed about a seventh of the borough's population. The names of the wards, a number of which were named after famous residents of Stoke Newington, were as follows: *Brownswood *Church *Clissold *Defoe *Lordship *Manor *Milton *Palatine *Wilberforce *Woodberry Labour regained power at the 1953 election with 24 seats to 6 Conservatives. They held control at subsequent elections, taking all the seats in 1959. The final election of the council on 10 May 1962 saw four

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

councillors elected to form an opposition group to the 26 Labour members.

Parliamentary constituency

Until 1918 the area formed part of the constituency of Hackney North. In 1918 a new constituency of

identical with the metropolitan borough was created. Due to loss of population, the two constituencies were merged in 1950 as

Hackney North and Stoke Newington Hackney North and Stoke Newington is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom since 1987 by Diane Abbott, a member of the Labour Party who served as Shadow Home Secretary from 6 October 2016 to 5 April 2020. Abbo ...

.F A Youngs, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol. I, Royal Historical Society, London, 1979

References

External links

Interior of Stoke Newington's underground control centre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stoke Newington, Metropolitan Borough of Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London History of the London Borough of Hackney 1900 establishments in the United Kingdom 1965 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Districts abolished by the London Government Act 1963 Metropolitan Borough of