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Administrative counties were a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government from 1889 to 1974. They were created by the Local Government Act 1888 and abolished by the Local Government Act 1972. They were replaced by the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England which are often referred to, somewhat incorrectly, as administrative counties.
History The administrative counties didn't exist prior to 1889, see historic counties of England for the history of the English counties before then. Introduction of county councils In 1888 the government, led by the Tory Prime Minister Lord Salisbury established county councils for all of England and Wales, covering areas known as administrative counties. Excluded from administrative counties were the county boroughs, which were what today are known as unitary authorities. Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Suffolk, Sussex, and Yorkshire were split up for administrative purposes, following historical divisions used by the Courts of Quarter Sessions. Additionally there was a County of London which covered the area today known as Inner London. The Isle of Wight was originally included under the administrative county of Hampshire but obtained its own county council in 1890. In 1894 a uniform two-tier system was established, with subdivisions of the administrative counties called urban districts, rural districts and municipal boroughs. The structure was complete once the County of London was divided into metropolitan boroughs in 1900. Some exclaves had been left untouched by the 1844 Act, but in 1894 county councils were given the power to adjust county boundaries, and most anomalies were removed in the next few years. For example the Measham area of Derbyshire was placed under the control of Leicestershire County Council in 1897. Map 1890-1965 This map follows the usual practice of not showing county boroughs. Instead, they were included in their 'host' county. When a county borough expanded into territory of a county that wasn't the one it came from, maps often showed this as an increase in size of the county the county borough was associated with. So, for example, Bristol south of the River Avon would be shown as part of Gloucestershire rather than Somerset. Monmouthshire, not shown on the map, was reckoned among the English counties for most of this period. The 1889 Act did not contain a list of the administrative counties: it was not until 1933 and the passing of a new Local Government Act that they were enumerated in the Act's schedule. In official legislation the suffix "shire" was generally not used: references being to (for example) "the administrative county of Bedford" or the "county council of Northampton". In the case of Lancashire and Cheshire the councils were officially the "county council of the palatine county". Shropshire was always officially entitled the "county of Salop". The right of Berkshire to be described as a "royal county" was recognised by the monarch in 1958. On April 1, 1959 the administrative county of Southampton was renamed as Hampshire. This system was the basis of the ceremonial counties used for Lieutenancy - except that Cambridgeshire, Hampshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Suffolk and Sussex were not split for Lieutenancy. (Yorkshire, however, was). Area and population The table lists the area and population of each administrative county at the censuses of 1891 and 1961. Several county councils had administrative headquarters outside of their area. This was usually because the traditional county town was a county borough. The headquarters of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire county councils were moved from the county boroughs to locations within their respective administrative counties. † County borough, outside the administrative county ‡ In the administrative county of London (1)Chester Castle, in which County Hall is situated, was a civil parish within the Chester Rural District and thus within the administrative county not the county borough. (2)County borough from 1914 (3)Devon County Buildings Area transferred from the county borough to the administrative county of Devon (of which it formed an exclave) in 1963 (4)County borough from 1891 (5)Moot Hall Precincts were an exclave of the administrative county within the county borough of Newcastle upon tyne (6)Kingston was removed from the administrative county of Surrey in 1965, becoming part of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in Greater London (7)County borough from 1915 Alterations in boundaries The boundaries of the administrative counties changed considerably over time. The reasons for this were threefold: the growth of towns on either side of an existing boundary, the creation and extension of county boroughs and the elimination of outlying exclaves and other anomalies. As urbanisation increased, and suburbs were built on a scale not seen before, the urban areas surrounding various towns and cities started to cross traditional county borders. The Local Government Act 1888 provided that in the case that an urban sanitary district crossed a county border, the entire district would be considered part of the county in which the larger part was. This condition was maintained with the expansion of urban districts and municipal boroughs. Towns that were split by historic borders and were unified in one administrative county include Banbury, Mossley, Tamworth, Todmorden. Urban districts to annex areas in another counties include: Additionally, the territory and population of administrative counties was reduced by the increasing numbers of county boroughs, and extensions thereof. This was recognised as a problem, and the process of creation and enlargement of such boroughs was made more difficult by the Local Government (County Boroughs and Adjustments) Act 1926. By June 1970 25% of the population were within the county boroughs. On creation, many of the administrative counties had a number of exclaves. During the 1890s most of these were eliminated, with parishes being exchanged between counties. The boundaries of Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Wiltshire contained numerous enclaves and exclaves, and were realigned in 1931. Greater London Throughout the next century, debates took place about what should be done about local government in respect of the increasing urbanisation of the country. Proposals to expand or change county boroughs or to create larger urban counties were discussed, but nothing happened until 1963, when legislation was passed to come into effect in 1965. The County of London was expanded and renamed Greater London, taking three of the county boroughs, more of Surrey and Kent, parts of Essex and Hertfordshire and consuming nearly all of Middlesex - the remaining parts being ceded to Surrey and Hertfordshire. Some other changes took place, such as the Soke of Peterborough and Huntingdonshire being merged into Huntingdon and Peterborough, and the merger of the original Cambridgeshire county council and the Isle of Ely county council. Map 1965-1974
Abolition In 1974 the administrative counties were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 and replaced with the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England. See also | ||||||||||
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