A 'borough' is an
administrative division used in various countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing
township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
In the
Middle Ages, boroughs were settlements that were granted some
self-government. Boroughs were particularly common in
England,
Germany, and
Scotland. In
medieval England, boroughs were also entitled to elect members of
parliament.
The Borough in
Southwark,
London is thought to have been the original 'borough' from which all others derive.
Usually, a borough is a single town with its own local government. However, in some cities it is a subdivision of the city (e.g.
London,
New York City,
Toronto, and
Montreal). In such cases, the borough will normally have either limited powers delegated to it by the city's local government, or no powers at all. At certain times, London has had no overall city government and London boroughs were the main unit of local government for Londoners. In other places, such as
Alaska, a borough does not designate a single township, but a whole
region. In
Australia, 'borough' can designate a town and its surrounding area, e.g.
Borough of Queenscliffe.
Boroughs are to be found in the
United Kingdom, more specifically in
England and
Northern Ireland. Boroughs also exist in the
Canadian provinces of
Quebec and
Ontario, in some
states of the
United States, in
Israel, and formerly in
New Zealand.
Several places in
Britain owe part of their name to ''borough'', but with a variety of spellings; e.g.:
★
Middlesbrough (''brough'', especially in the
North of England)
★
Boroughbridge (''borough'')
★
Edinburgh (''burgh'', especially in
Scotland - see
burgh)
★
Salisbury (''bury'', especially in the
South of England)
A few places, e.g.
Brough and
Bury, are named exclusively for their being a ''borough''.
These forms of the word ''borough'' were carried to North America. The Scottish forms are found in the
American South and
West. The suffix -''bury'' is found in
New England. The ending -''boro'' is also common in the
American South, especially in
North Carolina. Borough is a rare surname, most common in the UK and USA; but derivatives of the word, such as Brough, are a little more common. The related German word ''Burg'' (castle) is common in German place names and is also found in North American place names.
Nominally self-governing boroughs existed in medieval France and Spain, called ''bourg'' in French and ''burgo'' in Spanish. Both these terms are found in some place names.
Pronunciation
In many parts of England, "borough" is pronounced as () as an independent word, and as when forming a suffixal part of a place-name. As a suffix, "-brough" is usually pronounced .
In the United States, "borough" is pronounced as (or as in some areas, notably
New York City). When appearing as the suffix "-burg(h)" in place-names, it's pronounced as .
Present-day boroughs
Canada
In
Quebec, the term 'borough' is used as the formal translation into
English of the
French '''
arrondissement''', an administrative division of a municipality. It was previously used in
Metropolitan Toronto,
Ontario, to denote suburban municipalities.
Only eight municipalities in Quebec are divided into boroughs. See
List of boroughs in Quebec.
There are three boroughs in Ontario; Peterborough, Flamborough and
Scarborough East York.
United Kingdom
Main articles: Borough status in the United Kingdom
In the
United Kingdom, the name "borough" is applied to various types of local government districts.
In
England, there are three types of boroughs:
London Boroughs, metropolitan boroughs, and non-metropolitan boroughs. The term
London Boroughs is used to describe a type of district with borough status that have been in existence in
Greater London. Reorganized in 1965, Greater London currently has thirty-two of these type of borough, including the
City of Westminster. Districts with borough status within the six
metropolitan counties of England are known as
metropolitan boroughs. Districts granted a charter outside Greater London and the six metropolitan counties are non-metropolitan districts are simply known as boroughs.
Elsewhere in England a number of
district and
unitary authority councils are called "borough". Historically, this was a status that denoted towns with a certain type of local government (a
municipal corporation). Since 1974, it has been a purely ceremonial style granted by royal charter, which entitles the council chairman to bear the title of
mayor. Districts may apply to the
British Crown for the grant of borough status upon advice of the
Privy Council of the United Kingdom.
In
Northern Ireland, local government was reorganised in 1973. Under the legislation that created the twenty-six
districts of Northern Ireland, a district council whose area included an existing
municipal borough could resolve to adopt the charter of the old municipality and thus continue to enjoy borough status. Districts that do not contain a former borough can apply for a charter in a similar manner to
English districts.
Several unitary authorities in
Wales are called
county boroughs. Apart from the title of the authority and its civic head, there is no difference in powers between these and the other Welsh unitary
county councils.
A number of boroughs have additionally been granted the higher
status of a city.
For
Scottish usage of a cognate term, see
burgh.
United States
Main articles: Borough (United States)
The word "borough" has many meanings relating to
local government in the United States. Since the
Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution makes local government for the most part a matter for the
states rather than the federal government, the states are free to have political subdivisions called "boroughs", or not to do so, and to define the word in many different ways.
The following states use, or have used, the word with the following meanings:
★
Alaska, as a
county-equivalent
★
Connecticut, as an incorporated municipality within, or consolidated with, a
town
★
Minnesota, formerly applied to one municipality
★
New Jersey, as a type of independent incorporated municipality
★
New York, as one of the five divisions of
New York City, each coextensive with a county
★
Pennsylvania, as a type of municipality
★
Virginia, as a division of a city under certain circumstances
Australia
In
Australia, the term 'borough' is an occasionally used term for a local government area. There is only one 'borough' in Australia; The
Borough of Queenscliffe in
Victoria.
Israel
Under Israeli law, inherited from
British Mandate municipal law, the possibility of creating a municipal borough exists. However, no borough was actually created under law until 2005-2006, when
Neve Monosson and
Maccabim-Re'ut, both communal settlements (Heb: '''yishuv kehilati''') founded in 1953 and 1984, respectively, were declared to be autonomous municipal boroughs (Heb: '''vaad rova ironi'''), within their mergers with the towns of
Yehud and
Modi'in. Similar structures have been created under different types of legal status over the years in Israel, notably
Kiryat Haim in
Haifa,
Jaffa in
Tel Aviv-Yafo and
Ramot and
Gilo in
Jerusalem. However, Neve Monosson is the first example of a full municipal borough actually declared under law by the Minister of the Interior, under a model subsequently adopted in
Maccabim-Re'ut as well.
It is the declared intention of the Interior Ministry to use the borough mechanism in order to facilitate municipal mergers in Israel, after a 2003 wide-reaching merger plan, which generally ignored the sensitivities of the communal settlements, largely failed.
Republic of Ireland
Under the
Local Government Act 2001 section 10 (3) and schedule 6 part 1 chapter 1, the following continue to be known as Boroughs (though this is largely a matter of nomenclature)
Clonmel,
Drogheda,
Kilkenny,
Sligo,
Wexford. In Section 10 (7) continues the "use of the description city in relation to Kilkenny, to the extent that that description was used before (
January 1,
2002) and is not otherwise inconsistent with this Act."
Historical boroughs
In its original Anglo-Saxon connection with its modern meaning, a borough was a number of households or an extended household, surrounded by a defensive wall. This might have been a stockade or a walled town. In place-names therefore, it can refer to the walled enclosure of a lord's hall or to a walled town. When the
Five Burghs of the
Danelaw were given that name, this was people's view of them. By the late medieval period, a charter from the king and a civic organization became more significant in defining a borough than the wall was.
England and Wales
Municipal boroughs
In England and Wales, boroughs developed as a method of providing a corporate identity for a town, particularly in relation to rights obtained from local barons or from the English Crown. The formal status of borough came to be conferred by
Royal Charter.
These boroughs were generally governed by a self-selecting corporation (i.e., when a member died or resigned his replacement would be by
co-option). Sometimes boroughs were governed by
bailiffs or headboroughs.
Debates on the Reform Bill (eventually the Reform Act 1832) had highlighted the variations in systems of governance of towns, and a
Royal Commission was set up to investigate the issue. This resulted in a regularisation of municipal government (
Municipal Corporations Act 1835), with all municipal corporations to be elected according to a standard franchise based on property ownership. At the same time, a procedure was established whereby a town could
petition Parliament to be given borough status. The 178 reformed boroughs, and those that followed them, became known as
municipal boroughs. A number of
unreformed boroughs remained after 1835, these being finally abolished in 1886.
The reform of county government
in 1888 established the '
county borough', a city or town that had a corporation as any other borough, but with additional powers equivalent to those of a
county council.
As part of a large-scale reform of local government in England and Wales
in 1974, both county boroughs and municipal boroughs were abolished. However, the civic traditions of many boroughs were continued by the grant of a
charter to their successor district councils. In smaller boroughs, a
town council was formed for the area of the abolished borough, while
charter trustees were formed in other former boroughs. In each case, the new body was allowed to use the regalia of the old corporation, and appoint ceremonial office holders such as sword and mace bearers as provided in their original charters. The council or trustees may apply for an
Order in Council or
Royal Licence to use the former borough
coat of arms.
Parliamentary boroughs
From 1265, two burgesses from each borough were summoned to the
Parliament of England, alongside two
knights from each
county. Representation in the
House of Commons was decided by the House itself, which resulted in many cases of a borough being represented in Parliament despite it having no corporation or mayor (or vice versa).
By the 19th century, the population changes brought about by the
Industrial Revolution had created a situation in which a major conurbation might have no representation in Parliament, whilst towns which had declined in size to mere villages still retained their seat. Additionally, the electoral franchise varied from borough to borough, some of which had become
rotten boroughs.
The
Reform Act 1832 sought to rationalise this system to some extent, as well as eliminating corrupt practices. Many boroughs, some of which existed in little more than name, were disenfranchised, whilst some of the industrial towns which had developed in the
North came to be represented in Parliament for the first time.
Subsequent Reform Acts gave more parliamentary seats to the expanding boroughs, whilst disenfranchising the smaller ones. From 1884, voters in county and borough seats had the same franchise, so the distinction between the two was essentially eliminated; however, on the assumption that the smaller, urban boroughs would require less travelling for electoral candidates than in the larger, more rural county seats, the distinction between the two sorts of constituency was retained for the purposes of calculating maximum permitted electoral expenses.
Metropolitan boroughs
In 1899, as part of a reform of local government in the County of
London, the various parishes in the county were reorganised as a new entity, the 'metropolitan borough'. These became reorganised as London Boroughs in a subsequent reform, in 1965.
As part of the 1974 reform of local government in England, six major urban areas were established as "metropolitan counties", divided into "metropolitan districts". A number of those districts over time were granted the dignity of "borough", and thus became known as a 'metropolitan borough'.
Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland
For the similar situation in Ireland cf
Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840.
New Zealand
New Zealand formerly used the term borough to designate self-governing towns of more than 1,000 people. A borough of more than 20,000 people could become a city by proclamation. Boroughs and cities were collectively known as municipalities, and were
enclaves separate from their surrounding counties.
In the 1980s, some boroughs and cities began to be merged with their surrounding counties to form
districts with a mixed urban and rural population. In 1989, a nationwide reform of local government completed the process. Counties and boroughs were abolished and all boundaries were redrawn. Under the new system, most territorial authorities cover both urban and rural land. The more populated councils are classified as cities, and the more rural councils are classified as districts. Only
Kawerau District, an enclave within
Whakatane District, continues to follow the tradition of a small town council that does not include surrounding rural area.
Borough as a place name
There is a neighbourhood in the
London Borough of Southwark simply called
The Borough, south of London Bridge across the Thames from the
City. There are several villages in England, such as those in
Cumbria and the
East Riding of Yorkshire, called Brough, pronounced .
El Burgo in Spain is across the river Ucero from the smaller City of Osma; also in Spain lies the city of
Burgos. See also below under the places mentioned in the next section on Etymology.
Etymology
The word 'borough' has
cognates in other
Germanic languages. For example, ''burgh'' in
Scots, ''Burg'' in
German and ''borg'' in both
Danish and
Swedish; the equivalent word is also to be found in
Frisian,
Dutch,
Norwegian, and
Icelandic. Alternate forms and spellings in English include ''bury'' and ''burrow.''
The
English ''borough'' and the
Scots ''
burgh'' are derived from the
Anglian word ''burh'' (with other dialectal variants including ''burg'', ''beorh'', ''beorg'', and ''byrig''). The word originally indicated a fortified town, and was related to the verb ''beorgan'' (cf. Dutch and German ''bergen''), meaning "to keep, to save, to make secure".
A number of other European languages have cognate words which were borrowed from the Germanic languages during the
Middle Ages, including ''brog'' in
Irish, ''bwr'' or ''bwrc'', meaning "wall, rampart" in
Welsh, ''bourg'' in
French, ''burg'' in
Catalan, ''borgo'' in
Italian, and ''burgo'' in
Spanish (hence the place-name
Burgos).
Also related are the words ''bourgeois'' and ''belfry'' (both from the French), and ''burglar''; more distantly, it is related to words meaning "hill" or "mountain" in a number of languages (cf. the second element of ''
iceberg'').
References
See also
★
Boroughs incorporated in England and Wales 1835 - 1882
★
Boroughs incorporated in England and Wales 1882 - 1974
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Boroughs in New York City
★
Burgh
★
History of the English borough
★
List of burghs in Scotland
★
Oskar Borough
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