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The equivalent, burgh, was used in Scotland. Bury often ends towns' names in the South of England, but -borough more often in the Midlands. -Bury is more common in America's New England — but -burg in the American South and West. A variant spelling seen in many place names is Brough, normally pronounced "bruh."
Throughout England, Borough is pronounced 'burruh' or 'bruh', and burgh is pronounced 'bruh'; in Scotland borough and burgh are both pronounced 'burra'; in America, borough is pronounced "burrow" or "borrow." The name derives from the Old English word burh, meaning "fortified town."
In England, Boroughs were created for two purposes.
1. To establish certain rights vis a vis the local lords.
These Boroughs generally were governed by a corporation, generally self-selected (ie when a member died or resigned his replacement would be co-opted rather than elected). Sometimes boroughs were governed by bailiffs or headboroughs.
2. To be represented in parliament ( parliamentary boroughs)
Towns were granted borough status by Royal Charter. Representation in Parliament was decided by the House of Commons itself, so in many cases a borough might have no corporation or mayor yet be represented in Parliament, or vice versa.
The 1832 Reform act disfranchised many boroughs, some of which were little more than hamlets. Some of the new industrial towns of the North were represented in parliament for the first time.
Debates on the Reform act had highlighted the variations in types of town government and a Royal Commission was set up to investigate. As a result, town government was regularised in 1835. All councils were to be elected with a standard franchise based on property.
At the same time a system was devised by which a town could petition Parliament to be given borough status.
In 1888 boroughs were divided into two sorts: county boroughs with powers similar to those of counties, and the ordinary municipal boroughs . Smaller towns were made into urban districts in 1894.
Various Reform acts gave more seats to the expanding boroughs, while disfranchising smaller ones. After 1884 voters in county and borough seats had the same franchise so the distinction was now less important.
In 1974 the old division between county and borough came to an end, with England being divided below county level into districts.
This change was to some extent reversed in the 1990s with some of the larger urban districts being given "unitary status", again with powers similar to counties.
The administrative districts of Greater London are also known as boroughs, apart from the City of London and the City of WestminsterThe City of Westminster is a London borough and a city in its own right, situated to the west of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It was extended in 1965 to include the former Metropolitan Boroughs of St. Marylebone and Paddington in the. Districts elsewhere in the country have the status of 'borough', which entitles them to have a mayorIn the United Kingdom, the office of Mayor or Lord Mayor had long been a ceremonial post, with little or no duties attached to it. The most famous example is that of the Lord Mayor of London. Traditionally towns, boroughs and cities have had the right to. There are also metropolitan boroughA metropolitan borough or metropolitan district is the style of a sub-division of a metropolitan county. The first metropolitan boroughs in England were created in London in 1899, ten years after the formation of London County Council. These were abolishes and county boroughs.
BoroughThe definitions of the political subdivisions of New York State differ from those in certain other countries or even various other U. states, leading to misunderstandings regarding the governmental nature of an area. Some of the subordinate political divi is also the name used to describe the political subdivisions of New York CitySkyline, with Statue of Liberty New York, New York" redirects here. For alternate meanings, see New York, New York (disambiguation). New York — officially named City of New York and often called New York City to distinguish it from the state of New York,. Each borough corresponds to, and is coterminous with, a countyOriginally, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count (in Great Britain, an earl, though the original earldoms covered larger areas) by reason of that office. The term has since tended to represent a tertiary geographical unit of administrat of New York State. The five boroughs that make up the city are:
The U.S. state of Alaska is divided into boroughs, corresponding to the counties of most other States. Each borough has a borough seat which serves a purpose similar to a county seat in other U.S. states. However, most of the land area of the state is not under any borough-level government. The United States Census Bureau has divided the remainder of Alaska into census areas for statistical purposes.
A self-governing city or town in some U.S. States, such as Pennsylvania, is called a borough, sometimes spelled (in the municipality's name) boro. In some states (although not in Pennsylvania), boroughs may be grouped together under a governing township.
In Quebec, the term borough is used as the English translation of the French arrondissement, meaning an administrative division of a major city. Prior to the amalgamation of the City of Toronto, Ontario had one borough, East York.
New Zealand formerly used the term "borough" (pronounced 'burra') to designate self-governing towns of smaller than city size.