Rochdale was, from 1856 to 1974, a local government district coterminate with the town of Rochdale in the northwest of England.
Municipal borough
In January 1856 the inhabitant householders of the Parliamentary Borough of Rochdale, Lancashire, petitioned the Privy Council for the grant of a charter of incorporation under the Municipal Corporations Act constituting the town as a municipal borough. The petition was successful and the charter was granted in September 1856. In 1858 the borough corporation took over the powers of the Rochdale Improvement Commissioners, which had been established by private act of parliament (6 Geo. 4. c. cxxviii) in 1825 to watch, light and cleanse the town. The borough was extended in 1872.
County borough
The Local Government Act 1888 constituted all municipal boroughs with a population of more than 50,000 as "county borough"s. Accordingly, the County Borough of Rochdale came into existence in 1889, with the powers of both a borough and a county council. Rochdale remained within Lancashire for certain purposes such as lieutenancy and administration of justice.
In 1900 the county borough absorbed the bulk of the neighbouring Castleton Urban District by mutual agreement. The borough boundaries were extended again in 1933 by a county review order.
The county borough was abolished in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972. Its area formed part of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale in the new county of Greater Manchester.
Borough council
Under the charter of 1856 the borough was governed by a town council consisting of a mayor, ten aldermen and thirty councillors. The borough was divided into three wards: Castleton and Wardleworth represented by twelve councillors and four aldermen each, and Spotland with six councillors and two aldermen. One third of the councillors in each ward were elected annually by the burgesses or local government electors. The aldermen were elected to a six-year term by the council itself, with half the aldermanic bench retiring every three years. The mayor was elected annually by the council from among their membership.
When the borough was extended in 1872, the council seats were redistributed and the borough was divided into ten wards, each with three councillors and one alderman, with the size of the council remaining at forty. When Castleton Urban District was absorbed in 1900, an eleventh ward of Castleton Moor was added, and the council increased to thirty-three councillors and eleven alderman. In 1933 the bulk of Norden Urban District was added to the borough as a twelfth ward, and the council consisted of thirty-six councillors and twelve aldermen until its abolition in 1974.
Politics
For the first seven decades of the borough's existence it was dominated by the Liberal Party, who maintained a large majority. Conservatives formed an opposition grouping, and Socialist and Independent Labour Party councillors appeared from the end of the nineteenth century. From the nineteen thirties the Liberal hegemony began to be challenged, with an increase in the number of Labour and Conservative members, and there was no one grouping in control. By the nineteen sixties control alternated between Liberals/Conservative and Labour administrations.
Election results 1933–1972
The following list shows the numbers of councillors and aldermen of each party following the annual borough elections. There were no elections from 1939 to 1944 due to the Second World War. Elections due in November 1948 were postponed until May 1949, with municipal elections held in that month from then on. The final elections to the county borough council were held in 1972, with members holding office until abolition two years later.
Coat of arms
The Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of Rochdale were granted armorial bearings by letters patent dated 20 February 1857 sealed by Sir Charles George Young, Garter Principal King of Arms; James Pulman, Clarenceux King of Arms; and Robert Laurie, Norroy King of Arms.
The blazon was as follows:
Argent a wool-pack encircled by two branches of the cotton-tree flowered and conjoined proper, a bordure sable, charged with eight martlets of the field. And for the Crest: Upon a wreath of the colours, a mill-rind sable, and above a fleece argent banded or.