Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea

Chelsea
Motto: Nisi Dominus Frustra (Unless God be with us all will be in vain)
Chelsea within the County of London
Geography
Status	Metropolitan borough
HQ	King's Road
History
Origin	Chelsea parish
Created	1900
Abolished	1965
Succeeded by	Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Politics
Governance	Chelsea Borough Council
Coat of arms of the borough council

The Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea was a Metropolitan borough of the County of London between 1900 and 1965. It was created by the London Government Act 1899 from most of the ancient parish of Chelsea. It was amalgamated in 1965 under the London Government Act 1963, with the Metropolitan Borough of Kensington to form the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Area and population

The area of the borough was 660 acres (2.7 km²), once Kensal Town was transferred to Kensington and Paddington. The population recorded in the Census was:

Civil Parishes 1801–1899

Year[1]	1801	1811	1821	1831	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891
Population	11,604[2]	18,262	26,860	32,371	39,796	56,185	59,881[3]	67,717	73,079	74,466

Metropolitan Borough 1900–1961

Year[4]	1901	1911	1921	1931	1941	1951	1961
Population	73,842	66,385	63,697	59,031	[5]	50,957	47,256

Coat of arms

The borough was granted a coat of arms by the College of Arms on 28 February 1903. The blazon was:

Gules within a cross voided or a crozier in pale of the last in the first quarter a winged bull statant in the second a lion rampant reguardant both argent in the third a sword point downwards proper pomel and hilt gold between two boars' heads couped at the neck of the third and in the fourth a stag's head caboshed of the second.

The winged bull is the symbol of St Luke, patron saint of Chelsea (St Luke's parish church is just off the King's Road). The other emblems referred to various holders of the manor over the centuries: the crozier for Westminster Abbey, the lion for Earl Cadogan (first mayor of the borough), the boars' heads and sword for the Sloane family and the stag's head for the Stanley family.

The motto was Nisi dominus frustra or "It is vain without the Lord".

The fourfold division of the shield was a design favoured by Albert Woods, Garter King of Arms for municipal grants: other examples in London being the metropolitan boroughs of Bermondsey, Camberwell, Islington, Kensington, Southwark

Politics

The borough council was controlled by the Municipal Reform Party, which was allied to the Conservative Party, from its creation until 1949. In that year, the "Municipal Reform" label was discarded, and the Conservative party governed the borough until the borough's abolition in 1965. The Chelsea Town Hall, a neo-classical building containing frescos, remains in use. It is situated on King's Road, at the corner of Chelsea Manor Street.

For elections to parliament, the borough formed a single constituency. By 1950, the decline in population meant that the Chelsea constituency also included the Brompton area of the Metropolitan Borough of Kensington.

References

• A Vision of Britain

1. ^ Statistical Abstract for London, 1901 (Vol. IV); Census tables for Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras
2. ^ Including Kensal Town
3. ^ Excluding Kensal Town
4. ^ Chelsea MetB: Census Tables A Vision of Britain accessed 14 June 2007
5. ^ The census was suspended for World War II

Coordinates: 51°29′15″N 0°10′06″W / 51.4874°N 0.1682°W / 51.4874; -0.1682