In the early 1880s, following the construction of the railway, the farmland of this part of Battersea was re-developed as a residential neighbourhood. The Vicar of Battersea, Canon John Erskine Clarke, worked hard to raise the funds to build a number of churches to serve the area. He also commissioned the Bolingbroke Hospital.

St. Michael’s began as a temporary mission church in 1872. The present building was dedicated in 1881. It was built in memory of two people – Philip Cazenove, a major benefactor of work in the parish; and the Revd H.B.Verdon, the first Vicar of the church.