A local board of health was formed for the parish of Croydon St John the Baptist in 1849.

The area of the original borough included part of Norwood and Addiscombe, Bensham, Croham, Coombe, Haling, Norbury, Shirley, Waddon and Woodside.

[2] From 1894 to 1915 it was adjacent to Croydon Rural District to the south, east and west and the County of London to the north.

The rural district was abolished in 1915, but the county borough was unsuccessful in its attempt to annex the area.

The Ratepayers Association was more formally organised as an anti-Labour Party grouping after 1900, and was supported by both the Conservatives and the Liberals, who seldom fielded candidates.

The crest on top of the helm featured a grassy mound and heraldic fountain, for the Croydon Bourne.

The crest also contained a gold crozier, another reference to the archbishops, and a crossed sword and tilting spear for the East India Company Military Seminary at Addiscombe.

The old coat of arms can still be seen in Mitcham Road Cemetery, on the memorial to the victims of the 1961 Holtaheia Vickers Viking crash.