Administrative counties of England

Administrative county (England)
Category	Administrative county
Location	England
Found in	County
Created by	Local Government Act 1888
Created	1889
Abolished by	Local Government Act 1972
Abolished	1974
Populations	25,000–4.2 million
Government	County council
Subdivisions	Rural district Urban district Municipal borough

Administrative counties were a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government from 1889 to 1974. They were created by the Local Government Act 1888 as the areas for which county councils were elected. Some large counties were divided into several administrative counties, each with its own county council. The administrative counties were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 and were replaced by the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England.

The administrative counties did not exist prior to 1889, see historic counties of England for the history of the English counties before then.

In 1888 the government, led by the Tory prime minister Lord Salisbury established county councils throughout England and Wales, covering areas known as administrative counties. Many larger towns and cities were given the status of county borough, with similar powers and independent of county council control. Under the Act, each county borough was an "administrative county of itself".

Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Suffolk, Sussex, and Yorkshire were split up for administrative purposes, following historical divisions used by the Courts of Quarter Sessions.

Additionally there was a County of London which covered the area today known as Inner London. The Isle of Wight was originally included under the administrative county of Hampshire but obtained its own county council in 1890.

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