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.
In 1915 the borough gained independence from county administration as a county borough, against the objections of Essex County Council. The size of the borough council was increased to ten alderman and thirty councillors in 1920, representing ten wards: Castle, Central, Greatfield, Kensington, Little Ilford, Manor Park, Plashet, South, Wall End and Woodgrange.
The borough did not have an official coat of arms, but used a device designed by the surveyor to the urban district council in 1896. In a 1916 book on the arms of Essex boroughs the "pseudo-heraldic device" was dismissed as "a somewhat obvious imitation of the arms of West Ham". The official explanation of the device was that the crosier stood for Stratford Langthorne Abbey, established by William de Montfichet in the 12th century; the burning torches stood for the Beckton gasworks; the sailing ship for the docks and the rising sun for "the ascending of East Ham, which within a few years developed with such marvellous rapidity."
Politics
In common with most boroughs, early elections were officially non-political and were often uncontested. In 1906 a Labour Representation Committee was formed in East Ham, and it affiliated with the national Labour Party in 1908. In response, and in imitation of the highly successful London Municipal Reform Party, the local Conservative and Liberal organisations formed an anti-Labour Municipal Alliance. The Alliance, which also embraced independent and ratepayer candidates, secured a large majority at the municipal elections of 1907, with Labour forming the opposition on the council. In 1928 the elections produced a hung council, with Labour and the Municipal Alliance each having 20 members. In the following year a single gain saw Labour take control, which they were to retain for the remainder of the borough's existence. The defeated opposition group stood as "Anti-Labour" from the next elections in 1929 and were retitled as the Civic Party in 1933. When local elections were resumed after the Second World War, Labour faced official Conservative candidates for the first time. Conservatives formed a small opposition group, later supplanted by Independents. After the final municipal elections in 1963, Labour held 30 seats and Independents 10.
Abolition
The county borough, along with the County Borough of West Ham, was abolished and became part of the London Borough of Newham in 1965 when Greater London was created. Although the County Borough was administratively independent from Essex, it did form part of the county, and so like the other Essex authorities incorporated into Greater London, the majority of its public records up to 1965 are held in the Essex County Record Office in Chelmsford. Discussions are continuing between county and London Borough archivists which may lead to the return of records to their originating districts.
