County Borough of Oldham
| County Borough of Oldham | |
|---|---|
 Oldham Old Town Hall |
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| Area | |
| • 1911 | 4,736 acres (19.2 km²) |
| • 1961 | 6,392 acres (25.9 km²) |
| Population | |
| • 1911 | 137,246 |
| • 1971 | 105,922 |
| History | |
| • Created | 1889 |
| • Abolished | 1974 |
| • Succeeded by | Metropolitan Borough of Oldham |
| Status | County borough |
| • HQ | Old Town Hall |
| • Motto | Sapere aude (Dare to know) |
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Oldham was, from 1849 to 1974, a local government district in the northwest of England coterminate with the town of Oldham.
Oldham was anciently a township in the large ecclesiastical parish of Prestwich-cum-Oldham. Prior to the 19th century the government of the town was divided between the parish vestry and the county magistrates of Lancashire. In 1828 the Oldham Police Act (7 Geo. IV, cap. 117) established a board of improvement commissioners. All landowners owning property worth more than £50 a year or paying an annual rent of £30 were entitled to become a commissioner. In 1848 there were 360 commissioners.
In December 1848 the inhabitant householders of the parliamentary borough of Oldham petitioned the Privy council for a charter of incorporation under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. The charter was granted on 13 June 1849, and the Municipal Borough of Oldham came into existence on 1 November.
Under the Local Government Act 1888 all municipal boroughs with a population of 50,000 or more were designated as "county boroughs" with the powers of both a municipal borough and a county council. In 1889, therefore, the town became the County Borough of Oldham. Although independent of Lancashire County Council, Oldham remained part of the county for certain purposes such as lieutenancy, shrievalty, custos rotulorum and administration of justice. Soon after establishment, the corporation of the county borough promoted a parliamentary bill to extend its boundaries to include four neighbouring local government districts: Chadderton to the west, Crompton to the north, Lees to the east and Royton to the north west. The bill was unsuccessful, and there were only minor boundary adjustments to the borough until the 1950s, while the four surrounding towns became urban districts in their own right in 1894. Despite this, in 1926 and 1931, two Oldham Extension Bills for the County Borough of Oldham to amalgamate with Chadderton Urban District were proposed, but rejected by the House of Lords following objections from neighbouring councils. In 1947 the Local Government Boundary Commission recommended that due to the lack of land for the borough's housing programme that its boundaries should be substantially extended. This was not carried out, but in 1951 the borough was enlarged to take in 605 acres (2.45 km2) from Limehurst Rural District, and three years later a further 1,052 acres (4.26 km2) were added when the rural district was abolished.
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Wikipedia