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54
GENERAL.
The earliest records of the district date back to the year 691 when the manor was
granted to Earconauld, Bishop of London. The Parish was then known as Pulenham from
which the present name is evolved. This place name is from the Anglo-Saxon and means
" foul hamlet," not with the modern significance of the phrase, but rather in the sense of
" miry " or " muddy," as the Thames used to inundate the low lying lands along its course.
Down to the year 1834 Fulham and Hammersmith constituted one Parish, but by Act
of Parliament, Hammersmith was then made a separate Parish. They were governed in the
ensuing years, first by a Board of Highways, and then by the Fulham District Board of
Works, which was dissolved under the Metropolis Management Act, 1886, Fulham becoming
a separate sanitary district under the jurisdiction of the Fulham Vestry.
At the date of the Ordnance Survey about 1861, the district consisted of four villages,
namely, Fulham, North End, Parsons Green and Walham Green, separated by lands used
chiefly for agricultural purposes. About 1870, the large estates and market gardens were
sold for building purposes.

*Intercensal population taken under the Equalisation of Rates Act in the night of Sunday, 29th March, 1896
From these figures it will be seen that there was a very rapid increase in the population
from the year 1871; during the period 1881-1891, the population more than doubled itself.
Unfortunately for Fulham the character of the building during this period left much
to be desired. Dr. Young, Assistant Medical Officer of Health to the London County Council,
reported as follows in 1896 :—
"A marked feature which attracted attention in this district is the inferior character
of the building which has taken place in some parts. Houses, which I found had only been
built within recent years, were already becoming defective owing, apparently, to the inferior
quality of material used in their construction and to inferior workmanship."
This period of expansion has left a considerable and troublesome legacy in the form
of inferior and unsatisfactory houses, which will only be solved finally by demolition and
re-building.
OCCUPATIONS.
Of Fulham residents in 1921, 13,621 males and 9,890 females were known to work
in Fulham and 30,761 males and 13,000 females worked outside Fulham. Of the 43,761 with
work outside the Borough 39,582 were known to be working in London. These figures clearly
indicate the position of Fulham as an integral part of London, sharing London's peculiar
housing and transport problems.