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rural district Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of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

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

, England, from 1894 to 1934.

Formation

The district had its origins in the Royston

Rural Sanitary District 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 ...

. This had been created under the

Public Health Acts Public Health Act is a stock short title used in the United Kingdom for legislation relating to public health. List *The Public Health Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict c 63) *The Sanitary Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict c 90) is sometimes called the Public Health Ac ...

of 1872 and 1875, giving public health and local government responsibilities for rural areas to the existing

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. 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. Where rural sanitary districts straddled county boundaries, as Royston Rural Sanitary District did, they were to be split into separate rural districts in each county, but with provision that the relevant county councils could agree variations to this general rule with the approval of the

Local Government Board The Local Government Board (LGB) was a British Government supervisory body overseeing local administration in England and Wales from 1871 to 1919. The LGB was created by the Local Government Board Act 1871 (C. 70) and took over the public health a ...

. A joint committee of Cambridgeshire,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, and

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 ...

County Councils considered the question of the Royston Rural Sanitary District during 1894 prior to the Local Government Act coming into force, and agreed that the three Essex parishes in the sanitary district should not form a rural district on their own, but should be included in a rural district with the Cambridgeshire parishes, which would be called the Melbourn Rural District. The link between the new rural district and the poor law union continued, with all the elected councillors of the rural district council being ''ex officio'' members of the Royston Board of Guardians. The first meeting of the Melbourn Rural District Council was held on 2 January 1895 at the board room of the Royston Union Workhouse. William Clark of Thriplow was elected the council's first chairman, and he held the post for over thirteen years. The anomaly of Melbourn Rural District straddling Cambridgeshire and Essex was resolved less than a year after the district's creation, with the three Essex parishes of

Great Chishill Great Chishill is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Great and Little Chishill, in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. The village is about east of the county boundary with Hertford ...

, Little Chishill and Heydon being transferred from Essex to Cambridgeshire on 30 September 1895. Whilst agreement had been reached for how to treat the Essex parishes during 1894 prior to the Local Government Act coming into force, the situation regarding the town of Royston took longer to resolve. Royston straddled Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire. There was a parish of Royston and a larger

special drainage district Drainage districts occur in England and Wales, varying in size from a few hundred acres to over , all in low-lying areas of the country where flood risk management and land drainage are sensitive issues. Most drainage districts are administered by ...

which included Royston parish and parts of four neighbouring parishes. Both the parish and the special drainage district were partly in Hertfordshire and partly in Cambridgeshire. A joint committee of Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire County Councils held inquiries during 1894 trying to reach agreement as to how best to deal with Royston. No solution that would keep the town together could be found that was acceptable to the two county councils. Therefore, when the Local Government Act came into force at the end of the year, Royston parish was split along the county boundary through the middle of the town into a Royston (Hertfordshire) parish and a Royston (Cambridgeshire) parish, with the Cambridgeshire parish being included within the Melbourn Rural District and the Hertfordshire part in the

Ashwell Rural District Ashwell Rural District was a rural district in Hertfordshire, 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 a ...

. The special drainage district was likewise split into a North Royston Special Drainage District and a South Royston Special Drainage District, with the former being administered by the new Melbourn Rural District Council. The question of how the town of Royston should be governed took another couple of years to resolve after the Local Government Act had come into force. Competing proposals were put forward from the two county councils, with both Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire wanting the whole town. Eventually, the

directed that town should all be placed in Hertfordshire, and on 30 September 1896 the parish of Royston (Cambridgeshire) and the parts of the Cambridgeshire parishes of Bassingbourn, Kneesworth, and Melbourn that were within the North Royston Special Drainage District were removed from the Melbourn Rural District and transferred to the Ashwell Rural District in Hertfordshire. The following year they would become part of the new Royston Urban District.

Parishes

Melbourn Rural District contained the following

civil parish 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 ...

es. After the northern part of Royston had been removed from the district in 1896, Melbourn Rural District consisted of a number of rural parishes in the area broadly north and east of Royston.

Premises

Although named after

Melbourn Melbourn () is a large, clustered village in the far south-west of Cambridgeshire, England. Its traditional high street is bypassed by the A10, intersecting the settlement's other main axis exactly northwest of the traditional focal point of R ...

, the district's largest village, the council remained based in the town of Royston, reflecting the district's origins in the Royston Poor Law Union. The council generally met at the board room of the Royston Union Workhouse on Baldock Road in Royston.

Abolition

Melbourn Rural District was abolished under a

County Review Order 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 boar ...

, merging with other districts to form the

South Cambridgeshire Rural District South Cambridgeshire was a rural district in Cambridgeshire, England established in 1934 under a County Review Order as a merger of Linton Rural District and Melbourn Rural District and part of Caxton and Arrington Rural District. In 1965 it b ...

on 1 April 1934.Ministry of Health Order No. 78163: The Cambridgeshire (Rural Areas) Review Order, 1934

References

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