Correct nomenclature for Counties (!)

[snaggletooth]

Thank you all (especially NecroMancer) for your contributions. The short list I posted (after removing all the obviously correct lines I had) came mainly from the posted census material. I guess it depended on who you talked to... :-)

Nice to have it tidy...

Paul
Australia

[behindthefrogs]

Three comments on necromancer's reply.

You should always say Nottinghamshire and Buckinghamshire to avoid confusion with the city and town.

The "shire" is rarely if ever added to Somerset.

Strictly the City of London has always been what is now the business area.  The areas of Middlesex which were incorporated into London in 1880 should not be referred to as the City.  London was expanded again in 1968 to incorporate what are now the London Boroughs.  These included the rest of Middlesex, half of Surrey, some of Essex and a bit of Kent.

David

[Shropshire Lass]

Devonshire England - fine
Ilminster, SOMERSET(SHIRE) England

Does anyone use Devonshire and Somersetshire?  I've never heard them used.

Monica

[Little Nell]

Jane Austen uses Devonshire in Sense & Sensibility - in this particular instance, I think I will disagree with Miss Austen. 

Nell

[Necromancer]

Thanks for the clarifications - please note that my (SHIRE) shown thus was intended to mean optional use..... and in fact rare as it is for Somerset and Devon, a simple plug into Google will reveal useage now and in yesteryears ..... not to mention the Royal Navy's habit of naming ships !

London / Middlesex - yes, CITY was incorrect useage. Altho' from the point of view of pre-1871 census searches, Middlesex is dominant useage - even if you were born/lived in Leadenhall Street for example.

Not sure where 1880 fits in ?

and

London was expanded again in 1968 to incorporate what are now the London Boroughs

.

I think you'll find that 1963 proposals were implemented in 1965.

[Little Nell]

I think that was an approximate date given.  The correct date is 1889 when

the Administrative County of London was formed from the City of London, and parts of Middlesex, Kent and Surrey and was divided into boroughs.

Nell

[acorngen]

Lancaster and Chester pre date Lancashire and Cheshire.  Chester is actually an old saxon word for Fort which is a corruption of the roman Caestra meaing Fort.  Lancaster is a pre medieval town also with roots in Roman times the Caster again being a saxon corruption of Caestra.  The counties were named in the Saxon/viking periods and the corruption of place names comes prior to this.

As for Hundreds these were only as a rule south of the Danelaw.  North of this point we have Wapentakes.  Essex and Sussex is East Saxons and South Saxons.  Middlesex is middle Saxons and Wessex is West Saxons.  Devon and Cornwall were never truly overrun with the Saxons so retained their old celtic names.  Wales is Wealh which is saxon for foreigner.  County and town names is a lot more complicated than this thread as made out.

Jumping back to the hundreds.  Sussex also as Rapes

Rob

[Necromancer]

Thanks Rob - I'd always wondered about Hundreds vs Wapentakes.

Much appreciated.

[behindthefrogs]

Whoops.  That will teach me to pull dates out of my head instead of checking them.  You are of course right.  The introduction of county councils and the London County Council was 1889, while the Greater London Council first met in 1965.

David