Fulham was a

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...

district within the metropolitan area of

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 from 1855 to 1886. It was formed 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 ...

and was governed by the Fulham District Board of Works, which consisted of elected vestrymen. It was in the part of 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 ...

that was within the area 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 Cou ...

. It occupied broadly the same area as ancient parish of Fulham and that of the current

London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham () is a London borough in West London and which also forms part of Inner London. The borough was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan Boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham. The borou ...

Area

The district comprised the

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 ...

es of Fulham and Hammersmith. 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 Fulham District Board of Works did not exceed this number so were not divided into wards. In 1873 the population had increased enough for the parish of Hammersmith 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 ...

): North (24), Centre (27) and South (21). In 1883-84 the population had increased enough for the parish of Fulham to also be divided into three wards (electing

): North End (27), Walham (27) and South Fulham (18).

Governance

24 members of the district board came from Hammersmith and 15 from Fulham. The district board nominated one member to the

Abolition

The district was abolished in 1886 following the

Metropolis Management Amendment Act 1885 A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big c ...

with the vestry of each parish taking on local administration. Each parish would go on to form a metropolitan borough in the County of London in 1900. These two were merged in 1965 to form the London Borough of Hammersmith.

References

{{Metropolitan Board of Works History of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Districts (Metropolis) Fulham