Middlesex ( ) is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time.The Proceedings of the Old Bailey - Rural Middlesex. Retrieved on 20 February 2008. The county was significantly affected by the expansion of the metropolitan area of London in both the 18th and 19th centuries; such that from 1855 the south east was administered as part of the metropolis. When county councils were initially introduced in England in 1889 around 20% of the area of Middlesex, and a third of its population, was transferred to the County of London, and the remainder formed a smaller county, in the north west, under the control of Middlesex County Council.

In the interwar years urban London had further expanded, with increasing suburbanisation, improvement and expansion of public transport, and the setting up of new industries outside the inner London area. After World War II the population of the County of London and inner Middlesex was in steady decline, with new population growth only experienced in the outer suburbs. After a Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London, almost all of the original area was incorporated into an enlarged Greater London in 1965, with small parts transferred to neighbouring Hertfordshire and Surrey. Despite the disappearance of the county, Middlesex is still used informally as an area name and was retained as a postal county; which is now an optional component of postal addresses.

Etymology and geography

The name means territory of the middle Saxons and refers to the reputed ethnic origin of its inhabitants. Its first recorded use was in 704 as Middleseaxan. The county lay within the London Basin and the most significant feature was the River Thames, which formed the southern boundary. The River Lee and the River Colne formed natural boundaries to the east and west. In the south west of the county the Thames meandered enough to make "Middlesex bank" more descriptively accurate than "north bank"; a distinction used during the The Boat Race. In the north the boundary was mostly formed by a ridge of hills broken by Barnet valley and a long protrusion of Hertfordshire into the county. The county was thickly wooded, with much of it covered by the ancient Forest of Middlesex. The highest point was the High Road by Bushey Heath at ,The Mountains of England and Wales - Historic County Tops. Retrieved on 20 February 2008. which is now one of the highest points in London.The Mountains of England and Wales - London Borough Tops. Retrieved on 2 February 2008.

Early settlement and economy

Middlesex was recorded in the Domesday Book as being divided into the six hundreds of Edmonton, Elthorne, Gore, Hounslow (Isleworth in all later records), Ossulstone and Spelthorne. The City of London, which has been self-governing since the thirteenth century, was geographically within the county, which also included Westminster, which had a high degree of autonomy. Of the six hundreds, Ossulstone contained the districts closest to the City of London. During the 17th century it was divided into four divisions, which, along with the Liberty of Westminster, largely took over the administrative functions of the hundred. The divisions were named Finsbury, Holborn, Kensington and Tower. The county had parliamentary representation from the 13th century. The title Earl of Middlesex was created twice, in 1622 and 1677, but became extinct in 1843.

The economy of the county was dependent on the City of London and was primarily agricultural. All manner of goods were provided for the City, including crops such as grain and hay, livestock and building materials. Tourism in early resorts such as Hackney, Islington and Highgate also formed part of the early economy. However, during the 18th century the inner parishes of Middlesex started to function as suburbs of the City and were increasingly urbanised.

Modern history

Expansion of the metropolis

By the 19th century, the East End of London had expanded to the eastern boundary with Essex, and the Tower division had reached a population of over a million. Following the coming of the railways, the north western suburbs of London steadily spread over large parts of the county. The areas closest to London were served by the Metropolitan Police from 1829 and, from 1840, the entire county was included in the Metropolitan Police District. Local government in the county was unaffected by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, and civic works continued to be the responsibility of the individual parish vestries or ad hoc improvement commissioners. In 1855, the parishes of the densely populated area in the south east, but excluding the City of London, came within the responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works. Despite this innovation, the system was described by commentators at the time as one "in chaos". In 1889, under the Local Government Act 1888, the metropolitan area of approximately became part of the County of London. The Act also provided that the part of Middlesex in the administrative county of London should be "severed from [Middlesex], and form a separate county for all non-administrative purposes". The part of the County of London that had been transferred from Middlesex was divided in 1900 into 18 metropolitan borough, which were merged in 1965 to form seven of the present-day inner London boroughs:

• Camden was formed from the metropolitan boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn and St Pancras
• Hackney was formed from the metropolitan boroughs of Hackney, Shoreditch and Stoke Newington
• Hammersmith (known as Hammersmith and Fulham from 1979) was formed from the metropolitan boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham
• Islington was formed from the metropolitan boroughs of Finsbury and Islington
• Kensington and Chelsea was formed from the metropolitan boroughs of Chelsea and Kensington
• Tower Hamlets was formed from the metropolitan boroughs of Bethnal Green, Poplar and Stepney
• The City of Westminster was formed from the metropolitan boroughs of Paddington, St Marylebone and the City of Westminster.

Extra-metropolitan area

Middlesex outside the metropolitan area remained largely rural until the middle of the 19th century, and so local government was slow to develop. Other than the Cities of London and Westminster, there were no ancient boroughs. The importance of the hundred courts declined, and such local administration as there was divided between "county business" conducted by the justices of the peace meeting in quarter sessions, and the local matters dealt with by parish vestries. As the suburbs of London spread into the area, unplanned development and outbreaks of cholera forced the creation of local boards or improvement commissioners to govern the growing towns. In rural areas, parishes began to be grouped for different administrative purposes. From 1875 these local bodies were designated as urban or rural sanitary districts.

Following the Local Government Act 1888, the remaining county came under the control of Middlesex County Council except for the parish of Monken Hadley, which became part of Hertfordshire. The area of responsibility of the Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex was reduced accordingly. Middlesex did not contain any county boroughs, so the county and administrative county (the area of county council control) were identical.

The Local Government Act 1894 divided the administrative county into four rural districts and thirty-one urban districts, based on existing sanitary districts. One urban district, South Hornsey, was an exclave of Middlesex within the County of London until 1900, when it was transferred to the latter county. The rural districts were Hendon, South Mimms, Staines and Uxbridge. Because of increasing urbanisation these had all been abolished by 1934. Urban districts had been created, merged, and many had gained the status of municipal borough by 1965. The districts as at the 1961 census were:

Potters Bar Enfield Southgate Edmonton Tottenham Wood Green Friern Barnet Hornsey Finchley Hendon Harrow Ruislip-Northwood Uxbridge

Ealing Wembley Willesden Acton Brentford and Chiswick Heston and Isleworth Southall Hayes and Harlington Yiewsley and West Drayton Staines Feltham Twickenham Sunbury-on-Thames

After 1889 the growth of London continued, and the county became almost entirely filled by suburbs of London, with a big rise in population density. This process was accelerated by the Metro-land developments, which covered a large part of the county. Public transport in the county, including the extensive network of trams, buses and the London Underground came under control of the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933 and a New Works Programme was developed to further enhance services during the 1930s. Partly because of its proximity to the capital, the county had a major role during World War II. The county was subject to aerial bombardment and contained various military establishments, such as RAF Uxbridge and RAF Heston, which were involved in the Battle of Britain.

Arms of Middlesex County Council

Coats of arms were attributed by the medieval heralds to the Kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. That assigned to the Kingdom of the Middle and East Saxons depicted three "seaxes" or short notched swords on a red background. The seaxe was a weapon carried by Anglo-Saxon warriors, and the term "Saxon" may be derived from the word. These arms became associated with the two counties that approximated to the kingdom: Middlesex and Essex. County authorities, militia and volunteer regiments associated with both counties used the attributed arms.

In 1910 it was noted that the county councils of Essex and Middlesex and the Sheriff's Office of the County of London were all using the same arms. Middlesex County Council decided to apply for a formal grant of arms from the College of Arms, with the addition of an heraldic "difference" to the attributed arms. Colonel Otley Parry, a Justice of the Peace for Middlesex and author of a book on military badges, was asked to devise an addition to the shield. The chosen addition was a "Saxon Crown", derived from the portrait of King Athelstan on a silver penny of his reign, stated to be the earliest form of crown associated with any English sovereign. The grant of arms was made by letters patent dated 7 November 1910.Armorial bearings of Middlesex, The Times. 7 November 1910. The blazon of the arms was:

Gules, three seaxes fessewise points to the sinister proper, pomels and hilts and in the centre chief point a Saxon crown or.

The undifferenced arms of the Kingdom were eventually granted to Essex County Council in 1932.Civic Heraldry of England and Wales - Essex County Council. Retrieved on 20 February 2008. Seaxes were also used in the insignia of many of the boroughs and urban districts in the county, while the Saxon crown came to be a common heraldic charge in English civic arms.C W Scott-Giles, Royal and Kindred Emblems, Civic Heraldry of England and Wales, 2nd edition, London, 1953, p.11 On the creation of the Greater London Council in 1965 a Saxon crown was introduced in its coat of arms. Seaxes appear in the arms of several London borough council and of Spelthorne Borough Council, whose area was in Middlesex.Civic Heraldry of England and Wales - Greater London. Retrieved on 20 February 2008.

Creation of Greater London

The population of the County of London had been in decline since its creation in 1889, and following World War II the exodus continued. In contrast, the population of Middlesex had seen a steady increase during that period. From 1951 to 1961 the population of the inner districts of the county started to drop and growth was experienced only in eight of the suburban outer districts. According to the 1961 census, Ealing, Enfield, Harrow, Hendon, Heston and Isleworth, Tottenham, Wembley, Willesden and Twickenham had all reached a population of greater than 100,000, which would normally have entitled them to seek county borough status. If granted to all these boroughs, this would have reduced the population of the administrative county of Middlesex by over half, to just shy of a million.

Following the Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London, Parliament enacted the London Government Act 1963, which came into force on 1 April 1965.

The Act abolished the administrative counties of Middlesex and London.London Government Act 1963, Section 3: (1) As from 1st April 1965—

(a) no part of Greater London shall form part of any administrative county, county district or parish;

(b) the following administrative areas and their councils (and, in the case of a borough, the municipal corporation thereof) shall cease to exist, that is to say, the counties of London and Middlesex, the metropolitan boroughs, and any existing county borough, county district or parish the area of which falls wholly within Greater London;

(c) the urban district of Potters Bar shall become part of the county of Hertfordshire;

(d) the urban districts of Staines and Sunbury-on-Thames shall become part of the county of Surrey.

Section 89: (1) In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the following meanings respectively, that is to say—
'county' means an administrative county;. The Administration of Justice Act 1964 abolished the Middlesex magistracy and lieutenancy. Nearly all the remainder of Middlesex became part of Greater London in 1965 and formed the new outer London boroughs of Barnet (part only), Brent, Ealing, Enfield, Haringey, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames (part only). The remaining areas were Potters Bar Urban District, which became part of Hertfordshire, while Sunbury-on-Thames Urban District and Staines Urban District became part of Surrey. Following the changes, local acts of Parliament relating to Middlesex were henceforth to apply to the entirety of the nine "North West London Boroughs".The Local Law (North West London Boroughs) Order 1965 (S.I. 1965 No. 533) In 1974, the three urban districts that had been transferred to Hertfordshire and Surrey were abolished and became the districts of Hertsmere (part only) and Spelthorne respectively.The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972 (SI 1972/2038) In 1995 the village of Poyle was transferred from Spelthorne to the Berkshire borough of Slough. Additionally, since 1965 the Greater London boundary to the west and north has been subject to a significant number of small changes.

Legacy

Middlesex is used in the names of organisations based in the area such as Middlesex County Cricket Club and Middlesex University. There is a Middlesex County Football Association and two teams that are now within Surrey, Staines Town and Ashford Town as well as Potters Bar Town in Hertfordshire, compete in the Middlesex County Cup. Sir John Betjeman, a native of North London and Poet Laureate, published several poems about Middlesex and the suburban experience. Many were featured in the televised readings Metroland. As part of a 2002 marketing campaign, the plant conservation charity Plantlife chose the wood anemone as the county flower. In 2003, an early day motion with two signatures noted that 16 May is the anniversary of the Battle of Albuera and in recent years has been celebrated as Middlesex Day, commemorating the valiant efforts of the Middlesex Regiment (the "Die-hards") in that battle. The idea is to recognise and celebrate the historic county.Randall, J., Early Day Motion 13 May 2003. Retrieved on 20 February 2008. On its creation in 1965, Greater London was divided into five commission areas for the administration of justice. One was named "Middlesex" and consisted of the boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Enfield, Haringey, Harrow, Hillingdon and Hounslow.Administration of Justice Act 1964 (1964 C. 42) This was abolished on 1 July 2003.Office of Public Sector Information - The Commission Areas (Greater London) Order 2003 (Statutory Instrument 2003 No. 640). Retrieved on 20 February 2008.

County town

Middlesex does not have a single established historic county town, with different locations having been used for different county purposes. The County Assizes for Middlesex were held at the Old Bailey in the City of London. Until 1889 the High Sheriff of Middlesex was chosen by the City of London Corporation. The sessions house for the Middlesex Quarter Sessions was at Clerkenwell Green from the early eighteenth century. The quarter sessions at the former Middlesex Sessions House performed most of the administration of the county until the creation of the Middlesex County Council in 1889.

New Brentford was first described as the county town in 1789, on the basis that it was the location of elections of knights for the shire (or Members of Parliament) from 1701. In 1795, New Brentford was "considered as the county-town; but there is no town-hall or other public building". Middlesex County Council, which took over the administrative duties of the Quarter Sessions in 1889, was based at the Middlesex Guildhall, in Westminster. This was in the County of London, and thus outside the council's area of jurisdiction.

Former postal county

Middlesex (abbreviated Middx) is also defined as a former postal county; an element of postal addressing in routine use until 1996 and now an optional component. The postal county was retained after 1965 because Royal Mail was unable to follow all the changes to county boundaries and could not adopt Greater London as a postal county. However, much of inner Middlesex (Willesden, Hornsey etc.)HMSO, Names of Street and Places in the London Postal area, (1930). Retrieved on 20 February 2008. was within the London postal district, within which addresses already included "LONDON" and did not include a county. The transfer of Potters Bar to Hertfordshire was adopted by the Royal Mail, but the transfers of Staines and Sunbury to Surrey were not. The remaining postal county consisted of two unconnected areas, apart (Enfield and the rest) and comprised the following post towns:

Postcode area	Post towns
EN (part)	ENFIELD
HA	EDGWARE • HARROW • NORTHWOOD • PINNER • RUISLIP • STANMORE • WEMBLEY
TW (part)	ASHFORD • BRENTFORD • FELTHAM • HAMPTON • HOUNSLOW† • ISLEWORTH • SHEPPERTON • STAINES • SUNBURY-ON-THAMES • TEDDINGTON • TWICKENHAM†
UB	GREENFORD • HAYES • NORTHOLT • SOUTHALL • UXBRIDGE • WEST DRAYTON

† = postal county was not required

The postal county included many anomalies where the post towns it consisted of encroached on neighbouring counties, such as the village of Denham, Buckinghamshire, which is included in the post town of Uxbridge and was therefore within the postal county of Middlesex; conversely, Hampton Wick was not included in the Middlesex postal county as it was served by post towns associated with Surrey. This gives Hampton Court Palace a postal address suggesting it is located in East Molesey, Surrey. Wraysbury, Berkshire and Egham Hythe, Surrey are with the Staines post town and thus were also included in the Middlesex postal county.

References

Footnotes

1. Saint, A., Politics and the people of London: the London County Council (1889-1965), (1989)
2. Barlow, I., Metropolitan Government, (1991)
3. Wolmar, C., The Subterranean Railway, (2004)
4. Natural England - London Basin Natural Area. Retrieved on 23 February 2008.
5. Order in Council enlarging the Metropolitan Police District (SI 1840 5001)
6. Local Government Areas 1834 -1945, V D Lipman, Oxford, 1949
7. Joseph Fletcher, The Metropolis; its Boundaries, Extent, and Divisions for Local Government in Journal of the Statistical Society of London, Vol. 7, No. 2. (June 1844), pp. 103-143.
8. London Metropolitan Archives - A Brief Guide to the Middlesex Sessions Records, (2009). Retrieved on 26 July 2009.
9. Royston Lambert, Central and Local Relations in Mid-Victorian England: The Local Government Act Office, 1858-71, Victorian Studies, Vol. 6, No. 2. (Dec., 1962), pp. 121-150.
10. Frederic Youngs, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol.I : Southern England, London, 1979
11. Royston, J., Revisiting the Metro-Land Route, Harrow Times. Retrieved on 20 February 2008.
12. Reed, J., London Tramways, (1997)
13. Office of Public Sector Information - London Passenger Transport Act 1933 (as amended). Retrieved on 20 February 2008.
14. Royal Air Force - Battle of Britain Campaign Diary. Retrieved on 20 February 2008.
15. Doherty, F., The Anglo Saxon Broken Back Seax. Retrieved on 20 February 2008
16. Online Etymology Dictionary - Saxon. Retrieved on 20 February 2008.
17. The Book of Public Arms, A.C. Fox-Davies, 2nd edition, London, 1915
18. Civic Heraldry of England and Wales, W.C. Scott-Giles, 2nd edition, London, 1953
19. Civic Heraldry of England and Wales - Middlesex (obsolete). Retrieved on 20 February 2008
20. Civic Heraldry of England and Wales - Greater London Council. Retrieved on 20 February 2008.
21. Civic Heraldry of England and Wales - Spelthorne Borough Council. Retrieved on 20 February 2008
22. Office of Public Sector Information - London Government Act 1963 (as amended). Retrieved on 20 February 2008.
23. Office of Public Sector Information - Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Surrey (County Boundaries) Order 1994. Retrieved on 20 February 2008.
24. Office of Public Sector Information - The Heathrow Airport (County and London Borough Boundaries) Order 1993. Retrieved on 23 February 2008.
25. Office of Public Sector Information - The Greater London and Surrey (County and London Borough Boundaries) (No. 4) Order 1993. Retrieved on 23 February 2008.
26. Middlesex County Cricket Club. Retrieved on 20 February 2008.
27. Middlesex University - About Us: Our History. Retrieved on 20 February 2008.
28. Potters Bar Town F.C. - Fixtures. Retrieved on 20 February 2008.
29. Mitoo - 2006–2007 Season: Middlesex County Football Association. Retrieved on 20 February 2008.
30. Wilson, A., Betjeman, (2006)
31. Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911 Edition
32. Royal Mail - PAF Digest Issue 6.0. Retrieved 20 February 2008.

Bibliography

External links

• Victoria County History of Middlesex
• Historic boundary as layer for Google Earth
• Maps of Middlesex subdivisions: Edmonton, Elthorne, Gore, Isleworth and Spelthorne
  • Ossulstone: Outer Finsbury, Inner Finsbury, Outer Kensington, Inner Kensington, Holborn and Tower