County Borough of Croydon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Image:Croydon cb arms.png | |
| Administration | |
|---|---|
| Status: | Local board of health (until 1883) Municipal borough (1883 – 1889) County borough (after 1889) |
| HQ: | Croydon |
| History | |
| Created: | 1849 |
| Abolished: | 1965 |
| Succeeded by: | London Borough of Croydon |
| Area | |
| 1883: | 9,901 acres |
| 1965: | 12,672 acres |
| Population | |
| 1901: | 133,895 |
| 1965: | 252,501 |
Croydon was a local government district in north east Surrey from 1849 to 1965.
Contents |
[edit] History
A local board of health was formed for the parish of Croydon St John the Baptist in 1849. The town was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1883 and became an autonomous county borough in 1889.
From 1894 to 1915 it was surrounded by Croydon Rural District to the south, east and west; with the County of London to the north. In 1915 the county borough was extended, taking in the parish of Addington and some other parts of the rural district, which was abolished.
The borough ran its own tram services until they became the responsibility of the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933. The borough ran its own fire brigade which was absorbed into the London Fire Brigade in 1965.
In 1954 Croydon Corporation unsuccessfully petitioned the Queen for the grant of city status. At the time, Croydon was the only county borough with a population in excess of 200,000 not be a city.<ref>Claim for city status, The Times, March 1, 1954</ref>
In 1965 the county borough was abolished and its former area transferred to Greater London to be combined with that of Coulsdon and Purley Urban District to form the present-day London Borough of Croydon.
[edit] Corporation
As of 1911 the corporation consisted of a mayor, 12 aldermen and 36 councillors and the borough had an area of 9,012 acres <ref>1911 Encyclopedia Brittanica at Love to Know</ref>. On the enlargement of the county borough the number of aldermen were increased to 18 and councillors to 54, with 18 wards as follows:
- Addington
- Addiscombe
- Bensham Manor
- Broad Green
- Central
- East
- Norbury
- North
- Shirley
- South
- South Norwood
- Thornton Heath
- Upper Norwood
- Waddon
- West
- West Thornton
- Woodside
- Whitehorse Manor<ref>F R Youngs Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol 1, London 1979</ref>
[edit] Politics
From its incorporation the borough was controlled by parties allied to the conservatives, known as the Coalition Party or Ratepayers Association. Eventually control passed to the official Conservative party.
Croydon was constituted a constituency, identical with the then borough boundaries in 1885. In 1918 the borough was divided into North and South constituencies. For the general election of 1950 Croydon's representation increased to three seats: North, East and West. In 1955 the boundaries for the three Croydon constituencies were altered to become North East, North West and South.
[edit] Coat of arms
The borough was granted a coat of arms on October 16, 1886 by the College of Arms. The style was typical of grants to boroughs by Albert Woods, Garter Principal King of Arms, with its quartered shield and complicated design.
Most of the emblems on the shield were related to the Archbishops of Canterbury who had a palace in Croydon. The three choughs are associated with Thomas a Becket, and appear in the arms of the city of Canterbury, the cross crosslets came from the arms of the Diocese of Canterbury and the flory cross bearing three gold disc was taken from the arms of archbishop John Whitgift. In the fourth quarter was an emabattled fesse, to represent a town wall, and thus municipal government.
The crest on top of the helm featured a grassy mound and heraldic fountain for Croydon Bourne. On either side was a sprig of rye-grass for the irrigation meadows of Beddington Sewage Farm. The crest also contained a gold crozier, another reference to the archbishops, and a crossed sword and tilting spear for Royal Military College of the East India Company which had formerly stood at Addiscombe.
The Latin motto was Sanitate Crescimus or May we grow in health.<ref>C W Scott-Giles, Civic Heraldry of England and Wales, 2nd Edition, London, 1953</ref>
[edit] External links
[edit] References
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