St George in the East St George Middlesex | |
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St George's Town Hall | |
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Area | |
• 1881 | 243 acres (0.98 km2) |
Population | |
• 1881 | 47,157 |
Density | |
• 1881 | 194/acre |
History | |
• Origin | Split from Stepney parish |
• Created | 1729 |
• Abolished | 1927 |
• Succeeded by | Stepney Borough parish |
Status | Civil parish |
Government | Vestry of the Parish of St George (1855—1900) |
• HQ | St George's Town Hall, Cable Street |
St George in the East, historically known as Wapping-Stepney, was an ancient parish, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England. The place name is no longer widely used.
Ancient parish areas were historically the same for both civil and ecclesiastical (church) functions, and while St George in the East is no longer a civil parish there is still a smaller continuing ecclesiastical parish. The church, crypts and second floor outreach mission are open and holds regular services, as well as community organising and social justice campaigns.
The parish was largely rural at the time of its creation, the main settlement a hamlet (administrative sub-division of Stepney) and former farm estate known as Wapping-Stepney, or Wapping. The parish church of St George in the East was completed in 1729 by the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches. To distinguish it from other parishes in and near London with the same name, an addition was made which denoted it as "in the East" as a suffix which reflected it was then an eastern suburb of London. [1]
In 1800, work on constructing the London Docks had begun, with parts of Wapping demolished. In 1820 St. George in the East was at the height of its prosperity with wealthy merchants and traders living and building in the parish. The London Docks caused a large influx of unskilled labour and brought poverty with the population growing dense and causing outbreaks of cholera in 1849, 1855, and in 1866. [2]
In the 1930s, Sir Oswald Mosley British Union of Fascists organized a march east down Cable Street to Stepney with 3,000 supporters in October 1936, which was blocked by protesters' barricades at the junction of Cable Street and Christian Street and was known after as the Battle of Cable Street, a mural painted on the side of the former St George's vestry hall shows this event. [3]
After the devastating bomb damage during the Second World War, St George in the East was redeveloped into an almost entirely residential area, which included high-rise flats in tower block style built in the 1970s.
Much of the former northern boundary of the parish was with Mile End Old Town and ran alongside Commercial Road. In the west the boundary with Whitechapel fell just short of Back Church Lane. The parish of Wapping bordered it to the south, with Wapping forming a buffer in the west and south, beyond which are for example St Botolph Without Aldgate, colloquially Aldgate in the tube system. The parish of Shadwell was to the east, and the parishes of Wapping and Shadwell almost met in the south, giving the old form of St George in the East a central frontage to the Tideway of 53 feet (16 m).
Shadwell and St George's East railway station on the London and Blackwall was within the parish of St George, as was a large part of the London Docks, which have since been filled in. There is an architectural Conservation Area covering the area around the Parish church and Town Hall. [4]
Wapping Stepney Act 1728 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Long title | An Act for making the Hamlet of Wapping Stepney, in the Parish of St. Dunstan Stebunheath, alias Stepney, in the County of Middlesex, a distinct Parish; and for providing a Maintenance for the Minister of the new Church there. |
Citation | 2 Geo. 2. c. 30 |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 14 May 1729 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | |
Status: Repealed |
St George in the East, in early decades especially also referred to as St George Middlesex; had for centuries been part of Stepney in the Tower division of the Ossulstone hundred of Middlesex. It was split off as a separate combined secular and ecclesiastical parish 1729 by the Wapping Stepney Act 1728 (2 Geo. 2. c. 30), and had a population of 47,157 by 1881. Aside from co-government with London County Council from its 1889 inception, local government was through the Vestry of the Parish of St George from 1855 to 1900. [5] Following the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, it was constituted a Poor Law unit for rate collection and administration (including distributions) from 1836.
The parish vestry became a local authority in the Metropolis in 1855, nominating one member to the co-governing Metropolitan Board of Works.
Under the Metropolis Management Act 1855 any parish that exceeded 2,000 ratepayers was to be divided into wards; as such the incorporated vestry of St George in the East was divided into two wards (electing vestrymen): No. 1 or North (18) and No. 2 or South (18). [6]
The board of works was replaced by the directly elected London County Council in 1889 and its area of responsibly became the County of London. St George in the East became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney in 1900 and was abolished as a civil parish in 1927. The vestry hall was on Cable Street and today has non-governmental use. [7]
Stepney Borough took over the defunct civil parish in 1927, then under the new model of government, Tower Hamlets Borough Council was assigned its functions in 1965.
Although the area is no longer a civil parish, there remains a smaller ecclesiastical (church) parish.
It was part of the Middlesex two-member (MP) constituency and then that of soon similarly under-represented Tower Hamlets from 1832 to 1885. A St George seat spanned 1885 to 1918, under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 during which time overcrowding fell. Larger Whitechapel and St Georges, covered the next years to 1950. It was locally replaced with seat Stepney, amended in 1950 to become Stepney and Poplar, amended in 1983 to become locally Bethnal Green and Stepney then falling almost all in Poplar and Limehouse.
Poplar is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is an inner-city suburb located five miles (8 km) east of Charing Cross. It lies on the western bank of the River Lea and is part of the London Docklands.
Stepney is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. Stepney is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name was applied to a much larger manor and parish. Stepney Green is a remnant of a larger area of Common Land formerly known as Mile End Green.
Wapping is an area in the borough of Tower Hamlets in London, England. It is in East London and part of the East End. Wapping is on the north bank of the River Thames between St Katharine Docks to the west, and Shadwell to the east. This position gives the district a strong maritime character.
Whitechapel is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End. It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough town centre. Whitechapel is located 3.4 miles (5.5 km) east of Charing Cross.
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a borough in London, England. Situated on the north bank of the River Thames and immediately east of the City of London, the borough spans much of the traditional East End of London and includes much of the regenerated London Docklands area. The 2019 mid-year population for the borough is estimated at 324,745.
Bethnal Green was a civil parish and a metropolitan borough of the County of London between 1899 and 1965, when it was merged with the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney and the Metropolitan Borough of Poplar to form the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Poplar was a local government district in the metropolitan area of London, England. It was formed as a district of the Metropolis in 1855 and became a metropolitan borough in the County of London in 1900. It comprised Poplar, Millwall, Bromley-by-Bow and Bow as well as Old Ford, Fish Island and Cubitt Town.
The Metropolitan Borough of Stepney was a Metropolitan borough in the County of London created in 1900. In 1965 it became part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Shadwell is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London, England. It also forms part of the city's East End. Shadwell is on the north bank of the River Thames between Wapping and Ratcliff and Limehouse and is 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Charing Cross. This riverside location has meant the area's history and character have been shaped by the maritime trades.
Ratcliff or Ratcliffe is a locality in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames between Limehouse, and Shadwell. The place name is no longer commonly used.
Bow is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is an inner-city suburb located 4.6 miles (7.4 km) east of Charing Cross.
Cable Street is a road in the East End of London, England, with several historic landmarks nearby. It was made famous by the Battle of Cable Street in 1936.
Stepney was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Stepney district of the East End of London. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.
Tower Hamlets was a parliamentary borough (constituency) in Middlesex, England from 1832 to 1885. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was one of the first five of its type in the metropolitan area of London. It was enfranchised by the Reform Act 1832.
The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have universally accepted boundaries on its north and east sides, though the River Lea is sometimes seen as the eastern boundary. Parts of it may be regarded as lying within Central London. The term "East of Aldgate Pump" is sometimes used as a synonym for the area.
Whitechapel was a local government district within the metropolitan area of London, England from 1855 to 1900.
St Botolph without Aldgate was an ancient parish immediately east of and outside (without) Aldgate, a gate in London's defensive wall. The parish church was St Botolph's Aldgate.
Stepney was an ancient civil and ecclesiastical parish in the historic county of Middlesex to the east and north east of the City of London, England.
St George was a parliamentary constituency in what is now the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was part of the Parliamentary borough of Tower Hamlets and returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
St George's Town Hall, formerly known as Stepney Town Hall, and, before that, St George's Vestry Hall, is a municipal building on Cable Street, Stepney, London. It is a Grade II listed building.