St Botolph without Aldgate

St Botolph without Aldgate was an ancient parish immediately east of and outside (without) Aldgate, a gate in London's defensive wall. The parish church was St Botolph's Aldgate.

The densely populated, and entirely extramural East End parish was split into two parts: the Portsoken ward of the City of London and East Smithfield in the County of Middlesex. Each part operated as a separate parish for civil administration with its own local government, but it was a single parish for ecclesiastical purposes.

The section of the parish in the City of London was the Portsoken ward.

The City of London section of the parish was abolished in 1907 when the City of London civil parish was created.

The part in Middlesex was known as East Smithfield. It was part of the Tower division (which was also known as the Tower Hamlets). Its eastern boundary with Wapping ran along Sir Thomas More Street (originally known as Nightingale Lane) and the small brook that ran either side of it.

Civil parish administration was in the hands of the vestry until 1855 when the parish was grouped into the Whitechapel District and the parish elected six members to Whitechapel District Board of Works. The parish was transferred from the County of Middlesex to the County of London in 1889.

In 1895 it absorbed the civil parishes of St Katherine by the Tower and Old Tower Without. In 1901 it absorbed the civil parish of the Tower of London.

It became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney in 1900 and the local authority became Stepney Borough Council. The civil parish then had only nominal existence until 1921 when it was abolished.