Isle of Wight County Council was the

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

of the non-metropolitan English county of the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

from 1890 to 1995.

History

Godfrey Baring Vanity Fair 21 September 1910

County council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

s were first introduced in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

with full powers from 22 September 1889 as a result of the

Local Government Act 1888 Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

, taking over administrative functions until then carried out by the unelected

Quarter Sessions The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388 (extending also to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535). They were also established in ...

.John Edwards, ”County” in Chambers's Encyclopedia (London: George Newnes, 1955), pp.189–191 The areas they covered were termed

administrative counties An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until either 1973 (in Northern Ireland) or 2002 (in the Republic of Ireland). They are now abolished, although mos ...

and were not in all cases identical to the traditional shire counties. To begin with, the Isle of Wight was part of the area of

Hampshire County Council Hampshire County Council (HCC) is an English council that governs eleven of the thirteen districts geographically located within the ceremonial county of Hampshire. As one of twenty-four county councils in England, it acts as the upper tier of ...

, but a year later the island was given its own county council, which came into being on 1 April 1890. Following the first elections,

Somerset Gough-Calthorpe, 7th Baron Calthorpe Somerset John Gough-Calthorpe, 7th Baron Calthorpe, (23 January 1831 – 16 November 1912), was a British soldier and politician. Calthorpe was the fourth son of Frederick Gough, 4th Baron Calthorpe and Lady Charlotte Somerset, daughter of t ...

was elected as first Chairman. He was succeeded in 1898 by

Sir Godfrey Baring, 1st Baronet Sir Godfrey Baring, 1st Baronet KBE, DL, JP (18 April 1871 – 24 November 1957) was a Liberal Member of Parliament for the Isle of Wight and later Barnstaple. A member of the influential Baring family, he was the son of Lieutenant-General ...

, who was Chairman for almost sixty years, until his death in 1957. Premises were acquired, the former Swan Hotel in High Street, Newport, and some houses on either side, and the County Council was based there for several years. A new building, designed in the Neo-Georgian style by Gutteridge and Gutteridge, was built on the same site and opened by

Robert Sanders, 1st Baron Bayford Robert Arthur Sanders, 1st Baron Bayford (20 June 1867 – 24 February 1940) was an English barrister and politician. Background and education The eldest of the three sons of Arthur Sanders, a barrister, of Fernhill, Wootton Bridge, Isle of Wi ...

, in October 1938. An extension was built on its east side in 1969. David Wharton Lloyd,

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

''The Isle of Wight'' (Yale University Press, 2006, ), pp. 177-178 On 1 April 1995, following recommendations made by the Local Government Commission for England appointed in 1992, the county council and the island’s two district councils,

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

and South Wight (which themselves had been created by mergers in 1974) were replaced by a new

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

called

Isle of Wight Council The Isle of Wight Council is a unitary authority covering the Isle of Wight, an island in the south of England. It is currently made up of 39 seats. Since the 2021 election, there has been an 'Alliance' coalition administration of Independents, ...

, the first elections to which were held in 1995.

Responsibilities

The functions coming across to the new county councils from the former quarter sessions were set out in the Act of 1888, and included: repairing county roads and bridges, building and maintaining county buildings, such as county halls, court houses, and police stations, providing asylums for pauper lunatics, maintaining reformatory and industrial schools, providing polling stations for parliamentary elections, fish conservancy, control of wild birds, destructive insects, and contagious diseases in animals, weights and measures, licensing places of entertainment and race courses, levying rates, borrowing money, and hiring and dismissing county officers. By the time it was merged into the new Isle of Wight Council

, the Council provided a wide range of services, including education,

libraries A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

, youth services,

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or administe ...

, highway maintenance, waste disposal, emergency planning, consumer protection and

town and country planning Town and country planning in the United Kingdom is the part of English land law which concerns land use planning. Its goal is to ensure sustainable economic development and a better environment. Each country of the United Kingdom has its own ...

for matters to do with minerals, waste, highways and education. This made it the largest employer on the island.

Coat of arms

The Coat of arms of the Isle of Wight was first granted to the County Council in 1938. Valentine Dyall, ''Civic Heraldry of England and Wales'' (London: Hutchinson, 1954): “ISLE OF WIGHT County Council Arms: Azure, a silver castle with three towers between three gold anchors. CREST: On a wreath argent and azure, a gold mural crown charged with three anchors azure... These were granted in 1938. The blue field and the anchors represent the sea, and the castle is that of Carisbrooke, once the capital of the island. The supporters allude to farming and seafaring interests.” On its abolition in 1995, the right to use them transferred to the new Isle of Wight Council. The shield shows a simplified figure of

Carisbrooke Castle Carisbrooke Castle is a historic motte-and-bailey castle located in the village of Carisbrooke (near Newport), Isle of Wight, England. Charles I was imprisoned at the castle in the months prior to his trial. Early history The site of Carisbro ...

, the historic seat of the island’s royal governors, and the blue field and the anchors represent the sea. Underneath is the island's motto, "All this beauty is of God".

Notable members

(1890–1898, first Chairman) *

(Chairman 1898–1957) * Sir Edgar Chatfeild-Clarke (1900–1925) * Patrick Seely, 3rd Baron Mottistone (1934–1938) * Mark Woodnutt (1950s) * Stephen Ross, Baron Ross of Newport (1967–1974, 1981–1985, Leader in the 1970s)"Obituary: Lord Ross of Newport"
in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 12 May 1993, accessed 3 May 2020

References

{{Former county councils of England Former county councils of England 1890 establishments in England 1995 disestablishments in England Local authorities in the Isle of Wight

History

Responsibilities

Coat of arms

Notable members

See also

References