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West Ham appears to have been formed after a sub-division of the larger 'Hamme' territory sometime in the 12th century,

A settlement in the area named Ham is first recorded as Hamme in an Anglo-Saxon charter of 958 and then in the 1086 Domesday Book as Hame. It is formed from Old English 'hamm' and means 'a dry area of land between rivers or marshland', referring to the location of the settlement within boundaries formed by the rivers Lea, Thames and Roding and their marshes.

These natural boundaries suggest that Little Ilford and North Woolwich are likely to have been part of Ham(m).

The earliest recorded use of West Ham, as distinct from East Ham, is in 1186 as Westhamma. It could be speculated that the partition arose as a result of population increase resulting from economic prosperity delivered by the construction of Bow Bridge over the Lea and the creation of Stratford Langthorne Abbey

The boundary between West and East Ham was drawn along Green Street down to the small, now lost, natural harbour known as Ham Creek.

The borough acquired the horse-drawn tram services in its area in 1898, electrified them in 1904, and extended the network. There was also through running of the corporation trams and those of the London County Council system. West Ham Corporation Tramways operated 134 tram cars on 16.27 miles (26.2 km) of tracks when they became the responsibility of the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933. The borough ran its own fire brigade which was absorbed into the London Fire Brigade in 1965. The corporation's electricity generation and supply undertaking was nationalised in 1948, when it was transferred to the London Electricity Board.

Following the passing of the Local Government Act 1929 the Council took over responsibility for certain health services, such as the large Whipps Cross Hospital in neighbouring Leyton (now the Whipps Cross University Hospital) which they developed until it passed into the new National Health Service in 1946.