Henley was a rural district

Rural district

Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the administrative counties.-England and Wales:In England...

 in Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 from 1894 to 1974.

It was named after the borough of Henley-on-Thames

Henley-on-Thames

Henley-on-Thames is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead...

, which it surrounded on the west but did not include.

It was created by the Local Government Act 1894

Local Government Act 1894

The Local Government Act 1894 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level under the Local Government Act 1888...

 from the bulk of the Henley rural sanitary district, with three Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

 parishes forming a Hambleden Rural District

Hambleden Rural District

Hambleden was a rural district in Buckinghamshire, England from 1894 to 1934.It was formed under the Local Government Act 1894 from the Buckinghamshire part of the Henley Rural Sanitary District, the Oxfordshire part forming the Henley Rural District...

.

1932 saw the district change borders significantly, by annexing Goring Rural District

Goring Rural District

Goring was a rural district in Oxfordshire, England from 1894 to 1932.It was formed from that part of the Bradfield rural sanitary district which was in Oxfordshire, with the Berkshire part going to the Bradfield Rural District...

 and some of the disbanded Crowmarsh Rural District

Crowmarsh Rural District

Crowmarsh was a rural district in Oxfordshire, England from 1894 to 1932.It was created under the Local Government Act 1894 from the part of the Wallingford rural sanitary district in Oxfordshire. The remainder of the sanitary district was in Berkshire and became the Wallingford Rural District...

, whilst losing other parts to the new Bullingdon Rural District

Bullingdon Rural District

Bullingdon was a rural district in Oxfordshire, England from 1932 to 1974.It was created under a County Review Order, as a merger of Culham Rural District, Thame Rural District, part of Crowmarsh Rural District, part of Headington Rural District, and part of Henley Rural District.In 1974 it was...

.

It was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972

Local Government Act 1972

The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....

 in 1974, and now forms part of the South Oxfordshire

South Oxfordshire

South Oxfordshire is a local government district in Oxfordshire, England. Its council is based in Crowmarsh Gifford, just outside Wallingford....

district.