By John Taylor
As we mark Middlesex Day on May 16th, John Taylor takes us over the history of our county.
Middlesex dates back to the 8th Century, but on the 1st April 1965, the county administra-tively disappeared, when the Greater London Council (GLC) was created. Parts of the for-mer Middlesex that were not incorporated into Greater London were absorbed into Hert-fordshire, or Surrey. Many people have nos-talgic feelings for the former county and still refer to “living in Middlesex”.
(Editors note; Reasons that Middlesex is in-deed still alive and well have been laid out in Sunbury Matters in previous issues and we most certainly support the fact that Sunbury is in the county of Middlesex and not Surrey)
The county lies within the London Basin, and three rivers provide most of its boundaries, the Thames in the south, the Lea to the east and the Colne to the west, whilst a line of hills forms the northern boundary with Hertford-shire. The history of Middlesex indicates there were settlements in the area that can be traced back thousands of years. Its name means territory of the middle Saxons. It has its roots in the Province of the Kingdom of Essex, although the extent of the territory is not clear, but it probably occupied at least the area of the current county and much of Hert-fordshire. This link to Essex endured through the Diocese of London, which was re-established in 604, and its boundaries contin-ued to be based on the Kingdom of Essex until the nineteenth century. Early govern-ment for the county was possibly established in the 10th century. The City of London was a county corporate from the 12th century and was able to exert political control over Mid-dlesex, including the right to appoint the Sheriff of Middlesex, and the counties assizes were held at the Old Bailey, London. Middle-sex had parliamentary representation from the 13th century.
Local government was run by the parish ves-tries of householders who often met in the church vestry. The Local Government Act of 1888 created 62 county councils in England and Wales, and therefore about 20% of the historic county of Middlesex was incorpo-rated into the new administrative County of London. In 1894 administration for the county was divided into four rural districts and thirty-one urban districts. Outside the metropolitan area Middlesex remained largely rural until the middle of the 19th century, when along with the arrival of the railway, there was a shift away from agriculture towards large scale house building. After World War 1, the availability of labour and proximity to the capital made the county ideal for developing new industries, including the location of facilities for the growing film industry. New jobs attracted more people, to the area and the population contin-ued to rise reaching a peak in 1951 of over two million. The Greater London Government Act of 1963 created a new body covering more of London rather than just the inner part of the capi-tal. The Act abolished the administrative counties of Middlesex and London, and in April 1965 nearly all of the area of the historic county of Middlesex became part of the new Greater Lon-don. Sunbury on Thames Urban District and Staines Urban District became administratively parts of Surrey.
The counties name has been retained for many institutions, including Middlesex County Cricket Club, Middlesex County Rugby Union, and Middlesex University. Many famous people were born in the county including, Jimmy Page, Elton John, David Attenborough, Michelle Ryan, Anthony Horowitz, Julia McKenzie, and Clive Anderson. Former Poet Laureate Sir John Betje-man, published several poems about the county, and many were featured in the 1973 television documentary Metroland.
“An acre in Middlesex is better than a principality in Utopia” quotation by Thomas Babington Macaulay.