Soke of Peterborough
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Administration | |
|---|---|
| Status: | Administrative county |
| HQ: | Peterborough |
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| History | |
| Created: | 1889 |
| Abolished: | 1965 |
| Succeeded by: | Huntingdon and Peterborough |
| Population | |
| 1901: | 41,122 |
| 1961: | 74,758 |
The Soke of Peterborough is an area in England that is traditionally associated with the city of Peterborough, and the Bishop and Diocese of Peterborough, but considered part of Northamptonshire. It was also described as the liberty of Peterborough, or Nassaburgh.
The civil government of the liberty was vested in the Marquis of Exeter, as lord of the hundred, a custos rotulorum, magistrates appointed by the crown, and a high bailiff of the city appointed by the dean and chapter of Peterborough Cathedral[1]. It had a separate court of Quarter Sessions, which acted as the county administration. [2]. The Quarter Sessions for example set up the Liberty of Peterborough Constabulary in 1857 (under the County and Borough Police Act 1856).
Under the Local Government Act 1888, the Soke became an administrative county in its own right, with an elected county council taking over the administrative functions of the Quarter Sessions. From 1894 the Soke was divided into three local government districts - the municipal borough of Peterborough, and the two rural districts of Peterborough and Barnack.
The administrative county included some Huntingdonshire suburbs of the city of Peterborough, and had an area of approximately 216.37 km² with only one, minor, boundary change in its lifetime.
The county's population, as recorded at the ten-yearly censuses[3], was:
- 1901: 41,122
- 1911: 44,718
- 1921: 46,959
- 1931: 51,839
- 1939: 58,303 (estimate)
- 1951: 63,791
- 1961: 74,758
The Soke had a very small population for a county, and so in 1965 the administration was merged with that of the neighbouring small county of Huntingdonshire to form the slightly more viable administrative county of Huntingdon and Peterborough. In 1974 the area became part of the non-metropolitan county of Cambridgeshire.
Since 1998, an area broadly corresponding to the Soke, now called the City of Peterborough, is a unitary authority. Because of intervening development and a New town project in Peterborough, this has a much larger population than the Soke had.
For parliamentary purposes, the city formed a parliamentary borough returning two members from 1541, with the rest of the Soke being part of Northamptonshire parliamentary county. The 1832 Reform Act did not affect the borough, while the rural portion of the Soke was included in the northern division of Northamptonshire. In 1885 the borough's representation was reduced to one member. In 1918 a new Peterborough constituency was formed including the whole of the Soke and neighbouring parts of the administrative county of Northamptonshire. In 1948 the boundaries of the constituency were adjusted to correspond to those of the Soke[4].
[edit] References
- ^ Lewis, Samuel, Topographical Dictionary of England, Vol. III, London 1831
- ^ Description of Peterborough in 1840
- ^ Vision of Britain
- ^ Yongs, F.A. Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Volume II: Northern England, London, 1991
