It initially covered the parishes of East Ham, Leyton, Little Ilford, Walthamstow, Wanstead, West Ham and Woodford, with the addition of Cann Hall from 1894 onwards.
This meant that it straddled several other urban districts, county boroughs and municipal boroughs set up later in the 19th century and early in the 20th century - West Ham (West Ham), East Ham (East Ham, Little Ilford), Wanstead (Wanstead), Woodford (Woodford), Leyton (Leyton, Cann Hall) and Walthamstow (Walthamstow).
[2] In 1837 the area of the poor law union became a registration district.
The poor law guardians for the remaining parishes became the rural sanitary authority.
Parishes left the rural sanitary district as follows: Leyton (1873), Walthamstow (1873), Woodford (1873), East Ham (1878) and Little Ilford (1886).