List of Land Division and Political Unit Terms Found in the England and Wales Census

The list below covers many of the land and political division terms you’ll likely run into in your England and Wales census searches. (Definitions found on Answers.com.)

Borough
A town having a municipal corporation and certain rights, such as self-government; or a town that sends a representative to Parliament.

County
A territorial division exercising administrative, judicial, and political functions in Great Britain.

County Borough
A borough or a city independent of county council control.

Civil Parish
A political subdivision of a British county, usually corresponding in boundaries to an original ecclesiastical parish; the lowest unit of local government, lower than districts or counties.

Ecclesiastical Parish
A political subdivision of a British county, usually corresponding in boundaries to an original ecclesiastical parish (an administrative part of a diocese that has its own church).

Hamlet
Usually a small settlement, too small or unimportant to be considered a village. In the United Kingdom, a hamlet is traditionally defined ecclesiastically as a village that may have its own church, but which does not form a parish in its own right.

Municipal Borough
A type of local authority existing in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974; allowed the creation of an elected town council, consisting of a mayor, aldermen, and councilors, to oversee many local affairs.

Parliamentary Borough
A borough that is entitled to representation in a Parliament.

Rural district
A historic type of local government district that covered predominantly rural areas. They were sub-divisions of administrative counties.

Sanitary District
District was governed by a sanitary authority, which was responsible for various public health matters. There were two types of sanitary districts: urban sanitary districts in towns with existing local government bodies. Rural sanitary districts were in the remaining rural areas of poor law unions.

Township
An ancient administrative division of a large parish in England.
TythingAn administrative division consisting of ten householders in the old English system of frankpledge.

Urban District
An administrative district of England and Wales usually composed of several densely populated communities, resembling a borough but lacking a borough charter.

Ward
A division of a city or town, especially an electoral district, for administrative and representative purposes.

Churches Have Anniversaries Too!

We seek out the church records of our ancestors, either in the original format or on microfilm. The records of a family member’s christening, marriage, burial, or the names of parents and witnesses help to fill in the blank spots on our family tree. For some religious denominations we may only find minutes of a church committee or ruling body. We wish for something more. Well, there is one more resource in existence for many churches and synagogues.

Milestones
Churches often celebrate 50, 75, 100, 150 or more years in existence. A get-together might mark the occasion and a local newspaper might cover the event, complete with a short history of the congregation. Many churches also publish a separate anniversary booklet filled with important details and these booklets are today’s topic...

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