Birkenhead Council

Birkenhead was originally only a township within the parish of Bidston. In 1833 the Birkenhead Improvement Commission was set up for the growing town. In 1877 Birkenhead became a corporation, and in 1888 a County Borough Council.

Birkenhead County Borough Council was abolished in 1974 when Wirral Borough Council was established. The Birkenhead local government collection consists of the following records.

Council Minutes

Minutes of the Improvement Commission, Birkenhead Corporation and Birkenhead County Borough Council (includes the minutes of Birkenhead Vestry)

Council Subcommittees and Departments

  • Allotments
  • Alwen Reservoir
  • Baths and Indoor Recreation
  • Bidston Hill
  • Boundaries
  • Children’s Homes
  • Coal Contracts
  • Contagious Diseases (Animals)
  • Corporation Ferry, including the Woodside, North Birkenhead, and Liverpool Steam Ferry Company (includes some staff records)
  • Distress / Unemployed Relief
  • Estates
  • Finance
  • Fire Brigade
  • Gas, Water and Electricity
  • General Purposes
  • Hospitality
  • Housing
  • Improvement
  • Incorporation
  • Industrial Development
  • Land Purchase
  • Libraries, Museums and Arts
  • Lighting
  • Lodging Houses
  • Lunatic Asylums
  • Management Services and Establishment
  • Markets
  • Maternity and Child Welfare
  • Mayoralty
  • Medical Officer of Health
  • Mental Deficiency Acts
  • Mersey Docks
  • Mersey Tunnel
  • Mortgagees
  • Parks and Cemeteries
  • Parliamentary
  • Planning
  • Police Force (includes some wages books)
  • Policy
  • Post Office
  • Public Works Department
  • Rating and Valuation
  • Roads
  • Sanitary / Cleansing
  • School Board / Education Committee
  • Science and Art
  • Shops Act
  • Social Services
  • Special Committees
  • Surveyor’s Office
  • Town Clerk (letter books)
  • Town Hall
  • Tramways / Transport
  • Wages
  • Watch
  • Welfare

Special Committees for the First World War

  • Food Supply, Production and Distribution
  • National Service

Special Committees for the Second World War

  • Air Raid Precautions and Civil Defence
  • Clothing
  • Communal Feeding
  • War Damage

Maps and Plans

  • Birkenhead Borough Engineer and Surveyor, and Borough Architect
  • Building plans