Marlborough County was one of the

counties of New Zealand A system of counties of New Zealand was instituted after the country dissolved its provinces in 1876, and these counties were similar to other countries' systems, lasting with little change (except mergers and other localised boundary adjustmen ...

on the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

. During the period 1853 to 1859, the area that would become Marlborough County was administered by

Nelson Province Nelson Province was constituted in 1853 under the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852, and originally covered the entire upper South Island, including all of present-day Buller, Kaikoura, Marlborough, and Tasman districts, along with Nelson Ci ...

. After a vote in 1859, the area that would become Marlborough County was administered as part of the new

Marlborough Province :''(For the current top-level subdivision of Nelson in New Zealand, see Marlborough region)'' The Marlborough Province operated as a province of New Zealand from 1 November 1859, when it split away from Nelson Province, until the abolition of pr ...

. With the Abolition of Provinces Act 1876, Marlborough County was created, taking over administration of its area on 1 January 1877. The county council's administrative headquarters was located in Blenheim Borough. Sometime before 1913, Sounds County, surrounding the

Picton Borough Picton ( mi, Waitohi) is a town in the Marlborough Region of New Zealand's South Island. The town is located near the head of the Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui, north of Blenheim and west of Wellington. Waikawa lies just north-east ...

administrative area, amalgamated into Marlborough County due to insufficient population to ever form its own county council. Marlborough County existed until the

1989 local government reforms The 1989 New Zealand local government reform was the most significant reform of local government in New Zealand in over a century. Some 850 local bodies were amalgamated into 86 local authorities, made up of regional and territorial levels. Backg ...

, when the

Marlborough District Marlborough District or the Marlborough Region (, or ''Tauihu''), commonly known simply as Marlborough, is one of the 16 regions of New Zealand, located on the northeast of the South Island. Marlborough is a unitary authority, both a distri ...

was formed through the amalgamation of the Marlborough County, Blenheim Borough and Picton Borough administrative areas.

References

Counties of New Zealand Marlborough Region {{Marlborough-geo-stub