It was formed in 1912 with ten clubs, but had to close down in 1914 due to the onset of World War I.

When it reformed in 1920, only three of the previous teams rejoined.

Clubs left and joined the league at a rate of about one a year, with a number leaving to join the Isthmian League, the strongest amateur league in the London area.

Total membership remained fairly stable at between twelve and sixteen clubs until 1963, when it absorbed most of the clubs from two rival leagues, the Corinthian League (most of whose former clubs formed Division One) and the Delphian League (most of whose former clubs formed Division Two).

The league was amongst the first in England to be sponsored by an external company when, in the late 1970s, it was billed as the Kingsmead Athenian League.