St Pancras 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 ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

, England. It was an ancient parish in the county of

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, governed by an

administrative vestry 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 colloquiall ...

. The parish was included in the area of responsibility of 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 ...

in 1855 and became part of 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 1889. The parish of St Pancras became a metropolitan borough in 1900, following the London Government Act 1899, with the parish vestry replaced by a borough council. In 1965 the borough was abolished and its former area became part of 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 S ...

in Greater London.

Geography

It included Tottenham Court Road, Camden Town, St Pancras, Kings Cross, Somers Town, Kentish Town, Euston, and part of

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...

. There are still a few street name signs with "Borough of St Pancras" on them.

Governance

St Pancras was just outside the area of London mortality statistics known as the bills of mortality, and was counted as one of the "five villages beyond the Bills". In 1801 it was included as a metropolitan parish for census purposes and was part of statistical returns for the Metropolis from that date. The parish adopted the Vestries Act 1831, which provided for election of vestrymen by all ratepayers. The vestry was incorporated as a local authority 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 ...

. St Pancras had a local act to regulate the poor law so was unaffected by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834. The Metropolitan Poor Act 1867 later provided that the Poor Law Board could add it to a poor law union or install a board of guardians. The parish was transferred from the County of Middlesex to the

in 1889. Following the London Government Act 1899, the civil parish of St Pancras also became a metropolitan borough. The vestry was replaced with a borough council.

Coat of arms

Unofficial arms of 1902

The corporation designed its own, unofficial,

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

in 1902. In the centre of the shield was a depiction of St Pancras. The shield itself was in four quarters. The first quarter was described as a "fimbriated cross" (actually a saltire) representing the martyrdom of Pancras. The fourth quarter stood for

, and bore three

seax ''Seax'' (; also sax, sæx, sex; invariant in plural, latinized ''sachsum'') is an Old English word for "knife". In modern archaeology, the term ''seax'' is used specifically for a type of small sword, knife or dagger typical of the Germanic pe ...

es on red: (the attributed arms of the kingdom of the middle and east

Saxons The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

). The other two quarters had a lion and cross crosslets; and blue and silver chequers. These were taken from the arms of the borough of Lewes, in

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...

. The parish church of Lewes was the first in England to be dedicated to St Pancras. At the top of the shield was shown a gold rising sun for the "dawn of Christianity" in the area. The colours used in the design were described as "gold, azure, white and crimson". The motto adopted was ''Constans Justitiam Moniti'' (''Well Versed In Justice''). According to Richard Crosley, writing in 1928, "This motto is unique amongst the mottoes of London in as much as the author has not discovered anyone who can translate it".

Official arms of 1936

In 1936 the corporation received an official grant from the

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

. The figure of St Pancras was moved to the crest, on top of the helm. The shield featured elements from the arms of historical landowners of the borough. The scallop shells were taken from the arms of the Russell family,

Dukes of Bedford Duke of Bedford (named after Bedford, England) is a title that has been created six times (for five distinct people) in the Peerage of England. The first and second creations came in 1414 and 1433 respectively, in favour of Henry IV's third s ...

. The elephant's heads were from the arms of the Marquess Camden. The roses and crossed swords represented the Dean and Chapter of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London ...

. The 1936 arms can still be seen over the entrance of Camden Town Hall. Charges from these arms were used, together with charges from the coats of arms of Hampstead and of Holborn, when the new coat of arms of the London Borough of Camden was designed in 1965.

Population and area

The borough had an area of . The populations recorded in National Censuses were: St Pancras Vestry 1801-1899 Metropolitan Borough 1900-1961

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; as such the incorporated vestry (later chiefly Board of Guardians) of St Pancras was divided into eight 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. Un ...

): No. 1 (9), No. 2 (12), No. 3 (18), No. 4 (15), No. 5 (15), No. 6 (15), No. 7 (18) and No. 8 (18). The metropolitan borough divided into those same wards for its elections.Ordnance Survey 'County Series 3rd Edition' Map of London (1912-14) at 1:2500 scale. Accessed at https://www.old-maps.co.uk/

Parliament constituencies serving this area

For elections to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

, the borough was used as the starting base and at first divided into four: * St Pancras East * St Pancras North * St Pancras South * St Pancras West Then, from 1918 into three: * St Pancras North * St Pancras South East * St Pancras South West From 1950 parliamentary representation was reduced to seats namely: * Holborn and St Pancras South * St Pancras North As such in the south, a seat straddled this Borough and the Metropolitan Borough of Holborn.