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Tolworth is a suburban area in the Surbiton district, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, Greater London. It is 11 miles (17.7 km) southwest of Charing Cross. Neighbouring places include Long Ditton, New Malden, Kingston, Surbiton, Berrylands, Hinchley Wood, Chessington, Ewell and Worcester Park. Surbiton is the nearest, about a mile to the northwest. Tolworth is divided in two by the A3 Kingston Bypass and is situated slightly north of the Greater London-Surrey border.

Tolworth, in the Domesday Book, was called Taleorde. Its Domesday assets were held partly by Picot from Richard de Tonebrige and partly by Radulf (Ralph) from the Bishop of Bayeux. It rendered: 2½ hides; also 4 hides with Long Ditton; 1 mill without dues, 8 ploughs, 10½ acres and ½ rod of meadow.

The Evelyn family, who had settled in Surrey, played a prominent role and established gunpowder mills at Tolworth, probably in 1561.

In 1870–72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Tolworth like this: "TALWORTH, a hamlet in Long Ditton parish, Surrey; 2½ miles SSE of Kingston upon Thames. Acres, 1,190. Pop., 434. Houses, 81. An ancient manor-house here was held by the Earl of Kent, uncle of Edward III.; and is now a farmhouse." For much of the 19th century, the Earls of Egmont were Tolworth's principal landowners

By 1908 things were changing: the population growth was accelerating due to the development of the brickfields and the construction of Tolworth Sewage Farm (which opened in 1891), both in Red Lion Lane (now Red Lion Road). With a proper sewerage system Tolworth was ready for development. St Matthew's Church had been built for a congregation of 800 and trams now ran from the Red Lion.

In 1919 the Medical Officer of Health reported that Surbiton was a residential neighbourhood with no dominating factories or works. The only new feature of late, he said, is the springing up of a few "Motor Garages," each employing a few hands on the care and repair of cars. He advised that the Electric Light Works and a belated resuscitation of the Tolworth Brickfields represented the leading "Works" in Surbiton. The reference to the brickworks probably relates to it being owned by William Alen until his bankruptcy in 1881. The urban district council entered into an agreement with Callenders Cables & Construction (later to become British Insulated Callender's Cables) under which the company laid electrical supply cables around Surbiton. In 1916 the council sold the Surbiton and District Electricity Co, based in Hollyfield Road, to Callenders. The opening of the Kingston by Pass (A3 road) in 1927 was a major catalyst for expansion which included six and a half miles of new residential roads, containing 2000 houses. This period also saw the construction of Tolworth Broadway, aligning with the Kingston Road, on the former Tolworth Lodge Farm.

In the 1930s and '40s the clay extraction requirements of a brickworks north of the A3 off Red Lion Road (now Red Lion Industrial Park) produced a large water-filled pit (known locally as "The Bluey") which was used as a landfill site for bomb-damage and industrial material removed from bomb-sites resulting from the "Blitz". The Civil Defence Corps used to have a training site with a full-size mock-up of a bomb-damaged housing estate. This land has been reclaimed and is now a recreation ground. The Tolworth Brickworks Company Ltd. decided in September 1946 that the company should be voluntarily wound up – a process that continued until at least 1951. Clay extraction also took place at "The Wood" near Surbiton Station, Fishponds Park as well as in Claygate.

Off Worcester Park Road/Old Malden Lane was the access to Tolworth Hall and nearby, along the Hogsmill River, were watercress beds.