Geographical request for help - Erith + Eltham

**CZ_RAF** · 27th September 2020, 11:57

Hi all, why researching a bio of British AG I have difficulties to find out periods when

Erith
Eltham

were separate towns and when they became part of big London?

Any help will be much appreciated.

TIA

Pavel

**SteveBrooking** · 27th September 2020, 13:14

Pavel

Erith and Eltham would have been part of "big London" during WW2 and probably became part of the conurbation during the 19th century. References/sources can be confusing because they often refer to "Erith, Kent" for example which is more about the organisation of local government areas than it explains the position of Erith in relation to London.

My father was born in Erith...

Steve

**CZ_RAF** · 27th September 2020, 14:30

Steve thank you for your comment.

"References/sources can be confusing because they often refer to "Erith, Kent"" - this is exactly my case...

Do you have any advice how to refer them in the early 19xx? Just "town Erith/Eltham in the suburb of London"?

TIA

Pavel

**gedburke3** · 27th September 2020, 14:36

Hi Pavel,

I live between Erith and Eltham, They are about 5 miles apart.
Both are small Towns within South East London and would have been during the war.
I would describe them as Erith in South East London and Eltham in South East London.
Your Air Gunner isn't Laurence Karasek by any chance?
Cheers
Gerry

**CZ_RAF** · 27th September 2020, 15:38

Thank you Gerry.
Your guess is 100% correct:-)

Pavel

**gedburke3** · 27th September 2020, 15:50

Hi Pavel,

Laurence Karasek lived just up the road from me in Rydal Drive, Bexleyheath.
I can send you a picture of the house which was re-built after his wartime home was bombed.

I did correspond with his brother years ago but I'm pretty sure that he has died since.
I'll have a dig around and see if I can find his file.
Regards
Gerry

**CZ_RAF** · 27th September 2020, 15:51

It will be very kind of you Gerry!
Any help will be much appreciated.

Pavel

**PNK** · 28th September 2020, 09:33

I was born and bred in New Eltham and can confirm the confusion over the County references, especially as the Kent reference is still used for places like Erith and Sidcup, although from memory not on Eltham (Royal Eltham). Eltham was in the London Borough of Woolwich which became the London Borough of Greenwich. I cannot recall when the Kent boundary moved further eastwards, probably early sixties, but the boundary line was a few hundred yards from our home in New Eltham where it turned into Chislehurst, Kent and the road surface changed, that too is now part of London. Hopefully Dartford where I now live will remain in Kent!

Both Eltham and Erith were often mispronounced on TV and Wireless, it is, or was ELT-HAM and EAR-RITH.

**Chas** · 28th September 2020, 14:18

The county of Greater London was created on 1 April 1965 through the London Government Act 1963. It is made up of 32 individual London boroughs.
Erith was a municipal borough in its own right until 1965, and therefore not part of Greater London until that date. In 1965 it was subsumed into the London Borough of Bexley, one of the 32 London boroughs which make up Greater London.
Eltham is more complicated. Until 1930 it was a parish in its own right. In 1930 it became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich, which was a subdivision of the county of London. In 1965, it merged with the Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich to become the London Borough of Greenwich, also one of the 32 London boroughs which make up Greater London.
Hope this helps!