Walthamstow was a local government district in south west Essex, England from 1894 to 1965, around the town of Walthamstow. It was within the London suburbs, forming part of the London postal district and Metropolitan Police District. Its former area now corresponds to the central part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest in Greater London.^[1]

Background and formation

The ancient parish of Walthamstow formed part of the Becontree hundred of Essex. It was included in the Metropolitan Police District in 1840. In 1873 the civil parish was constituted an urban sanitary district^[2] and under the Local Government Act 1894 it became an urban district.

District and borough

It gained the status of municipal borough in 1926. The borough ran its own tram services until they became the responsibility of the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933.^[3]

Walthamstow Town Hall was built on Orford Road in 1876. A new town hall was built in Forest Road in 1941.^[4]

Abolition

The Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London considered the borough for inclusion in Greater London in 1965 and subsequently it was abolished by the London Government Act 1963. Its former area was transferred to Greater London from Essex to be combined with the Municipal Borough of Chingford and the Municipal Borough of Leyton to form the present-day London Borough of Waltham Forest.

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