Editing High Wycombe (section)

==Governance==
===Parliamentary constituency===
[[Wycombe (UK Parliament constituency)|Wycombe's political]] history extends back to 1295. The Wycombe Constituency had continuously elected [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] Members of Parliament since 1951 until the Labour Party was voted in during the May 2024 general election. 

High Wycombe has been home to two [[List of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom|Prime Ministers]]:

* [[William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne]], who lived at what is now [[Wycombe Abbey]] and was MP for the town.
* [[Benjamin Disraeli]], who lived at nearby [[Hughenden Manor]], was defeated as a [[Radicals (UK)|Radical]] candidate for the seat three times in the 1830s but won election in 1868 and 1874–1876 as a Conservative. Disraeli made his first political speech in Wycombe, from the portico over the door of the Red Lion Hotel at 9–10 High Street.<ref>{{NHLE|num=1125159|desc=Red Lion Hotel, 9 and 10 High Street|fewer-links=yes}}</ref>

High Wycombe was also in the constituency represented by [[John Hampden]] (1594-1643), a leading MP and [[Roundhead|Parliamentarian]] commander who was killed in action during the [[Wars of the Three Kingdoms]].

The town is represented by Labour MP Emma Reynolds.

The town until the 4th July 2024 General Election was represented by Conservative MP [[Steve Baker (politician)|Steve Baker]]. He was chairman of the eurosceptic [[European Research Group]] and was a junior minister in the [[Department for Exiting the European Union]] from 2017 to 2018. In July 2018, Baker resigned alongside Brexit Secretary [[David Davis (British politician)|David Davis]] and Foreign Secretary [[Boris Johnson]] in opposition to the [[Chequers plan]] proposed by Prime Minister [[Theresa May]].

===Local government===
[[File:Wycombe Town Hall (geograph 2370429).jpg|thumb|[[Municipal Offices, High Wycombe|Municipal Offices]], Queen Victoria Road, opened 1932.]]
Since 2020, there has only been one tier of local government covering High Wycombe, being the unitary authority of [[Buckinghamshire Council]]. The former High Wycombe Borough Council was abolished in 1974. Instead of a town council, the councillors elected to Buckinghamshire Council to represent the unparished part of High Wycombe also act as [[charter trustees]], meeting to choose the town's [[Mayor of High Wycombe|mayor]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Mayor Making |website=Mayor and Charter Trustees of High Wycombe |url=https://www.mayorofhighwycombe.co.uk/mayor-making |access-date=25 February 2024}}</ref>

{{Infobox former subdivision
| Name                   = High Wycombe
| AltName                = Chepping Wycombe (until 1946)
| subdivision_type       = [[Ancient borough|Ancient Borough]] (before 1237{{ndash}}1835)<br>[[Municipal Borough]] (1836{{ndash}}1974)
| HQ                     = High Wycombe
<!-- Statuses -->| Start                  = before 1237 (Ancient Borough)<br>1 January 1836 (Municipal Borough)
| End                    = 31 March 1974
| Replace                = [[Wycombe District]]
<!-- Memberships -->| membership_title1      = County Council
| membership1            = [[Buckinghamshire County Council|Buckinghamshire]]
| PopulationFirst        = 13,435
| PopulationLast         = 58,445
| PopulationFirstYear    = 1891<ref>{{cite web |title=Chepping Wycombe Urban Sanitary District |url=https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10137986 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=3 June 2022}}</ref>
| PopulationLastYear     = 1971<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10068435 |title=High Wycombe Municipal Borough, ''A Vision of Britain through Time'' |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=3 June 2022}}</ref>
}}

The [[ancient parish]] of Chepping Wycombe covered both the town of High Wycombe and a large rural area around it. To distinguish it from the neighbouring parish of [[West Wycombe]], the parish was historically known variously as East Wycombe, Great Wycombe, High Wycombe, Much Wiccomb,<ref name=EB1>{{citation |last= |first= |editor-last=Smellie |editor-first=William |editor-link=William Smellie |display-editors=0 |contribution=[[:s:Encyclopædia Britannica, First Edition/Chipping|Chipping]] |title=[[:s:EB1|Encyclopaedia Britannica]] |edition=1st |volume=II |date=1771 |location=Edinburgh |publisher=[[Colin Macfarquhar]] }}.</ref> Chipping,<ref name=EB1/> Chipping Wycombe, or Chepping Wycombe. The latter version eventually became the official name of parish, despite the town itself being more usually known as High Wycombe. The town does not appear to have been a [[ancient borough|borough]] at the time of the [[Domesday Book]] in 1086, but was being described as a borough by the 1180s. In the 1220s and 1230s there were disputes with the [[lord of the manor]], Alan Basset, as to the extent of the town's independence. These disputes were settled in favour of the town, with its borough rights being confirmed in 1237. Charters confirming the town's borough status were subsequently issued on a number of occasions.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Page |first1=William |title=A History of the County of Buckingham, Volume 3 |date=1925 |publisher=Victoria County History |location=London |pages=112–134 |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/bucks/vol3/pp112-134 |access-date=3 June 2022}}</ref> As part of the general overhaul of ancient boroughs across the country under the [[Municipal Corporations Act 1835]], the town became a [[municipal borough]] on 1 January 1836, under the name of Chepping Wycombe.<ref>{{cite book |title=Municipal Corporations Act 1835 |date=1835 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OetiAAAAcAAJ&dq=municipal+corporations+act+1835&pg=PA1 |access-date=3 June 2022}}</ref>

The borough only covered the built-up area of the town, rather than the whole parish. The borough council was therefore responsible for the secular elements of local government within its area, whereas the Chepping Wycombe parish [[vestry]] was responsible for secular matters in the part of the parish outside the borough, whilst being responsible for ecclesiastical matters across the whole parish, including the borough. In 1866, under the [[poor rate|Poor Law Amendment Act 1866]], the old parish of Chepping Wycombe was split into two civil parishes: one called "Wycombe" or "Wycombe Borough" which covered the area of Chepping Wycombe municipal borough, and another parish which retained the name "[[Chepping Wycombe]]" which covered the rural parts of the old parish outside the borough.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Youngs |first1=Frederic A. |title=Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Volume 1: Southern England |date=1979 |publisher=Royal Historical Society |location=London |page=43}}</ref>

By that time, the urban area was starting to expand beyond the old borough boundaries into the newly separated parish of Chepping Wycombe, particularly in the [[Wycombe Marsh]] area. To deal with growing urbanisation in its area, the parish of Chepping Wycombe was declared to be a [[local board of health|local government district]] in 1868, governed by a local board.<ref>{{cite news |title=Wycombe: Parish Local Board |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ |access-date=2 June 2022 |work=Bucks Herald |date=7 March 1868 |location=Aylesbury |page=6}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Local Government Act, 1858: Notice of Adoption of Act by the Parish of Chepping Wycombe, in the County of Bucks |journal=London Gazette |date=10 March 1868 |issue=23360 |page=1591 |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/23360/page/1591 |access-date=3 June 2022}}</ref> The situation was partially simplified in 1880 when the local board was abolished and the borough boundaries were extended to cover the more built-up parts of Chepping Wycombe parish. The parish boundaries were not changed at the same time to match, making the Chepping Wycombe Borough Council responsible for all of the Wycombe parish area and part of the Chepping Wycombe parish area.<ref>{{cite book |title=Chepping Wycombe Borough Extension Act 1880 |date=1880 |publisher=H.M. Stationery Office |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=slw1AQAAMAAJ&dq=chepping+wycombe+borough+extension+1880&pg=RA14-PA3 |access-date=3 June 2022}}</ref>

When parish and district councils were established under the [[Local Government Act 1894]], it was stipulated that parishes could not straddle district boundaries. The Chepping Wycombe parish was therefore split again in December 1894, with the part within the borough becoming "Chepping Wycombe Urban" and the part outside it becoming "Chepping Wycombe Rural". Chepping Wycombe Rural was placed in the [[Wycombe Rural District]], whilst the Chepping Wycombe Municipal Borough covered the two parishes of Wycombe and Chepping Wycombe Urban. The two parishes within the borough merged on 30 September 1896 to form a single parish called High Wycombe, although the official name of the borough council which governed that parish remained "Chepping Wycombe Borough Council" until 1 August 1946, when it changed its name to "High Wycombe Borough Council".<ref>{{cite news |title=Bucks County Council: Uniting the parishes of Wycombe |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ |access-date=3 June 2022 |work=South Bucks Standard |date=14 February 1896 |location=High Wycombe |page=5}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Annual Report of the Local Government Board |date=1897 |publisher=Her Majesty's Stationery Office |location=London |page=276 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WwpJAQAAMAAJ&q=annual+report+of+the+local+government+board |access-date=3 June 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Census Report 1951: County Report for Buckinghamshire |date=1953 |publisher=General Register Office |page=8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aZohD8cMkNcC&q=chepping+wycombe+borough+1946 |access-date=3 June 2022 |quote=On 1st August 1946 under Section 5 of the High Wycombe Corporation Act 1946, Chepping Wycombe M.B. was renamed High Wycombe.}}</ref> The surrounding Chepping Wycombe Rural parish changed its name to Chepping Wycombe parish in 1949.

From 1757 until 1932 the borough council met at the [[High Wycombe Guildhall|Guildhall]]. The council built [[High Wycombe Town Hall|Town Hall]] on Queen Victoria Road in 1904 as a public assembly hall and entertainment venue, with the intention of later extending it to also serve as council offices and meeting place, but the extension was never built. Instead, the council built the [[Municipal Offices, High Wycombe|Municipal Offices]] on Queen Victoria Road in 1932, which then acted as its meeting place and offices until the council's abolition in 1974.<ref>{{cite book|title=Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70|publisher=The Stationery Office Ltd|isbn=0-10-547072-4|year=1997}}</ref>

From 1974 to 2020, High Wycombe formed part of [[Wycombe District]], with its council being based at the former borough council's Municipal Offices (renamed District Council Offices) on Queen Victoria Road. Following further local government reorganisation in 2020 Wycombe District was abolished to become part of [[Buckinghamshire Council]].

===Weighing the mayor===
A ceremony carried out in the town since 1678<ref>{{cite web|author=Lawrence Dunhill |url=http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/8912971.Weights_will_not_be_read_out_at_ceremony_to_save_embarrassment/ |title=Weights will not be read out at ceremony to save embarrassment |website=Bucks Free Press |date=16 March 2011 |access-date=25 February 2024}}</ref> involves the [[Mayor of High Wycombe|weighing of the mayor]]. At the beginning and end of each year of service, the mayor is weighed in full view of the public to see whether or not he or she has gained weight, presumably at the taxpayers' expense. The custom, which has survived to the present day, employs the same weighing apparatus used since the 19th century. When the result is known, the [[town crier]] announces "And no more!" if the mayor has not gained weight or "And some more!" if they have. Their actual weight is not declared.<ref name="Roud">{{cite book |first=Stephen |last=Roud |title=The English Year: A month-by-month guide to the Nation's customs and festivals from May Day to Mischief Night |publisher=Penguin |date=2006 |isbn=9780140515541 |oclc=70671478}}{{Page needed|date=February 2024}}</ref>