Greenwich, parl. bor. and par., Kent, on river Thames, 4 miles SE. of London Bridge by rail -- par., 1741 ac., pop. 46,580; parl. bor. (which includes the pars. of Greenwich, Deptford St Nicholas, Charlton next Woolwich, and Kidbrooke), 3838 ac., pop. 65,411; 1 Bank. Market-days, Wednesday and Saturday. Greenwich posseses several important mfrs. including telegraph works, engineering works, chemical works, &c. The Royal Observatory has a world-wide celebrity; English geographers calculate longitude from its meridian. Greenwich Hospital, now the Royal Naval College, is a splendid edifice built upon the site of a royal palace which was the birthplace of Henry VIII., Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth. The bor. returns 1 member to Parliament; it returned 2 members until 1885, when its parl. limits were reduced by the formation of the new parl. boroughs of Deptford and Woolwich.

(John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887))