Editing Henley-on-Thames (section)

==Governance==
There are three tiers of local government covering Henley, at [[civil parish]] (town), [[non-metropolitan district|district]], and [[non-metropolitan county|county]] level: Henley-on-Thames Town Council, [[South Oxfordshire District Council]], and [[Oxfordshire County Council]]. The town council is based at [[Henley Town Hall]] in the Market Place.<ref>{{cite web |title=Contact us |url=https://www.henleytowncouncil.gov.uk/get-in-touch/contact |website=Henley-on-Thames Town Council |access-date=17 December 2024}}</ref>

===Administrative history===
Henley-on-Thames was an [[ancient parish]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Henley on Thames Ancient Parish / Civil Parish |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10331602 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=17 December 2024}}</ref> The town was also an [[ancient borough]] from the middle ages. Its date of becoming a borough is not known; it appears to have been a [[seigneurial borough]] under the control of the [[lord of the manor]], who allowed the town's [[merchant guild]] to effectively run the town. The town's first [[municipal charter]] was granted in 1568 by [[Elizabeth I]].<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Lewis |editor1-first=Samuel |editor1-link=Samuel Lewis (publisher) |orig-year=1848 |year=1931 |title=A Topographical Dictionary of England |chapter=Hendred, East – Henstead |edition=Seventh |place=London |publisher=[[Samuel Lewis (publisher)|Samuel Lewis]] |pages=478–482 |chapter-url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp478-482#h3-0015 |access-date=26 April 2014 |archive-date=3 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151003164615/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp478-482#h3-0015 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The borough was [[Unreformed boroughs in England and Wales 1835–1886|left unreformed]] when most boroughs across the country were standardised under the [[Municipal Corporations Act 1835]]. Government commissioners had concluded that Henley's corporation had too few functions and the town was too small to justify the cost of reform.<ref>{{cite book |title=First Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Municipal Corporations in England and Wales: Part 1 |date=1835 |pages=71–74 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/First_Report_of_the_Commissioners_Appoin/7pNRAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=RA1-PA71&printsec=frontcover |access-date=17 December 2024}}</ref> The old borough corporation continued to exist, but did not qualify for any subsequent new local government powers. In order to provide more modern forms of local government, notably including the provision of sewers, a separate [[Local board of health#Local Government Act 1858|local government district]] with an elected local board had to be set up in 1864. The local board then operated alongside the unreformed borough corporation until 1883, when the borough was eventually reformed to become a [[municipal borough]]. The reformed borough corporation (also known as the town council) took on the abolished local board's functions.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Townley |editor1-first=Simon |title=A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 16 |date=2011 |publisher=Boydell and Brewer |location=Woodbridge |pages=104–119 |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol16/pp104-119 |access-date=17 December 2024 |chapter=Henley: Local Government}}</ref>

The borough of Henley-on-Thames was abolished in 1974 under the [[Local Government Act 1972]]. District-level functions passed to the new South Oxfordshire District Council.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972|year=1972|number=2039|accessdate=3 March 2023}}</ref> A [[successor parish]] called Henley-on-Thames was created covering the area of the abolished borough, with its parish council taking the name Henley-on-Thames Town Council.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Local Government (Successor Parishes) Order 1973|year=1973|number=1110}}</ref>