History of local government districts in Middlesex
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The History of local government districts in Middlesex outside the metropolitan area began in 1835 with the formation of poor law unions. This was followed by the creation of various forms of local government body to administer the rapidly growing towns of the area. By 1934 until its abolition in 1965, the entire county was divided into urban districts or municipal boroughs.
Poor law unions
The parishes of the county were grouped under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 to form unions. Each union had a single workhouse, and was administered by a board of guardians elected by the parish ratepayers. The boundaries of the unions would later be used to define rural sanitary districts in 1875 and rural districts in 1894. Poor law unions were abolished in 1930 by the Local Government Act 1929.
File:Middlesex poor law 1840.png
| class="wikitable"
! Name | Parishes | Notes |
| Barnet PLU
| Friern Barnet, Finchey, Monken Hadley, South Mimms | Remainder of PLU in Hertfordshire | ||
| Brentford PLU
| Acton, Chiswick, Ealing, Greenford, Hanwell, Heston, Isleworth, New Brentford, Old Brentford, Perivale, Twickenham, West Twyford | | ||
| Edmonton PLU
| Edmonton, Enfield, Hornsey, Southgate, Tottenham, Wood Green | Included the parish of Hampstead (in the Metropolis) until 1848, Waltham Holy Cross in Essex and Cheshunt in Hertfordshire | ||
| Hendon PLU
| Edgware, Great Stanmore, Harrow on the Hill, Harrow Weald, Hendon, Kingsbury, Little Stanmore, Pinner, Wealdstone, Wembley, Willesden (until 1896) | | ||
| Kingston PLU
| Hampton, Hampton Wick, Teddington | Majority of PLU in Surrey | ||
| Staines PLU
| Ashford, Cranford, East Bedfont, Feltham, Hanworth, Harlington, Harmondsworth, Laleham, Littleton, Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury | | ||
| Uxbridge PLU
| Cowley, Harefield, Hayes, Hillingdon, Ickenham, Northolt, Northwood, Ruislip, Uxbridge, West Drayton, Yiewsley | | ||
| Willesden Poor Law Parish
| Willesden | Formed 1896 |
Local boards of health
An outbreak of cholera in Tottenham forced the creation of a temporary local board of health in 1831/32. Following the enactment of the Public Health Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 63), permanent boards could be formed on petition of the inhabitants or where there was excess mortality. The first local board in England formed under the Act was at Uxbridge in 1849, and it was followed by a number of other towns. The Local Government Act 1858 simplified the process of creating local councils: ratepayers of a parish or area could adopt the Act by resolution, whereupon it would become a Local Government District, governed by a Local Board.Royston Lambert, Central and Local Relations in Mid-Victorian England: The Local Government Act Office, 1858-71, Victorian Studies, Vol. 6, No. 2. (Dec., 1962), pp. 121-150. Numerous localities in Middlesex took the opportunity, and it also provided the mechanism for the developing communities of Southgate and Wood Green to separate themselves from the control of the Edmonton and Tottenham boards.
Sanitary districts
The system was rationalised by the Public Health Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 55), which designated all municipal boroughs, local board districts, local government districts and improvement commissioners districts in England and Wales as urban sanitary districts. The existing local authority became an urban sanitary authority, without change of title. Also created were rural sanitary districts, which were identical in area to poor law unions, less any urban sanitary district. The poor law guardians for the parishes in the district became the rural sanitary authority.
List of districts 1848–1894
= Local boards and urban sanitary districts 1848–1894 =
Local board districts (LBDs) were created by the Public Health Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 63) and governed by a local board of health; local government districts (LGDs) were created by the Local Government Act 1858 and governed by a local board. Chiswick was an improvement commissioners district (ICD) created by local act of Parliament.
= Rural sanitary districts 1875–1894 =
| class="wikitable"
! Name | Notes | Area covered |
| Barnet RSD
|Mostly in Hertfordshire |Parishes of Finchley (until 1878), Friern Barnet (until 1883), South Mimms. | ||
| Brentford RSD
| |Parishes of Greenford, Hanwell (until 1885), Perivale, West Twyford. | ||
| Edgware RSD
|Parishes of Edgware, Great Stanmore, Kingsbury, Little Stanmore and Pinner; and part of the parish of Harrow on the Hill (Harrow Weald, Wealdstone and Wembley areas). | ||
| Kingston RSD
|Mostly in Surrey |Parish of Hampton (until 1890). No Middlesex parishes after 1890. | ||
| Staines RSD
| |Parishes of Ashford, Cranford, East Bedfont, Feltham, Hanworth, Harlington, Harmondsworth, Laleham, Littleton, Shepperton, Stanwell and Sunbury. | ||
| Uxbridge RSD
| |Parishes of Cowley, Harefield, Hayes, Ickenham, Northolt, Northwood (until 1891), Ruislip and West Drayton and part of Hillingdon parish. |
County districts 1894–1965
The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) divided the administrative county into four rural districts and thirty-one urban districts, based on existing sanitary districts. One urban district, South Hornsey was a detached part of Middlesex within the County of London until 1900, when it was transferred to the latter county. The rural districts were Hendon, South Mimms, Staines and Uxbridge. Because of increasing urbanisation these had all been abolished by 1934.{{cite vob|name=Middlesex|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10061441|accessdate=2008-02-20|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080315025055/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10061441|archivedate=2008-03-15}} Urban districts had been created, merged, and many had gained the status of municipal borough by 1965. The districts as at the 1961 census were:{{cite vob | name=Census 1961: Middlesex | population=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/census/table_page.jsp?tab_id=EW1961COU_M3&u_id=10061441&show=&min_c=1&max_c=5as | accessdate=2008-02-20}}
| class="wikitable"
! Municipal history 1894–1965 !! Borough | |||||
| Acton UD formed 1894 | 1921 | Acton MB | 67,471 | 10px 65,586 | LB Ealing |
| Brentford UD, Chiswick UD formed 1894, amalgamated as Brentford and Chiswick UD 1927 | 1932 | Brentford and Chiswick MB | 59,367 | 10px 54,833 | LB Hounslow |
| Ealing UD created 1894, absorbed Greenford UD, Hanwell UD 1926 | 1901 | Ealing MB | 187,323 | 10px 183,077 | LB Ealing |
| Edmonton UD created 1894 | 1937 | Edmonton MB | 104,270 | 10px 91,956 | LB Enfield |
| Enfield UD created 1894 | 1955 | Enfield MB | 110,465 | 10px 109,542 | LB Enfield |
| Feltham UD created 1904 from Staines RD, absorbed East Bedfont, Hanworth on abolition of Staines RD 1934 | n/a | Feltham UD | 44,861 | 10px 51,047 | LB Hounslow |
| Finchley UD created 1894 | 1933 | Finchley MB | 69,991 | 10px 69,370 | LB Barnet |
| Friern Barnet UD created 1894 | n/a | Friern Barnet UD | 29,163 | 10px 28,813 | LB Barnet |
| Harrow on the Hill UD created 1894, Harrow UD formed 1934 from Harrow on the Hill UD part of abolished Wealdstone UD, Harrow Weald, Pinner, Little Stanmore, Great Stanmore from abolished Hendon RD | 1954 | Harrow MB | 219,494 | 10px 209,080 | LB Harrow (boundaries unchanged) |
| Hayes UD created 1904 from part of Uxbridge RD, Hayes and Harlington UD created 1930 by merger of Hayes UD and Cranford and Harlington from abolished Staines RD | n/a | Hayes and Harlington UD | 65,596 | 10px 67,915 | LB Hillingdon |
| Hendon UD created 1894, absorbed Edgware from Hendon RD 1931 | 1932 | Hendon MB | 155,857 | 10px 151,843 | LB Barnet |
| Heston and Isleworth UD created 1894 | 1932 | Heston and Isleworth MB | 106,847 | | 10px 103,013 | LB Hounslow |
| Hornsey UD created 1894 | 1903 | Hornsey MB | 98,159 | 10px 97,962 | LB Haringey |
| South Mimms RD created 1894, became Potters Bar UD 1934 | n/a | Potters Bar UD | 17,172 | 10px 23,376 | Hertfordshire |
| Created 1904 from part of Uxbridge RD | n/a | Ruislip-Northwood UD | 68,288 | 10px 72,791 | LB Hillingdon |
| Southall Norwood UD created 1894, renamed Southall 1936 | 1936 | Southall MB | 55,896 | 10px 52,983 | LB Ealing |
| Southgate UD created 1894 | 1933 | Southgate MB | 73,377 | 10px 72,359 | LB Enfield |
| Created 1894, absorbed Ashford, Laleham and Stanwell from abolished Staines RD 1930 | n/a | Staines UD | 39,995 | 10px 49,838 | Surrey |
| Created 1894, absorbed Littleton and Shepperton from abolished Staines RD 1930 | n/a | Sunbury-on-Thames UD | 23,394 | 10px 33,437 | Surrey |
| Tottenham UD created 1894 | 1934 | Tottenham MB | 126,929 | 10px 113,249 | LB Haringey |
| Twickenham UD created 1894, absorbed Hampton UD, Hampton Wick UD, Teddington UD 1937 | 1926 | Twickenham MB | 105,663 | 10px 100,971 | LB Richmond |
| Uxbridge UD created 1894, absorbed Cowley, Harefield, Hillingdon East and Ickenham from abolished Uxbridge RD 1929 | 1955 | Uxbridge MB | 55,960 | 10px 63,941 | LB Hillingdon |
| Wembley UD created 1894, absorbed Kingsbury UD, part of abolished Wealdstone UD 1934 | 1937 | Wembley MB | 131,384 | 10px 124,892 | LB Brent |
| Willesden UD created 1894 | 1933 | Willesden MB | 179,697 | 10px 171,001 | LB Brent |
| Wood Green UD created 1894 | 1933 | Wood Green MB | 52,228 | 10px 47,945 | LB Haringey |
| Yiewsley UD created 1911 from part of Uxbridge RD, absorbed Harmondsworth, West Drayton from abolished Uxbridge RD to become Yiewsley and West Drayton UD 1929 | n/a | Yiewsley and West Drayton UD | 20,468 | 10px 23,723 | LB Hillingdon |
References
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