POLITICAL HISTORY 



destroy the individuality of Surrey. The Reform Bill of 1832 dis- 

 franchised, of necessity, Haslemere, Blechingley and Gatton, and took 

 one member from Reigate. It made the new borough of Lambeth, 

 including Lambeth, Newington and most of Camberwell. The borough 

 of Southwark was extended to include Rotherhithe and Bermondsey. 

 The limits of Guildford and of Reigate were both extended. The 

 county itself was divided into east and west Surrey, each returning two 

 members. In the former were the hundreds of Kingston, Brixton, 

 Wallington, Tandridge and Reigate. The place of election for it was 

 Croydon. In the latter were Godley, Emleybridge, Woking, Effingham, 

 Copthorne, Farnham, Godalming, Blackheath and Wotton. The place 

 of election was Guildford. 



The Reform Bill of 1867 finally disfranchised Reigate, and ex- 

 tended the borough of Lambeth over the whole of Camberwell. It also 

 divided east Surrey into the east and mid divisions, an alteration made 

 advisable by the growth of the London suburbs. So much of Brixton 

 hundred as was not in the boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth, half 

 Wallington hundred and Tandridge hundred formed the eastern divi- 

 sion. Kingston, half Wallington hundred and Reigate hundred formed 

 the mid division. Each returned two members. The Reform Bill of 

 1885 superseded all old boroughs and divisions. The county was re- 

 solved into the electoral single member divisions of Chertsey, Guildford, 

 Reigate, Epsom, Kingston and Wimbledon. The following boroughs 

 were erected divided into single member districts : Southwark, divided 

 into west Southwark, Rotherhithe and Bermondsey ; Lambeth, divided 

 into north Lambeth, Kennington, Brixton and Norwood ; Clapham 

 and Battersea, so divided ; Camberwell, divided into north Camberwell, 

 Peckham and Dulwich ; Croydon ; Newington, divided into west 

 Newington and Walworth ; Wandsworth ; part of Deptford, the rest 

 of this borough being in Kent. 



Finally, by the Local Government Acts of 1888, the new county 

 of London annexed Battersea, Bermondsey, Brixton, Camberwell, Clap- 

 ham, Deptford, Dulwich, Kennington, Lambeth, Newington, Norwood, 

 Peckham, Rotherhithe, Southwark, Walworth and Wandsworth. The 

 site of the old meeting-place of the Surrey Sessions in Newington was 

 absorbed by London. The county, deprived of its true centre and great 

 town, found a home for its new county council at Kingston. The 

 earliest and the latest history of Surrey meet together there ; for the 

 county reverted to what had once been a capital, but perchance not 

 more recently than the seventh century, when the king's town was 

 perhaps a royal seat of those subreguli of whom Frithwald, the founder 

 of Chertsey Abbey, is the sole remaining name. 



