Poplar was a local government district in the metropolitan area of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. It was formed as a district of the Metropolis in 1855 and became 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 ...

in 1900. It comprised Poplar,

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

Bromley-by-Bow Bromley, commonly known as Bromley-by- Bow, is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London, located on the western banks of the River Lea, in the Lower Lea Valley in East London. The area is distinct from Bow, which li ...

and Bow.

Formation and boundaries

The borough bordered the metropolitan boroughs of Hackney,

Stepney Stepney is a district in the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The district is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name appl ...

, and

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common land, Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heat ...

to the west and north, and the county of

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

to the east. To the south, 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 ...

formed borders with the metropolitan boroughs of

Bermondsey Bermondsey () is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, a ...

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...

and

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

. It was formed from three

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. ...

: St Mary Stratford-le-Bow, St Leonard Bromley and All Saints Poplar. In 1907 these three were combined into a single civil parish called Poplar Borough, which was conterminous with the metropolitan borough. In 1965 the parish and borough were abolished, with their former area becoming part of the newly formed

London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, London borough covering much of the traditional East End of London, East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropol ...

. It included the districts of (from north to south): * Bow * Bromley St Leonard * Poplar * Blackwall *

Isle of Dogs The Isle of Dogs is a large peninsula bounded on three sides by a large meander in the River Thames in East London, England, which includes the Cubitt Town, Millwall and Canary Wharf districts. The area was historically part of the Manor, Ham ...

History

Former Poplar Board of Works, Poplar High Street - geograph

In 1921 the Borough Council, under

George Lansbury George Lansbury (22 February 1859 – 7 May 1940) was a British politician and social reformer who led the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935. Apart from a brief period of ministerial office during the Labour government of 1929–31, he spent ...

and the Poor Law Union were engaged in a dispute with 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 ...

and

central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or dele ...

over

poor law In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...

rates - it wished to pay out of work people more than usually permitted; and to get wealthier West End boroughs to contribute to its expenses. Several councillors were imprisoned briefly in 1921 in relation to this. See

Poplar Rates Rebellion The Poplar Rates Rebellion, or Poplar Rates Revolt, was a tax protest that took place in Poplar, London, England, in 1921. It was led by George Lansbury, the previous year's Labour Mayor of Poplar, with the support of the Poplar Borough Council, ...

. In 1951 Poplar was chosen as the site of the Festival of Britain's 'Exhibition of Live Architecture'. The East End of London had been heavily bombed during the war and its reconstruction was showcased at the new Lansbury Estate. New building materials and planning concepts were demonstrated. The first example of 'live architecture' on the exhibition trail was the Trinity Congregational Church and Hall, just across from the main reception area with their Town Planning and Building Research Pavilions on East India Dock Road. The trail continued with the

Lansbury Estate The Lansbury Estate is a large, historic council housing estate in Poplar and Bromley-by-Bow in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is named after George Lansbury, a Poplar councillor and Labour Party MP. History Lansbury Estate is one ...

and

Chrisp Street Market Chrisp Street Market is the central marketplace and town centre of Poplar and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was the first purpose-built pedestrian shopping area in the United Kingdom, rebuilt as part of the 1951 Festiva ...

. The former

Poplar Town Hall Poplar Town Hall is a municipal building at the corner of Bow Road and Fairfield Road in Poplar, London. It is a Grade II listed building. History The building was commissioned to replace an aging mid-19th century municipal building with a di ...

in Bow Road, designed by Culpin & Son (1937–38), is now a listed building, as is its predecessor (1870) in Poplar High Street.

Population and area

Poplar covered an area of . The population as given in the census from 1801 to 1961 was: Constituent parishes 1801-1899 Metropolitan Borough 1900-1961

Borough seal

The borough had no

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 ...

, using instead a seal originally designed for the Poplar District Board of Works, its predecessor, created by 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 al ...

. The seal depicted the emblems of the three parish

vestries A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquially ...

merged into the board. The top shield was the seal of Poplar Vestry, and showed the '

Hibbert Hibbert is a surname. Its origin can be traced back to the Old Germanic given name ''Hildeberht'', which is composed of German elements ''wikt:hild, hilde'' (battle or strife) and ''berht'' (bright or famous). Today it might be translated to "bright ...

Gate' of the old

West India Docks The West India Docks are a series of three docks, quaysides and warehouses built to import goods from and export goods and occasionally passengers to the British West Indies on the Isle of Dogs in London the first of which opened in 1802. Follow ...

, with a sailing ship on top of the shield. A similar representation of the gate and ship formed the head of the vestry's civic mace, which was used by the board of works and borough council until 1965. The shield on the left was the seal of Bow Vestry, and showed a bridge between two bows. This represented the bow-shaped bridge over the River Lea. The shield on the right was the seal of Bromley St Leonard Vestry, and depicts the saint dressed as a bishop. There remain a number of street signs which have been preserved with the name of the former borough.

Politics

Under the

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; however the parishes of Poplar District Board of Works did not exceed this number so were not divided into wards. In 1880 the population had increased enough for the parish of All Saints Poplar to be divided into three wards (electing

vestrymen A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

): South (27), East (27) and West (30). In 1885 the population had increased enough for the parish of Bromley St Leonard to also be divided into three wards (electing

): West (39), East (36) and South (33). In 1894 the population had increased enough for the parish of St Mary Stratford Bow to be divided into four wards (electing

): No. 1 (15), No. 2 (15), No. 3 (36) and No. 4 (18). In 1894 as its population had increased the parish of All Saints Poplar was re-divided into four wards (electing

): Cubitt Town (15), Millwall (15), Blackwall (24) and West India Dock (30). The metropolitan borough was divided into fourteen

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: Bow Central, Bow North, Bow South, Bow West, Bromley Central, Bromley North East, Bromley North West, Bromley South East, Bromley South West, Cubitt Town, Millwall, Poplar East, Poplar North West and Poplar West.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 divided into two constituencies: * Tower Hamlets, Bow and Bromley division * Tower Hamlets, Poplar division In 1918 the boundaries of the borough's two seats were adjusted, and one was renamed: * Bow and Bromley * Poplar South In 1950 the borough's representation was reduced to one seat: * Poplar

References

External links

Official Guide to the Metropolitan Borough of Poplar, 1927 ''Vision of Britain'': Population tables for Poplar Borough
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poplar, Metropolitan Borough of Districts (Metropolis) Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London 1855 establishments in England 1900 disestablishments in England 1900 establishments in England 1965 disestablishments in England Districts abolished by the London Government Act 1963 History of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Metropolitan Borough of