History
Boroughs were originally formed to give a place its own rights over the local lord of the manor. Boroughs were typically administered by a council, which determined its own members. More rarely, boroughs were administered by an individual.
The status of Borough was granted to a place by a Royal Charter. Whether the borough could also send a representative to the English or, from 1707, British Parliament, on the other hand, was decided by the House of Commons itself. In many cases, the mayors or councillors of a borough were not represented in Parliament; conversely, there were representatives in Parliament who were not members of the administration of a borough.
With the Reform Act 1832, many boroughs that had previously been over-represented (some of which, the so-called rotten boroughs, were virtually uninhabited) lost their representation in Parliament. The debate surrounding the reform revealed that there were very different types of local government. A Royal Commission was set up, and as a result of its work local government was standardised in 1835. All councils in the future had to be elected and were given defined rights. At the same time, a procedure was established by which a place could petition Parliament to be granted borough status.
In 1888, the existing boroughs were divided into two different types: County boroughs were given powers comparable to those of counties; in contrast, municipal boroughs were given only the powers of a local government. Small towns were made into urban districts in 1894, which, unlike the boroughs, did not have the right to elect a mayor.
Boroughs today
The traditional distinction between counties and boroughs ended in 1974 when counties were divided into districts. Districts with an urban character usually have Borough status. See also List of districts in England.
This change was partially reversed in the 1990s by granting some districts unitary authority status, which has the same powers as a county. Unitary authorities with a municipal character all have the status of a borough.
Today, Boroughs are divided into Metropolitan Boroughs (metropolitan boroughs) and Non-metropolitan Boroughs (districts or unitary authorities). The boroughs of Greater London, with the exception of the City of London, are London Boroughs. See also Administrative divisions of England.
