The City and Liberty of Westminster was a unit of local government in the

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, England. It was located immediately to the west of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

. Originally under the control of

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

, the local authority for the area was the Westminster Court of Burgesses from 1585 to 1900. The area now forms the southern part of the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a city and borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of central Greater London, including most of the West En ...

in Greater London.

Governance

Following the dissolution of

, a court of burgesses (the Westminster Court of Burgesses) was formed in 1585 to govern the Westminster area, previously under the Abbey's control. The City and Liberties of Westminster were further defined by

Letters Patent Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, tit ...

in 1604, and the court of burgesses and

liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

continued in existence until 1900, and the creation of the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster. The court of burgesses (or

court leet The court leet was a historical court baron (a type of manorial court) of England and Wales and Ireland that exercised the "view of frankpledge" and its attendant police jurisdiction, which was normally restricted to the hundred courts. Ety ...

) was headed by the High Steward of

, who was usually a prominent national politician. He appointed a high bailiff, who served for life, and performed most of the functions usually exercised by a high sheriff of a county. The city and liberty were divided into twelve wards, each with a burgess and assistant burgess, this arrangement being adopted from the system then used in the

. Eight wards were located in the parish of St Margaret, three in St Martin in the Fields, and one for St Clement Danes and the Strand area. The burgesses chose two head burgesses, one for the city and one for the liberty, who ranked next after the high bailiff. A high constable was appointed by the court leet, under whom was a force of

constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

s. These were absorbed by the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

in 1829. Following the dissolution of the court of burgesses in 1900, a link has been retained to the old corporation, as the Lord Mayor of Westminster is '' ex officio'' Deputy High Steward of Westminster Abbey. Westminster returned two members to parliament. Although outside the Liberty of Westminster, eligible inhabitants of the Liberty of the Savoy, which included part of the parishes of St Clement Danes and St Mary le Strand voted with Westminster. The City and Liberty of Westminster was a franchise coroner's district until 1930, when it became part of the Central district of the County of London.

Constituent parishes and other areas

The City of Westminster consisted of: *The main part of the parish of

St Margaret Saint Margaret, St. Margarets, or St. Margaret's may refer to: People In chronological order: * Saint Margaret the Virgin of Antioch (died 304) * Saint Margaret of Scotland (c. 1045–1093) * Saint Margaret of England (died 1192) * Saint Margare ...

; after 1727 the combined parishes of St Margaret and St John. *The extra-parochial

Close of the Collegiate Church of St Peter The Close of the Collegiate Church of St Peter was an extra-parochial area, and later civil parish, in the metropolitan area of London, England. It corresponded to the area of Westminster Abbey and was an enclave between the parishes of St Marg ...

around Westminster Abbey The Liberty of the City of Westminster consisted of: *The detached part of the parish of St Margaret *The parish of

St Martin in the Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the medie ...

; later partly divided into St Anne (1687), St George Hanover Square (1724), St Paul Covent Garden (1645) and St James (1685) *Part of the parish of

St Clement Danes St Clement Danes is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London. It is situated outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand. Although the first church on the site was reputedly founded in the 9th century by the Danes, the current ...

Remainder in the Liberty of the Savoy *Part of the parish of St Mary-le-Strand *The extra-parochial

St James's Palace St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, the capital of the United Kingdom. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster in London. Alt ...

* Privy Gardens (also known as

Whitehall Gardens The Privy Garden of the Palace of Whitehall was a large enclosed space in Westminster, London, that was originally a pleasure garden used by the late Tudor and Stuart monarchs of England. It was created under Henry VIII and was expanded and i ...

) *Verge of the Palaces of St James and Whitehall (also known as Whitehall)

Geography

The Penny Cyclopaedia in 1843 describes the boundaries as:

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Westminster History of the City of Westminster Liberties of London Hundreds and divisions of Middlesex