Gillingham Urban District Council
Former council in Kent, England
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gillingham Urban District Council was the local government authority for Gillingham, Kent, England, created under the Local Government Act 1894. It took over from the earlier Gillingham Board of Health (established 1873) and governed the rapidly growing town until 1903. In 1903 Gillingham was incorporated as a municipal borough; at that time the council’s chairman, John Robert Featherby, became the town’s first mayor.
Gillingham Urban District Council | |
|---|---|
| Type | |
| Houses | Unicameral |
| History | |
| Established | 1894 |
| Disbanded | 1903 |
| Preceded by | Gillingham Board of Health |
| Succeeded by | Gillingham Borough Council |
| Leadership | |
Chairman | John Robert Featherby |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 15 |
| Authority | Local Government Act 1894 |
| Meeting place | |
| Gardiner Street, New Brompton | |
History
Prior to 1894, local government in Gillingham was conducted by parish vestry and the Court Leet, and from 1873 by a local Board of Health.[1] By 1891 the parish covered about 5,000 acres with a population of roughly 21,000.[2] Under the 1894 Act the Board of Health was replaced by the Gillingham Urban District Council, an elected body responsible for local services[3] (often termed the “urban sanitary authority”).[4]
According to an 1898 directory, the new UDC consisted of 15 members and met at offices on Gardiner Street in New Brompton.[5] At that time R. H. Cock was serving as council chairman[6] and F. C. Boucher as the council clerk.[7] The council had three wards – Old Brompton, New Brompton and Gillingham – each electing several councillors (for example, a published list shows J. R. Featherby as one of the Gillingham-ward members).[8]
A notable figure was the brickmaker George Featherby, who had served on the Board of Health and the UDC. In 1897 he retired from the council and was succeeded by his son, John Robert (J. R.) Featherby.[9] John R. Featherby became council chairman in 1899[10] and led the push for borough status. When Gillingham’s charter was granted in 1903 he was elected as the first mayor of the new municipal borough.[11] At that point the short-lived Urban District Council was dissolved in favour of the borough corporation.
Archives
The records of Gillingham’s local councils survive in the Medway archives. The Medway Archives & Local Studies Centre holds the archives of Gillingham Borough Council and its predecessors, explicitly including the former Urban District Council.[12]