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Bethnal Green

County of London
Status:	Metropolitan borough
Admin. HQ:	Patriot Square
Created:	1900
Abolished:	1965
Successor:	London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Old Bethnal Green Town Hall. Besides being the headquarters of the pre-1965 Metropolitan Borough, this was also, for a time, Tower Hamlets town hall, until the borough quasi-decentralised itself in the 1980s.

The Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green was a metropolitan borough in the County of London between 1900 and 1965, when it was merged into the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created by the London Government Act 1899.

It bordered Hackney, Poplar, Stepney, and Shoreditch.

The area maps roughly to the London postcode E2.

The borough seal depicted a scene based on The Beggar's Daughter of Bednall Green, a poem published in 1765, but probably dating from the era of Elizabeth I. According to the legend related in the poem, a blind beggar living in Bethnal Green was in fact Henry de Montfort, eldest son of Simon de Montfort, having escaped from the field of the Battle of Evesham. His identity was revealed at the wedding feast of his daughter Bessie.

In the first election to the borough council, held on November 1, 1900 the Progressives gained a majority, with 22 of the 30 councillors. The Moderates (supported by the Conservative party) formed the 8 member opposition group. The Progressives increased their majority to 24 at the 1903 elections, and in 1906 they won all the seats on the council. The Progressives held the council against the Municipal Reform Party until 1919 when the Labour party gained a majority. Progressive and Liberals regained control at the 1925 election, holding power until 1934.

In 1934 Labour again took control, and from that date held all the seats on the council until the borough's abolition.^[1]

For parliamentary elections, Bethnal Green was divided into two constituencies in 1885. Each consisted of two wards of the borough and earlier vestry:

• Bethnal Green North East (north and east wards)
• Bethnal Green South West (south and west wards).

In 1950 the borough's representation was decreased to a single constituency of Bethnal Green, which also included three wards from the neighbouring Metropolitan Borough of Hackney.

The area of the borough was 760 acres (about 3.1 km²). The populations recorded in National Censuses were:

Bethnal Green Civil Parish 1801-1899

Metropolitan Borough 1900-1961

• Bethnal Green
• London Government Act 1899
• Metropolis Management Act 1855

• http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10186353

1. ^ Election results as reported in The Times, 3 November, 1900; 4 November 1903; November 3, 1906; November 2, 1909; November 2, 1912; November 4, 1919; November 4, 1925; November 3, 1928; November 4, 1931; November 3, 1934; November 3, 1937; November 2, 1945; May 7, 1949; May 7, 1953; May 11, 1956; May 8, 1959; May 12, 1962
2. ^ Statistical Abstract for London, 1901 (Vol. IV).
3. ^ Bethnal Green MetB: Census Tables at Vision of Britain accessed on 14 Dec 2006
4. ^ The census was suspended for World War II

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