Discover

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.

Contents

Boundaries

Borough seal and coat of arms

Population and area

Sources

References

See also

Boundaries

The borough was created by combining the areas of the Stepney and Whitechapel District Boards of Works, and comprised the following civil parishes and extra parochial places:

★ Limehouse

★ Mile End New Town

★ Mile End Old Town

★ Norton Folgate

★ Old Artillery Ground

★ Ratcliff

★ St Botolph Without Aldgate

★ St George in the East

★ Shadwell

★ Spitalfields

★ Stepney

★ Tower of London

★ Wapping

★ Whitechapel
The area maps roughly to the London postcode E1.
The road sign in front of Mile End tube station still has Borough of Stepney just visible on it.

Borough seal and coat of arms

On the formation of the metropolitan borough the corporation adopted a seal depicting the patron saints of the
parishes that made up the borough. These were St Anne, Limehouse, St Mary Matfelon, Whitechapel, St Dunstan,
for Stepney and St George in the East. In the centre was a depiction of the Tower of London. At the top of the seal
was a sailing ship, recalling the legend that all persons born on the high seas, could claim Stepney as their birthplace. The more
modern ship and quayside at the bottom of the seal was for the borough's docks.On the left of the seal was a picture of a steam locomotive,
for the London and Blackwall Railway, and on the right a loom for the historic weaving industry.
In 1931 the seal was replaced by an official coat of arms, granted by the College of Arms. The main item on the shield is a ship
on the waves of the sea, for the various maritime interests of Stepney. At the top of the shield are shown a version of the arms of the
City of London, but with an anchor replacing the sword in the city's arms. On either side of this were placed tomgs, symbol of St Dunstan,
patron saint of Stepney. The crest on the top of the helm featured a mural crown, representing the battlemants of the Tower of London.
Atop the crown were two crossed gold anchors. The Latin motto: ''A magnis ad maiora'', can be translated as ''from great things to greater''.
When Stepney became part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the arms of the new borough were based on Stepney's, and an English language
version of the motto was adopted.

Population and area

The area of the borough was 1,766 acres (about 7.15 km²). The populations recorded in National Censuses were:
'Stepney Civil Parish 1801-1899'

Year[1]	1801	1811	1821	1831	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891
Population	113,281	131,606	153,749	175,088	203,802	238,910	257,497	275,467	282,676	285,225

'Metropolitan Borough 1900-1961'

Year[2]	1901	1911	1921	1931	1941	1951	1961
Population	298,600	279,804	249,657	225,238	[3]	98,858	92,000

Sources

★ Youngs, F. A., ''Guide to Local Administrative Units of England'', Vol. 1, Southern England, London, 1979

★ Vision of Britain website [1]

References

1. Statistical Abstract for London, 1901 (Vol. IV).
2. Stepney MetB: Census Tables at ''Vision of Britain'' accessed on 14 Dec 2006
3. ''The census was suspended for World War II

See also

★ London Government Act 1899

★ Metropolis Management Act 1855