The County Borough of Leeds, and its predecessor, the Municipal Borough of Leeds, was a local government district in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, from 1835 to 1974. Its origin was the ancient borough of Leeds, which was reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. In 1889, when West Riding County Council was formed, Leeds became a county borough outside the administrative county of the West Riding; and in 1893 the borough gained city status. The borough was extended a number of times, expanding from in 1911 to in 1961; adding in stages the former area of Roundhay, Seacroft, Shadwell and Middleton parishes and gaining other parts of adjacent districts. In 1971 Leeds was the fifth largest county borough by population in England. The county borough was abolished in 1974 and replaced with the larger City of Leeds, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire.
Origins
Manorial borough 1207–1626 The Borough of Leeds was created in 1207, when Maurice Paynel, lord of the manor, granted a charter to the inhabitants of the town of Leeds. They were created "burgesses", and were given the right to hold half an acre of land, trade as they liked, and transport their goods by land or water, subject to tolls and restrictions paid to the manor. The only officer of the borough was a praetor, appointed annually at the feast of Pentecost by the Lord of the Borough. The praetor had the duty of administering justice and collecting fines and other revenues. The borough formed only a small area adjacent to a crossing of the River Aire, between the old settlement centred on Leeds Parish Church to the east and the manor house and mills to the west. The borough consisted of a single street with approximately thirty burgage plots. By the seventeenth century the title of praetor had been abandoned in favour of the more customary "bailiff", but otherwise the government of the town remained in the form introduced in the thirteenth century. An enquiry into the administration of local charities in 1620 disclosed that many of the funds were diverted by the bailiff for his private use. This, and other irregularities, led the inhabitants of Leeds to petition Charles I for a charter of incorporation.
Incorporated borough (1626–1836)
Incorporation A charter of incorporation was granted on 13 July 1626, incorporating the entire parish of Leeds St Peter as the "Borough of Leedes in the County of York". The parish and borough consisted of eleven chapelries (Armley, Beeston, Bramley, Chapel Allerton, Farnley, Headingley cum Burley, Holbeck, Hunslet, Leeds, Potternewton and Wortley) and parts of two more (Seacroft and Temple Newsam).
The governing corporation of the borough was styled "The Alderman and Burgesses of the Borough of Leedes in the County of York", and consisted of one Alderman, nine principal burgesses and twenty assistants. The charter named the members of the first corporation, with Sir John Savile becoming the first alderman.
Charter of Charles II In January 1643, during the English Civil War, Leeds fell to parliamentary forces. Royalist members of the corporation were replaced with those loyal to the Commonwealth. With the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, moves were made to reform the borough's government. The leading merchants of the town submitted a petition to Charles II requesting a new charter as they felt the constitution and operation of the governing body was inadequate to the needs of the town.
A second charter was duly granted on 2 November 1661, with the earlier charter withdrawn. The new corporation thus created consisted of a mayor, twelve aldermen, twenty four assistants, a recorder and a town clerk and was entitled the "Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of the Borough of Leedes in the County of York". The charter named the first mayor as Thomas Danby. The new corporation was given extensive powers to enforce and make laws to regulate trade and ensure the good governance of the town. From 1684 to 1689 the town was governed under a charter of James II which gave the crown power over all appointments to the town council. With the accession of William III and Mary II the 1661 charter was restored to the townspeople, and remained the governing charter until 1836.
Municipal borough (1836–1889)
In 1833 the Whig Government of Lord Grey began enquiries into the government of the various boroughs in England and Wales, with a view to reforming their constitutions and methods of election. Following the recommendations of a royal commission, legislation was enacted as the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 (5 & 6 Will. 4. c. 76).
Leeds was among the 178 boroughs reformed by the act, becoming the "Municipal Borough of Leeds". The reformed borough was initially unchanged in area, and was divided into 12 wards, with a town council of 16 aldermen and 48 councillors, headed by a mayor.Municipal Corporations Act 1835 (5 & 6 Will. 4. c. 76), Sch. A Each ward was represented by either three or six directly elected councillors. One third of the councillors retired annually. Aldermen were additional members of the council, there being one alderman for every three councillors: they had a six-year term of office, with half of the aldermanic bench elected by the council itself every three years.
1835 ward Townships No. of councillors No. of aldermenBramleyBramley, Armley, Farnley and Beeston 6 2East Part of Leeds 3 1HeadingleyHeadingley-cum-Burley, Chapel Allerton, Potternewton 3 1HolbeckHolbeck and Wortley townships62Hunslet Hunslet 3 1Kirkgate Part of Leeds 3 1Mill Hill Part of Leeds 6 2North Part of Leeds 3 1North East Part of Leeds 3 1North West Part of Leeds 3 1South Part of Leeds 3 1West Part of Leeds 6 2
It was originally envisaged that the first elections would be held on 1 November 1835, with the reformed town councils holding their first meetings on 9 November following. However, the process of dividing the boroughs into wards and preparing the burgess roll or electoral register was a lengthy one, and an Order in Council was made delaying the first elections to 26 December, with the new boroughs coming into formal existence on 1 January 1836.Order in Council dated 11 September 1835, reproduced in
An early focus of the new authority was on policing and crime, with construction of a new borough prison begun in 1842. The (5 & 6 Vict. c. civ) gave the council further powers over markets, streets, street lighting, sewerage, building regulations, public cleansing and smoke regulation in the rapidly growing industrial city.
In 1881 the wards were redrawn, so that the borough comprised sixteen wards. The size of the town council remained the same, however, with each new ward returning one alderman and three councillors. 1881 ward Townships Armley & Wortley Part of Wortley (The parts not in New Wortley ward, also known as Upper Wortley and Lower Wortley)BramleyBramley and FarnleyBrunswick Part of Leeds, part of Potternewton Central Part of Leeds East Part of Leeds, part of Templenewsam East Hunslet Part of Hunslet, Part of Holbeck, Part of Beeston Headingley Headingley-cum-Burley, part of Chapel Allerton Holbeck Part of Holbeck, Part of Hunslet, Hunslet (detached): also known as Littletown Mill Hill Part of Leeds New Wortley Part of Wortley (The ecclesiastical district of St John's, New Wortley)North Part of Leeds, part of Potternewton, part of Chapel AllertonNorth East Part of Leeds, part of PotternewtonNorth West Part of Leeds, part of PotternewtonSouth Part of Leeds, part of HunsletWest Part of Leeds West Hunslet Part of Hunslet, Part of Holbeck, Part of Beeston
County borough 1889–1974 The Local Government Act 1888 created elected county councils to administer services throughout England and Wales. Where a municipal borough had a population of more than 50,000 at the 1881 Census it was created a county borough, with the powers and duties of both a borough and county council.
As Leeds had an 1881 population of 309,119 it duly became a county borough on 1 April 1889. The borough, while independent of the West Riding County Council for local government, remained part of the county for purposes such as the administration of justice and lieutenancy.Local Government Act 1888 (32 & 33 Vict. c. 49) s. 31 "Each of the boroughs named in the Third Schedule to this Act being a borough which on the first day of June one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight, either had a population of not less than fifty thousand, or was a county of itself shall, from and after the appointed day, be for the purposes of this Act an administrative county of itself, and is in this Act referred to as a county borough. Provided that for all other purposes a county borough shall continue to be part of the county (if any) in which it is situate at the passing of this Act"
The change of status in 1889 made no change to the boundaries of the borough or the size of the council.
City status and lord mayoralty Until 1889 the right to the title of "city" in the United Kingdom was linked to the presence of an Anglican cathedral. In that year Birmingham, Dundee and Belfast were granted letters patent raising them to cities by virtue of their population, economic importance and history of good municipal government.
A delegation from Leeds, including two Members of Parliament (MPs), met with the Home Secretary, H. H. Asquith, on 27 January to press the borough's case. Along with the claims of the borough as set out in the original petition, the delegation made two more points: Leeds was the only university town not a city, and Leeds and Sheffield were the only boroughs returning five MPs to the House of Commons without the status (of a city).
The Home Secretary forwarded the petitions of both boroughs to The Queen on 3 February, recommending that the honour be granted in both cases as they were the "only towns in the United Kingdom with a population exceeding 300,000 to which the title of City, enjoyed by many smaller of less important places, has not been granted; and that both appear to be well fitted by their loyalty, public spirit, and industrial progress, for this mark of your Majesty's favour."
On 7 February, Sir Godfrey Lushington, permanent secretary to the Home Office, wrote to the mayors of both towns signifying that the applications had been approved. The award was made by letters patent on 13 February, and was announced in The London Gazette on 21 February: The Queen has been pleased, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, bearing date the 13th February 1893, to ordain and declare that the Borough of Leeds shall be a City, and shall be called and styled "The City of Leeds".
Four years later the diamond jubilee of the accession of Queen Victoria occurred. As part of the celebrations it was announced on 21 June that the mayor of Leeds "shall in future bear the title of Lord Mayor". The award which empowered the Lord Mayor to enjoy and use all the rights, privileges, pre-eminencies and advantages to "such degree duly and of right belonging" was made by Letters Patent dated 12 July, and was published in the London Gazette on the following day: The Queen has been pleased, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date the 12th July, 1897 to ordain that the Chief Magistrate, now, and for the time being, of the City of Leeds, shall be styled Lord Mayor of Leeds.
Parishes to 1912 1 Leeds 2 Osmondthorpe 3 Hunslet 4 Holbeck 5 Armley and Bramley Parishes 1904 – 1912 Townships and chapelries which were separately rated for poor law purposes were formed into civil parishes in 1866. The borough of Leeds contained eleven parishes and part of two others, and no changes were made to their boundaries until 1894. The Local Government Act 1894 provided that no parish could lie in more than one local government area, with parishes being divided or amalgamated as required.