Editing Poplar, London (section)

===Origin and administrative history===
[[File:Stepney Civil Parish Map 1870.png|thumb|right|250px|The parishes that would ultimately become the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.]]
[[File:Poplar Met. B Ward Map 1916.svg|thumb|The parish boundaries of Bow, Bromley and Poplar preserved in ward boundaries within the former Metropolitan Borough of Poplar.]]

Poplar was formerly part of the [[Stepney#Manor and Ancient Parish|Manor and Ancient Parish of Stepney]], and was first recorded in either 1327<ref name="rackham207">''The History of the Countryside'', Oliver Rackham, 1986, p207</ref> or 1350.<ref>''The Concise Dictionary of English Place Names'', 4th Edition, Ekwall</ref> It took its name from the [[Black Poplar]] trees which once flourished in the area. Black Poplar is a very rare and exceptionally large tree that grows well in the wet conditions which the [[River Thames|Thames]] and [[River Lea|Lea]] historically brought to much of the neighbourhood. A specimen persisted in the area until at least 1986 when the naturalist [[Oliver Rackham]] noted "Nearby, in the midst of railway dereliction, a single Black Poplar even now struggles for life".<ref name="rackham207"/>

By the seventeenth century the area had become a ''Hamlet'', a territorial sub-division of Stepney,<ref name="Youngs">Young's guide describes Hamlets as devolved areas of Parishes - but does not describe this area specifically {{cite book | first=Frederic |last=Youngs | title=Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England | volume=I: Southern England | year=1979 | publisher=[[Royal Historical Society]] | location=London | isbn=0-901050-67-9}}</ref><ref>Joel Gascoyne's maps of Stepney in 1703 show the Hamlets of the parish occupying the same boundaries as when they subsequently became independent parishes</ref> with a degree of independence. The ''Hamlet of Poplar'' became an independent civil and ecclesiastical parish in 1817.

The area was part of the [[Historic counties of England|historic (or ancient) county]] of [[Middlesex]], but military and most (or all) civil county functions were managed more locally, by the [[Tower division|Tower Division (also known as the Tower Hamlets)]].

The role of the ''Tower Division'' ended when Poplar became part of the new [[County of London]] in 1889. The County of London was replaced by Greater London in 1965.

In 1855, Poplar joined with neighbouring [[Bromley-by-Bow|Bromley]] and [[Bow, London|Bow]] to form the [[Poplar District (Metropolis)|Poplar District]] of the Metropolis — though it remained an independent parish for some administrative purposes. The Poplar District (including Bromley and Bow) became the [[Metropolitan Borough of Poplar]] in 1900; population (1901), 168,822.<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Poplar (borough) |display=Poplar |volume=22 |page=89}}</ref> In 1965 it merged with the Metropolitan Boroughs of [[Metropolitan Borough of Stepney|Stepney]] and [[Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green|Bethnal Green]] to form the new [[London Borough of Tower Hamlets]].