The name Lynfield was first used in the area in the early 20th century, when Australian Albert William Irvine established a poultry farm on Pah Road in Epsom, later moving to land owned by Sir Alfred Bankart in the southwestern Auckland isthmus in 1913.

[3] In 1913, farmer Albert William Irvine moved Linfield Poultry Farm from Pah Road in Epsom to the estate, after needing to upscale his business.

[3][11] By the next year, Irvine had moved the farm north to Boundary Road in Mount Roskill, but the name remained associated with the modern-day area.

[3] In 1911, the Crown endowed the land to the Auckland Harbour Board, who developed the area into suburban housing in the late 1950s and 1960s.

The developers chose to name the streets after luxury cruise liners that stopped in Auckland.

[5] The Auckland Harbour Board initially offered the houses as rental properties, available on 21-year leases.

Residents protested their lack of ability to purchase their homes, and in 1968 presented a 150-member petition to the Harbour Board.

[5] Microscydmus lynfieldi, one of the smallest beetle species in the world, was discovered at the Wairaki Stream in Lynfield in 1975.

[37] The Lynfield area was a part of the Mt Roskill Borough between 1947 and 1989, after which it was amalgamated into Auckland City.

On 1 November 2010, the Auckland Council was formed as a unitary authority governing the entire Auckland Region,[38] and Wesley become a part of the Puketāpapa local board area, administered by the Puketāpapa Local Board.

The Puketāpapa local board area forms a part of the Albert-Eden-Puketāpapa ward, which votes for two members of the Auckland Council.