Westminster St James (or St James Piccadilly) 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the metropolitan area of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England. The creation of the parish followed the building of the Church of St James, Piccadilly, in 1684. After several failed attempts, the parish was formed in 1685 from part of the ancient 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. Dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, there has been a church on the site since at least the medieval pe ...

in the

Liberty of Westminster The City and Liberty of Westminster was a unit of local government in the county of Middlesex, England. It was located immediately to the west of the City of London. Originally under the control of Westminster Abbey, the local authority for the ...

and county of

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. It included part of the

West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, Central London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster. It is west of the City of London an ...

, taking in sections of

Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...

and

St James's St James's is a district of Westminster, and a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the West End of London, West End. The area was once part of the northwestern gardens and parks of St. James's Palace and much of ...

. Civil parish administration was in the hands of a

select vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spent nearly one-fi ...

until the parish adopted the

Vestries Act 1831 The Vestries Act 1831 ( 1 & 2 Will. 4. c. 60), commonly known as Hobhouse's Vestry Act (named after the Whig frontbencher Sir John Hobhouse, later created Lord Broughton), was an Act of Parliament in 1831 and was a local government overhaul wh ...

. The vestry was reformed again in 1855 by the Metropolis Management Act. In 1889 the parish 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 ...

and the vestry was abolished in 1900, replaced by

Westminster City Council Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majority control since 2022. Full council meetings ...

. The parish continued to have nominal existence until 1922.

Creation

There were attempts in 1664, 1668 and 1670 to create a new parish, with its own church, from the area of the

bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. In English, the original French combi ...

of St James within the ancient parish of

. The creation of the new parish was resisted by the vestry of St Martin in the Fields. In 1684 the Church of St James, Piccadilly, was constructed which improved the case for providing a new parish. It was created in 1685 from part of the ancient parish of St Martin in the Fields, and was within the

. The parish was included in the returns of the

Bills of mortality Bills of mortality were the weekly mortality statistics in London, designed to monitor burials from 1592 to 1595 and then continuously from 1603. The responsibility to produce the statistics was chartered in 1611 to the Worshipful Company of Pari ...

. The legislation creating the parish in 1685 provided for a

of 34 vestrymen.

Geography

It corresponded to the western portion of the contemporary district of

, the eastern part of

and the northern part of

. To the north the boundary was along

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running between Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road via Oxford Circus. It marks the notional boundary between the areas of Fitzrovia and Marylebone to t ...

with

St Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropoli ...

, to the east it had a boundary with

St Anne, Soho St Anne Within the Liberty of Westminster, also known as St Anne Soho, was a civil parish in the county of Middlesex, later part of the new County of London, England. The parish was formed in 1687 from part of the ancient parish of St Martin ...

, running along Berwick Street and Rupert Street. To the south there was a boundary with St Martin in the Fields, roughly along Pall Mall. In the west there was a somewhat more irregular boundary with

St George Hanover Square St George Hanover Square was a Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the metropolitan area of London, England. The creation of the parish accompanied the building of the St George's, Hanover Square, Church of St George's, Hanover Square, ...

, partly following Conduit Street, Old Bond Street and Dover Street. The building of

Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George IV of the United Kingdom, George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash (architect), J ...

in the early 19th century made the division of the parish between the Mayfair and Soho areas more defined.

Government

The parish adopted the

and on 6 April 1832 there was an election of vestrymen by all

ratepayer 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 rol ...

s. In 1855 the parish vestry became a local authority within the area of responsibility of the

Metropolitan Board of Works The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was the upper tier of local government for London between 1856 and 1889, primarily responsible for upgrading infrastructure. It also had a parks and open spaces committee which set aside and opened up severa ...

and the number of elected vestrymen increased by 12. Under the

Metropolis Management Act 1855 The Metropolis Management Act 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c. 120), also known as the Metropolis (Management) Act 1855 or the Metropolis Local Management Act 1855, is an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom tha ...

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 rol ...

was to be divided into wards; as such the incorporated vestry of St James Westminster was divided into four wards (electing

vestrymen A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or regio ...

): No. 1 or Great Marlborough (12), No. 2 or Pall Mall (12), No. 3 or Church (15) and No. 4 or Golden Square (9). 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 leve ...

reformed the method of election for London vestries, with the entire vestry replaced at an election held on 15 December 1894. One third of the vestry was then elected every year starting in 1896.

Poor law

The parish was independent for the administration of the

New Poor Law The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 ( 4 & 5 Will. 4. c. 76) (PLAA) known widely as the New Poor Law, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by the Whig government of Earl Grey denying the right of the poor to subsistence. It c ...

, until it joined the Westminster Union in 1868.

Abolition

In 1889 the parish became part of the

and in 1900 it 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 ...

, with the parish vestry replaced by

. It was abolished as a civil parish in 1922.

Population

The population of the parish as recorded in the decennial census was:

References

{{coord , 51, 30, 31, N, 0, 8, 13, W, type:adm3rd_region:GB-WSM, display=title History of local government in London (pre-1855) Parishes governed by vestries (Metropolis)

St James Saint James or St. James may refer to: People Saints *James, brother of Jesus (died 62 or 69), also known as James the Just *James the Great (died 44), Apostle, also known as James, son of Zebedee, or Saint James the Greater *James, son of Alphaeu ...

1685 establishments in England 1922 disestablishments in England Bills of mortality parishes