Following the 1886 general election, a Conservative administration headed by Lord Salisbury was formed. However the Conservatives did not have a majority of seats and had to rely on the support of the Liberal Unionist Party. As part of the price for this support the Liberal Unionists demanded that a bill be introduced placing county government under the control of elected councils, modelled on the borough councils introduced by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835.[2]
Accordingly, the Local Government (England and Wales) Bill was introduced to the House of Commons on 19 March 1888, by the President of the Local Government Board, Charles Ritchie. The bill proposed the creation of elected county councils to take over the administrative functions of the magistrates of the Quarter Sessions courts, that ten large cities should be "counties of themselves" for the purposes of local government and that each county was to be divided into urban and rural districts, based on existing sanitary districts, governed by a district council. The county and district councils were to consist partly of directly elected "elective councillors" and partly of "selected councillors", chosen by the elective councillors in a similar manner to aldermen in municipal boroughs.
The counties to be used for local government were to be the historic counties of England and Wales. A county council was to be formed for each of the ridings of Yorkshire and the three divisions of Lincolnshire (Holland, Kesteven and Lindsey). In addition a new County of London was to be formed from the area of the Metropolitan Board of Works. This would have led to the creation of fifty-seven county councils. The boundaries of the counties were to be those used for parliamentary purposes, adjusted to include urban sanitary districts on county borders within a single county.
Existing urban and rural sanitary districts, created in 1872, were to be redesignated as urban and rural districts. Urban such districts that straddled counties became destined for the county with the bulk of their population as at the 1881 census, by enlarging the latter. Existing rural sanitary districts so straddling were to split on county lines to form rural districts.
Passage through Parliament
There were a large number of changes to the bill as it passed through parliament. The terms administrative county and county borough were introduced to designate the new areas of local government, while the "selected councillors" became "county aldermen". The government withdrew the sections relating to the creation of district councils, which were eventually brought into existence by the Local Government Act 1894.
Members of both houses made representations on behalf of counties and boroughs, and this led to an increase in the number of local authorities.
The eastern and western divisions of Sussex became administrative counties[3]
The normal population threshold for county borough status was lowered twice, firstly to 100,000, then to 50,000. A number of smaller counties corporate were also given county borough status. Mr Ritchie conceded on 8 June:
"Now that they had gone down so far in population as 50,000 there arose a question as to the admission of boroughs which had not so large a population as 50,000, but which had very peculiar claims. He referred to the counties of cities. [...] Two or three of these cities had so small a population that he did not propose to deal with them in this way. The best course was to give the names of the cities which he proposed to include. They were Exeter, Lincoln, Chester, Gloucester, Worcester, and Canterbury."
The effect of these changes was to increase the number of county boroughs from ten to fifty-nine. With a population of around 50,000 at the 1881 census, the City of London was initially proposed for county borough status.[7]
County councils
These were subject to triennial elections,[8] the first taking place in January 1889. Those elected in 1889 were known as "provisional" councils until coming into their powers on 1 April. The divisions of the county for the purpose of the election of county councillors became fixed, under a key definition of the act, "as electoral divisions and not wards",[9] and "one county councillor only shall be elected for each".[9] Following the election, the county councillors then elected county aldermen, there being one alderman for every three councillors. The London County Council had its own section of the act, prescribing two councillors to be elected for each Commons constituency, and a ratio of "not more than" one alderman to six councillors.[10] The councillors appointed the council's "Chairman instead of mayor"[11] and Vice Chairman, who had a one-year term of office and could be reappointed. As to natural persons section 1 of the act states every such council shall "consist of the chairman, aldermen, and councillors".[12] The Chairman would upon (this ex officio, by virtue of office) the selecting of that person (co-option) be entitled to be a Justice of the Peace but needed take the oaths of that office "before acting as such justice",[13] aside from the oath as to having local real estate as they had already met the equivalent requirement to become a councillor or alderman.[14]
Powers
The powers and responsibilities transferred from the quarter sessions to the councils were enumerated in the act. These included:
Making and levying of rates
Borrowing of money
Passing of county accounts
Maintenance and construction of county buildings such as shire halls, county halls, court houses and police stations
Licensing of places of entertainment and of race courses
Provisions of asylums for pauper lunatics
Establishment and maintenance of reformatory and industrial schools
Appointment, dismissal and setting of salaries for county officers
Division of the county into polling places for parliamentary elections, and the provision of polling stations
Control of contagious diseases in animals, and of destructive insects
Fish conservancy and control of wild birds
Weights and measures
County borough corporations also exercised these powers, in addition to those of a municipal borough.
↑ The council could also declare a road a "main road" and take over its maintenance, and purchase existing bridges or build new ones.
Standing joint committees
Control of the county police was to be exercised jointly by the quarter sessions and the county council through a standing joint committee. The committees were replaced by police authorities by the Police Act 1964.
Counties for other purposes
Counties were also used as areas for administering justice and organisation of the militia. The act adjusted the boundaries for the purposes of "sheriff, lieutenant, custos rotulorum, justices, militia, coroner, or other", ensuring the judicial definitions of the counties matched groups of the administrative counties and county boroughs.[15]
The counties of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Suffolk, Sussex and Yorkshire were undivided so far as they were one county at the passing of the act.[16] The three ridings of Yorkshire and the three parts of Lincolnshire therefore retained their status.
County boroughs were to be administrative counties of themselves.[17] The act provided that each county borough that had previously been part of a county (i.e., was not a county corporate) should continue to be part of that county for non-administrative purposes, notably judicial functions and lieutenancy.[17] If a county borough did not have a separate commission of assize, oyer and terminer and jury service, or gaol delivery, it was deemed to be part of one or more adjoining counties for those purposes.[17] The act also provided for certain financial adjustments between county boroughs and adjoining counties.[18]
The act did not in terms affect the status of cities and towns which were counties corporate. Most of the counties corporate became county boroughs and therefore administrative counties of themselves, but while other county boroughs continued to be part of their existing counties for all other purposes, that did not apply to existing counties corporate.[17] Those that did not become county boroughs became part of adjacent administrative counties but retained their existing judicial functions and shrievalties.[19] The act did not change which counties, ridings and counties corporate were included in each lieutenancy area; those were already set by the Militia Act 1882 which was left in force, with the exception that if the boundaries of an administrative county changed then so too did any lieutenancy, shrieval or judicial area to match.[20]
Whilst schedule 3 of the act identified that four of the county boroughs (Bristol, Great Yarmouth, Stockport and York) should be deemed to lie in more than one county for the purposes of the act, those purposes did not include lieutenancy, but were instead concerned with certain financial matters. For lieutenancy purposes, Bristol was solely in Gloucestershire, and York was solely in the West Riding.[21][22][23] The county borough of Great Yarmouth did straddle Norfolk and Suffolk for judicial and lieutenancy purposes after the new county councils came into force, but only for two years; it was placed entirely in Norfolk in 1891.[24] After 1891 Stockport was therefore the only county borough to straddle two counties (Cheshire and Lancashire) for the purposes of lieutenancy, a situation which persisted until the major reforms of 1974.
Other provisions
Under section 48 of the act all liberties and franchises, with the exception of those that became separate administrative counties, merged with the county they formed part of for parliamentary elections. The Cinque Ports, together with "the two ancient towns and their members" (which for some purposes, such as lieutenancy, were considered a distinct county), were to become part of the county where they were situated. Section 49 allowed for the creation by provisional order of a Council for the Scilly Islands to be established as a unitary authority outside the administrative county of Cornwall. This was duly formed in 1890 as the Isles of Scilly Rural District.
List of administrative counties and county boroughs created in 1889
↑ Oxford was not made a county borough directly by the 1888 Act, and so was included in the administrative county of Oxfordshire at first, but it was elevated to county borough status seven months later in November 1889.[26]
There were 36 urban sanitary districts which straddled counties prior to the act coming into force. Under Section 50 of the act, each such district was transferred in its entirety to the county which had the majority of the district's population at the 1881 census, leading to the changes set out in the table below.[27][28][29]
North Riding initially, but Norton removed from district and returned to East Riding later in 1889 and made its own district in 1890, leaving the reduced Malton in North Riding
Cumberland is a historic county in North West England. The historic county is bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish counties of Dumfriesshire and Roxburghshire to the north. The area includes the city of Carlisle, part of the Lake District and North Pennines, and the Solway Firth coastline.
The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purposes of lieutenancy; the 84 metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties for local government; and the 39 historic counties which were used for administration until 1974.
Ceremonial counties, formally known as counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies, are areas of England to which lord-lieutenants are appointed. They are one of the two main legal definitions of the counties of England in modern usage, the other being the counties for the purposes of local government legislation. A lord-lieutenant is the monarch's representative in an area. Shrieval counties have the same boundaries and serve a similar purpose, being the areas to which high sheriffs are appointed. High sheriffs are the monarch's judicial representative in an area.
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent term used in Scotland was a county of city. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in Northern Ireland. In the Republic of Ireland they remain in existence but have been renamed cities under the provisions of the Local Government Act 2001. The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 re-introduced the term for certain "principal areas" in Wales. Scotland did not have county boroughs but instead had counties of cities. These were abolished on 16 May 1975. All four Scottish cities of the time—Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow—were included in this category. There was an additional category of large burgh in the Scottish system, which were responsible for all services apart from police, education and fire.
Monmouthshire, also formerly known as the County of Monmouth, was one of the thirteen historic counties of Wales in the south-east of Wales, on the border with England. Its area now corresponds approximately to the present principal areas of Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent, Newport and Torfaen, and those parts of Caerphilly and Cardiff east of the Rhymney River.
The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that established a system of local government in Ireland similar to that already created for England, Wales and Scotland by legislation in 1888 and 1889. The Act effectively ended landlord control of local government in Ireland.
A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.
A municipal borough was a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1836 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in Scotland from 1833 to 1975 with the reform of royal burghs and creation of police burghs.
Kent County Council is a county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Kent in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes the unitary authority of Medway. Kent County Council is the upper tier of elected local government, below which are 12 district councils, and around 300 town and parish councils. The county council has 81 elected councillors. It is one of the largest local authorities in England in terms of population served and the largest local authority of its type. The council is based at County Hall in Maidstone. It has been under Conservative majority control since 1997.
A county corporate or corporate county was a type of subnational division used for the administration of justice in certain towns and cities in England, Wales, and Ireland. They arose when the monarch gave a borough corporation the right to appoint its own sheriffs, separating that borough from the jurisdiction of the sheriff of the county in which it lay.
The Local Government Act 1894 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The act followed the reforms carried out at county level under the Local Government Act 1888. The 1894 legislation introduced elected councils at district and parish level.
The London Government Act 1899 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the administration of the capital. The act divided the County of London into 28 metropolitan boroughs, replacing the 42 local authorities administering the area. The legislation also transferred a few powers from the London County Council to the boroughs, and removed a number of boundary anomalies. The first elections to the new boroughs were held on 1 November 1900.
The Local Government Act 1933 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated and revised existing legislation that regulated local government in England and Wales. It remained the principal legislation regulating local government until the Local Government Act 1972 took effect in 1974.
The history of local government in England is one of gradual change and evolution since the Middle Ages. England has never possessed a formal written constitution, with the result that modern administration is based on precedent, and is derived from administrative powers granted to older systems, such as that of the shires.
Stockport County Borough was a county-level local authority between 1889 and 1974.
Staffordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Staffordshire, England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Stoke-on-Trent.
The Royal Commission on the Amalgamation of the City and County of London was a royal commission which considered the means for amalgamating the ancient City of London with the County of London, which had been created in 1889. The commission reported in 1894. The government headed by Lord Rosebery accepted the recommendations of the commission, but when a Conservative government under Lord Salisbury came to power in 1895 the reforms were almost entirely abandoned.
Bury was a local government district centred on Bury in the northwest of England from 1846 to 1974.
Administrative counties were subnational divisions of England used for local government from 1889 to 1974. They were created by the Local Government Act 1888, which established an elected county council for each area. Some geographically large historic counties were divided into several administrative counties, each with its own county council. The administrative counties operated until 1974, when they were replaced by a system of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties under the Local Government Act 1972.
Cumberland County Council was the county council of Cumberland in the North West of England, an elected local government body responsible for most local services in the county. It was established in 1889 as a result of the Local Government Act 1888. Carlisle was initially within its area but became a separate county borough in 1914. In 1974, both authorities were merged along with parts of others into the new Cumbria County Council. In April 2023 local government in Cumbria was reorganised into two unitary authorities, one of which is named Cumberland Council and includes most of the historic county, with the exception of Penrith and the surrounding area.
References
↑ "Order of the President of the Local Government Board", 19 March 1889 (Printed in The Times, 21 March 1889)
↑ B. Keith-Lucas, Government of the County in England, The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 1. (March 1956), pp. 44-55.
↑ Amendment by Walter Barttelot, MP for Horsham, 13 July 1888 (The Times, 14 July 1888)
↑ Amendment by Captain Selwyn, 13 July 1888 (The Times, 14 July 1888)
↑ Amendment by Lord Bristol, 6 August 1888 (The Times, 7 August 1888)
↑ Amendment by Lord Exeter, 6 August 1888 (The Times, 7 August 1888)
↑ "Urban Sanitary Authorities". The County Companion Diary, Statistical Chronicle and Magisterial and Official Directory. London: Waterlow & Sons Ltd. 1882. p.vii.
↑ Youngs, Frederic A Jr. (1979). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol.I: Southern England. London: Royal Historical Society. pp.556–707. ISBN0-901050-67-9.
↑ Youngs, Frederic A Jr. (1991). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol.2: Northern England. London: Royal Historical Society. pp.635–794. ISBN0-86193-127-0.
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