Croydon

This rapid growth brought about significant changes in the social composition of the borough. Having eleven stations situated in areas of heavy passenger traffic, by 1870 the railway had made Croydon 'a dormitory for London workers', largely middle-class and white-collar, and a 'typical example of one of the outer metropolitan dormitory suburbs,.4 Croydon 'rapidly acquired a reputation as an attractive commuter town, although by late century it was beginning a gradual social decline as the lower middle class settled there in increasing numbers and the wealthy middle class began to settle even further from the metropolis,.5 Pelling also noted this social decline, viewing Croydon as a predominantly middle-class constituency which later 'lapsed from this high status owing to the arrival of a considerable artisanal population'. 6 Although there were social inroads, the borough largely retained its modestly comfortable suburban tone, although it was increasingly in danger of being engulfed by London. It was not until the 1920s however, that Croydon's suburbs eventually merged with the capital. Although still administratively distinct, Croydon was slowly and surely in

I Gent, J.B., Croydon: The Story of a Hundred Years, (South Croydon, 1977), p. 6. 2 Morris, J.N., 'Religion and Urban Change in Victorian England: A Case Study of the Borough of Croydon, 1840-1914', (D. Phil thesis, University of Oxford, 1986), p. 39. 3 Morris, 'Religion and Urban Change', pp. 4-5. 4 Corporation of Croydon, Our Croydon: The Organisation and Activities of the Corporation of Croydon, (Croydon, 1947), p. 3; Gent, J.B. (ed.), Croydon: Old and New, (South Croydon, 1978), p. 32; Morris, 'Religion and Urban Change', p. 25. 5 Morris, 'Religion and Urban Change', p. 5. 6 Pelling, H., Social Geography of British Elections, 1885-1910, (Aldershot, 1994), p. 65; Morris, 'Religion and Urban Change', p. 65.