County Borough of Southend on Sea: History
South End, as it was originally known, was initially some fishermen's huts at the south end of the village and parish of Prittlewell. Southend grew rapidly in the 19th century, and more modern forms of local government were needed to administer the growing town. Although Southend became a separate ecclesiastical parish from Prittlewell in 1842 following the construction of St John the Baptist's Church, it remained part of the civil parish of Prittlewell. In 1866 a local government district called Southend was established just covering the southern part of Prittlewell parish around the nascent town itself. The district was administered by an elected local board with various powers relating to public health and local government.
From 1872 such local government districts were also classed as urban sanitary districts. In 1875 the local board gained powers to purchase Southend Pier.
The Southend district was enlarged in 1877 to cover the whole parish of Prittlewell, which brought Prittlewell village and other areas into the district, including the hamlets of Chalkwell and Milton, both of which subsequently developed into suburbs of Southend, the latter becoming known as Westcliff-on-Sea.
In 1892, Southend was incorporated to become a municipal borough. The borough covered the same area as the old Southend local government district, being the parish of Prittlewell. An inquiry into the proposed incorporation was held in October 1891, at which there was extensive support for the town's incorporation and the extra powers and prestige that would bring. Several people at the inquiry petitioned the government to make the name of the new borough Southend-on-Sea rather than just Southend. A charter of incorporation was issued on 5 August 1892. The charter also confirmed the name of the new borough to be Southend-on-Sea. The borough was then governed by a body formally called the "Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of the borough of Southend-on-Sea", generally known as the corporation.
The parish of Southchurch was absorbed by the borough of Southend-on-Sea on 1 November 1897, after which the borough contained the two parishes of Prittlewell and Southchurch; as urban parishes they were ineligible for parish councils and the corporation was the lowest elected tier of local government.
In 1913, Southend Corporation put forward a bill to the House of Lords in 1913 to gain the status of county borough, which was not objected to by Essex County Council. It also expanded the borough by adding the former area of Leigh-on-Sea Urban District, consisting of the parish of Leigh (1527 acres), and part of the parish of Eastwood (383 acres) from Rochford Rural District. To coincide with the enlargement the civil parishes within the borough were combined to form a single parish of Southend-on Sea.
The bill was passed as the Southend-on-Sea Corporation Act 1913 (3 & 4 Geo. 5. c. cv) and the town became a county borough in 1914, taking over county-level local government functions from Essex County Council. The borough remained part of Essex for other purposes such as judicial functions.
In 1933 the borough was expanded by gaining territory of Rochford Rural District consisting of parts of the parishes of Eastwood (1342 acres), Great Wakering (156 acres), North Shoebury (including the village) (499 acres) and Shopland (201 acres). At the same time, the former area of Shoeburyness Urban District, consisting of the parish of South Shoebury (1031 acres) was gained. …