London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and becomes non-tidal at Teddington Lock in the borough; its main axis runs south to north, rather than west to east through more than half of the borough. The borough was formed in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Twickenham from Middlesex with the Municipal Borough of Richmond and the Municipal Borough of Barnes from Surrey; the new council's offices were centred at York House in Twickenham. The name "Richmond upon Thames" was coined at that time; it is now commonly but inaccurately used to refer to Richmond only. The borough's history is reflected in the coat
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in the borough which use the TW code, and the Kingston Vale area in the north-east which has a London SW15 postcode. The following table shows the ethnic group of respondents in the 2001 and 2011 census in Kingston upon Thames. The borough includes the whole of the Kingston and Surbiton Westminster Parliamentary Constituency and part of the Richmond Park Constituency, both constituencies were created in 1997. The previous constituencies re-arranged to form these two had been essentially Conservative. In 1997 the Liberal Democrats won both seats. Dr Jenny Tonge took Richmond Park constituency and in 2005 Susan Kramer became