Middlesex County Council

Middlesex County Council
Coat of arms of the Middlesex County Council
Type
Type	County council of Middlesex
History
Established	1 April 1889
Disbanded	1 April 1965
Preceded by	Middlesex Quarter Sessions
Succeeded by	Greater London Council
Seats	Councillors and aldermen
Elections
Last election	1961
Meeting place
Middlesex Guildhall, Westminster

Middlesex County Council was the principal local government body in the administrative county of Middlesex from 1889 to 1965.

The county council was created by the Local Government Act 1888, which also removed the most populous part of the county to constitute the County of London. By the 1930s most of the county had become urbanised, effectively forming part of the London conurbation, and in 1965 the county council was abolished on the creation of the Greater London Council. Most of the former Middlesex area became part of the enlarged Greater London, but two Urban Districts to the south west became part of Surrey. These parts were thereby abolished civil parishes of Staines (which included Laleham), Ashford, Stanwell and Sunbury-on-Thames (which included Shepperton and Littleton). Finally, Potters Bar Urban District (which included most of South Mimms) in the north of the county was transferred to Hertfordshire.

The county council consisted of elected councillors and co-opted county aldermen. The entire body of county councillors was elected every three years. Aldermen were additional members, there being a ratio of one alderman to three councillors. Aldermen had a six-year term of office, and one half of their number were elected by the councillors immediately after the triennial elections.

The first elections were held in January 1889. The first meeting of the "provisional" county council was held on 14 February 1889 at Westminster Town Hall. Although the council did not use political labels, among the aldermen elected were members of the parliamentary Conservative Party.