Merton Urban District (1907–1913) and Merton and Morden Urban District (1913–1965) was an

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...

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. ...

, England. It was formed in 1907 from the parish of Merton and was expanded in 1913 to take in Morden. The district was abolished in 1965 and its former area now forms part of the

London Borough of Merton The London Borough of Merton () is a borough in Southwest London, England. The borough was formed under the London Government Act 1963 in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Mitcham, the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon and the Merton ...

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

History

The district was created in 1907 to cover the ancient parish of Merton. Since 1894 the parish had been part of

Croydon Rural District Croydon was a rural district in north east Surrey, England, United Kingdom, from 1894 to 1915. It was created by the Local Government Act 1894 and replaced the Croydon Rural Sanitary District. The district surrounded the County Borough of Croyd ...

and was locally governed by a parish council, that was created by 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 level un ...

. The area of the rural district was within the expanding area of London's southern suburbs and as the population increased it became necessary to reform the local government structures. Merton was the first parish to be removed from the rural district in 1907. An urban district was formed covering the same area as the parish. In 1913 the parish of

Morden Morden is a district and town in south London, England, within the London Borough of Merton, in the ceremonial county of Greater London. It adjoins Merton Park and Wimbledon to the north, Mitcham to the east, Sutton to the south and Worcester Pa ...

was also removed from the rural district and became part of the urban district, which was renamed to Merton and Morden. The separate parishes continued with nominal existence. The boundaries of the district were subject to a minor revision in 1933. The urban district was abolished in 1965 by the

London Government Act 1963 The London Government Act 1963 (c. 33) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which created Greater London and a new local government structure within it. The Act significantly reduced the number of local government districts in the ...

and its area merged with those of the

Municipal Borough of Wimbledon Wimbledon was a local government district in north-east Surrey from 1866 to 1965 covering the town of Wimbledon and its surrounding area. It was part of the London postal district and Metropolitan Police District. History Wimbledon Local Govern ...

and the

Municipal Borough of Mitcham Mitcham was a local government district in north east Surrey from 1915 to 1965 around the town of Mitcham. History Mitcham local government district was created in 1915 as an urban district from part of the abolished Croydon Rural District. It ga ...

to form the

Population

The population is separately recorded for each parish until 1951. The population peak was in 1951.

Coat of arms

In 1943, the council was granted a civic

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

incorporating Lions from the Garth Family arms and the fret from the arms of Merton Abbey. The motto, ''"In Libertate Vis"'', means "Our Strength is our Freedom".

References

External links

A Vision of Britain - history of Merton and Morden UD
{{coord , 51, 24, N, 0, 12, W, type:adm3rd_region:GB-MRT, display=title History of the London Borough of Merton Districts abolished by the London Government Act 1963 History of local government in London (1889–1965) Urban districts of England Morden