Ecclesiastical Divisions and Denominations.—London north of the Thames is within the Church of England bishopric of London, the bishop's palace being at Fulham. In this diocese, which covers nearly the whole of Middlesex and a very small portion of Hertfordshire, are the suffragan bishoprics of Willesden, Kensington and Stepney. The bishopric of Southwark was created in 1904, having been previously a suffragan bishopric in the diocese of Rochester. It contains the suffragan bishoprics of Woolwich and Kingston-upon-Thames. Westminster is the seat of the Roman Catholic archbishopric in England, and Southwark is a bishopric. Among the numerous chapels of dissenting bodies there may be mentioned the City Temple, Congregational, on Holborn viaduct; the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Baptist, in South wark, the creation of which was the outcome of the labours of the famous preacher Charles Spurgeon (d. 1892) ; and Wesley's chapel, City road, in the graveyard of which is the tomb of John Wesley; his house, which adjoins the chapel, being open as a memorial museum. In 1903 the Wesleyans acquired the site of the Royal aquarium, near Westminster Abbey, for the erection of a central hall. The Great Synagogue of the Jews is in St. James's place, Aldgate. The headquarters of the Salvation army are in Queen Victoria street, City. There are numerous foreign churches, among which may be mentioned the French Protestant churches in Monmouth road, Bayswater and Soho square; the Greek church of St. Sophia, Moscow road, Bayswater; and the German Evangelical church in Montpelier place, Brompton road.
(0. J. R. H.) The forces which led to the development of the port of London and which continue to operate arise primarily from its geographical position and physical advantages. It is situated on a broad deep tidal river with a current sufficient to keep up a natural scour which maintains the channel, yet not too fast to prevent the safe navigation of the largest vessels.
Another contributing cause to London's commercial advance ment was the adoption of the system of bonded warehouses first introduced by Walpole in 1733 but not legalized until 1803. But no factor has contributed so much to the port's prosperity as the enormous expansion of British colonies and possessions during the last three centuries. Goods coming to London which are identified with empire expansion include wool, sugar, rubber, tea, refrigerated meat, furniture woods, provisions, metals, rum, spices, ivory and ostrich feathers. Amongst the products of countries outside the empire sold in the London markets are soft wood (Deals) petrol, tobacco, cigars, silk, wine and brandy. The total value of the imports of all classes of merchandise from overseas in 1927 was £478,979,061. Whilst the port has attracted an unparalleled import trade, its export trade though very extensive is second to that of Liverpool amounting in 1927 to as against 1258,526,000 at Liverpool. London is the largest manu facturing city in Great Britain and a large percentage of its manufactures are shipped at the London docks, but Liverpool has the advantage of contiguity to the cotton, woollen and steel manufactories of the north, and offers betters facilities for their shipments than can London. There are, however, indications of marked industrial progress on the banks of the lower Thames, and it may well happen that, by the middle of the loth century, the foreign export trade of London will outstrip that of Liverpool.
The sum total of foreign imports and exports of the port of London for the year 1927 was 1706,264,020 the highest in the Kingdom. Besides the foreign trade, London has the largest coast wise trade of any port in Britain, the principal commodity carried being coal.
The following are the particulars of the net registered tonnage of shipping entering and leaving the port during 1928: Foreign Coastwise Total Tons Tons TonsArrived . 21,312,758 6,428,976 27,741,734 Departed . . 19,246,814 27,681,947 These figures represent 16.2% of the total tonnage for Great Britain.