It was created in 1894 and covered the area of the formed Epsom Rural Sanitary District - i.e. the parishes of Ashtead, Banstead, Cheam, Chessington, Cobham, Cuddington, Ewell, Fetcham, Great Bookham, Headley, Little Bookham and Stoke d'Abernon.
Railway Cuttings and East Cheam were fictitious, but Cheam is a real town in Surrey, located to the west of Sutton.