Portsoken
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Portsoken, traditionally referred to with the definite article as the Portsoken, is one of 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 ...
's 25 ancient wards, which are still used for local elections. Historically an extra-mural Ward, lying east of
Aldgate Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. It gives its name to Aldgate High Street, the first stretch of the A11 road, which included the site of the former gate. The area of Aldgate, the most common use of ...
and the City walls, the area is sometimes considered to be part of the
East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...
. The ward is about 5 hectares in area, and is mainly oriented north-south, with the central part informally known as ''
Aldgate Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. It gives its name to Aldgate High Street, the first stretch of the A11 road, which included the site of the former gate. The area of Aldgate, the most common use of ...
''.


History

John Stow's ''Survey of London'' records that the " soke" – in this context the right to extract fines as a source of income – (later "
liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...
") was granted in the time of Saxon king
Edgar the Peaceful Edgar ( ang, Ēadgār ; 8 July 975), known as the Peaceful or the Peaceable, was King of the English from 959 until his death in 975. The younger son of King Edmund I and Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury, he came to the throne as a teenager followin ...
, east of Aldgate to a guild of knights, the '' Cnichtengild'', in exchange, essentially, for regular jousting. Norman kings confirmed these rights but later the land was voluntarily transferred to the Priory of the Holy Trinity by the descendants of the guild. In 1120 or 1121 (the exact date is unknown), the Portsoken was granted as a liberty to the Priory of Holy Trinity, which had been founded in 1107 by Queen Matilda, the wife of King Henry I. The sitting prior of Holy Trinity became, ''ex officio'', an
alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...
of the
City of London Corporation The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the municipal governing body of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United King ...
representing the Portsoken ward, and remained so until the Dissolution of the Monasteries by
King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disag ...
in 1531. The Ward originally extended as far south as the Thames, but the growth of the
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
beyond the line of the London Wall, disputes with the Tower, the creation of the
Liberties of the Tower of London The Liberties of the Tower, or the Tower Liberty is a small neighbourhood in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, East London, which includes both Tower Hill and the Tower of London. The area was defined sometime after 1200 to provide an open are ...
and other factors resulted in the southern area being lost to the ward and to the City of London as a whole, after around 1200. In 1332, a tax assessment showed 23 taxpayers in the Portsoken. However, this figure only included
freemen of the City of London The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...
who possessed moveable property worth more than 10
shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...
s, and so did not include the poor, non-citizens, or members of religious orders. A later subsidy roll from 1582 showed that the ward's taxpayers had been assessed to pay a total of 57 pounds, 11 shillings and 4 pence. The Portsoken has long had a mixed population, and in 1483 is recorded as having more ''aliens'' in its population than any ward in the City Of London. Since the 1840s, nearly all of the
Aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members the ...
of the Ward have been Jewish. Boundary changes in 1994 and 2013 made often fundamental changes to the ancient Wards. The Portsoken (in the City of London) and the neighbouring
Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough covering much of the traditional East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar, and Bethnal Green. 'Tower Hamlets' was originally ...
exchanged territory, with the
Middlesex Street Estate The Middlesex Street Estate is a housing estate in the Portsoken ward on the east edge of the City of London. It was connected to other local buildings by an elevated walkway system called the City of London Pedway Scheme. The estate was built b ...
being transferred to the Portsoken. Land was also exchanged with the
Aldgate Ward Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. It gives its name to Aldgate High Street, the first stretch of the A11 road, which included the site of the former gate. The area of Aldgate, the most common use of ...
(Aldgate was formerly entirely within the wall, with the Portsoken entirely without), so that John Cass's Foundation Primary School (now
The Aldgate School The Aldgate School (formerly Sir John Cass's Foundation Primary School) is a Church of England primary school located in the City of London, England. It is the only state-funded school in the City of London. The last Ofsted report in 2013 class ...
) is now part of the ward, despite lying just inside the line of the wall. The Portsoken is now regarded as one of the City's four residential wards, with a population of 985 (2011).


Politics

Portsoken is one of 25 wards in the City of London, each electing an
alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...
to the
Court of Aldermen The Court of Aldermen forms part of the senior governance of the City of London Corporation. It comprises twenty-five aldermen of the City of London, presided over by the Lord Mayor (becoming senior alderman during his year of office). The Co ...
, and commoners (the City equivalent of a
councillor 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 ...
) to the
Court of Common Council The Court of Common Council is the primary decision-making body of the City of London Corporation. It meets nine times per year. Most of its work is carried out by committees. Elections are held at least every four years. It is largely composed o ...
of the City of London Corporation. Only electors who are Freemen of the City are eligible to stand for election. Keith Joseph,
Secretary of State for Industry The secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The incumbent is a mem ...
1979–1981 and
Secretary of State for Education and Science The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. The incumbent is a member of the Ca ...
1981–1986, took the area as his
territorial designation In the United Kingdom, a territorial designation follows modern peerage titles, linking them to a specific place or places. It is also an integral part of all baronetcies. Within Scotland, a territorial designation proclaims a relationship with ...
on elevation to the Lords in 1987. Similarly, Peter Levene (Lord Mayor 1998–1999) in 1997. Joseph's father was Lord Mayor in 1942–1943. In 2014 William Campbell-Taylor made history when he became the first ever party politician to win a seat on the City of London's Common Council, standing as a
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
candidate in a by-election in the ward of Portsoken. William Campbell-Taylor stood down as a Common Councilman in March 2017 at the end of his time in office. In the 2017 City-wide Common Council elections, the Labour Party won two seats in Portsoken ward with local residents Jason Pritchard and Munsur Ali topping the polls and Independent incumbents John Fletcher and Henry Jones elected in third and fourth place respectively. The Labour Party won a record total of five seats on the Common Council in March 2017, winning two seats in Portsoken, two seats in
Cripplegate Cripplegate was a gate in the London Wall which once enclosed the City of London. The gate gave its name to the Cripplegate ward of the City which straddles the line of the former wall and gate, a line which continues to divide the ward into ...
ward and one seat in Aldersgate ward. In December 2017, William Campbell-Taylor stood as the first ever party political candidate to contest a City of London Aldermanic election, standing for Labour in Portsoken ward, but was defeated by Independent candidate Prem Goyal.Prem Goyal wins Portsoken Aldermanic election
/ref> Prem Goyal is the founder of the UK political party, All People's Party, although to date Goyal has chosen to stand as an Independent in elections in the City of London.


City of London Corporation election, 2017

On 23 March 2017 two Labour and two independent Common Councilmen were elected.


See also

*
East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...


References


External links


Map of Portsoken ward
City of London Corporation (2003–)

- Historical Map and Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's London {{City of London wards Wards of the City of London