Ampthill Rural District

{{Short description|Former local government area in the UK}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}

{{Use British English|date=August 2012}}

{{coord|52.027|-0.495|display=title|region:GB_scale:50000}}

{{infobox historic subdivision|

|Name= Ampthill Rural District

|subdivision_type=Rural district

|HQ= Ampthill

|Start= 28 December 1894

|End= 31 March 1974

|Replace= Mid Bedfordshire

|arms_image = File:Ampthill Rural District Council coat of arms.jpg

| membership_title1 = County Council

| membership1 = Bedfordshire

|PopulationFirst= 19,146

|PopulationLast= 32,005{{cite web |url=https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10173358 |title=Ampthill RD, A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=7 August 2021}}

|PopulationFirstYear= 1901

|PopulationLastYear= 1971

|AreaFirst=

|AreaLast=

|AreaFirstYear=

|AreaLastYear=

}}

{{maplink|raw={{Wikipedia:Map data/Ampthill Rural District}}|frame=yes|frame-width=240|text=Map of boundaries as of 1971}}

Ampthill was a rural district in Bedfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974. It entirely surrounded but did not include the urban district of Ampthill.

The district had its origins in the Ampthill Rural Sanitary District. This had been created under the Public Health Acts of 1872 and 1875, giving public health and local government responsibilities for rural areas to the existing Boards of Guardians of Poor Law Unions.{{cite web |url=http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Ampthill/ |title=Ampthill Poor Law Union |last=Higginbotham |first=Peter |date=2021 |website=The Workhouse |access-date=6 August 2021}}

Under the Local Government Act 1894, Rural Sanitary Districts became Rural Districts from 28 December 1894. The link with the Poor Law Union continued, with all the elected councillors of the Rural District Council being {{lang|la|ex officio}} members of the Ampthill Board of Guardians. The first meeting of the new council was held on 3 January 1895 in the board room of the Ampthill Union Workhouse. The council's first chairman, Edward Crouch, had been the chairman of the previous Board of Guardians.Ampthill: Rural District Council and Board of Guardians, Bedfordshire Times and Independent (Bedford), 5 January 1895, page 8

In 1900 the district was significantly enlarged, when the neighbouring Woburn Rural District was abolished, with the majority of the former Woburn district becoming part of the Ampthill Rural District.

The council was granted a coat of arms in 1957.{{cite web |title=Ampthill (Rural District Council) |url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/wiki/Ampthill |website=Heraldry of the World |access-date=9 August 2021}}

The rural district contained the following civil parishes. All the parishes added to the district in 1900 were from the abolished Woburn Rural District:

{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|

• Aspley Guise (after 1900)
• Aspley Heath (after 1900)
• Battlesden (after 1900)
• Clophill
• Cranfield
• Eversholt (after 1900)
• Flitton
• Flitwick
• Gravenhurst
• Harlington (after 1900)
• Holcot (after 1900) - merged with Salford parish 1933
• Hulcote and Salford formed 1933 from Holcot, Salford parishes
• Husborne Crawley (after 1900)
• Lidlington
• Marston Moretaine
• Maulden
• Millbrook
• Milton Bryan (after 1900)
• Potsgrove (after 1900)
• Pulloxhill
• Ridgmont (after 1900)
• Salford (after 1900) - merged with Holcot parish 1933
• Shillington
• Silsoe
• Steppingley
• Tingrith (after 1900)
• Toddington (after 1900) - Transferred to Luton Rural District 1933
• Westoning
• Woburn (after 1900)

}}