County Borough of Southend on Sea

County Borough of Southend-on-Sea
Area
• 1961	10,285 acres (41.6 km2)
Population
• 1961	165,093
History
• Created	1892
• Abolished	1974
Status	Local government district (1866–1892) Urban sanitary district (1875–1894) Municipal borough (1892–1914) Civil parish (1913–1974) County borough (1914–1974)
Government	Southend Local Board (1866–1892) Southend Corporation (1892–1974)
• Motto	Per Mare Per Ecclesiam (By Sea, By Church)
Coat of arms granted in 1915

County Borough of Southend-on-Sea was a local government district around the seaside resort of Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England. South End, as it was originally known was initially some fishermen's huts at the south end of the village of Prittlewell. Due to the growth of the settlement and the arrival of the ecclesiastical parish of St John the Baptist, in 1842, Southend formed a local board. In 1877, the local board merged back with Prittlewell, with the new Southend district also including the settlements of Westcliff-on-Sea and Chalkwell.^[1] When Essex County Council was formed in 1889, Southend was within the administrative county of Essex. The town was officially incorporated by charter as a municipal borough in 1892, and the council, known as Southend Corporation, changed the name of the town from Southend to Southend-on-Sea in 1893. Due to the rapid expansion of the town's population, in 1914 the town was made a county borough, divorcing itself from the county council and taking control of all the town's services. In 1974 the county borough was dissolved, and replaced by a non-metropolitan district within the same boundaries. Two new authorities were created, with the powers split between Essex County Council and Southend-on-Sea District Council. The town became a unitary authority area in 1998, which returned the powers from the county council that had been lost in 1974.