County Borough of Leeds

Administrative division of Yorkshire, England until 1974

The County Borough of Leeds, and its predecessor, the Municipal Borough of Leeds, was a local government district in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, from 1835 to 1974. Its origin was the ancient borough of Leeds, which was reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. In 1889, when West Riding County Council was formed, Leeds became a county borough outside the administrative county of the West Riding; and in 1893 the borough gained city status. The borough was extended a number of times, expanding from in 1911 to in 1961; adding in stages the former area of Roundhay, Seacroft, Shadwell and Middleton parishes and gaining other parts of adjacent districts. In 1971 Leeds was the fifth largest county borough by population in England. The county borough was abolished in 1974 and replaced with the larger City of Leeds, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire.

The Borough of Leeds was created in 1207, when Maurice Paynel, Lord of the Manor, granted a charter to the inhabitants of the town of Leeds. They were created "burgesses", and were given the right to hold half an acre of land, trade as they liked, and transport their goods by land or water, subject to tolls and restrictions paid to the manor. The only officer of the borough was a praetor, appointed annually at the Feast of Pentecost by the Lord of the Borough. The praetor had the duty of administering justice and collecting fines and other revenues. The borough consisted of a single street with approximately thirty burgage plots.

The Local Government Act 1888 created elected county councils to administer services throughout England and Wales. Where a municipal borough had a population of more than 50,000 at the 1881 Census it was created a county borough, with the powers and duties of both a borough and county council. As Leeds had an 1881 population of 309,119 it duly became a county borough on 1 April 1889. The borough, while independent of the West Riding County Council for local government, remained part of the county for purposes such as the administration of justice and lieutenancy. The change of status in 1889 made no change to the boundaries of the borough or the size of the council.

Until 1889 the right to the title of "city" in the United Kingdom was linked to the presence of an Anglican cathedral. In that year Birmingham, Dundee and Belfast were granted letters patent raising them to cities by virtue of their population, economic importance and history of good municipal government. In 1892 another borough in the West Riding, Sheffield, announced that it was seeking the grant of city status to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the town's incorporation, which was to occur in 1893. When the members of Leeds Town Council became aware of the application by Sheffield, which was both smaller in population and of more recent creation than Leeds, they immediately began the process of applying for the dignity themselves. A petition was approved on 4 January 1893, which set out the reasons it was felt that Leeds deserved to become a city: these were the antiquity of the town, its many charters, its large area, its population that was "approaching 400,000", the fact that it was the largest municipality not to be a city, and its commercial importance for the woollen industry. A delegation from Leeds, including two Members of Parliament (MPs), met with the Home Secretary, H H Asquith on 27 January to press the borough's case. Along with the claims of the borough as set out in the original petition, the delegation made two more points: Leeds was the only university town not a city, and Leeds and Sheffield were the only boroughs returning five MPs to the House of Commons without the status (of a city). The Home Secretary forwarded the petitions of both boroughs to The Queen on 3 February, recommending that the honour be granted in both cases as they were the "only towns in the United Kingdom with a population exceeding 300,000 to which the title of City, enjoyed by many smaller of less important places, has not been granted; and that both appear to be well fitted by their loyalty, public spirit, and industrial progress, for this mark of your Majesty's favour. "</blockquote>

Four years later the Diamond Jubilee of the accession of Queen Victoria occurred. As part of the celebrations it was announced on 21 June that the mayor of Leeds "shall in future bear the title of Lord Mayor". The award which empowered the Lord Mayor to enjoy and use all the rights, privileges, pre eminencies and advantages to "such degree duly and of right belonging" was made by Letters Patent dated 12 July, and was published in the London Gazette on the following day:
The Queen has been pleased, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date the 12th July, 1897 to ordain that the Chief Magistrate, now, and for the time being, of the City of Leeds, shall be styled Lord Mayor of Leeds.

Following the Second World War a Local Government Boundary Commission was appointed to review administrative structures throughout England and Wales. While the commission was in existence, local authorities were not permitted to make unilateral proposals for boundary changes. Although the commission recommended that Leeds should form the basis of a new unitary "one tier county" no action was taken. The commission itself was wound up in 1949, and the final enlargement of the county borough took place under the Leeds Corporation Act 1956, on 1 April 1957. of Tadcaster Rural District were added to the city. The 1958 commission was disbanded in 1966, and the Redcliffe Maud Commission appointed in its place. When their report was published in 1969, they recommended a system of large unitary authorities. A new Leeds authority was proposed, with an area of and a population of 840,000. The boundaries would have included a large rural area including part of the Yorkshire Dales and the town of Harrogate. The proposal was welcomed by Leeds City Council. Following a change of government, a white paper issued in 1971 rejected the unitary structure and instead proposed a metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, with Leeds forming a district in a two tier system. During the passing of the subsequent legislation, which was enacted as the Local Government Act 1972, the boundaries of the Leeds Metropolitan District (or District 6b) were altered. Knaresborough and Harrogate were removed (becoming the basis of a non metropolitan district in North Yorkshire) while Rothwell was added from the neighbouring Wakefield district.