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St Margaret and St JohnSt Margaret (until 1727) Westminster District (1855–1887)
Civil parish
Area
• 1881	815 acres (3.30 km)
• 1901	766 acres (3.10 km)
• 1921	767 acres (3.10 km)
• Coordinates	51°29′58″N 0°08′00″W / 51.4995°N 0.1333°W / 51.4995; -0.1333
Population
• 1881	59,926
• 1901	51,068
• 1921	39,916
Density
• 1881	73.53/acre
• 1901	66.67/acre
• 1921	52.04/acre
History
• Origin	Ancient parish
• Created	10th century
• Abolished	1922
• Succeeded by	City of Westminster (parish)
Status	District (1855–1887)
Government	St Margaret Vestry (16th century–1727) St Margaret and St John Vestry (1727–1855) Westminster District Board of Works (1855–1887) St Margaret and St John Combined Vestry (1887–1900)
• Type	Vestry
• HQ	Town Hall, Caxton Street
Seal of the united vestry in 1888
Contained within
• City and liberty	Westminster (until 1900)
• Metropolitan borough	Westminster (1900–1922)
• Poor Law Union	St George's (1870–1913) City of Westminster (1913–1922)
Subdivisions
• Type	Parishes (after 1727)
• Units	St John St Margaret

St Margaret was an ancient parish in the City and Liberty of Westminster and the county of Middlesex. It included the core of modern Westminster, including the Palace of Westminster and the area around, but not including Westminster Abbey. It was divided into St Margaret's and St John's in 1727, to coincide with the building of the Church of St John the Evangelist, constructed by the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches in Smith Square to meet the demands of the growing population, but there continued to be a single vestry for the parishes of St Margaret and St John. This was reformed in 1855 by the Metropolis Management Act, and the two parishes formed the Westminster District until 1887. St Margaret and St John became part of the County of London in 1889. The vestry was abolished in 1900, to be replaced by Westminster City Council, but St Margaret and St John continued to have a nominal existence until 1922.

Governance

St Margaret was an ancient parish, governed by a vestry and within the City and Liberty of Westminster. Before 1542 the parish included territory between the church of St Clement Danes and the Palace of Westminster, that became part of the parish of St Martin in the Fields.

The Commission for Building Fifty New Churches was set up to build new churches for populous parishes in the London area and Church of St John the Evangelist was completed in 1728. To coincide with this, a new parish of St John the Evangelist for civil and ecclesiastical purposes was split off from St Margaret in 1727.

Despite the split, the two parishes continued to be governed by a single vestry and were commonly known as Westminster St Margaret and St John.

The two parishes were grouped into the Westminster District in 1855 when they came within the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works. St Margaret elected 30 members the district board and St John elected 27 members.

Under the Metropolis Management Act 1855 any parish that exceeded 2,000 ratepayers was to be divided into wards; as such the parishes of both St Margaret Westminster and St John the Evangelist within the Westminster District Boards of Works were divided into three wards each (electing vestrymen): St Margaret No. 1 (12), St Margaret No. 2 (9), St Margaret No. 3 (15), St John the Evangelist No. 1 (9), St John the Evangelist No. 2 (15) and St John the Evangelist No. 3 (12).

The local authority was renamed as the St Margaret and St John Combined Vestry in 1887.

In 1889 the parishes became part of the County of London. The united parishes unsuccessfully petitioned for incorporation as a municipal borough on 19 January 1897. In 1900 they became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster. St Margaret and St John was abolished as a civil parish in 1922.

Libraries

The parish vestry was the first in London to adopt the Public Libraries Act 1855. It held a public meeting in 1856, achieved the required two thirds in favour of providing a library and appointed a librarian the same year. The Westminster Public Library on Great Smith Street opened in 1857. In 1858 a further library was opened in Trevor Square, Knightsbridge.

Geography

The main part of the parish fronted the River Thames to the east. St Margaret's was north of St John's. The parish of St Margaret had a detached part of similar size to its west, by the allegiance of a medieval manor, commonly named Kensington Gore and including the northwest of what is today considered Knightsbridge and Kensington Palace.

In times of monasticism and monarchicism, the geographic extent had a maximum of three extra-parochial areas within, namely:

• The Close of the Collegiate Church of St Peter containing Westminster Abbey, officially its own precinct and sanctuary rather than ex-pariochial altogether.
• Privy Gardens (1831 census records)
• Verge of the Palaces of St James and Whitehall (1841 census records)
  • Whitehall (1831 census records)

Poor law

Westminster St Margaret and St John was a local act parish and so remained a single unit for administration of the New Poor Law. Following the Metropolitan Poor Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. 6), it joined with St George Hanover Square for this purpose in 1870 as the St George's Union.

Population

The population history is typical for a central district of London, growing until the 19th century and then declining as transport improvements caused movement to the suburbs. The population peak was in 1871.

References

1. "Estate and Parish History | British History Online". British-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
2. ^ Youngs, Frederic (1979). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England. Vol. I: Southern England. London: Royal Historical Society. ISBN 0-901050-67-9.
3. The London Gazette Issue: 21802. 20 October 1855. pp. 3900–3902. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
4. "H.M.S.O. Boundary Commission Report 1885 Westminster Map". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
5. "The London Gazette". 19 January 1897. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
6. Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science: Volume 33 - The Wellesley College Library to Zoological Literature: A Review
7. Port, M. H. (Edr.) (1986). "Illustrative map of London parishes". The Commissions for building fifty new churches: The minute books, 1711-27, a calendar. London Record Society.
8. ^ "Westminster St Margaret CP/AP through time | Census tables with data for the Parish-level Unit". Archived from the original on 25 December 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
9. Peter Higginbotham. "St Margaret and St John the Evangelist, Westminster, London". Workhouses.org.uk.
10. "Westminster St Margaret CP/AP through time | Population Statistics | Total Population". Visionofbritain.org.uk. Retrieved 14 September 2016.

v t e Metropolitan Board of Works
Boards of works	Fulham Greenwich Hackney Holborn Lee/Plumstead Lewisham Limehouse Poplar St Giles St Olave St Saviour's Strand Wandsworth Westminster Whitechapel	Headquarters at Spring Gardens
Incorporated vestries	Battersea Bermondsey Bethnal Green Camberwell Chelsea Clerkenwell Fulham Hackney Hammersmith Hampstead Islington Kensington Lambeth Mile End Old Town Newington Paddington Plumstead Rotherhithe St George Hanover Square St George in the East St Luke's St Martin-in-the-Fields St Marylebone St Pancras Shoreditch Southwark St George the Martyr Stoke Newington Westminster St Margaret and St John Westminster St James Woolwich
Undertakings	Metropolitan Buildings Office Metropolitan Commission of Sewers Metropolitan Fire Brigade
Major works	Charing Cross Road Hammersmith Bridge London sewer system Northumberland Avenue Putney Bridge Southwark Street Shaftesbury Avenue Thames Embankment Waterloo Bridge
Legislation	Royal Commission on the City of London Metropolis Management Act 1855 Metropolis Management Amendment Act 1885 Local Government Act 1888 London Government Act 1899
People	Francis Fowler Frederick Marrable James McGarel-Hogg John Thwaites Joseph Bazalgette List of members

v t e History of the formation of the City of Westminster
Metropolitan boroughs	St Marylebone Paddington Westminster
District boards	Strand Westminster
Parishes	Close of the Collegiate Church of St Peter Liberty of the Rolls Precinct of the Savoy St Anne Within the Liberty of Westminster St Clement Danes St George Hanover Square St Martin-in-the-Fields St Mary le Strand St Paul Covent Garden Westminster St James Westminster St Margaret and St John
Liberties	The Savoy Westminster

• History of local government in London (pre-1855)
• Parishes governed by vestries (Metropolis)
• Parishes united into districts (Metropolis)
• Former civil parishes in the City of Westminster
• English churches dedicated to St Margaret of Antioch