Lambeth was a civil parish and

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

in south London, England. It was an

ancient parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. ...

in the county of

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. The parish was included in the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1855 and became part of the County of London in 1889. The parish of Lambeth became a metropolitan borough in 1900, following the London Government Act 1899, with the parish vestry replaced by a borough council.

Geography

The ancient parish was divided into the six divisions of Bishop's Liberty, Prince's Liberty, Vauxhall Liberty, Marsh and Wall Liberty, Lambeth Dean and Stockwell Liberty. It covered an area 4,015 acres (recorded in 1851 census) and was north to south, but only at its widest east to west. In addition to the historic riverside area of

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

, this included

Kennington Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between the ...

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...

Stockwell Stockwell is a district in south west London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. It is situated south of Charing Cross. Battersea, Brixton, Clapham, South Lambeth, Oval and Kennington all border Stockwell. History The na ...

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...

, the western part of Herne Hill, Tulse Hill and West Norwood. As the population was increasing, in 1824 the ancient parish was subdivided into ecclesiastical districts of Brixton, Kennington, Lambeth Church, Waterloo Road and West Norwood. These districts were adopted for census reporting in 1841 with Lambeth Church and Waterloo Road further subdivided into first and second divisions. In 1900 some irregular boundaries of the parish were tidied up: * The Streatham exclave completely surrounded by Camberwell and Lambeth was transferred to Lambeth (population 3,453) * The Camberwell/Lambeth boundary was tidied up with an exchange of population (approximately 6,000 each way) which had the effect of transferring

Myatt's Fields Park Myatt's Fields Park is a 14-acre Victorian park in Camberwell in the London Borough of Lambeth in South London, England, 2.9 miles south-east of Charing Cross. History The majority of the area of Myatt's Fields belonged to the estate of Sir Hugh ...

to Lambeth

Ecclesiastical parish

The ancient parish, dedicated to

St Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

, was in the Diocese of Winchester until 1877, then the Diocese of Rochester until 1905, and then finally in the

Diocese of Southwark The Diocese of Southwark is one of the 42 dioceses of the Church of England, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The diocese forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. It was created on 1 May 1905 from part of the ancient Dio ...

. From 1824, as the population of Lambeth increased, a number of new parishes were formed: * St John the Evangelist, Waterloo in 1824 * St Luke, West Norwood in 1824 * St Mark, Kennington in 1824 * St Matthew, Brixton in 1824 * Holy Trinity, Lambeth in 1841 * St Mary the Less, Lambeth in 1842 * St Michael, Stockwell in 1845 * St Andrew, Waterloo in 1846 * St Thomas, Waterloo in 1846 * All Saints, Waterloo in 1847 * St Barnabas, Kennington South in 1851 * St John the Evangelist, Angell Town Brixton in 1853 * Christ Church, North Brixton in 1856 * Holy Trinity, Tulse Hill in 1856 * St Peter, Vauxhall in 1861 * St Stephen, South Lambeth in 1861 * St Philip in 1864 * St Andrew, Stockwell Green in 1868 * St Saviour, Herne Hill Road in 1868 * St Anne, South Lambeth in 1869 * Emmanuel, Lambeth in 1869 * St Jude, Brixton in 1869 * St John, Kennington 1872 * All Saints, South Lambeth in 1874 * St James, Kennington in 1875 * St Saviour, Brixton Hill in 1876 * St Catherine, Loughborough Park in 1877 * St Paul, Ferndale Road in 1882 * St Matthias, Upper Tulse Hill in 1900 * St Anselm, Kennington Cross in 1901 In addition, as the population of neighbouring areas increased, parts of Lambeth parish were included in new parishes: * St Paul, Herne Hill in 1845 ''with parts of St Giles, Camberwell'' * St Agnes, Kennington Park in 1874 ''with parts of St Mary, Newington''

Political history

Under the Metropolis Management Act 1855 any parish that exceeded 2,000

ratepayers Rates are a type of property tax system in the United Kingdom, and in places with systems deriving from the British one, the proceeds of which are used to fund local government. Some other countries have taxes with a more or less comparable role ...

was to be divided into wards; as such the incorporated vestry of St Mary Lambeth was divided into eight wards (electing vestrymen): No. 1 or North Marsh (18), No. 2 or South Marsh (12), No. 3 or Bishop's (12), No. 4 or Prince's (15), No. 5 or Vauxhall (24), No. 6 or Stockwell (15), No. 7 or Brixton (15) and No. 8 or Norwood (9).

Borough council

The borough council was established in 1900. The metropolitan borough was divided into nine

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 priso ...

for elections: Bishop's, Brixton, Herne Hill, Marsh, Norwood, Prince's, Stockwell, Tulse Hill and Vauxhall. The borough council was controlled by the Municipal Reform Party (allied to the Conservatives) until 1937, when the Labour Party gained power. Labour retained control until abolition in 1965.

Parliament constituency

For elections to parliament, a borough constituency for Lambeth was established under the

Reform Act 1832 The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament, Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major chan ...

. Parliamentary boundaries were redrawn in 1885 with the parish divided into four constituencies: * Lambeth, Brixton * Lambeth, Kennington * Lambeth, North * Lambeth, Norwood In 1950 the borough's representation was reduced to three seats: * Lambeth, Brixton * Lambeth, Norwood * Lambeth, Vauxhall

Town hall

Lambeth Town Hall was built in

in 1906 to 1908 to designs by Septimus Warwick and H. Austen Hall. It replaced the

Old Town Hall Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...

Kennington Road Kennington Road is a long straight road, approximately a mile in length, in the London Borough of Lambeth in London, England, running south from Westminster Bridge Road (at the junction with Baylis Road to the north-east) to Kennington Park Roa ...

. The building is constructed of red brick and

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building sto ...

, with a 41-metre high clock tower. Since 1965 it has formed the headquarters of the successor London Borough. In the stairwell of the hall is a plaque erected by the Government of Ontario to commemorate the birthplace of John By, who helped create Bytown or Ottawa, Ontario (capital of Canada).

Population and area

The area of the borough in 1901 was . By 1961 it had increased slightly to . The population of the metropolitan borough as recorded at each census was as follows: Lambeth Vestry 1801–1899 Metropolitan Borough 1900–1961

Coat of arms

When the borough was created in 1900, the corporation adopted a seal which was used in place of a coat of arms. The device was derived from that of the borough's forerunner, Lambeth Vestry. At the base of the seal was a lamb, a play on the name "Lambeth", and a symbol long used to represent the parish. The two shields were those of the Diocese of Canterbury and the

Duchy of Cornwall The Duchy of Cornwall ( kw, Duketh Kernow) is one of two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Lancaster. The eldest son of the reigning British monarch obtains possession of the duchy and the title of 'Duke of Cornwall' at ...

. The first referred to

Lambeth Palace Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament, on the opposite ...

, residence of the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

. The second was to show that the Duchy owned estates in the

area of the borough. The design was completed by the cypher of Queen Victoria, and the year of the borough's founding. This device can still be seen in the circular hall of Lambeth Town Hall. In 1922 the borough obtained an official grant of arms from the College of Arms. The lamb was moved to the crest, on top of the helm. It was transformed into a paschal lamb supporting a pennon of

St George Saint George (Greek language, Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin language, Latin: Georgius, Arabic language, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christians, Christian who is venerated as a sa ...

. As a number of other crests featured a paschal lamb, a silver and blue wave, for the River Thames, was added. The arms themselves retained references to the Duchy of Cornwall (the black border charged with ''bezants'' or gold discs) and the Archbishop of Canterbury (the mitre and crozier). The red cross in the first quarter was taken from the arms of the London County Council, showing that the borough was in the county. The fourth quarter contained a gold and blue chequered pattern, the arms of the de Warennes, Earls of Surrey. This was included to show that Lambeth lay in the county of

until 1889. The ermine patterning in the other quarter was said to stand for "purity and honour".Richard Crosley, ''London's Coats of Arms'', 1928 The motto adopted was ''

Spectemur Agendo Spectemur Agendo is a Latin motto meaning ''Let us be judged by our acts''. Sources It comes originally from Book XIII of Ovid's Metamorphoses (poem), Metamorphoses where it is attributed to the hero Ajax the Great, Ajax: ''Denique (quid verbis opu ...

'', a motto common to several local authorities in England. Although this is generally rendered in English as ''Judge us by our deeds'', the official translation in Lambeth has traditionally been the more ponderous ''Let us be regarded according to our conduct.'' On 22 February 1966 the arms were transferred by royal licence to the

London Borough of Lambeth Lambeth () is a London boroughs, London borough in South London, England, which forms part of Inner London. Its name was recorded in 1062 as ''Lambehitha'' ("landing place for lambs") and in 1255 as ''Lambeth''. The geographical centre of London ...

. On registration at the College of Arms, two gold stars were added in the second and third quarters to depict the addition of Clapham and Streatham to

Abolition

In 1965 the borough was amalgamated with the

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

and Clapham parts of the

Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth The Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth was a Metropolitan borough under the London County Council, from 1900 to 1965. History The borough was formed from five civil parishes: Clapham, Putney, Streatham, Tooting Graveney and Wandsworth. In 1904 t ...

to form the new