The name Surrey comes from the Old English suther-ge meaning southern district and is first recorded in AD 722 as Suthrige.

Surrey was anciently divided into the fourteen hundreds of Blackheath, Brixton, Copthorne, Effingham, Elmbridge, Farnham, Godalming, Godley, Kingston, Reigate, Tandridge, Wallington, Woking and Wotton.

Until 1889, Surrey contained the present-day London boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark and Wandsworth. In 1965 the boroughs of Croydon, Kingston, Merton, Richmond and Sutton were made part of Greater London, and Spelthorne acquired from Middlesex.

In the 1974 local governent reform caused Gatwick Airport and some surrounding land to be transferred to West Sussex. In the enactment of Local Government Act 1972, Horley and Charlwood were also to be transferred, but fierce local protests led to a reversal of this decision.

See also

• History of England