Eton Urban District

51.4881°N 0.6092°W / 51.4881; -0.6092

Eton
Local Board District (1849-1894) Urban District (1894-1974)
Area
• 1911	299 acres (1.2 km2)
• 1961	993 acres (4.0 km2)
Population
• 1901	3,301
• 1971[1]	3,615
History
• Created	6 October 1849 (Local Board District) 31 December 1894 (Urban District)
• Abolished	31 March 1974
• Succeeded by	Windsor and Maidenhead
• HQ	Eton

The town of Eton formed a local government district in Buckinghamshire, England from 1849 to 1974. It was administered as a local board district from 1849 to 1894, and as an urban district from 1894 to 1974.

History

Part of the parish of Eton was declared to be a local board district on 6 October 1849. The defined area of the local board was drawn relatively tightly around the built-up area of the town, essentially just covering the High Street area. Eton College and its playing fields were initially excluded from the local board district, as were the more rural parts of the parish of Eton.^[2] The Eton Local Board held its first meeting on 30 November 1849, when John Cleave was appointed the first chairman of the board.^[3]

An attempt to enlarge the local board district in 1851 so as to include Eton College was defeated by the college. A few years later another attempt to bring the college within the local board district was made, with an inquiry being held in December 1867.^[4] The college did not oppose the expansion of the district on that occasion, and so the district was enlarged in 1868 to include the college and its grounds.^[5][6]

Under the Local Government Act 1894, local board districts became urban districts with effect from 31 December 1894. The act also specified that parishes could not straddle urban and rural districts, and so the parts of the parish of Eton outside the local board district became a separate parish called Eton Wick, which was included in the Eton Rural District. Eton Urban District Council held its first meeting on 3 January 1895, when Edward Compton Austen-Leigh was appointed the first chairman of the council. He had been the last chairman of the local board.^[7]

In 1934 the parish of Eton Wick was abolished and absorbed into the parish and urban district of Eton. The parish of Boveney was abolished at the same time, with its former area being split between Eton and Dorney.^[1]

Premises

138 High Street: Council's offices 1890-c. 1957

For its first forty years the Eton Local Board met at various rented rooms in the town. In 1890 a new building was erected at 138 High Street by the Baldwin's Bridge Trust, a charity with responsibility for maintaining the adjoining bridge over the stream called Barnes Pool. The building at 138 High Street was designed to serve both as offices for the trust itself and to provide offices and a council chamber for Eton Local Board. The board held its first meeting in the new building on 1 January 1891.^[8][9] The urban district council continued to be based at 138 High Street until the late 1950s, when it moved to 102 High Street, which had originally been built by the council in 1904 as the town's fire station.^[10][11][12]

Abolition

102 High Street: Council's offices after c. 1957

In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972 Eton Urban District was disbanded and together with parts of Eton Rural District was transferred to Berkshire and combined with adjacent urban districts to form Windsor and Maidenhead District. A successor parish was created for the town, with its council taking the name Eton Town Council, which continues to be based at the urban district council's old offices at 102 High Street.

Administrative map of England in 1931.

References

1. "Eton Urban District". A Vision of Britain through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
2. "At the Court at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, the 6th day of October 1849". London Gazette (21030): 3121. 19 October 1849. Retrieved 23 May 2022. …within such part or district of the parish of Eton, in the county of Bucks, as is bounded on the north by Barnes' Pool and Cotterell's Close, on the east and south-east by the Tangier Mill Streams and part of the river Thames, on the south by other parts of the said river, and on the west by the Brocas, the Little South Meadow, and the Great South Meadow, respectively…
3. "Eton Local Board of Health". Windsor and Eton Express. 1 December 1849. p. 4. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
4. "The proposed new district of the Eton Local Board of Health". Windsor and Eton Express. 14 December 1867. p. 4. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
5. "Extension of the Eton Local Board of Health District". Windsor and Eton Express. 15 February 1868. p. 4. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
6. "Eton Local Board of Health". Windsor and Eton Express. 25 July 1868. p. 4. Retrieved 24 May 2022. At the first meeting of the Eton Local Board of Health since the extension of the district...
7. "The Eton Urban District Council". Middlesex and Buckinghamshire Advertiser. Uxbridge. 12 January 1895. p. 7. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
8. "New public building at Eton". Reading Mercury. 18 January 1890. p. 8. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
9. "Eton Local Board of Health". Windsor and Eton Express. 10 January 1891. p. 4. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
10. "National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949". London Gazette (40634): 6504. 18 November 1955. Retrieved 23 May 2022. ...Eton Urban District Council, Council Offices, 138, High Street, Eton...
11. "Slough by-pass improvements". London Gazette (41473): 5085. 15 August 1958. Retrieved 23 May 2022. ...at the offices of... the Eton U.D.C., 102, High Street, Eton...
12. Eton Conservation Area Appraisal (PDF). Maidenhead: Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. 2009. pp. 99–100. Retrieved 23 May 2022.