It was incorporated in 1855 as an administrative vestry within the Metropolitan Board of Works area, with local government and sanitary rights and responsibilities added over time.

The vestry was a pioneer in public library provision with the open shelf system introduced for the first time by librarian James Duff Brown.

The vestry had growing secular authority over the parish of Clerkenwell, including the detached part around Muswell Hill, from the 16th century.

The Clerkenwell Vestry was incorporated as local government body and appointed one member to the Metropolitan Board of Works.

[1] Using the powers of the Sanitary Act 1866, in 1876 a mortuary and in 1877 a coroner's court designed by Henry Saxon Snell was opened by the vestry.

[5] In October 1887, at a public meeting to discuss the possibility of providing a free public library, Frederick Thomas Penton, the MP for Finsbury Central, said he would donate £300 in cash and £600 in books (£900 is equivalent to £126,414 in 2023) matching an earlier donation by the tea merchant Robert Holborn.

[11] Clerkenwell Vestry was abolished by the London Government Act 1899 with the first election to the replacement Finsbury Metropolitan Borough Council taking place on 1 November 1900.