Status Civil parish | ||
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Government St Martin in the Fields Vestry | ||
St Martin in the Fields was a civil parish in the metropolitan area of London, England. It took its name from the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields and was within the Liberty of Westminster. It included within its boundaries the former extra-parochial areas of Buckingham Palace and St. James's Palace.
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It was an ancient parish. In 1542 it gained the territory between the church of St Clement Danes and the Palace of Westminster from the parish of St Margaret.
It originally included the following, which were carved out as new parishes:
Poor law
It was a single parish for poor law following the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 until 1868 when it became part of the Strand Poor Law Union.
Reform
In 1855 the parish vestry became a local authority within the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works.
Under the Metropolis Management Act 1855 any parish that exceeded 2,000 ratepayers was to be divided into wards; as such the incorporated vestry of St Martin in the Fields was divided into three wards (electing vestrymen): No. 1 (12), No. 2 (12) and No. 3 (12).
In 1896 as its population had increased the incorporated vestry was re-divided into three new wards (electing vestrymen): Park (15), Long Acre (12) and Embankment (9).
In 1889 the parish became part of the County of London and in 1900 it became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster. The St Martin in the Fields Vestry was replaced by Westminster City Council and the vestry hall became Westminster City Hall.
The civil parish was abolished in 1922.