Coordinates: 51°31′56″N 0°03′19″E / 51.5323°N 0.0554°E / 51.5323; 0.0554

East Ham is a suburban district of London, England, and part of the London Borough of Newham. It is a built-up district centred 8 miles (12.8 km) east-northeast of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. In 2011, East Ham had a population of 76,186.

History

Toponymy

A settlement in the area named Ham is first recorded as Hamme in an Anglo-Saxon charter of 958 and then in the 1086 Domesday Book as Hame. It is formed from Old English 'hamm' and means 'a dry area of land between rivers or marshland', referring the location of the settlement within boundaries formed by the rivers Lea, Thames and Roding and their marshes.

Economic development

In 1859 East Ham railway station opened and, although in 1863 the area was still being described as a "scattered village" the availability of transport resulted in increasing urbanisation, especially from 1890 onwards. The electric services of the District Railway first served East Ham in 1908.

East Ham is a constituency in the London Borough of Newham represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Stephen Timms of the Labour Party.

History

The seat was formed in 1997 when Newham North East was replaced by the seat and by part of Newham South.

East Ham's wards have long been Labour strongholds: Ron Leighton was MP for the old Newham North East from 1979 until his death in 1994, Stephen Timms has represented the seat since. The RESPECT Coalition stood a candidate once, hoping to benefit from opposition to the Iraq war in the 2005 general election which saw elsewhere their first MP, and took second place. At the 2010 general election, Stephen Timms received the most individual votes of any MP (35,471) and largest majority (27,826) of any MP.

Constituency profile

Comprising the eastern part of the London Borough of Newham, East Ham is, as at 2010, the safest Labour seat in London and sixth safest in the country. Every component ward has only Labour councillors (resulting from local elections), and their general election candidates have achieved an absolute majority on all four elections against a wide assortment of political parties at each election.

East Ham was a local government district in the far south west of Essex from 1878 to 1965. It extended from Wanstead Flats in the north to the River Thames in the south and from Green Street in the west to Barking Creek in the east. It was part of the London postal district and Metropolitan Police District.

Local board and urban district

East Ham Local Government District was created in 1878, when the parish of East Ham adopted the Local Government Act 1858, and formed a local board of nine members to govern the area. In 1886 the local government district was extended to include the civil parish of Little Ilford, and the board was increased to 12 in number. The Local Government Act 1894 reconstituted the area as an urban district, with an elected urban district council of 15 members replacing the board. In 1900 Little Ilford parish was abolished and its area absorbed into an enlarged East Ham.

Incorporation

On 27 August 1904 East Ham was granted a charter of incorporation constituting the town as a municipal borough. A new town council consisting of a mayor, six aldermen and eighteen councillors replaced the urban district council. The four wards of the urban district were replaced by six new wards (Beckton & North Woolwich, Central East, Central West, Manor Park, Plashet East, Plashet West), each returning three councillors and one aldermen.