The treaty governed the relations between the ZAR and Britain following the retrocession of the South African Republic in the aftermath of the First Boer War.

Following the Pretoria Convention, the name of the South African Republic had been changed to the Transvaal Territory.

At the request of the Transvaal Territory's Volksraad the name was restored to the South African Republic.

The main outcome of the London Convention was that British suzerainty over the South African Republic was amended.

The London convention stipulated that the South African Republic had the right to enter into a treaty with the Orange Free State without approval from the British.