Buntingford Rural District was a

rural district Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the Ad ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

from 1894 to 1935, covering the town of

Buntingford Buntingford is a market town and civil parish in the district of East Hertfordshire and county of Hertfordshire in England. It lies next to the River Rib and is located on the historic Roman road, Ermine Street. As a result of its location, it ...

and a number of surrounding parishes in the north-east of the county.

Formation

Buntingford Poor Law Union had been created in 1835 following the

Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 The ''Poor Law Amendment Act 1834'' (PLAA) known widely as the New Poor Law, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by the Whig government of Earl Grey. It completely replaced earlier legislation based on the ''Poor Relief ...

, centred on the small town of Buntingford. A workhouse was built in Buntingford to serve the union, opening in 1837. Under the

Public Health Act 1872 In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

sanitary districts Sanitary districts were established in England and Wales in 1872 and in Ireland in 1878. The districts were of two types, based on existing structures: *Urban sanitary districts in towns with existing local government bodies *Rural sanitary dis ...

were created, and the

boards of guardians Boards of guardians were ''ad hoc'' authorities that administered Poor Law in the United Kingdom from 1835 to 1930. England and Wales Boards of guardians were created by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, replacing the parish overseers of the poor ...

of poor law unions were made responsible for public health and local government for any part of their district not included in an urban authority. As the Buntingford Poor Law Union had no urban authorities, the Buntingford Rural Sanitary District covered the same area as the Buntingford Poor Law Union, and both were governed by the Buntingford Board of Guardians. Under the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level un ...

, rural sanitary districts became rural districts from 28 December 1894. The link with the poor law union continued, with all the elected councillors of the rural district council being ''ex officio'' members of the Buntingford Board of Guardians. The new district council held its first meeting on 3 January 1895, when the former chairman of the board of guardians, John Williamson Leader, was appointed the first chairman of the council. He held the post until his death in 1897.

Parishes

Buntingford Rural District contained the following

civil parishes In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. ...

Premises

The council met and had its offices at the Buntingford Union Workhouse, later known as Bridgefoot House.

Abolition

Under the

Local Government Act 1929 The Local Government Act 1929 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made changes to the Poor Law and local government in England and Wales. The Act abolished the system of poor law unions in England and Wales and their board ...

the boards of guardians and poor law unions were abolished, and provisions were put in place allowing county councils to review the districts within their areas to form more effective areas for administrative purposes. Hertfordshire County Council had a number of relatively sparsely populated districts in the north and east of the county. It was decided to split Buntingford Rural District, with three parishes on the north-western edge of the district (

Rushden Rushden is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Northamptonshire, England, around east of Northampton. The parish is on the border with Bedfordshire, north of Bedford. The parish of Rushden covers an area of some ...

, Sandon and Wallington) being transferred to

Hitchin Rural District Hitchin Rural District was a rural district in Hertfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974, covering an area in the north of the county. Evolution The district had its origins in the Hitchin Rural Sanitary District. This had been created unde ...

, whilst the remainder of the Buntingford Rural District merged with the neighbouring Hadham Rural District to create a new district called

Braughing Rural District Braughing was a rural district in Hertfordshire, England from 1935 to 1974. Creation Braughing Rural District was created on 1 April 1935 under a County Review Order by the merger of most of the Hadham Rural District and most of the Bunt ...

. These changes took effect on 1 April 1935.Ministry of Health Order No. 80108: The County of Hertford Review Order, 1935

References

{{Reflist Districts of England created by the Local Government Act 1894 Rural districts of England Local government in Hertfordshire