Newington Butts, Michael Faraday’s birthplace in 1791, was in the historic county of Surrey.
Newington Butts was then a hamlet and parish area south of the City of London, within the Surrey parish of St Mary, Newington. The district is now part of the London Borough of Southwark, but modern administrative boundaries can obscure its earlier county identity.
The name survives today in Newington Butts, a major road near Elephant and Castle. It is also associated with an early Elizabethan playhouse. Despite the name, historians have questioned whether the area actually contained medieval archery butts; “butts” may instead have referred to a triangular or abutting piece of land.
A common mix-up is Middlesex, because Newington was close to London. In 1791, however, it lay on the Surrey side of the Thames-region metropolis; it did not become part of the County of London until 1889.