| AdminHistory | The parish of Aston is one of the largest of the ancient parishes in the city of Birmingham, lying towards the north east of the city in the county of Warwickshire. Its population increased rapidly during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, rising as sharply as Birmingham’s during the period 1821-1851. By 1891, when the population of central Birmingham had begun to fall, Aston’s population had surpassed that of its neighbour. Between 1841 and 1911 over half the population of Aston lived in the townships of Duddeston, Nechells, Bordesley and Deritend, the latter two having become part of the borough of Birmingham in 1838.
The increase in population in the part of the parish of Aston which remained outside the new borough of Birmingham after 1838 led to administrative changes prior to Aston’s later incorporation within the new city boundary. A Local Board of Health was created in 1869 for the whole district, including Lozells, under the provisions of the Local Government Act, 1858. Before 1869, urban growth had already led to the abolition of the position of Parish Surveyor of the Highways and the appointment by the ratepayers of a Board of Surveyors in 1865. This was followed in 1866 by the establishment of a Board of Lighting Inspectors to provide gas street lighting for the district. This body existed until 1870, when it was absorbed by the Aston Manor Local Board. The rest of Aston parish outside of Birmingham formed Aston Rural Sanitary District. The Parliamentary Act of 1885 also established Aston Manor as a parliamentary borough.
In 1875, Aston School Board was set up under the provisions of Forster’s Education Act 1870, as the education authority for the extra-municipal parish of Aston. Under the Education Act 1902, School Boards were abolished and Aston Manor Urban District Council was appointed as the local education authority for the district, with effect from July 1903 (see BCA/AL). Erdington, Castle Bromwich and Water Orton, which were formerly under the control of Aston School Board, were transferred to Warwickshire County Council. For other administrative purposes, the whole of the ancient parish, including those parts taken into Birmingham, remained a single civil parish until 1894, when it was divided into the civil parishes of Aston (the ancient parish area included in Birmingham), Aston Manor, Erdington, Castle Bromwich, and Water Orton, the last two becoming part of Castle Bromwich Rural District. Aston Manor and Erdington included the districts of Lozells and Witton. In 1894, under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1888, Aston Manor Local Board became Aston Manor Urban District Council, and on 9 November 1903 was incorporated as a municipal borough, with offices situated on the site of the present Albert Road Library.
Attempts had been made by Aston Manor to obtain municipal incorporation as early as 1876, but this, and later attempts in 1888, were opposed by Birmingham Corporation. The petition of 1901, however, was successful because it was supported by Birmingham Corporation, in exchange for financial support towards the maintenance of Aston Hall and Park. Its status as a municipal borough was relatively short-lived; it ceased to exist with the extension of the main city boundary in 1911, and its absorption by Birmingham Corporation, with the wards of Aston and Lozells (which formed part of Aston Manor) being incorporated into the rest of the city. |