East Ham was a local government district in the far south west 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 ...

from 1878 to 1965. It extended from

Wanstead Flats Wanstead Flats is the southernmost portion of Epping Forest, in Leytonstone and Wanstead, London. The flats and by extension the forest ends at Forest Gate directly to the south. It now falls wholly within the boundaries of the London Boroughs ...

in the north to 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 ...

in the south and from Green Street in the west to

Barking Creek Barking Creek joins the River Roding to the River Thames. It is fully tidal up to the Barking Barrage (a weir), which impounds a minimum water level through Barking. In the 1850s, the creek was home to England's largest fishing fleet and a Vic ...

in the east. It was part of the

London postal district The London postal district is the area in England of to which mail addressed to the London post town is delivered. The General Post Office under the control of the Postmaster General directed Sir Rowland Hill to devise the area in 1856 and thro ...

and

Metropolitan Police District The Metropolitan Police District (MPD) is the police area which is policed by the Metropolitan Police Service in London. It currently consists of the Greater London region, excluding the City of London. The Metropolitan Police District was create ...

Local board and urban district

East Ham Local Government District was created in 1878, when the parish of East Ham adopted the

Local Government Act 1858 Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate environmenta ...

, and formed a

local board Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate environmenta ...

of nine members to govern the area. In 1886 the local government district was extended to include 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 authority ...

Little Ilford Little Ilford is a district of London, England in the London Borough of Newham and the name of a ward in that borough. Little Ilford is now usually referred to as Manor Park.'Little Ilford', in A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6, ed. W ...

, and the board was increased to 12 in number. The

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level un ...

reconstituted the area as an

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...

, with an elected urban district council of 15 members replacing the board. In 1900 Little Ilford parish was abolished and its area absorbed into an enlarged East Ham.

Incorporation

On 27 August 1904 East Ham was granted a

charter of incorporation A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

constituting the town as a

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

. A new town council consisting of a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

, six

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 them ...

and eighteen councillors replaced the urban district council.''East Ham: Local government and public services'', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6 (1973), pp. 18-24, (British History Online), accessed February 6, 2008
/ref> The four wards of the urban district were replaced by six new wards (

Beckton Beckton is a suburb in east London, England, located east of Charing Cross and part of the London Borough of Newham. Adjacent to the River Thames, the area consisted of unpopulated marshland known as the East Ham Levels in the parishes of Barki ...

North Woolwich North Woolwich is an area in the London Borough of Newham in East London. It is located on the northern bank of the River Thames, across the river from Woolwich. It is connected to Woolwich by the Woolwich Ferry and Woolwich foot tunnel. De ...

, Central East, Central West, Manor Park, Plashet East, Plashet West), each returning three councillors and one aldermen.

County borough

In 1915 the borough gained independence from county administration as a

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...

, against the objections of Essex County Council. The size of the borough council was increased to ten alderman and thirty councillors in 1920, representing ten wards: Castle, Central, Greatfield, Kensington,

, Manor Park, Plashet, South, Wall End and Woodgrange.

Boundaries

The borough included most of the current-day London Borough of Newham east of Green Street including

, Manor Park, East Ham and Beckton. It excluded

, as historically this was part of the

Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich The Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich was a metropolitan borough in the County of London from 1900 to 1965. It was formed from the civil parishes of Eltham, Plumstead and Woolwich. Its former area is now part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich and ...

, 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 ...

. The borough ran its own tram services until they became the responsibility of the

London Passenger Transport Board The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for local public transport in London and its environs from 1933 to 1948. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and brand was Lond ...

in 1933. The borough ran its own fire brigade which was absorbed into the

London Fire Brigade The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the fire and rescue service for London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865, under the leadership of superintendent Eyre Massey Shaw. It has 5,992staff, in ...

in 1965. East Ham's Town Hall now serves as

Newham Town Hall Newham Town Hall, formerly East Ham Town Hall, is a municipal building in Barking Road, East Ham, London. The town hall, which is the headquarters of Newham London Borough Council, is a Grade II* listed building. History In the early 20th cen ...

Coat of arms

The borough did not have an official

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 ...

, but used a device designed by the surveyor to the urban district council in 1896. In a 1916 book on the arms of Essex boroughs the "pseudo-heraldic device" was dismissed as "a somewhat obvious imitation of the arms of West Ham". The official explanation of the device was that the crosier stood for

Stratford Langthorne Abbey Stratford Langthorne Abbey, or the Abbey of St Mary's, Stratford Langthorne was a Cistercian monastery founded in 1135 at Stratford Langthorne — then Essex but now Stratford in the London Borough of Newham. The Abbey, also known as West H ...

, established by William de Montfichet in the 12th century; the burning torches stood for the Beckton gasworks; the sailing ship for the docks and the rising sun for "the ascending of East Ham, which within a few years developed with such marvellous rapidity."

Politics

In common with most boroughs, early elections were officially non-political and were often uncontested. In 1906 a Labour Representation Committee was formed in East Ham, and it affiliated with the national Labour Party in 1908. In response, and in imitation of the highly successful London

Municipal Reform Party The Municipal Reform Party was a local party allied to the parliamentary Conservative Party in the County of London. The party contested elections to both the London County Council and metropolitan borough councils of the county from 1906 to 1945 ...

, the local

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

and

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

organisations formed an anti-Labour Municipal Alliance. The Alliance, which also embraced independent and ratepayer candidates, secured a large majority at the municipal elections of 1907, with Labour forming the opposition on the council. In 1928 the elections produced a hung council, with Labour and the Municipal Alliance each having 20 members. In the following year a single gain saw Labour take control, which they were to retain for the remainder of the borough's existence. The defeated opposition group stood as "Anti-Labour" from the next elections in 1929 and were retitled as the Civic Party in 1933. When local elections were resumed after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Labour faced official Conservative candidates for the first time. Conservatives formed a small opposition group, later supplanted by Independents. After the final municipal elections in 1963, Labour held 30 seats and Independents 10.

Abolition

The county borough, along with the

County Borough of West Ham West Ham was a local government district in the extreme south west of Essex from 1886 to 1965, forming part of the built-up area of London, although outside the County of London. It was immediately north of the River Thames and east of the Rive ...

, was abolished and became part of the London Borough of Newham in 1965 when

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

was created. Although the County Borough was administratively independent from Essex, it did form part of the county, and so like the other Essex authorities incorporated into Greater London, the majority of its public records up to 1965 are held in the Essex County Record Office in Chelmsford. Discussions are continuing between county and London Borough archivists which may lead to the return of records to their originating districts.

Demographics

Population of East Ham from 1801 to 1911

Gallery

Image:Newham Town Hall.jpg, East Ham Town Hall Image:Newham town hall London.jpg, Entrance to town hall. Note the ''EH'' around the doorway for ''East Ham''.

References

*Local Government Act 1894 *London Government Act 1963

External links

A Vision of Britain - East Ham Victoria County History
{{DEFAULTSORT:East Ham, County Borough of Districts of England created by the Local Government Act 1894 Districts abolished by the London Government Act 1963 History of local government in London (1889–1965) History of the London Borough of Newham Local Government Districts created by the Local Government Act 1858 County boroughs of England Greater London predecessors County Borough of