Editing London Borough of Hackney (section)

===Administrative history===
The area of the modern borough broadly corresponds to the three [[ancient parish]]es of [[Hackney (parish)|Hackney]], [[Shoreditch (parish)|Shoreditch]] and [[Stoke Newington (parish)|Stoke Newington]], which had all historically been part of the [[Ossulstone]] [[Hundred (county division)|hundred]] of the county of [[Middlesex]]. For some administrative functions, Ossulstone was divided into four divisions. Stoke Newington was part of the [[Finsbury division]]. Hackney and Shoreditch were both part of the [[Tower division]], which was noteworthy in that the men of the area owed military service to the [[Tower of London]].

[[File:st augustines tower.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[St Augustine's Tower, Hackney]]. A former property of the [[Venerable Order of Saint John|Knights of St John]] dating from the 13th century, St Augustine's Tower is Hackney's oldest building. The tower is all that remains of the [[medieval]] parish church, which was demolished in 1798.]]
The ancient parishes provided a framework for both civil (administrative) and ecclesiastical (church) functions, but during the 19th century there was a divergence into distinct civil and ecclesiastical parish systems. The ecclesiastical parishes were gradually sub-divided to better serve the needs of a growing population, while the civil parishes continued to be based on the same ancient parish areas.

From 1856 the area was governed by the [[Metropolitan Board of Works]], which was established to provide services across the [[metropolis]] of London.<ref>[[Metropolis Management Act 1855]] (18 & 19 Vict. c. 120)</ref> In 1889 the Metropolitan Board of Works' area was made the [[County of London]]. From 1856 until 1900 the lower tier of local government within the metropolis comprised various [[List of London vestries and district boards|parish vestries and district boards]]. Shoreditch was governed by its [[vestry]], whilst Hackney and Stoke Newington were initially grouped into the [[Hackney District (Metropolis)|Hackney District]] with a single board covering the two parishes. This proved unpopular, especially in more affluent Stoke Newington. After four unsuccessful attempts, the Hackney District was dissolved in 1894 under the Metropolis Management (Plumstead and Hackney) Act 1893, and its two parishes were then each governed separately by their own vestries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol8/pp194-200|title=Stoke Newington: Local government &#124; British History Online|website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}</ref><ref name=Youngs>{{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>

In 1900 the lower tier was reorganised into [[Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London|metropolitan boroughs]]. In this area the three parishes each became a borough: [[Metropolitan Borough of Hackney|Hackney]], [[Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch|Shoreditch]] and [[Metropolitan Borough of Stoke Newington|Stoke Newington]].<ref>[[London Government Act 1899]] (62 & 63 Vict. c. 14)</ref> There were some rationalisations to boundaries, notably that Shoreditch absorbed part of the tiny [[Liberty of Norton Folgate]] (with the rest going to neighbouring [[Metropolitan Borough of Stepney|Stepney]]).

Stoke Newington was smaller than the desired size for the new boroughs, and there were proposals to re-merge Stoke Newington and Hackney, or to detach the northern part of Hackney and join it with Stoke Newington. These proposals were rejected due to the experience of "intolerable and interminable feuds" between the districts when they were previously "forced together". The [[First Lord of the Treasury]], [[Arthur Balfour]] recognised that there was "great ill-feeling and mutual ill-will... between the inhabitants of the two districts".<ref>Arthur Balfour, [https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1899/may/18/london-government-bell ''Hansard''], 18 May 1899, Vol. 71, Col. 979.</ref> It was therefore decided to merge the [[South Hornsey]] exclaves of [[Hornsey (parish)|Hornsey]], with a population about 20,000, with Stoke Newington. While this still created a borough of only about 50,000 inhabitants, and thus "the smallest borough in London, the anomaly would be a gradually diminishing one, because the population in this district was rapidly increasing. When dividing London up into boroughs they could not avoid creating some anomalies as to size."<ref name=hansard>{{cite web |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1899/may/18/london-government-bell |title=London Government Bill |date=18 May 1899 |work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]] |access-date=21 November 2009}}</ref>

The modern London Borough of Hackney was created in 1965 under the [[London Government Act 1963]]. It covered the combined area of the three metropolitan boroughs of Hackney, Shoreditch and Stoke Newington.<ref name="Youngs"/>