Battersea St Mary
Motto: Non Mihi Non Tibi Sed Nobis (Not for me, not for thee, but for us)
Battersea within the County of London
Geography
Status	Civil parish (until 1965) Metropolitan borough (1900—1965)
1831 area	3,020 acres (12.2 km2)[1]
1851 area	2,343 acres (9.48 km2)[1]
1901 area	2,161 acres (8.75 km2)[1]
HQ	Municipal Buildings, Lavender Hill
History
Origin	Ancient parish
Abolished	1965
Succeeded by	London Borough of Wandsworth
Demography
1801 population	3,365[1]
1851 population - 1851 density	10,560[1] 4.5/acre
1901 population - 1901 density	168,907[1] 78/acre
Politics
Governance	Vestry of the Parish of Battersea (1888—1900) Battersea Borough Council (1900—1965)
Coat of arms of the borough council

Battersea was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in the County of London, England. In 1965, the borough was abolished and its area combined with parts of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth to form the London Borough of Wandsworth. The borough was administered from Battersea Town Hall on Lavender Hill and the building is now Battersea Arts Centre.

Ancient parish [edit]

As an ancient parish, Battersea was part of the Hundred of Brixton and County of Surrey. It included the exclave of Penge.

Parish in the Metropolis [edit]

In 1855, under the Metropolis Management Act 1855, the civil responsibilities of the parish were passed to the Metropolitan Board of Works. The two parts of the parish were assigned to different districts by the act establishing the MBW: Battersea was included in the area of the Wandsworth District Board of Works and the hamlet of Penge in that of Lewisham District Board of Works. Penge became a civil parish in its own right in 1866.

On 25 March 1888, a separate vestry was formed as a local authority for The parish of Saint Mary Battersea excluding Penge.^[2] In 1889, the Local Government Act 1888 reconstituted the area of the Metropolitan Board of Works as the County of London, and Battersea was transferred from Surrey to the new county.^[3]

The population of the parish in 1896 was 165,115 and it had adopted the Public Libraries Act 1850 immediately upon obtaining local independence in 1888, with its own vestry. For electoral purposes, the parish was divided into four wards and had 120 elected vestrymen.

Metropolitan borough [edit]

In 1900, the London Government Act 1899 divided the County of London into twenty-eight metropolitan boroughs, and the vestries and district boards were dissolved. The parish became the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea, with the borough council replacing the civil vestry.

The Metropolitan Borough included within its bounds Battersea, Battersea Park, Clapham Junction and parts of Wandsworth Common and Clapham Common.

In 1913, John Archer became mayor of the borough and the first black mayor in the country.^[4]

Coat of arms [edit]

In 1901, the borough adopted an unofficial coat of arms, consisting of a shield vertically divided blue and white, the division line being indented. This design was taken from a flag dating from 1803. On top of the shield was a dove bearing an olive branch. The Latin motto was Non Mihi, Non Tibi, Sed Nobis, or "Neither for myself, nor for yourself, but for us".

In 1955, the borough received an official grant from the College of Arms, based on the old device. The colours in the shield were reversed, and a bordure or heraldic border added. The bordure consisted of silver and blue waves, representative of the River Thames, and bore sixteen gold stars for the sixteen wards of the borough. The new crest on top of the helm was the dove of the 1901 design, with the addition of sprigs of lavender, for the old lavender fields of the area, and Lavender Hill, the main road of Battersea. The old motto was retained.

Area and population [edit]

The area of the Borough was 2,163 acres (8.8 km²). The population recorded in the Census was:

Civil Parish 1801-1899

Metropolitan Borough 1900-1961

Politics [edit]

The first election to the council was on 1 November 1900, with the Progressive Party taking control of the new borough. They retained power until 1909, when the Municipal Reform Party (allied to the Conservatives) gained a majority. The Progressives regained the council in 1912, holding power until 1919 when the Labour Party gained control. In 1931 the borough come under Municipal Reform control again. Labour regained power in 1934, retaining it for the rest of the borough's existence.

Elections of the whole council were held every three years. Elections were cancelled during the two world wars (1914-1918 and 1939-1945). The 1952 election was postponed for a year so that it did not clash with elections to the London County Council. The number of councillors returned at each election was as follows:.^[9]

Local elections

No Municipal Reform candidates were nominated after 1946, and Conservative candidates were nominated at local elections for the first time.

Wards [edit]

From 1900 to 1949 the borough was divided into nine wards, returning either three, six or nine councillors:

• Bolingbroke (6 councillors)
• Broomwood (6)
• Church (6)
• Latchmere (6)
• Nine Elms (9)
• Park (6)
• St John (3)
• Shaftesbury (6)
• Winstanley (6)

In 1949 the wards were redrawn, with fourteen wards returning three to five councillors each:

• Bolingbroke (3)
• Broomwood (3)
• Church (4)
• Latchmere (4)
• Lavender (3)
• Newtown (3)
• Nightingale (5)
• Nine Elms (3)
• Park (4)
• Queenstown (4)
• St John (4)
• Shaftesbury (3)
• Stormont (3)
• Thornton (3)
• Vicarage (3)
• Winstanley (3)

The latest ward to be redrawn was Fairfield ward, with three councillors.

Parliamentary constituencies [edit]

For elections to parliament the borough was originally part of the parliamentary borough of Battersea and Clapham, which consisted of two divisions, Battersea and Clapham.

In 1918 the metropolitan borough was divided into two constituencies:

• Battersea North (Church, Latchmere, Nine Elms and Park wards) and
• Battersea South (Bolingbroke, Broomwood, St John, Shaftesbury and Winstanley wards)

The boundaries of the two constituencies were adjusted in 1949 to reflect the redrawn borough wards:

• Battersea North (Church, Latchmere, Newtown, Nine Elms, Park, Queenstown, Vicarage and Winstanley wards)
• Battersea South (Bolingbroke, Broomwood, Lavender, Nightingale, St John, Shaftesbury, Stormont and Thornton wards)

The constituencies continued unchanged until 1970.^[10] when the Battersea constituency largely succeeded these two. The current MP is Conservative Jane Ellison.^[11]

References [edit]

Notes

Bibliography

• "The London Manual 1899-1900" edited by Robert Donald (Edward Lloyd Ltd., 1899)

v t e Local government districts abolished or transferred by the London Government Act 1963 London CC Battersea Bermondsey Bethnal Green Camberwell Chelsea Deptford Finsbury Fulham Greenwich Hackney Hammersmith Hampstead Holborn Islington Kensington Lambeth Lewisham Paddington Poplar Shoreditch Southwark St. Marylebone St. Pancras Stepney Stoke Newington Wandsworth Westminster Woolwich Constituent parts of Greater London Essex Barking Chigwell (part) Chingford Dagenham East Ham Hornchurch Ilford Leyton Romford Walthamstow Wanstead and Woodford West Ham Hertfordshire Barnet East Barnet Middlesex, CC Acton Brentford and Chiswick Ealing Edmonton Enfield Feltham Finchley Friern Barnet Harrow Hayes and Harlington Hendon Heston and Isleworth Hornsey Ruislip-Northwood Southall Southgate Tottenham Twickenham Uxbridge Wembley Willesden Wood Green Yiewsley and West Drayton Kent Beckenham Bexley Bromley Chislehurst and Sidcup Crayford Erith Orpington Penge Surrey Barnes Beddington and Wallington Carshalton Coulsdon and Purley Croydon Kingston-upon-Thames Malden and Coombe Merton and Morden Mitcham Sutton and Cheam Surbiton Richmond Wimbledon Transfers Middlesex to Hertfordshire: Potters Bar Middlesex to Surrey: Staines Sunbury-on-Thames

v t e Metropolitan Board of Works Districts Fulham Greenwich Hackney Holborn Lee/Plumstead Lewisham Limehouse Poplar St Giles St Olave St Saviour's Strand Wandsworth Westminster Whitechapel Headquarters at Spring Gardens Incorporated vestries Battersea Bermondsey Bethnal Green Camberwell Chelsea Clerkenwell Fulham Hackney Hammersmith Hampstead Islington Kensington Lambeth Mile End Old Town Newington Paddington Plumstead Rotherhithe St George Hanover Square St George in the East St Luke Middlesex St Martin in the Fields St Marylebone St Pancras Stoke Newington Shoreditch Southwark St George the Martyr Westminster St Margaret and St John Westminster St James Woolwich Undertakings Metropolitan Buildings Office Metropolitan Commission of Sewers Metropolitan Fire Brigade Major works Charing Cross Road Hammersmith Bridge London sewerage system Northumberland Avenue Putney Bridge Southwark Street Shaftesbury Avenue Thames Embankment Waterloo Bridge Legislation Royal Commission on the City of London Metropolis Management Act 1855 Metropolis Toll Bridges Act 1877 Metropolitan Board of Works (Money) Act 1885 Metropolis Management Amendment Act 1885 Local Government Act 1888 London Government Act 1899 People Frederick Marrable James McGarel-Hogg John Thwaites Joseph Bazalgette List of Members

Coordinates: 51°27′53″N 0°09′39″W / 51.4648°N 0.1607°W / 51.4648; -0.1607

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