Middlesex County, Ontario

Middlesex County
County (upper-tier)
County of Middlesex
Middlesex County courthouse, London
London Newbury Oneida 41 Strathroy-Caradoc Middlesex Centre Thames Centre North Middlesex Southwest Middlesex Lucan Biddulph Adelaide Metcalfe
Location of Middlesex census division
Coordinates: 43°00′N81°30′W / 43.000°N 81.500°W / 43.000; -81.500
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
Named for	Middlesex, England
County seat	London
Municipalities	List Adelaide-Metcalfe Lucan Biddulph Middlesex Centre Newbury North Middlesex Southwest Middlesex Strathroy-Caradoc Thames Centre
Area [1]
• Land	2,897.26 km2 (1,118.64 sq mi)
•  Census division	3,317.76 km2 (1,280.99 sq mi)
	Land area excludes London
Population  (2021) [1]
• Total	78,239
• Density	27.0/km2 (70/sq mi)
•  Census division	500,563
•  Census division density	150.9/km2 (391/sq mi)
	Total excludes London
Time zone	UTC-5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
Website	www.county.middlesex.on.ca

Middlesex County is a primarily rural county and census division in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Landlocked, the county is bordered by Huron and Perth counties on the north, Oxford County on the east, Elgin County on the south, and Chatham-Kent and Lambton County on the west.

The county seat is the city of London, although the city is politically independent from the county. The Middlesex census division, which consists of the county together with the City of London and three First Nations reserves, had a population of 500,563 in 2021. ^[1] Part of the county is also included in the London census metropolitan area.

Administrative divisions

Middlesex County is composed of eight incorporated municipalities (in order of population):

• Strathroy-Caradoc, Township of
  • Population centres: Strathroy and Mount Brydges. Other communities: Cairngorm, Campbellvale, Caradoc, Christina, Falconbridge, Glen Oak, Longwood, Melbourne (part) and Muncey.
• Middlesex Centre, Municipality of
  • Population centre: Ilderton. Other communities: Arva, Ballymote, Birr, Bryanston, Coldstream, Delaware, Denfield, Duncrief, Elginfield, Ettrick, Ivan, Kilworth, Komoka, Littlewood, Lobo, Lobo Siding, Maple Grove, Melrose, Poplar Hill, Sharon, Southgate, Southwold, Telfer and Vanneck.
• Thames Centre, Municipality of (township)
  • Population centres: Dorchester and Thorndale. Other communities: Avon, Belton, Cherry Grove, Crampton, Cobble Hill, Derwent, Devizes, Evelyn, Fanshawe Lake, Friendly Corners, Gladstone, Harrietsville, Kelly Station, Mossley, Nilestown, Oliver, Plover Mills, Putnam, Salmonville, Silvermoon, Three Bridges and Wellburn.
• North Middlesex, Municipality of (township)
  • Population centre: Parkhill. Other communities: Ailsa Craig, Beechwood, Bornish, Bowood, Brinsley, Carlisle, Corbett, Greenway, Hungry Hollow, Lieury, Moray, Mount Carmel, Nairn, Sable, Springbank, Sylvan and West McGillivray.
• Southwest Middlesex, Municipality of (township)
  • Population centre: Glencoe. Other communities: Appin, Ekfrid, Lewis Corners, Macksville, Mayfair, Melbourne (part), Newbury Station, North Appin Station, North Ekfrid, North Glencoe Station, Riverside, Strathburn, Tate Corners, Wardsville and Woodgreen.
• Lucan Biddulph, Township
  • Population centre: Lucan. Other communities: Biddulph, Clandeboye and Granton.
• Adelaide Metcalfe, Township
  • Communities: Adelaide, Crathie, Dejong, Kerwood, Keyser, Mullifarry, Napier, Napperton, Springfield, Walkers and Wrightmans Corners.
• Newbury, Village

First Nations reserves located within the Middlesex census division but separate from Middlesex County:

• Chippewas of the Thames 42
• Munsee-Delaware 1
• Oneida 41.

History

The area was originally organized as Suffolk County, created in July 1792 by Governor John Simcoe by his first proclamation issued at Kingston, which also defined it as a constituency for the purposes of returning a member to the new Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, and was described as having the following territory: ^[2]

... bounded on the east by the county of Norfolk, on the south by lake Erie, until it meets the carrying-place from point au Pins unto the Thames, ^[3] on the west by the said carrying-place, thence up the said river Thames until it meets the northwesternmost boundary of the county of Norfolk.

Map of Upper Canada showing 1792 division into counties and ridings

Simcoe toured the southwestern portion of the province's territory in early 1793 and concluded that the lower forks of the Thames would be best suited as the future site of the provincial capital. The names London in Middlesex were considered more appropriate for this.^{[ citation needed ]} Suffolk County was reorganized as Middlesex County, as part of the London District, in 1798 by the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, ^[4] consisting of the townships of London, Westminster, Dorchester, Yarmouth, Southwold, Dunwich, Aldborough and Delaware.

Map of Upper Canada showing 1798 division into districts, counties and townships (published 1818)

Middlesex County was expanded several times thereafter, starting in 1821 with the addition of the townships of Moza, Ecfrid (sic), Carradoc (sic) and Lobo. ^[5] Adelaide Township came from the Huron Tract in 1835, ^[6] and Williams Township was withdrawn from Huron County and annexed to Middlesex in 1845. ^[7] In 1837, Bayham and Malahide Townships were transferred to Middlesex from Norfolk County. ^[8] Metcalfe Township was formed from the north part of Ekfrid and the south part of Adelaide in 1845. ^[9]

Upon the abolition of the London District in January 1850, Middlesex County was constituted for municipal purposes. ^[10] The County was reorganized as the United Counties of Middlesex and Elgin in 1851, with its townships divided thus:

Creation of the United Counties of Middlesex and Elgin (1851) ^[11]

Elgin County	Middlesex County
Aldborough Dunwich Southwold Yarmouth Malahide Bayham South Dorchester [a 1]	Mosa Ekfrid Carradoc (sic) Metcalfe Adelaide Williams Lobo Nissouri West [a 2] North Dorchester [a 1] Delaware Westminster London

1. divided in 1851 (1851 Act, Sch. D)
2. separated from Nissouri Township of Oxford County (1851 Act, Sch. D)

Elgin County was separated from Middlesex in September 1853. ^[12]

The townships of Biddulph and McGillivray were withdrawn from Huron County and annexed to Middlesex in 1862. ^[13] There was a village at Ekfrid Station that had a blacksmith's shop, a gristmill and a store that was created by the Grand Truck railroad. ^[14] Today it is ghost town as the post office closed on 31 January 1914 and the railroad station in 1950. ^[15] Another settlement existed at Mayfair that was founded in 1854. ^[16] Mayfair had by the 1880s a tavern, two cheese factories, a sawmill, a blacksmith, a painter, a tailor, and a large house called Mayfair Castle that had marble imported from Italy. ^[17] Mayfair Castle costed $7000 to build at a time when the average brick house costed $1000 to build. ^[18] The post office closed in 1914 and today Mayfair is a ghosttown with only the former Baptist Church and Mayfair Castle still standing. ^[19] In 1829, a hamlet was founded at Strathburn that had a school by 1840. ^[20] A church was founded in 1844 and a post office opened in 1852. ^[21] By 1963, Strathburn had become a ghost town with only home inhabited and all the rest abandoned.. ^[22]

The historic townships of the County (including those originally part of Huron County marked in red) are shown below:

Townships of Middlesex County

Withdrawal and evolution of the City of London

Historical map that includes Middlesex County (1875)

London, when it became a city in 1855, separated from Middlesex County, ^[23] and it expanded later in stages:

Annexations to the City of London

Year	Community
1885	London East [24]
1890	Wortley Village [25]
1897	London West [a 1] [26]
1912 [23]	Pottersburg Knollwood Ealing Chelsea Green
1961	Byron Broughdale Masonville
1993 [27]	Lambeth Westminster Glanworth Hyde Park Crumlin Fanshawe Brockley Scottsville Tempo

1. previously known as Petersville or Kensington

Demographics

As a census division in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Middlesex County had a population of 500,563 living in 204,157 of its 216,736 total private dwellings, a change of 9.9% from its 2016 population of 455,526. With a land area of 3,317.76 km² (1,280.99 sq mi), it had a population density of 150.9/km² (390.8/sq mi) in 2021. ^[1]

Middlesex County has 38,231 people over the age of 15, with 45% of them working in the same municipality as the one they live in. ^[28] That implies that more than 50% of them commute to other municipalities.

Historical census populations – Middlesex County (census division)

Year Pop. ±% 1921 106,865 —     1931 118,241 +10.6% 1941 127,166 +7.5% 1951 162,139 +27.5% 1956 190,897 +17.7% 1961 221,422 +16.0%	Year Pop. ±% 1966 249,403 +12.6% 1971 282,014 +13.1% 1976 303,745 +7.7% 1981 318,184 +4.8% 1986 332,471 +4.5% 1991 372,274 +12.0%	Year Pop. ±% 1996 389,616 +4.7% 2001 403,185 +3.5% 2006 422,333 +4.7% 2011 439,151 +4.0% 2016 455,526 +3.7% 2021 500,563 +9.9%
Includes London. Population counts are not adjusted for boundary changes. Source: Statistics Canada [1] [29]

Municipal government

Members of the County Council are the mayors (or reeves) of the municipalities of Adelaide Metcalfe, Lucan Biddulph, Middlesex Centre, North Middlesex, Southwest Middlesex, Strathroy-Caradoc and Thames Centre as well as the Village of Newbury. Centres with a population exceeding 5,000 also get an additional seat for their deputy mayors. The head of council is one of its members who is elected as reeve for a one year term by the councillors. ^[30]

See also

• List of municipalities in Ontario
• List of townships in Ontario
• List of secondary schools in Ontario#Middlesex County

References

1. "Middlesex, County (CTY) Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Government of Canada - Statistics Canada. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
2. Proclamation of July 16, 1792
3. a portion of which became part of Highway 40 in the 20th Century
4. An act for the better division of this province , S.U.C. 1798, c. 5, s. 36-37
5. An Act to repeal part of an act passed in the thirty-eighth year of his late Majesty's reign, entitled, "An act for the better division of this province," and to make further provision for the division of the same into counties and districts , S.U.C. 1821, c. 3, s. 11
6. An Act to form certain Townships in the London District into a County, and to attach certain Townships to the Counties of Middlesex and Kent, in the London and Western Districts , S.U.C. 1835, c. 46
7. An Act for better defining the limits of the Counties and Districts in Upper Canada, for erecting certain new Townships, for detaching Townships from some Counties and attaching them to others, and for other purposes relative to the division of Upper Canada into Townships, Counties and Districts , S.Prov.C. 1845, c. 7, Sch. B
8. effectively withdrawn upon the passage of An Act to authorise the erection of the County of Oxford into a separate District, by the name of the District of Brock , S.U.C. 1837, c. 30 and An Act erecting the County of Norfolk into a separate District, by the name of the District of Talbot , S.U.C. 1837, c. 33
9. 1845 Act, Sch. A
10. An Act for abolishing the Territorial Division of Upper-Canada into Districts, and for providing temporary Unions of Counties for Judicial and other purposes, and for the future dissolutions of such Unions, as the increase of wealth and population may require , S.Prov.C. 1849, c. 78, Sch. C
11. An Act to make certain alterations in the Territorial Divisions of Upper Canada , S.Prov.C. 1851, c. 5, Sch. A, par. 35-36; Sch. B
12. "Proclamation". Canada Gazette . XII (29): 1452–1453.
13. An Act to separate the Townships of Biddulph and McGillivray from the County of Huron, and to annex the same to the East Riding of the County of Middlesex , S.Prov.C. 1862, c. 28
14. Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 81
15. Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 82
16. Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 84
17. Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 85
18. Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 85
19. Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 85
20. Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 88
21. Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 89
22. Grainger, Jennifer Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Toronto: Natural Heritage, 2002 p. 91
23. "Founding of the Forest City". london.ca. July 26, 2016.
24. An Act respecting the City of London and the Town of London East , S.O. 1885, c. 63
25. An Act respecting the City of London , S.O. 1890, c. 89
26. An Act respecting the City of London , S.O. 1898, c. 46
27. London-Middlesex Act, 1992 , S.O. 1992, c. 27
28. "Middlesex Workforce".
29. "1971 Census of Canada - Population Census Subdivisions (Historical)". Catalogue 92-702 Vol I, part 1 (Bulletin 1.1-2). Statistics Canada: 76, 139. July 1973.
30. "Government". Middlesex County. 27 March 2022.

External links

• Official website