The Metropolitan Borough of Holborn was a

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 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 was amalgamated with the

Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras St Pancras was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in London, England. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, governed by an administrative vestry. The parish was included in the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Boa ...

and the

Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead Hampstead was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in London, England. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, governed by an administrative vestry. The parish was included in the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board ...

to form the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and St ...

Formation and boundaries

The borough was formed from seven

civil parishes 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. ...

and extra-parochial places in 1900:

Furnival's Inn Furnival's Inn was an Inn of Chancery which formerly stood on the site of the present Holborn Bars building (the former Prudential Assurance Company building) in Holborn, London, England. History Furnival's Inn was founded about 1383 when Wi ...

(part),

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

, Liberty of Saffron Hill,

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

St Andrew Holborn Above the Bars with St George the Martyr St Andrew Holborn Above the Bars with St George the Martyr (also known as St Andrew Holborn Above the Bars with St George the Martyr Queen Square) was a civil parish in the metropolitan area of London, that existed from 1767 to 1930. The four In ...

, St Giles in the Fields and St George Bloomsbury and

Staple Inn Staple Inn is a part-Tudor period, Tudor building on the south side of High Holborn street in the City of London, London, England. Located near Chancery Lane tube station, it is used as the London venue for meetings of the Institute and Faculty ...

. In 1930 these seven were combined into a single civil parish called Holborn, which was conterminous with the metropolitan borough. Previous to the borough's formation it had been administered by two separate local bodies:

Holborn District Board of Works Holborn was a local government district in the metropolitan area of London to the north west of the City of London from 1855 to 1900. The district was formed by the Metropolis Management Act 1855 from the following Middlesex civil parishes and p ...

and St Giles District Board of Works. The

Inns of Court The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court – Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple. All barristers must belong to one of them. They have ...

and

Inns of Chancery The Inns of Chancery or ''Hospida Cancellarie'' were a group of buildings and legal institutions in London initially attached to the Inns of Court and used as offices for the clerks of chancery, from which they drew their name. Existing from a ...

had not been under the control of any local authority prior to 1900.

Coat of arms

St Giles, St George and St Andrew were depicted on the borough seal. The several constituent parishes were illustrated in the

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

granted to Holborn in 1906, while the supporters, the Lion and the

Griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late Latin, Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail ...

are from the arms of

and

(

). Charges from these arms were used, together with charges from the coats of arms of Hampstead and of St. Pancras, when the new

coat of arms of the London Borough of Camden The coat of arms of the London Borough of Camden were granted on 10 September 1965. The borough was formed by the merger of three former boroughs, namely the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead, the Metropolitan Borough of Holborn and the Metropo ...

was designed in 1965.

Visible legacy

Several of the street name signs in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

/ Senate House area still bear the "Borough of Holborn" area designation.

Holborn Town Hall Holborn Town hall is a municipal building on High Holborn, Holborn, London. It is a Grade II listed building. History The first town hall was a substantial structure on the corner of Gray's Inn Road and Clerkenwell Road which had been designed ...

, built in 1894, still exists, on

High Holborn High Holborn ( ) is a street in Holborn and Farringdon Without, Central London, which forms a part of the A40 route from London to Fishguard. It starts in the west at the eastern end of St Giles High Street and runs past the Kingsway and Sou ...

, and still has the coat of arms in the façade.

Population and area

Holborn was the smallest of the twenty-eight metropolitan boroughs of the

, with an area of between 405 and . Therefore, it was even smaller than 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 fr ...

. It also had the smallest population of any of the boroughs throughout its existence. The populations recorded in National Censuses were: Constituent parishes 1801–1899 Metropolitan Borough 1900-1961

Politics

The borough was divided into nine wards for elections: Central St Giles, Lincoln's Inn, North Bloomsbury, North St Andrew, North St Giles, Saffron Hill, South Bloomsbury, South East St Andrew and St George the Martyr.Ordnance Survey 'County Series 3rd Edition' Map of London (1912-14) at 1:2500 scale. Accessed at https://www.old-maps.co.uk/

Borough council

Parliament constituency

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 represented by one constituency: *

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its roots ...

In 1950 the borough's representation was reduced to half a seat, when it was merged with part of St Pancras: * Holborn and St Pancras South

Gallery

Image:Holborn seal.png, Borough seal Image:Holborn Town Hall 1.jpg, Town Hall frontage