Editing Spitalfields (section)

==Origin and administration==
===Toponymy===
The name Spitalfields appears in the form ''Spittellond'' in 1399; as ''The spitel Fyeld'' on the [[Woodcut map of London|"Woodcut" map of London]] of c.1561; and as ''Spyttlefeildes'', also in 1561.<ref name=epns>{{cite book |first1=J. E. B. |last1=Gover |first2=Allen |last2=Mawer |author-link2=Allen Mawer |author-link=Allen Mawer|first3=F. M. |last3=Stenton |author-link3=Frank Stenton |title=The Place-Names of Middlesex |series=[[English Place-Name Society]] |volume=18 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1942 |pages=151–2 }}</ref> The land belonged to St Mary Spital, a priory or hospital (a lodging for travellers run by a religious order) erected on the east side of the [[Bishopsgate]] thoroughfare in 1197, from which its name is thought to derive ("spital" being a corruption of the word "hospital".)<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=n6YHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA79 |title=The history and survey of London and its environs|page=79|author= B. Lambert|publisher= T. Hughes |year=1806 |access-date=1 April 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50149 |title=The Priory of St Mary Spital &#124; Survey of London: volume 27 (pp. 21–23) |author=F. H. W. Sheppard|year=1957 |access-date=1 April 2013}}</ref> An alternative, and possibly earlier, name for the area was ''Lolsworth''.<ref name=epns/>

===Administrative history===
The area was a part of the [[Stepney#Manor and ancient parish|manor and ancient parish of Stepney]] before the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086. 

Parish areas originally had only ecclesiastical (church) functions; but the monasteries which had provided extensive charitable work on a voluntary basis, were dissolved by Henry VIII, creating increased hardship. The government responded by making parish areas take on civil functions, primarily a new Poor Law intended to fill the gap left by monasteries. 

[[File:15 Fournier Street, Spitalfields (01).jpg|thumb|left|The 18th-century house at 15 [[Fournier Street]], a Grade II listed structure in Spitalfields]]

Stepney was a very large and populous parish, and by the late 17th century it had devolved its civil parish functions to autonomous areas called Hamlets (in this context meaning territorial sub-divisions, rather than small villages), of which Spitalfields was one.

In 1729, the Hamlet of Spitalfields became an independent daughter parish. The area's parish church was [[Christ Church, Spitalfields]], with St Stephen Spitalfields (demolished in 1930) added later. 

In 1855, the parish became part of the [[Whitechapel District (Metropolis)|Whitechapel District]] within the [[Metropolitan Board of Works]] area. Spitalfields Vestry nominated twelve members to the Whitechapel District Board of Works. The Board of Works was an unelected body, responsible for certain infrastructure functions.

Spitalfields became part of the [[Metropolitan Borough of Stepney]] in 1900 and was abolished as a civil parish in 1921. It became part of the [[London Borough of Tower Hamlets]] in 1965.<ref>{{cite book |last=Youngs |first= Frederic A Jr. |title=Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol.I: Southern England |year=1979 |publisher=[[Royal Historical Society]] |location=London |isbn=0-901050-67-9 }}</ref>

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)]], a historic ‘county within a county’, under the leadership of the [[Constable of the Tower of London|Lord-Lieutenant of the Tower Hamlets (the post was always filled by the Constable of the Tower of London)]]. The military loyalty to the Tower meant local men served in the Tower garrison and Tower Hamlets Militia, rather than the Middlesex Militia.<ref>The London Encyclopaedia, 4th Edition, 1983, Weinreb and Hibbert</ref><ref>East London Papers, Volume 8, Number 2, The Name 'Tower Hamlets'. M.J. Power, December 1965</ref>

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

===Representation===
{{see also|2018 Tower Hamlets London Borough Council election}}
Nearly all (except a tiny area north of the railway, in Weaver's Ward) of the district is part of the Spitalfields & Banglatown ward, which elects two councillors to [[Tower Hamlets Borough Council]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://democracy.towerhamlets.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?FN=WARD&VW=LIST&PIC=0|title=Your Councillors|date=12 July 2020|website=democracy.towerhamlets.gov.uk}}</ref> Spitalfields is in the [[Bethnal Green and Bow (UK Parliament constituency)|Bethnal Green and Bow]] constituency, represented in the [[House of Commons]] of the [[UK Parliament]] since 2010 by [[Rushanara Ali]] of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.parliament.uk/biographies/commons/rushanara-ali/4138|title=Rushanara Ali MP|website=UK Parliament}}</ref>

The [[Spitalfields Neighbourhood Planning Forum]], which is constitituted of Spitalfields residents, business operators, community organisations and other local interests, is intended to help local people influence neighbourhood planning policies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.spitalfieldsforum.org.uk/|title=Spitalfields & banglatown neighbourhood Plan|website=Spitalfieldsforum.org.uk|access-date=23 October 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Brooke|first1=Mike|title=Spitalfields planning forum gets legal recognition in bid to halt City encroachment|url=http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/politics/spitalfields_planning_forum_gets_legal_recognition_in_bid_to_halt_city_encroachment_1_4484984|work=Docklands and East London Advertiser|date=6 April 2016|access-date=18 August 2016}}</ref>