Hi Bev You are perfectly entitled to be confused about London place names. The socio-geographical history of "London" is extremely complex and at different times involved (and still involves) different administrative units for different purposes. Sometimes names are shared between different kinds of units, sometimes they vary. Poplar was a hamlet within the ancient parish of Stepney, then a parish (both ecclesiastical and civil) in its own right, and gave its name to a Poor Law Union and a Registration District. The boundaries of these units were not necessarily coterminous, but as a general rule of thumb, Poplar lies south of Bromley and east of Limehouse and includes the West India Docks, the Isle of Dogs, Millwall and Blackwall. East Smithfield is both a road and (in the past) the area around that road (just to the east of the Tower). The latter usage had largely faded from common use by the 19th century. St Botolph without Aldgate is a church whose parish lies partly within the City and partly without. The latter section includes the area of East Smithfield. Tower Hamlets is a name used originally for the large hinterland to the east of the Tower of London. It became a parliamentary borough in 1832 and a London Borough in 1965. It is purely an administrative unit, whose status and boundaries are incredibly complex. Luckily, this need not worry genealogists too much, as it is not a "place" where people are likely to have declared as their place of birth or residence. The inestimable John Henley has done a wonderful job of summarising the situation at http://homepages.gold.ac.uk/genuki/MDX/Stepney/churches.htm. Does any of this help? Caroline > > > > Am confused about London districts.Someone says Poplar, mine are in > East Smithfield. Some BMDs are in St. Botolph without Aldgate? Search > Tower Hamlets says another. I know my great-great grandfather Robert > Hensher married in St. Annes Limehouse in1835. Please help someone. > What dates are areas used and is there a map which will sort me out!!! > > Thanks > Bev > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > This mailing list works in parallel with the London surname interest > list on the web at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~hughw/london.html . > Check for matching interests and add your own ! > > Any problems, please contact the List Admin: LONDON-admin@rootsweb.com > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LONDON- > request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in > the subject and the body of the message