Battersea was a

civil 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 authorit ...

and

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 distric ...

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 ...

, 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 Wandsworth () is a London borough in southwest London; it forms part of Inner London and has an estimated population of 329,677 inhabitants. Its main named areas are Battersea, Balham, Putney, Tooting and Wandsworth Town. The borough border ...

. The borough was administered from Battersea Town Hall on Lavender Hill. That building is now

Battersea Arts Centre The Battersea Arts Centre ("BAC") is a performance space specialising in theatre productions. Located near Clapham Junction railway station in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, it was formerly Battersea Town Hall. It is a Grade I ...

Ancient parish

As an ancient parish, Battersea was part of the

hundred of Brixton Brixton Hundred or the Hundred of Brixton was for many centuries a group of parishes (hundred) used for meetings and taxation of their respective great estates in the north east of the county of Surrey, England. Its area has been entirely absorbed ...

and county of

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

. It included the exclave of

Penge Penge () is a suburb of South East London, England, now in the London Borough of Bromley, west of Bromley, north east of Croydon and south east of Charing Cross. History Penge was once a small hamlet, which was recorded under the name Penc ...

Parish in the Metropolis

In 1855, under the

Metropolis Management Act 1855 The Metropolis Management Act 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c.120) 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 ...

, the civil responsibilities of the parish were passed to the

Metropolitan Board of Works The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was the principal instrument of local government in a wide area of Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent, defined by the Metropolis Management Act 1855, from December 1855 until the establishment of the London Coun ...

. 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 Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

reconstituted the area of the Metropolitan Board of Works as the

, 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 upon 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 1899 divided the County of London into twenty-eight

s. 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 is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batt ...

, Battersea Park, Clapham Junction and parts of

Wandsworth Common Wandsworth Common is a public common in Wandsworth, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, south London. It is and is maintained and regulated by Wandsworth Council. It is also a Ward of the London Borough of Wandsworth. The population of the ward ...

and Clapham Common. In 1913, John Archer became mayor of the borough and the first black mayor in the capital.

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 The Diocese of Winchester forms part of the Province of Canterbury of the Church of England. Founded in 676, it is one of the older dioceses in England. It once covered Wessex, many times its present size which is today most of the historic enla ...

until 1877, then the

Diocese of Rochester The Diocese of Rochester is a Church of England diocese in the English county of Kent and the Province of Canterbury. The cathedral church of the diocese is Rochester Cathedral in the former city of Rochester. The bishop's Latin episcopal signa ...

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 1851, as the population of Battersea increased, a number of new parishes were formed: * St George, Nine Elms in 1853 * Christ Church, Battersea Park in 1861 * St John, York Road Battersea in 1863 * St Philip, Queen's Road, Battersea in 1870 * Church of the Ascension, Lavender Hill in 1871 * St Saviour, Battersea Park Road in 1872 * St Peter, Plough Road, Battersea in 1876 * St Mark, Battersea Rise in 1883 * All Saints, Queen's Road, Battersea Park in 1884 * St Michael, Wandsworth Common in 1884 * St Andrew, Stockdale Road, Battersea in 1886 * St Stephen, Battersea Bridge Road in 1887 * St Barnabas, Clapham Common in 1895 * St Luke, Ramsden Road, Battersea in 1901 * St Bartholomew, Wickersley Road, Battersea in 1906 A number of new parishes were also formed within the detached part of Battersea parish, the hamlet of Penge: * St John the Evangelist, Penge in 1851 * St Paul, Penge in 1869 * Holy Trinity, Anerley Road, Penge in 1873 * Christ Church, Penge in 1886

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 (in heraldry-speak ''Party per pale indented azure and

argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

''). This design was taken from a flag dating from 1803. On top of the shield was a dove bearing an olive branch. The

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

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 The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional Officer of Arms, officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the ...

, 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 The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

, 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 ''Lavandula'' (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found in Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, and from Europe across to northern and easte ...

, for the old lavender fields of the area, and

Lavender Hill The A3036 is an A roads in Great Britain, A road in London, England, running from Waterloo, London, Waterloo to Wandsworth. Route It starts at the southern tip of the County Hall roundabout where the A302 road, A302 Westminster Bridge, York ...

, the main road of Battersea. The old motto was retained.

Population and area

The area of the Borough was . The population recorded in the Census was: Battersea Vestry 1801–1899 Metropolitan Borough 1900–1961

Politics

The first election to the council was on 1 November 1900, with the

Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...

taking control of the new borough. They retained power until 1909, when the

Municipal 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 ...

(allied to the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

) 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 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 kno ...

. 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.

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, with three councillors.

Parliamentary constituencies

For elections to

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

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 North (Church, Latchmere, Nine Elms and Park wards) and * Battersea South (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 1983F.A. Youngs, ''Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England'', Volume 1, 1979 when the Battersea constituency largely succeeded these two.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *"The London Manual 1899–1900" edited by Robert Donald (Edward Lloyd Ltd., 1899)