The present bridge joins Beaufort Street to Battersea Bridge Road was opened this day by Archibald Philip Primrose 5th Earl of Rosebery (1847-1929) the then chair of the London County Council. It was constructed by John Mowlem & Co., under the supervision of Sir Joseph William Bazalgette (1819-91), chief engineer of the Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW). The old bridge had been cleared away in November 1885 and it was the last of London's timber bridges to go.
The MBW was created by the Metropolis Local Management Act of 1855 Its remit covered 117 square miles from Hampstead, to the north, Putney, to the west, Lewisham to the south and Plumstead to the east. That was also the area of the London County Council, created in 1888. The Board had, reportedly, never won great public support being denigrated as the 'Board of Perks' but had major accomplishments including: the construction of Thames embankments which made useful ground of stinking mud-banks; the building of the 80+ miles of sewage mains that still service London; and the replacement of several of the old major Thames bridges within the metropolis with the present ones.
Lord Rosebery was a man of considerable accomplishments. He presided over a Social Science Congress when 27 years old and had been rector of Aberdeen and Edinburgh universities by the age of 33 and Glasgow some 20 years later. He served in several government administrations including being prime minister briefly in 1894-5 and continued as a significant political figure into the 20th century. His writings included studies of William Pitt 'The Younger' (1759-1806), Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850), Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), and Lord Chatham, 'the elder Pitt' (1708-78). And, last but by no means least, his horses won the Derby in 1894, 1895 and 1905 and he married a Rothschild.

O/S Co-ords:2699.7738
Source(s):

Chambers Biographical Dictionary

A History of London

Thames Crossings. Bridges, Tunnels and Ferries