Strand 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-loc ...

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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, from 1855 to 1900. Until 1889, the district was 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 ...

, but included in 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 Coun ...

(MBW). In 1889, the area of the MBW was constituted 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 ...

, and the district board became a local authority under 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 kn ...

Area

It was a similar area to the Cleveland Street Workhouse#Strand Poor Law UnionStrand Poor Law Union, which included St Anne, Soho and St Martin-in-the-Fields for only part of its existence. In 1885 the

Strand Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * Strand Street ...

Parliament constituency was formed covering a similar area, also including St Martin in the Fields. The district comprised the following

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 and places: The main part of the district was bounded on the east by 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 f ...

, on the north by the Holborn District and the St Giles District, and on the west by the parish of

St Martin in the Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the medie ...

. The parish of St Anne formed an

exclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

to the west.

District board

The district was governed by the Strand District Board of Works, which consisted of forty-nine elected vestrymen: eighteen elected for the parish of St Anne Soho; fifteen for St Clement Danes; nine for St Paul Covent Garden; three each for St Mary le Strand and the Liberty of the Rolls and one for the Precinct of the Savoy. The first elections were held in November 1855, when the entire membership of the board was elected. Thereafter elections for one third of the seats were held in May, beginning in the year 1857. Strand District was originally within the area of responsibility of the

and nominated one member to the MBW. In 1889 the area of the Metropolitan Board became the

, and Strand District Board of Works became a local council under the

. The district board established its headquarters at 22 Tavistock Street,

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

, in 1857, on a site leased from the

Duke 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 so ...

Abolition

In 1899, the London Government Bill was introduced to Parliament. The bill sought to abolish the vestries and district boards in London and replace them with twenty-eight

metropolitan boroughs 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 metropolit ...

. One of the boroughs included in the schedule to the bill grouped together Strand District with the areas of three other boards and vestries in the Westminster area as a new borough. This was vigorously resisted by the Strand District Board of Works along with the vestries of

and

St James Westminster Westminster St James (or St James Piccadilly) was a civil parish in the metropolitan area of London, England. The creation of the parish followed the building of the Church of St James, Piccadilly, in 1684. After several failed attempts, th ...

. Instead of what they dubbed "Greater Westminster", the three authorities instead proposed a Metropolitan Borough of The Strand, separate from Westminster, and with the same boundaries as the

parliamentary borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

of that name.''London Government Bill'',

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

, March 4, 1899 The campaign met with no success, and on November 1, 1900, the Strand District became part of the

Metropolitan Borough of Westminster The Metropolitan Borough of Westminster was a metropolitan borough in the County of London, England, from 1900 to 1965. City status By royal charter dated 29 October 1900, the borough was granted the title City of Westminster. Westminster had o ...

References

External links

* Sir Walter Besant and G. E. Mitton,
The Strand District
', Adam & Charles Black, 1903. {{Metropolitan Board of Works History of the City of Westminster Districts (Metropolis) 1855 establishments in England 1900 disestablishments in England