How big was/is London really?

[John915]

Good evening,

I think this link demonstrates it best. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_of_London

The county of London came into being in 1889 and in 1900 the 28 metropolitan boroughs were formed. this covered an area roughly bordered by Hammersmith, Hackney, Greenwich, Lewisham and Wandsworth.

Anyone born outside of this area would not be a Londoner until the formation of the Greater London area. Although the built up area now extends well beyond those boundaries it was made up of dozens of separate towns and villages in the rural counties which surrounded London.

Even those places mentioned would have been separate towns and villages at one time. They would all have had their own councils.

John915

[coombs]

Good evening,

I think this link demonstrates it best. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_of_London

The county of London came into being in 1889 and in 1900 the 28 metropolitan boroughs were formed. this covered an area roughly bordered by Hammersmith, Hackney, Greenwich, Lewisham and Wandsworth.

Anyone born outside of this area would not be a Londoner until the formation of the Greater London area. Although the built up area now extends well beyond those boundaries it was made up of dozens of separate towns and villages in the rural counties which surrounded London.

Even those places mentioned would have been separate towns and villages at one time. They would all have had their own councils.

John915

Interesting. I know actor David Jason was born in 1940 in the North Middlesex Hospital, Edmonton, and this was well outside the County Of London until 1965. So David is not a Londoner really, he grew up in Finchley. He is from a place that was then close to London, that only became part of London in 1965.

[jbml]

There is an excellent series of historical atlases of London, available from Stantons, and I have found them invaluable for unravelling my London / Middlesex / East End family lines. I commend them to anyone needing to do the same.

They are:

The A-Z of Elizabethan London
The A-Z of Jacobean London
The A-Z of Georgian London (not currently available)
The A-Z of Regency London
The A-Z of Victorian London
The A-Z of Edwardian London

Each is a fully indexed reproduction of a full period survey of "Greater London" (for want of a better expression) as it existed at the time, together with a full historical introduction to the survey explaining when, why and by whom it was made.

The growth of London can be traced very effectively once you have hte entire series, as I have.

[coombs]

My 4xgreat grandmother Ann Goodacre was born in 1777 in East Lane, Bermondsey. Address given on baptism record. In 1777, East Lane was on the very outer fringes of Bermondsey, heading towards Rotherhithe. At that time Bermondsey was near London, rather than in London itself. In 1815 an ancestor died and mentioned his son of Bermondsey, near London.

[jbml]

Correction to my previous post - the second in the series is called the A-Z of Restoration London (not Jacobean London)