Local Government Act 1894
Encyclopedia
The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) 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
. The 1894 legislation introduced elected councils at district and parish
level.
The principal effects of the act were:
The new district councils were based on the existing urban and rural sanitary district
s. Many of the latter had lain in more than one ancient county, whereas the new rural districts were to be in a single administrative county
.
The act also reorganised civil parish
es, so that none of them lay in more than one district and hence didn't cross administrative boundaries.
Although the Act made no provision to abolish the Hundreds, which had previously been the only widely used administrative unit between the parish and the county in size, the reorganisation displaced their remaining functions. Several ancient hundred names lived on in the names of the districts that superseded them.
minority Conservative
administration. An innovation in the act was the fact that all electors had a single vote, and thus county councillors were popularly elected. The members of other local bodies were elected by a system of weighted voting, with those owning more property having multiple votes. The original Local Government Bill of 1888 had included provisions for creating district as well as county councils. However the President of the Local Government Board
, Charles Ritchie, had some difficulty in having the legislation passed by parliament, and dropped the district council clauses for fear that the entire bill might be lost due to opposition from the government's own backbenchers.
The Liberal
opposition berated the government for failing to create district councils. At the same time they put forward proposals for establishing councils at parish level. John Morley
, MP for Newcastle, told a meeting in Reading
:
The Earl of Kimberley
explained to a meeting in Walworth
that the party wanted to create:
The Liberals tried to amend the Smallholdings Act as it passed through parliament, seeking to add clauses creating parish councils which would have the power to buy and sell land in order to increase the number of smallholdings. In rejecting the amendments, Henry Chaplin
, President of the Board of Agriculture, claimed the government intended:
Parliament was dissolved in June 1892, and a general election
called. The Liberals made the introduction of district and parish councils part of their programme. Following the election the Liberals under William Ewart Gladstone
formed an administration with the support of the Irish Parliamentary Party
. The Local Government Bill (also referred to as the Parish Councils Bill) was published by H H Fowler, the President of the Local Government Board, on 26 March 1893.
The second part of the bill dealt with poor law guardians and district councils. Among its provisions were that:
The third part of the bill detailed the duties of the county council in dealing with divided areas and small parishes. The county council had the power to name divided parishes and to combine areas. The fourth and fifth parts of the bill dealt with the first election of councils and transitory provisions.
He explained that the government had chosen the civil parish as the basic unit of local government in rural areas. He estimated that there were approximately 13,000 rural parishes and a decision had been made that all those with a population of 300 or more were to have a parish council. This limit had been chosen as the Local Government Board already possessed powers to group parishes below this population for the election of guardians. There were approximately 6,000 small parishes in this category. Parish councils were to be limited in their expenditure, and were to be confined to charging rates of one penny
in the pound
unless they had the consent of both the parish meeting and the district council.
Turning to the government of towns he explained:
He then turned to reform of rural authorities:
Finally he described how the boundaries of the districts and parishes were to be arrived at:
The bill returned, in amended form, for a second reading in November 1893. In reintroducing the bill to the Commons, Fowler outlined the objections that had been made, and the government's response.
Walter Long, the opposition spokesman on local government attacked the bill on a number of grounds. He defended the ex-officio guardians who had "proved themselves the most efficient and the most useful members of the Board... you will find that the most regular attendants have been the ex officios, and that they have made the best Chairmen and the best members." He believed the reform of boards of guardians was unwarranted as "the system under which the Poor Law is administered is as admirable as it is possible for the ingenuity and humanity of man to devise", and he called on the government to drop the proposals. Sir Charles Dilke
, from the government's own benches, was unhappy that county councils would have the power to divide or group parishes. He felt that they were susceptible to influence by local landowners whose wishes might overcome those of the parishioners.
The bill then entered the committee stage. Arguments over the population at which parish councils should be established continued to be made, with amendments proposing limits of 100, 200, 500, 600 and 1,000. The figure finally reverted to the government figure of 200. Major Leonard Darwin
, Liberal Unionist MP for Lichfield
unsuccessfully introduced an amendment to create parish councils in urban districts containing more than one parish. After 34 days of debate, the Commons completed its consideration of the bill on 8 January 1894. The passage of the bill through the House of Lords
was completed on 12 February. The Lords made two amendments to the bill, the first raised the population for forming a parish council back to the original figure of 300, the second amendment provided that parochial charities would only transfer to the administration of a parish council with the approval of the Charity Commissioners. Both were agreed to. The act received the royal assent
on 5 March 1894.
or Local Board of Health District
or Improvement Commissioners' District. Each of these variously titled entities became urban district
s in 1894/5. Urban districts continued to be formed, and by 1927 there were 785.
Municipal borough
s, while being classified as urban districts, had neither their titles nor constitutions altered.
for the county.
was the part of Lutterworth RSD that was in Warwickshire
, with the rest forming Lutterworth Rural District
.) Where new rural districts were created due to boundary changes the county council were to provide names.
In some areas the county boundaries were so complicated that rural districts were in more than one administrative county. For example, Gloucestershire
, Warwickshire
and Worcestershire
had many outlying detached parishes surrounded by other counties. Accordingly the rural districts of Shipston on Stour, Stow on the Wold, Tewkesbury
and Winchcombe
included parishes in two or three counties.
. Exceptionally, the parish of Pennal
, Merionethshire, was administered by Machynlleth Rural District in Montgomeryshire until 1955.
The membership of a parish council varied from 5 to 15 members, the number being fixed by order of the county council. The entire council was elected annually on 15 April. To be eligible for election to the council, a person was required to be resident within the parish, or within three miles of it, for at least twelve months prior to the election. The entire council was elected annually. The parish council elected at a chairman at its annual meeting.
.
County councils were supposed to have regard to areas of existing sanitary districts and parishes in the administrative county, and to ensure that no parish or district extended into another county. Also parishes that crossed district boundaries were to be divided.
Hundreds of orders were made by county councils, and it was not until 1898 that the process was complete. Many county councils took the opportunity to "tidy up" their boundaries with neighbouring authorities, and it was not uncommon for blocks of parishes to be exchanged.
The division of parishes lead to many ancient parishes being split into "urban" and "rural" portions. As an example, an order of the Hertfordshire
County Council split the parishes of Bushey
and Watford
into Bushey Urban and Watford Urban parishes in Watford Urban District and Watford Rural
and Bushey Rural parishes in the Watford Rural District
.
The county council could also group small parishes under a joint parish council.
The first parish meetings were held on 4 December. Nominations for parish councils were made on that date, and elections for contested seats were held on (or about) 17 December: the exact date being fixed by the relevant county council. Elections to urban and rural district councils, and for urban poor law guardians took place on the same date as those for parish councils. There were no elections in 1895, with the electoral cycle beginning on 15 April 1896.
The Local Government Board issued circulars declaring the appointed day for the coming into office of the newly elected authorities: parish councils on the Thursday following the election, boards of guardians and rural district councils on 28 December and urban district councils on 31 December. The district councils came into their powers on the date of their first meeting, so that the act came into force in late December 1894 or early January 1895 in different areas.
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London
County of London
The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government Act 1888. The Act created an administrative County of...
. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county
County council
A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.-United Kingdom:...
level under the Local Government Act 1888
Local Government Act 1888
The Local Government Act 1888 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales...
. The 1894 legislation introduced elected councils at district and parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
level.
The principal effects of the act were:
- The creation a system of urbanUrban districtIn the England, Wales and Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected Urban District Council , which shared local government responsibilities with a county council....
and rural districtRural districtRural 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...
s with elected councils. These along, with the town councils of municipal boroughMunicipal boroughMunicipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002...
s created earlier in the century, formed a second tier of local government below the existing county councils. - The establishment of elected parish councils in rural areas.
- The reform of the boards of guardiansBoard of GuardiansBoards of guardians were ad hoc authorities that administered Poor Law in the United Kingdom from 1835 to 1930.-England and Wales:The boards were created by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, replacing the parish Overseers of the Poor established under the old poor law, following the recommendations...
of poor law unionPoor Law UnionA Poor Law Union was a unit used for local government in the United Kingdom from the 19th century. The administration of the Poor Law was the responsibility of parishes, which varied wildly in their size, populations, financial resources, rateable values and requirements...
s.
The new district councils were based on the existing urban and rural sanitary district
Sanitary district
Sanitary districts were established in England and Wales in 1875 and in Ireland in 1878. The districts were of two types, based on existing structures:*Urban sanitary districts in towns with existing local government bodies...
s. Many of the latter had lain in more than one ancient county, whereas the new rural districts were to be in a single administrative county
Administrative county
An administrative county was an administrative division in England and Wales and Ireland used for the purposes of local government. They are now abolished, although in Northern Ireland their former areas are used as the basis for lieutenancy....
.
The act also reorganised civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
es, so that none of them lay in more than one district and hence didn't cross administrative boundaries.
Although the Act made no provision to abolish the Hundreds, which had previously been the only widely used administrative unit between the parish and the county in size, the reorganisation displaced their remaining functions. Several ancient hundred names lived on in the names of the districts that superseded them.
Background
The Local Government Act of 1888 had introduced elected county councils. The passing of the act had been part of the price for Liberal Unionist support for Lord Salisbury'sRobert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, KG, GCVO, PC , styled Lord Robert Cecil before 1865 and Viscount Cranborne from June 1865 until April 1868, was a British Conservative statesman and thrice Prime Minister, serving for a total of over 13 years...
minority Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
administration. An innovation in the act was the fact that all electors had a single vote, and thus county councillors were popularly elected. The members of other local bodies were elected by a system of weighted voting, with those owning more property having multiple votes. The original Local Government Bill of 1888 had included provisions for creating district as well as county councils. However the President of the Local Government Board
President of the Local Government Board
The President of the Local Government Board was a ministerial post, frequently a Cabinet position, in the United Kingdom, established in 1871. The Local Government Board itself was established in 1871 and took over supervisory functions from the Board of Trade and the Home Office, including the...
, Charles Ritchie, had some difficulty in having the legislation passed by parliament, and dropped the district council clauses for fear that the entire bill might be lost due to opposition from the government's own backbenchers.
The Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
opposition berated the government for failing to create district councils. At the same time they put forward proposals for establishing councils at parish level. John Morley
John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn
John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn OM, PC was a British Liberal statesman, writer and newspaper editor. Initially a journalist, he was elected a Member of Parliament in 1883...
, MP for Newcastle, told a meeting in Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
:
"The Tories cannot conceal from themselves the fact that all over the land - in the towns, in the villages, in the country districts, in the urban districts - there is a resolute determination that Parliament shall put its hand in earnest to the great work of social regeneration... parish councils may sound dull and mechanical, we know that they will go to the very root of national life, and that when we have achieved these reforms a freer voice will be given to the community than it has ever had before. New depths of life will have been stirred in the most neglected portions of our community, and we shall find among the labourers of the fields, as we have found among the artisans of the towns, a resolution that the condition of our people shall, so far as laws can better it, be bettered..."
The Earl of Kimberley
John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley
John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley KG , PC , known as the Lord Wodehouse from 1846 to 1866, was a British Liberal politician...
explained to a meeting in Walworth
Walworth
-Places:United Kingdom* Walworth, County DurhamUnited States* Walworth County, South Dakota* Walworth County, Wisconsin* Walworth, New York* Walworth, Wisconsin, a village* Walworth , Wisconsin, a town...
that the party wanted to create:
".. a complete hierarchy of councils popularly elected and with full powers belonging to such bodies."
The Liberals tried to amend the Smallholdings Act as it passed through parliament, seeking to add clauses creating parish councils which would have the power to buy and sell land in order to increase the number of smallholdings. In rejecting the amendments, Henry Chaplin
Henry Chaplin, 1st Viscount Chaplin
Henry Chaplin, 1st Viscount Chaplin PC was a British landowner, racehorse owner and Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1868 until 1916 when he was raised to the peerage....
, President of the Board of Agriculture, claimed the government intended:
"...on a proper and fitting occasion, when opportunity arises, to deal not only with the question of District Councils, but the question also of parochial reform. "
Parliament was dissolved in June 1892, and a general election
United Kingdom general election, 1892
The 1892 United Kingdom general election was held from 4 July to 26 July 1892. It saw the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury, win the greatest number of seats, but not enough for an overall majority as William Ewart Gladstone's Liberals won many more seats than in the 1886 general election...
called. The Liberals made the introduction of district and parish councils part of their programme. Following the election the Liberals under William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
formed an administration with the support of the Irish Parliamentary Party
Irish Parliamentary Party
The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at...
. The Local Government Bill (also referred to as the Parish Councils Bill) was published by H H Fowler, the President of the Local Government Board, on 26 March 1893.
The bill
The bill consisted of 71 clauses arranged in five parts. The first part dealt with rural parishes, and provided that:- Any parish included in a rural sanitary district was deemed a "rural parish".
- Parishes that lay partly in a rural sanitary district and partly in an urban sanitary district; or in more than one administrative county, were to be divided into separate parishes.
- Parishes with a population of 300 or more were to have parish councils. Parishes with a lower population were to be grouped with other parishes so as to reach a population of 300 and have a joint parish council.
- Each parish was to have a parish meeting at which each elector had a single vote on all matters raised.
- Parish councillors would have a one-year term of office, with the old council retiring and the new council coming into office on the 15 April.
- Parish councils were to consist of a chairman and councillors. There were to be between five and fifteen councillors, with the number fixed by the county council.
- Nominations to the council were to be made at a parish meeting previous to 15 April, and if there were more candidates than vacancies, a poll was to be held.
- Every parish council was to be a body corporate with perpetual succession. Where there was doubt as to the name of the parish, this was to be fixed by the county council.
- The parish council would be permitted to hold their meetings free of charge in a room in a state-supported public elementary school.
- The parish council was to assume all powers exercised by parish vestries except those dealing with the church or ecclesiastical charities. Examples included the maintenance of closed burial grounds, ownership of village greens and recreation grounds and operation of fire engines.
- A parish council could also take over any property of the poor law guardians within the parish with the approval of the Local Government BoardLocal Government BoardThe Local Government Board was a British Government supervisory body overseeing local administration in England and Wales from 1871 to 1919.The LGB was created by the Local Government Board Act 1871 The Local Government Board (LGB) was a British Government supervisory body overseeing local...
. - Parish councils could take on powers under various statutes relating to bath houses, street lighting, burials or libraries.
- Parish councils were to have power to buy or receive the gift of land or property to provide any of these services.
The second part of the bill dealt with poor law guardians and district councils. Among its provisions were that:
- There were to be no ex officio or nominated guardians
- Women were to be eligible to be guardians.
- Guardians were to be elected by parish electors on a "one man - one vote" basis.
- Guardians were to have a three-year term of office, with one third of the board retiring annually. New guardians were to come into office on 15 April.
- Urban sanitary authorities were to renamed "urban district councils", and urban sanitary districts as "urban districts". The titles of municipal boroughs and their town councils, although they ranked as urban districts, were not to be altered, however.
- Rural sanitary authorities were to renamed "rural district councils", and rural sanitary districts as "rural districts".
- The chairman of each district council was to be an ex officio justice of the peaceJustice of the PeaceA justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
.
The third part of the bill detailed the duties of the county council in dealing with divided areas and small parishes. The county council had the power to name divided parishes and to combine areas. The fourth and fifth parts of the bill dealt with the first election of councils and transitory provisions.
Passage through parliament
Speaking in the Commons on 21 March 1893, Fowler set out the complicated system of local government that was in need of reform. England and Wales were divided into:62 counties, 302 Municipal Boroughs, 31 Improvement Act Districts, 688 Local Government Districts, 574 Rural Sanitary Districts, 58 Port Sanitary Districts, 2,302 School Board Districts... 1,052 Burial Board Districts, 648 Poor Law Unions, 13,775 Ecclesiastical Parishes, and nearly 15,000 Civil Parishes. The total number of Authorities which tax the English ratepayers is between 28,000 and 29,000. Not only are we exposed to this multiplicity of authority and this confusion of rating power, but the qualification, tenure, and mode of election of members of these Authorities differ in different cases.
He explained that the government had chosen the civil parish as the basic unit of local government in rural areas. He estimated that there were approximately 13,000 rural parishes and a decision had been made that all those with a population of 300 or more were to have a parish council. This limit had been chosen as the Local Government Board already possessed powers to group parishes below this population for the election of guardians. There were approximately 6,000 small parishes in this category. Parish councils were to be limited in their expenditure, and were to be confined to charging rates of one penny
Penny
A penny is a coin or a type of currency used in several English-speaking countries. It is often the smallest denomination within a currency system.-Etymology:...
in the pound
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
unless they had the consent of both the parish meeting and the district council.
Turning to the government of towns he explained:
We shall convert the Improvement Commissioners and Local Boards into Urban District Councils; we shall abolish all plural voting; we shall propose to abolish all qualifications, for we think the only qualification a man ought to possess is the confidence of his constituents; and we propose to make women capable of serving on these District Councils.
He then turned to reform of rural authorities:
Then as regards rural districts, the union is the administrative area with which we have to deal. Except in 25 cases, in which, if I may use the expression, the union consists of a single parish, the union is an aggregation of parishes. There are 648 unions altogether. There are 137 in two counties and 32 in three counties. The Guardians by whom the union is administered are elected or ex officio. The Local Government Board fixes the number of elected Guardians, but there is required to be one Guardian for every constituent parish. There is a property qualification and plural voting, and voting by proxy. We could not ask the House to continue the existing powers in, much less to confer new powers upon, an authority so constituted and so irresponsible... We therefore propose to abolish, firstly, all ex officio or non-elective Guardians... there shall be no plural voting, no proxy votingProxy votingProxy voting has two forms: delegable voting and delegated voting, which are procedures for the delegation to another member of a voting body of that member's power to vote in his absence, and/or for the selection of additional representatives, as in the case with transitive proxies...
, and no voting papers, but voting by Ballot and One Man One Vote... Having made the Guardians a popularly elected body, we do not propose to disturb the existing machinery. We take the Rural Sanitary Authority as it now exists, but elected and qualified under new conditions, and we continue that as the Rural District Council. Therefore, the Rural District Council will be the old Rural Sanitary Authority altered, and, I think, very much improved... Then we propose to abolish all separate Highway Authorities in rural districts and to transfer the whole powers of the Highway Board or the highway parish to the Rural District Council.
Finally he described how the boundaries of the districts and parishes were to be arrived at:
At present we have rural sanitary districts, partly within and partly without the county, and we have parishes partly within and partly without rural sanitary districts. We have 174 rural sanitary districts and some 800 parishes so situate. We propose that every parish is to be within one county, that the district of every District Council is to be within one county, and that the County Councils shall have the duty of readjusting the existing overlapping areas and divisions. We think the County Council far the best tribunal to undertake this duty. They understand the localities, and how the districts can best be divided. They are to have 12 months in which to discharge their duty; and if at the end of that period they have not made this readjustment, it will devolve upon the Local Government Board to interfere and carry the matter out.
The bill returned, in amended form, for a second reading in November 1893. In reintroducing the bill to the Commons, Fowler outlined the objections that had been made, and the government's response.
- The population limit of 300 for establishing a parish council was seen as too low. The government proposed lowering the limit to 200, which would create a further 2,000 councils,.
- The grouping of small parishes was unpopular. Where parishes were grouped, each parish was to be a separate ward for election of parish councillors, and the separate parish meeting was to retain the power to approve or reject expenditure in its area.
- An impression had been given that the parochial organisation of the Church of EnglandChurch of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
was to be effected. He reaffirmed the fact that only non-ecclesiastical matters were being transferred. - Objections were made to the election of poor law guardians who were not ratepayers. Fowler pointed out that this was already the case with school boards, town and county councils.
Walter Long, the opposition spokesman on local government attacked the bill on a number of grounds. He defended the ex-officio guardians who had "proved themselves the most efficient and the most useful members of the Board... you will find that the most regular attendants have been the ex officios, and that they have made the best Chairmen and the best members." He believed the reform of boards of guardians was unwarranted as "the system under which the Poor Law is administered is as admirable as it is possible for the ingenuity and humanity of man to devise", and he called on the government to drop the proposals. Sir Charles Dilke
Sir Charles Dilke, 2nd Baronet
Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, 2nd Baronet PC was an English Liberal and reformist politician. Touted as a future prime minister, his aspirations to higher political office were effectively terminated in 1885, after a notorious and well-publicised divorce case.-Background and education:Dilke was the...
, from the government's own benches, was unhappy that county councils would have the power to divide or group parishes. He felt that they were susceptible to influence by local landowners whose wishes might overcome those of the parishioners.
The bill then entered the committee stage. Arguments over the population at which parish councils should be established continued to be made, with amendments proposing limits of 100, 200, 500, 600 and 1,000. The figure finally reverted to the government figure of 200. Major Leonard Darwin
Leonard Darwin
Major Leonard Darwin , a son of the English naturalist Charles Darwin, was variously a soldier, politician, economist, eugenicist and mentor of the statistician and evolutionary biologist Ronald Fisher.- Biography :...
, Liberal Unionist MP for Lichfield
Lichfield (UK Parliament constituency)
Lichfield is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...
unsuccessfully introduced an amendment to create parish councils in urban districts containing more than one parish. After 34 days of debate, the Commons completed its consideration of the bill on 8 January 1894. The passage of the bill through the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
was completed on 12 February. The Lords made two amendments to the bill, the first raised the population for forming a parish council back to the original figure of 300, the second amendment provided that parochial charities would only transfer to the administration of a parish council with the approval of the Charity Commissioners. Both were agreed to. The act received the royal assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
on 5 March 1894.
Urban districts
In 1893 there were 688 urban Sanitary districts outside boroughs. These had various titles such as Local Government DistrictLocal board of health
Local Boards or Local Boards of Health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate slaughterhouses and ensure the proper supply of water to their...
or Local Board of Health District
Local board of health
Local Boards or Local Boards of Health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate slaughterhouses and ensure the proper supply of water to their...
or Improvement Commissioners' District. Each of these variously titled entities became urban district
Urban district
In the England, Wales and Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected Urban District Council , which shared local government responsibilities with a county council....
s in 1894/5. Urban districts continued to be formed, and by 1927 there were 785.
Municipal borough
Municipal borough
Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002...
s, while being classified as urban districts, had neither their titles nor constitutions altered.
Urban district councils
The governing body of the area was the urban district council. All councillors were popularly elected for a three-year term. There were to be no ex officio or appointed members as had existed in some of the predecessor bodies. In order to be eligible for election, a candidate was required to be on the electoral register, and to have resided in the district for twelve months prior to the election. Women were permitted to be councillors. One third of the council was elected on 15 April each year. UDCs could, by a resolution passed with a two thirds majority, change to a system of elections of the whole council every three years. The council elected a chairman at their annual meeting, who was, during their term of office, a justice of the peaceJustice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
for the county.
Rural districts
There were 574 rural sanitary districts in 1893, many of them crossing county boundaries. The number of rural districts formed by the Act was 692. All but three of 118 additional districts were caused by the breaking up of cross-county rural sanitary districts (for example Monks Kirby Rural DistrictMonks Kirby Rural District
The Monks Kirby Rural District was a rural district of Warwickshire between 1894 and 1932, based on the part of the Lutterworth Rural Sanitary District which was in Warwickshire...
was the part of Lutterworth RSD that was in Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
, with the rest forming Lutterworth Rural District
Lutterworth Rural District
The rural district of Lutterworth in Leicestershire, England existed from 1894 to 1974. It contained the following civil parishes:*Arnesby*Ashby Magna*Ashby Parva*Bittesby*Bitteswell*Broughton Astley*Bruntingthorpe*Catthorpe*Claybrooke Magna...
.) Where new rural districts were created due to boundary changes the county council were to provide names.
In some areas the county boundaries were so complicated that rural districts were in more than one administrative county. For example, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
and Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
had many outlying detached parishes surrounded by other counties. Accordingly the rural districts of Shipston on Stour, Stow on the Wold, Tewkesbury
Tewkesbury Rural District
Tewkesbury Rural District was, from 1894 to 1935, a rural district in the south-western part of the Midlands in England. It had the unusual feature of including territory from the two neighbouring administrative counties of Gloucestershire and Worcestershire until boundary changes in 1933 placed...
and Winchcombe
Winchcombe Rural District
Winchcombe was, from 1894 to 1935, a rural district in the Cotswolds area of England. It included parts of two administrative counties: Gloucestershire and Worcestershire.-Formation:...
included parishes in two or three counties.
Rural district councils
Rural district councils consisted of a chairman and councillors. The councillors were elected for a three-year term in a similar way to councillors in urban districts. They were elected for parishes or groupings of parishes, and were also the representatives for those areas on the board of guardians.Parishes administered by a rural district council in another county
In a few cases a parish or handful of parishes were administered by a rural district council in a neighbouring county. In this case the area was too small to become a separate rural district, which was required by the act to have at least five councillors. These areas were to "be temporarily administered by the district council of an adjoining district in another county with which it was united before the appointed day". The councillors elected for these areas were entitled to sit and act as members of the rural district council, although separate accounts were to be kept for the area. These arrangements were usually ended within a few years of the act's coming into force, with the areas being transferred by alteration in either county or rural district boundaries. Some persisted until the 1930s, however, when county districts were reorganised under the Local Government Act 1929Local Government Act 1929
The Local Government Act 1929 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made changes to the Poor Law and local government in England and Wales....
. Exceptionally, the parish of Pennal
Pennal
Pennal is a village on the A493 road in southern Gwynedd, Wales, on the north bank of the Afon Dyfi/River Dovey, near Machynlleth.It lies in the former county of Merionethshire/Sir Feirionnydd, and is within the Snowdonia National Park.-Roman Fort:...
, Merionethshire, was administered by Machynlleth Rural District in Montgomeryshire until 1955.
Powers
Rural district councils inherited the powers of both the rural sanitary authority they replaced and any highway board in their area.Parish councils and meetings
In all parishes with a population of 300 or more, a parish council had to be elected. In parishes with more than 100 but less than 300 population, the parish meeting could request the county council to make an order to establish a parish council.The membership of a parish council varied from 5 to 15 members, the number being fixed by order of the county council. The entire council was elected annually on 15 April. To be eligible for election to the council, a person was required to be resident within the parish, or within three miles of it, for at least twelve months prior to the election. The entire council was elected annually. The parish council elected at a chairman at its annual meeting.
Powers and duties
The parish councils were given the following powers and duties:- Appointment of overseers of the poor
- Maintaining and repairing closed churchyards
- Holding or maintaining parish property (including village greens, allotments, recreation grounds) for the benefit of the inhabitants
- Election of allotment managers
- The power to adopt, following a poll of the parish electors:
- The Lighting and Watching Act 1833 and the Baths and Washhouses Acts 1846 to 1882
- The Burials Act 1852 to 1885
- The Public Improvements Act 1860
- The Public Libraries Act 1892
- Acquisition of buildings for parish purposes
- Acquisition of land for allotments, public walks and recreation grounds
Expenditure and borrowing
Parish councils were generally limited to a rate of three pence in the pound, although this could be increased to sixpence in the pound with the permission of the parish meeting. Loans could not be obtained without the permission of both the parish meeting and the county council. Borrowing for certain specified purposes was subject to the approval of the Local Government Board.Rights of way
No right of way could be extinguished or diverted without the permission of both the parish and rural district council. Parish councils could take over the maintenance of public footpaths within their parish, other than those along the edge of highways.Charitable trusts
Where a charitable trust (other than an ecclesiastical charity) existed in a parish, the Charity Commissioners could provide for the parish council to become the trustees. Annual accounts of the charity were to be laid before the parish meeting.Parish wards
A parish council, or one tenth of the electors of a parish, could apply to the county council for the division of the parish into wards. This was to be done where "the area or population of the parish is so large, or different parts of the population so situated, as to make a single parish meeting for the election of councillors impracticable or inconvenient, or that it is desirable for any reason that certain parts of the parish should be separately represented on the council". Separate elections of councillors for each ward would then be held.Boundaries
The responsibility for defining the areas of the districts was given to the county councils established in 1888Local Government Act 1888
The Local Government Act 1888 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales...
.
County councils were supposed to have regard to areas of existing sanitary districts and parishes in the administrative county, and to ensure that no parish or district extended into another county. Also parishes that crossed district boundaries were to be divided.
Hundreds of orders were made by county councils, and it was not until 1898 that the process was complete. Many county councils took the opportunity to "tidy up" their boundaries with neighbouring authorities, and it was not uncommon for blocks of parishes to be exchanged.
The division of parishes lead to many ancient parishes being split into "urban" and "rural" portions. As an example, an order of the Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
County Council split the parishes of Bushey
Bushey
Bushey is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. Bushey Heath is situated to the south east of Bushey on the boundary with the London Borough of Harrow.-History:...
and Watford
Watford
Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban...
into Bushey Urban and Watford Urban parishes in Watford Urban District and Watford Rural
Watford Rural
Watford Rural is a civil parish in the Three Rivers district of, Hertfordshire, England. The parish covers the areas known as South Oxhey and Carpenders Park, which although part of the Watford urban area, do not form part of the borough of Watford...
and Bushey Rural parishes in the Watford Rural District
Watford Rural District
Not to be confused with the Watford Rural civil parish.Watford was a rural district in Hertfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974. It originally consisted of contiguous land to the west, north and east of Watford, which was a separate urban district...
.
The county council could also group small parishes under a joint parish council.
First elections and "appointed day"
The act specified that the first elections to the district councils and reconstituted boards of guardians would take place on 8 November, or such other date that the Local Government Board should fix. In the event, the electoral register was not complete until late November, and elections did not take place until December.The first parish meetings were held on 4 December. Nominations for parish councils were made on that date, and elections for contested seats were held on (or about) 17 December: the exact date being fixed by the relevant county council. Elections to urban and rural district councils, and for urban poor law guardians took place on the same date as those for parish councils. There were no elections in 1895, with the electoral cycle beginning on 15 April 1896.
The Local Government Board issued circulars declaring the appointed day for the coming into office of the newly elected authorities: parish councils on the Thursday following the election, boards of guardians and rural district councils on 28 December and urban district councils on 31 December. The district councils came into their powers on the date of their first meeting, so that the act came into force in late December 1894 or early January 1895 in different areas.
Amendments 1896 - 1899
Following the coming into force of the act, a number of difficulties arose in its practical application. This led to the passing of four short acts to modify particular aspects:- The Local Government (Elections) Act 1896 gave county councils the power to make appointments to any district or parish council or board of guardians where elections were found to be defective, or had not been held. This power was temporary, ending on 31 December 1897.
- The Local Government (Elections) (No.2) Act 1896 eased the residency requirements for the parish council elections of 1896. Instead of having to live in the parish for twelve months prior to the elections, all qualified electors resident at 25 March 1895 could be candidates.
- The Local Government Act 1897 made the qualification date of 25 March of the previous year applicable to all future elections. It also allowed for the annual meeting of authorities to be held on any date between 1 March and 1 April inclusive.
- The Parish Councillors (Tenure of Office) Act 1899 changed the term of office of parish councillors from one to three years. Elections were to be held on 15 April 1901 and then every three years. The annual meeting of the parish council was to be held within seven days of 15 April.