Essex
Essex is a county in the south-east of England, north-east of London. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, London to the south-west; the county town is the only city in the county. For government statistical purposes Essex is placed in the East of England region. Essex occupies the eastern part of the ancient Kingdom of Essex, which united with the other Anglian and Saxon kingdoms to make England a single nation state; as well as rural areas, the county includes London Stansted Airport, the new towns of Basildon and Harlow, Lakeside Shopping Centre, the port of Tilbury and the borough of Southend-on-Sea. The name Essex originates in the Anglo-Saxon period of the Early Middle Ages and has its root in the Anglo-Saxon name Ēastseaxe, the eastern kingdom of the Saxons who had come from the continent and settled in Britain during the Heptarchy. Recorded in AD 527, Essex occupied territory to the north of the River Thames, incorporating all of what became Middlesex and most of what became Hertfordshire.
Its territory was restricted to lands east of the River Lea. Colchester in the north-east of the county is Britain's oldest recorded town, dating from before the Roman conquest, when it was known as Camulodunum and was sufficiently well-developed to have its own mint. In AD 824, following the Battle of Ellandun, the kingdoms of the East Saxons, the South Saxons and the Jutes of Kent were absorbed into the kingdom of the West Saxons, uniting Saxland under King Alfred's grandfather Ecgberht. Before the Norman conquest the East Saxons were subsumed into the Kingdom of England. After the Norman conquest, Essex became a county. During the medieval period, much of the area was designated a Royal forest, including the entire county in a period to 1204, when the area "north of the Stanestreet" was disafforested; the areas subject to forest law diminished, but at various times they included the forests of Becontree, Epping, Hatfield and Waltham. Essex County Council was formed in 1889. However, County Boroughs of West Ham, Southend-on-Sea and East Ham formed part of the county but were unitary authorities.
12 boroughs and districts provide more localised services such as rubbish and recycling collections and planning, as shown in the map on the right. A few Essex parishes have been transferred to other counties. Before 1889, small areas were transferred to Hertfordshire near Bishops Stortford and Sawbridgeworth. At the time of the main changes around 1900, parts of Helions Bumpstead, Sturmer and Ballingdon-with-Brundon were transferred to Suffolk. Part of Hadstock, part of Ashton and part of Chrishall were transferred to Cambridgeshire and part of Great Horkesley went to Suffolk; the boundary with Greater London was established in 1965, when East Ham and West Ham county boroughs and the Barking, Dagenham, Ilford, Romford and Wanstead and Woodford districts were transferred to form the London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Newham and Waltham Forest. Essex became part of the East of England Government Office Region in 1994 and was statistically counted as part of that region from 1999, having been part of the South East England region.
In 1998, the boroughs of Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock were granted autonomy from the administrative county of Essex after successful requests to become unitary authorities. Essex Police covers the two unitary authorities; the county council chamber and main headquarters is at the County Hall in Chelmsford. Before 1938, the council met in London near Moorgate, which with significant parts of the county close to that point and the dominance of railway travel had been more convenient than any place in the county, it has 75 elected councillors. Before 1965, the number of councillors reached over 100; the County Hall, made a listed building in 2007, dates from the mid-1930s and is decorated with fine artworks of that period the gift of the family who owned the textile firm Courtaulds. The highest point of the county of Essex is Chrishall Common near the village of Langley, close to the Hertfordshire border, which reaches 482 feet; the ceremonial county of Essex is bounded to the south by its estuary.
The pattern of settlement in the county is diverse. The Metropolitan Green Belt has prevented the further sprawl of London into the county, although it contains the new towns of Basildon and Harlow developed to resettle Londoners after the destruction of London housing in the Second World War, since which they have been developed and expanded. Epping Forest prevents the further spread of the Greater London Urban Area; as it is not far from London with its economic magnetism, many of Essex's settlements those near or within short driving distance of railway stations, function as dormitory towns or villages where London workers raise their families. Part of the s
Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury
The Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury was a Metropolitan borough within the County of London from 1900 to 1965, when it was amalgamated with the Metropolitan Borough of Islington to form the London Borough of Islington. The borough was formed from five civil parishes and extra-parochial places: Charterhouse, Liberty of Glasshouse Yard, St James & St John Clerkenwell, St Luke Middlesex and St Sepulchre Middlesex. In 1915 these five were combined into a single civil parish called Finsbury, conterminous with the metropolitan borough. Previous to the borough's formation it had been administered by three separate local bodies: Holborn District Board of Works, Clerkenwell Vestry and St Luke's Vestry. Charterhouse had not been under the control of any local authority prior to 1900; the borough covered the areas of Finsbury, Clerkenwell, St Luke's. It bordered Islington, the City of London, Holborn and St Pancras; the metropolitan borough was administered from the town hall on Rosebery Avenue. The building was built as the headquarters of Clerkenwell Vestry, had been opened on 14 June 1895 by Lord Rosebery, the Prime Minister.
The architect was C Evans Vaughan, it was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as a "nice irregular brick building with Tudor windows and lantern". Finsbury Town Hall is now home to a successful performing arts college. Although metropolitan boroughs only dated from 1900, the London County Council compiled statistics in 1901 that show the population growth in London over the preceding century; the area of the borough in 1901 was 587 acres. The populations recorded in National Censuses were: Constituent parishes 1801-1899 Metropolitan Borough 1900-1961 By comparison, after amalgamation with Islington, to form the modern London Borough of Islington, the combined area became 14.86 km² - 3,672 acres. In 1901 Finsbury, the population density was 42,276/km²; when the borough was incorporated in 1900, the corporation adopted a complicated device bearing six shields for each of the constituent parishes and extra-parochial places from which it was formed. At the top were shields depicting the old Cripplegate of the City of London and the arms of Charterhouse.
At the centre of the seal, on the left, is the shield of Clerkenwell Vestry. The parish church was dedicated to Ss. James and John, the shield showed St. James on the left and the cross of St. John on the right. To the right of this was the emblem of St Luke's parish: as patron saint of artists, Luke was shown seated at an easel. At the left base of the seal was a depiction of the gate of St. Botolph, representing the Liberty of Glasshouse Yard; the design was completed by the shield of the parish vestry of St. Sepulchre; this parish was partly in the City of London, in the county of Middlesex, the shield combined the arms used bt the city and county. In 1931 the borough received a grant of arms from the College of Arms; this included references to Finsbury's constituent parts, but in a more unified design. The shield had the cross of St John, on which were placed a heraldic fountain for the New River and roundels and rings from the arms of Charterhouse School. At the top of the shield was a representation of the city wall and its gates.
The crest on top of the helm was for St sepulchre's parish, the shield held by the hand again combining elements of the arms of the City of London and Middlesex. The supporters were emblem of St. Luke; the dolphin supporter was "charged" with a well in reference to Clerkenwell. The Latin motto chosen by the borough was Altiora Petimus or We seek higher things; the borough was divided into eleven wards for elections: City Road East, City Road West, East Finsbury, Old Street, Pentonville, St James', St John's, St Mark's, St Phillip's, St Sepulchre and West Finsbury. The first borough council was elected on 1 November 1900, when Conservative-supported Unionist and Moderate candidates took control. From 1903 to 1906 the Progressive Party held power. From 1906 to 1925 the Municipal Reform Party controlled the borough. In 1925 a Ratepayer's Association stood in place of the Municipal Reformers, replacing them as majority party. From 1928 to 1931, the Labour Party held control, with the Ratepayers holding power from 1931 to 1934.
In 1934 Labour regained power, which it held until the abolition of the borough in 1965. The number of councillors returned at each election to the council was as follows: Local electionsNo Municipal Reform candidates were nominated after 1946, Conservative candidates were nominated at local elections for the first time. For elections to Parliament, the borough formed the two constituencies of Finsbury Central and Finsbury East. In 1918 a new constituency of Finsbury was formed, identical with the metropolitan borough. By 1950 the population of the borough had declined to such an extent that the Finsbury constituency was merged with the neighbouring constituency of Shoreditch to become Shoreditch and Finsbury. Islington Local History Centre holds records of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury, including council and committee minutes, rate books and photographs. There are some street nameplates which retain the label "Borough of Finsbury". Metropolis Management Act 1855 London Government Act 1899 London Government Act 1963 London Borough of Islington List of mayors of Finsbury Robert Donald, ed..
"London: Finsbury". Municipal Year Book of the United Kingdom for 1907. London: Edward Lloyd. Census Tables for Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury, from Vision of Britain Crosley, Richard London's Coats of Arms and the Stories
Municipal Borough of Leyton
Leyton was a local government district in southwest Essex, from 1873 to 1965. It included the neighbourhoods of Leyton and Cann Hall, it was suburban to London, forming part of the London postal district and Metropolitan Police District. It now forms the southernmost part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest in Greater London. Leyton St Mary or Low Leyton was an ancient parish in the Becontree hundred of England; the parish had an area of 2,271 acres, which included a detached part to the north of 588 acres, separated from the main part of the parish by a long, narrow exclave of Walthamstow, known as the Walthamstow Slip. To the south, the parish of Wanstead formed a long protrusion known as the Wanstead Slip, which extended to the marshes of the River Lea and divided Leyton from West Ham. Much of the early governance of the parish was in the hands of the lords of the manors of Leyton and Ruckholt, who held courts baron, a type of manorial court from the medieval period until the 1840s; the lords and their courts appointed public officers such as constables, marsh haywards, ale tasters, tithingmen and a poundkeeper in 1796.
They decided rights of common, liable for maintaining roads and bridges, for making and maintaining infrastructure such as animal pounds, lock ups and stocks. From the 17th century, the local government of Leyton was controlled by the parish vestry with regard to the administration of the Poor Laws and levying of the parish rates. Only meeting once a year at Easter to elect and appoint parish officers, a second meeting each year was necessary by 1681, a third meeting from 1698 and monthly from 1759. Although the main Easter meeting was held in the parish church vestry room, other meetings were held in pubs or coffee houses, the committee members being entitled to a generous entertainment allowance of 40 shillings twice a year, although this was halved in 1723; the meetings were presided over by the lord of the manor of Ruckholt, until 1695 when the Vicar of Leyton took on that role. A parish clerk is first mentioned in 1623; the parish appointed a parish beadle from 1718 and two overseers of the poor by 1721, one for Leyton and one for Leytonstone.
The parish of Leyton endowed eight alms houses in Church Road and in 1742, built a work house behind them. The work house was closed in 1836, Leyton having joined, along with neighbouring parishes, the West Ham Poor Law Union; the Union built a new work house in Leyton to serve the whole area in 1839-41, the building becoming Langthorne Hospital. A workhouse infirmary built at Whipps Cross in 1900-03 became Whipps Cross Hospital. There were one for Leyton and one for Leytonstone. There was a whipping post at Leyton, replaced by a new one in 1756 when the stocks were replaced, There was a watch house and "cage" or lock-up. Leytonstone had stocks and a watch house; the parish of Leyton was incorporated into the Metropolitan Police District in 1840. Through house building and construction of the railway the parish expanded as an extra-metropolitan suburb of London; the parish authorities resisted earlier attempts to form a local board of health, but adopted the Public Health Act 1872 for the parish of Leyton and Walthamstow Slip, creating a local government district in 1873.
It was extended to include part of the parish of Wanstead to the south, known as Wanstead Slip or Cann Hall, from 1875. The board of the new district met in the vestry room until 1882, when new public offices were in Leyton High Road to the design of J Knight. Leyton became an urban district in 1894 under the Local Government Act 1894; the portion of Wanstead in the district was reconstituted as a new parish of Cann Hall. There were four wards in the district, but in 1903 it was reorganised into nine wards and ten in 1920. A town hall was built for the urban district in 1895-96 next to the 1882 offices, which had proved to be too small and were converted into a public library. Designed by John Johnson, Leyton Town Hall was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as "Fussy but enjoyable, in an eclectic and enriched Italianate style". Amongst the infrastructure improvements initiated by the board was the Leyton Urban District Council Tramways. After a formal petition to the Privy Council in 1920, the urban district was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1926.
Each of the existing ten wards was represented by three councillors. The first mayor of the new borough was James Benjamin Slade, knighted in 1927; the coat of arms of the municipal borough were granted on 27 November 1926. The arms were described as "Or three Chevronels Gules on a Chief Gules a Lion passant Or"; the crest was: "On a Wreath Or and Gules a Lion rampant per pale Or and Sable supporting a Crozier Gold". The Latin language motto was "MINISTRANDO DIGNITAS" meaning "dignity in service". Elements of the arms commemorated various families who had held manors within the borough during the Middle Ages, the nearby Stratford Langthorne Abbey which had held lands in Leyton before the Dissolution of the Monasteries; the lion and cross-staff on the crest of the Leyton arms have been preserved in the arms of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, which were granted on 1 January 1965. In 1965 the municipal borough was abolished by the London Government Act 1963 and its former area transferred to Greater London from Essex.
Its former ar
Courtenay Warner
Colonel Sir Thomas Courtenay Theydon Warner, 1st Baronet, CB was a British politician, who served as the Member of Parliament for North Somerset from 1892 to 1895, for Lichfield from 1896 to 1923. Warner was an officer in the 3rd Battalion and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, where he became major on 13 January 1902, he received the honorary rank of lieutenant-colonel on 2 August 1902, served as lieutenant-colonel in command and honorary colonel of the battalion. He received the CB on 25 June 1909, was made a baronet on 9 July 1910, of Brettenham Park, Suffolk. A member of the Liberal Party, he stood at the 1918 general election as a Coalition Liberal, at the 1922 general election as National Liberal, he was the first mayor of the Municipal Borough of Walthamstow after its incorporation in 1929. He gave his name to the Warner Flats on the Warner Estate, the popular type of housing in Walthamstow which he was responsible for developing, his ancestors built the Grade II listed Clock House villa in Walthamstow.
Leigh Rayment's list of baronets Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir Courtenay Warner
Metropolitan Borough of Battersea
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. As an ancient parish, Battersea was part of the Hundred of County of Surrey, it included the exclave of Penge. 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.
In 1889, the Local Government Act 1888 reconstituted the area of the Metropolitan Board of Works as the County of London, Battersea was transferred from Surrey to the new county. The population of the parish in 1896 was 165,115 and it had adopted the Public Libraries Act 1850 upon obtaining local independence in 1888, with its own vestry. For electoral purposes, the parish had 120 elected vestrymen. In 1900, the London Government Act 1899 divided the County of London into twenty-eight metropolitan boroughs, 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 first black mayor in the capital; the ancient parish, dedicated to St Mary, was in the Diocese of Winchester until 1877 the Diocese of Rochester until 1905, finally in the Diocese of Southwark.
From 1851, as the population of Battersea increased, a number of new parishes were formed: St George, Nine Elms in 1853 Christ Church, Battersea Park in 1861 St John, York Road Battersea in 1863 St Philip, Queen's Road, Battersea in 1870 Church of the Ascension, Lavender Hill in 1871 St Saviour, Battersea Park Road in 1872 St Peter, Plough Road, Battersea in 1876 St Mark, Battersea Rise in 1883 All Saints, Queen's Road, Battersea Park in 1884 St Michael, Wandsworth Common in 1884 St Andrew, Stockdale Road, Battersea in 1886 St Stephen, Battersea Bridge Road in 1887 St Barnabas, Clapham Common in 1895 St Luke, Ramsden Road, Battersea in 1901 St Bartholomew, Wickersley Road, Battersea in 1906A number of new parishes were formed within the detached part of Battersea parish, the hamlet of Penge: St John the Evangelist, Penge in 1851 St Paul, Penge in 1869 Holy Trinity, Anerley Road, Penge in 1873 Christ Church, Penge in 1886 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 based on the old device; the colours in the shield were reversed, a bordure or heraldic border added. The bordure consisted of silver and blue waves, representative of the River Thames, 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, Lavender Hill, the main road of Battersea. The old motto was retained; the area of the Borough was 2,163 acres. The population recorded in the Census was: Battersea Vestry 1801–1899 Metropolitan Borough 1900–1961 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.
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. Elections of the whole council were held every three years. Elections were cancelled during the two world wars; 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:. Local electionsNo Municipal Reform candidates were nominated after 1946, Conservative candidates were nominated at local elections for the first time. From 1900 to 1949 the borough was divided into nine wards, returning either three, six or nine councillors: Bolingbroke Broomwood Church Latchmere Nine Elms Park St John Shaftesbury Winstanley In 1949 the wards were redrawn, with fourteen wards returning three to five councillors each: Bolingbroke Broomwood Church Latchmere Lavender Newtown Nightingale Nine Elms Park Queenstown St John Shaftesbury Stormont Thornton Vicarage Winstanley The latest ward to be redrawn was Fairfield ward, with three councillors.
For elections to parliament the borough was part of the parliamentary borough of Battersea and Clapham, which consisted of two divisions, Battersea a
Walthamstow
Walthamstow is a major district in North East London and is part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is located 7.5 miles North East from Charing Cross. In the county of Essex, it increased in population as part of the suburban growth of London and was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Walthamstow in 1929 before becoming part of Greater London in 1965. Walthamstow is situated between the North Circular Road to the north, the Lea Valley and Walthamstow Reservoirs to the west, Epping Forest to the east. Walthamstow is recorded c. 1075 in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Wilcumestou. In 1213 King John visited Shern Hall, the manor house in Hoe Street that survived until it was demolished in1896; until the 19th century Walthamstow was rural, with a small village centre and a number of large estates. The main route through the district was Hoe Street. There were various smaller lanes crossing the town; the road now known as Forest Road was called Clay Street. Further south, the High Street was named Marsh Street, led from the original settlement out to the marshes.
Shernhall Street is an ancient route, to the east. In the 1660s Sir William Batten, Surveyor of the Navy, his wife Elizabeth Woodcocke had a house in Wood Street where, according to Samuel Pepys, they lived "like princes" and cultivated a vineyard; the Vestry House, now the Vestry House Museum, was used as the first town hall. By 1870 the place had grown to the size of a small suburb and a new town hall was built in Orford Road from which affairs of the village were run. With the advent of the railways and the ensuing suburbanisation in the late 19th century, Walthamstow experienced a large growth in population and speculative building; the Lighthouse Methodist Church which dates from 1893, situated on Markhouse Road, on the corner of Downsfield Road. There is a lantern at the top of the tower, which contains a spiral staircase; the church was erected because of the generosity of Captain David King of the shipbuilding firm of Bullard King & Co which ran the Natal Direct Shipping Line, which ran ships direct from London to Durban without stopping at the Cape.
The LGOC X-type and B-type buses were built at Blackhorse Lane from October 1908 onwards. The B-type is considered one of the first mass-production buses; the manufacturing operation became AEC, famous as the manufacturer of many of London's buses. On 13 June 1909, A. V. Roe's aircraft took to the air from Walthamstow Marshes, it was the first all-British aircraft and was given the ominous nickname of the "Yellow Terror" but carried the name Avro1. Roe founded the Avro aircraft company, which built the acclaimed Avro Lancaster. From 1894 Walthamstow was an urban district and from 1929 a municipal borough in Essex. In 1931 the population of the borough, covering an area of 4,342 acres, peaked at 132,972. In 1965 the borough was abolished and its former area merged with that of the Municipal Borough of Chingford and the Municipal Borough of Leyton to form the London Borough of Waltham Forest in Greater London. Other places in east London of the county of Essex, such as Ilford and Romford were placed into London Boroughs along with Walthamstow.
None of the postal district names or codes was changed at this time. Since the 2012 Summer Olympics, the town has become popular as a result of gentrification. Local property prices have increased at a high rate of 22.3% from 2013-2014, compared to London's average of 17.8%. It has turned Walthamstow into a'trendy' town similar to Shoreditch; the leafy Walthamstow Village in particular has become sought-after by buyers. On 29 May 2015, a regular local unicyclist was hit and dragged under by a double decker route 212 bus in Hoe Street. Locals numbering up to 100 people helped to pull the bus off the unicyclist; the MP for Walthamstow, Stella Creasy said she was "proud" of the community for saving the unicyclist's life. Walthamstow elects councillors to Waltham Forest London Borough Council. Walthamstow is bordered to the north by Chingford, south by Leyton and Leytonstone, east by the southern reaches of Epping Forest at Woodford and west by Tottenham and the River Lea valley; the A112 passes south-north through Walthamstow and its neighbouring towns forming part of an ancient route from London to Waltham Abbey.
Walthamstow Central is the main transport hub. Walthamstow Village conservation area is a peaceful and attractive district to the east of what has become the commercial centre of Walthamstow; the area is defined as being south of Church Hill, west of Shernhall Street, north of Grove Road, east of Hoe Street. Orford Road is the main route through the district, though this is a quiet thoroughfare by the standards of London; the village has a small selection of specialist shops and restaurants, house prices tend to be higher in the streets of this neighbourhood. It was voted best urban village in London by Time Out magazine in 2004. Upper Walthamstow is to the east of Walthamstow Village; the area's main thoroughfare is Wood Street, which has a good selection of shops and local businesses, is served by the London Overground at Wood Street station on the Liverpool Street to Chingford line. One of the Great Trees of London, the Wood Street Horse Chestnut, is located next to the former Jones's Butchers Shop, a grade II listed, late 18th century weatherboarded building.
The tree is thought to be upwards of 175 years old. Wood Street is home to Wood Street Indoor Market; the market was the site of a cinema
Greater London
Greater London is a ceremonial county of England, located within the London region. This region forms the administrative boundaries of London and is organised into 33 local government districts—the 32 London boroughs and the City of London, located within the region but is separate from the county; the Greater London Authority, based in Southwark, is responsible for strategic local government across the region and consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The City of London Corporation is the principal local authority for the City of London, with a similar role to that of the 32 London borough councils. Administratively, Greater London was first established as a sui generis council area under the Greater London Council between 1963 and 1986; the county of Greater London was created on 1 April 1965 through the London Government Act 1963. The area was re-established as a region in 1994; the Greater London Authority was formed in 2000. The region had a population of 8,174,000 at the 2011 census.
The Greater London Built-up Area is used in some national statistics and is a measure of the continuous urban area and includes areas outside the administrative region. The term Greater London has been and still is used to describe different areas in governance, statistics and common parlance. In terms of ceremonial counties, London is divided into the small City of London and the much wider Greater London; this arrangement has come about because as the area of London grew and absorbed neighbouring settlements, a series of administrative reforms did not amalgamate the City of London with the surrounding metropolitan area, its unique political structure was retained. Outside the limited boundaries of the City, a variety of arrangements has governed the wider area since 1855, culminating in the creation of the Greater London administrative area in 1965; the term Greater London was used well before 1965 to refer to the Metropolitan Police District, the area of the Metropolitan Water Board, the London Passenger Transport Area and the area defined by the Registrar General as the Greater London Conurbation.
The Greater London Arterial Road Programme was devised between 1913 and 1916. One of the larger early forms was the Greater London Planning Region, devised in 1927, which occupied 1,856 square miles and included 9 million people. Although the London County Council was created covering the County of London in 1889, the county did not cover all the built-up area West Ham and East Ham, many of the LCC housing projects, including the vast Becontree Estates, were outside its boundaries; the LCC pressed for an alteration in its boundaries soon after the end of the First World War, noting that within the Metropolitan and City Police Districts there were 122 housing authorities. A Royal Commission on London Government was set up to consider the issue; the LCC proposed a vast new area for Greater London, with a boundary somewhere between the Metropolitan Police District and the home counties. Protests were made at the possibility of including Windsor and Eton in the authority; the Commission made its report in 1923.
Two minority reports favoured change beyond the amalgamation of smaller urban districts, including both smaller borough councils and a central authority for strategic functions. The London Traffic Act 1924 was a result of the Commission. Reform of local government in the County of London and its environs was next considered by the Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London, chaired by Sir Edwin Herbert, which issued the'Herbert Report' after three years of work in 1960; the commission applied three tests to decide if a community should form part of Greater London: how strong is the area as an independent centre in its own right. Greater London was formally created by the London Government Act 1963, which came into force on 1 April 1965, replacing the administrative counties of Middlesex and London, including the City of London, where the London County Council had limited powers, absorbing parts of Essex, Hertfordshire and Surrey. Greater London had a two-tier system of local government, with the Greater London Council sharing power with the City of London Corporation and the 32 London Borough councils.
The GLC was abolished in 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985. Its functions were devolved to the City Corporation and the London Boroughs, with some functions transferred to central government and joint boards. Greater London formed the London region in 1994; the London referendum, 1998 established a public will to recreate an upper tier of government to cover the region. The Greater London Authority, London Assembly and the directly elected Mayor of London were created in 2000 by the Greater London Authority Act 1999. In 2000, the outer boundary of the Metropolitan Police District was re-aligned to the Greater London boundary; the 2000 and 2004 mayoral elections were won by Ken Livingstone, the final leader of the GLC. The 2008 and 2012 elections were won by Boris Johnson; the 2016 election was won by Sadiq Khan. Greater London includes the most associated parts of the Greater London Urban Area and their historic buffers and includes, in five boroughs, significant parts of the Metropolitan Green Belt which protects designated greenfield land in a similar way to the city's parks.
The closest and furthest boundaries are with Essex to the northeast between Sewardstonebury next to Epping Forest and Chingford and with the Mar
