Boroughs incorporated in England and Wales 1882 - 1974

The following is a list of towns in England and Wales which were granted charters of incorporation conferring borough status under the Municipal Corporations Act 1882.

1882 - 1889

Forty-six boroughs were incorporated in this period. Of this number, more than half (twenty-five) were unreformed boroughs listed in the schedule to the Municipal Corporations Act 1883. This act abolished all such boroughs unless they obtained a new charter by 1886. Among the remaining 21 boroughs most were industrial centres or resorts. Also incorporated were two county towns: Chelmsford and Taunton, and two areas of suburban London, Croydon and West Ham.

1910 - 1919

There were only seven incorporations in this period. In fact, the number of boroughs only increased by one, as six boroughs were abolished. Stoke on Trent was an amalgam of four boroughs: Burslem, Hanley, Longton and Stoke upon Trent (and two urban districts); Aston Manor was absorbed by Birmingham in 1911; and Devonport by Plymouth in 1914.

1954 - 1955

No boroughs were created from 1939 to 1954. Nine towns were incorporated in the years 1954 and 1955.

Unsuccessful Petitions for Incorporation

In order for a town to be incorporated as a borough, a petition was submitted to the Privy Council for consideration. Although the majority of petitions were successful, a number of applications were not. Petitions seeking incorporation were recorded in the London Gazette, and the following is a list of petitions listed in the Gazette in the period 1882 to 1955 that did not lead to the grant of a charter: [ [http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/AdvancedSearch.aspx?geotype=London London Gazette online archive] ]

The 1955 petition by Woking was the last application prior to reorganisation of local government in 1965 and 1974.

1956 - 1974

The only new municipal boroughs were created by amalgamation of existing corporations in this period. In fact there was a decrease in the number of municipalities as various local government changes were made.
*In 1961 the boroughs of Huntingdon and Godmanchester were merged.
*In 1965 forty-two boroughs were abolished when they were constituted part of Greater London. These were: Acton, Barking, Barnes, Beckenham, Beddington and Wallington, Bexley, Brentford and Chiswick, Bromley, Chingford, Croydon, Dagenham, Ealing, East Ham, Edmonton, Enfield, Erith, Finchley, Harrow, Hendon, Heston and Isleworth, Hornsey, Ilford, Kingston-upon-Thames, Leyton, Malden and Coombe, Mitcham, Richmond (Surrey), Romford, Southall, Southgate, Surbiton, Sutton and Cheam, Tottenham, Twickenham, Uxbridge, Walthamstow, Wanstead and Woodford, Wembley, West Ham, Willesden, Wimbledon and Wood Green.
*In 1966 six boroughs in the Black Country were abolished: Bilston, Oldbury, Rowley Regis, Smethwick, Tipton, Wednesbury, while the new county borough of Warley was created.
*In 1967 the borough of Torquay was absorbed by the new county borough of Torbay, while six boroughs were merged with rural districts to become "rural boroughs". The boroughs involved were Bishop's Castle, Bridgnorth, Lostwithiel, Ludlow, Much Wenlock and Oswestry. The county borough of West Hartlepool merged with the non-county borough of Hartlepool to form a new county borough of Hartlepool.
*In 1968 Queenborough became part of the larger borough of Queenborough-in-Sheppey, and Fowey part of the borough of St. Austell with Fowey. The new county borough of Teesside absorbed the four boroughs of Middlesbrough, Redcar, Stockton-on-Tees and Thornaby-on-Tees. The borough of South Molton was also absorbed into the rural district of the same name.

References