Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue
  • Reference
    BorL
  • Title
    Borough of Luton Records
  • Date free text
    1845 onwards
  • Production date
    From: 1845 To: 2019
  • Admin/biog history
    Based on the oldest mentioned settlement in Bedfordshire and an early history as a royal manor, the Borough of Luton received its Royal Charter of Incorporation in 1876. Its motto 'Due to knowledge and labour' and its Arms both reflect the town's rapid transformation in the early part of the 19th Century from an ancient market town to the centre of the hat Industry and the strong tradition of civic independence, which has also set Luton apart from the County area as a whole. The closeley drawn boundaries of the Municipal Borough as defined in 1876 were extended by the successive boundary changes of 1895, 1925, 1933, 1939 and 1964 reflecting the Borough's continued rapid growth as a major urban and industrial centre during the 20th Century. A very minor further extension was made into Hertfordshire in 1989 to accomodate land for runway safety improvements at London Luton Airport. The history of Luton's growth to become one of the major industrial economies of the south east is one of positive community leadership and partnership between the Borough Council and the town's business and resident communities. Luton attained County Borough status in 1964. On the introduction of the two tier system of local government in 1974 Luton lost it's county borough status but retained management control over libraries until 1984 and continued to be a highway agency. In 1997 Luton Borough Council became a unitary authority. For ease of use the reference BorL is used regardless of the actual differences in remit of the borough council.
  • Scope and Content
    Material has come from a variety of council departments and occasional transfers from Luton library and museums. The collection is fragmentory and the cataloguing structure reflects the piecemeal intake of the collection. The collection is particularly strong on World War Two air raid precautions.
  • Level of description
    fonds
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