The
County Borough of Dudley was a local government district in the English Midlands from 1865 to 1974. Originally a
municipal borough, it became a
county borough in 1889, centred on the main town centre of
Dudley, along with the suburbs of
Netherton and
Woodside. Although surrounded by
Staffordshire, the borough was associated with
Worcestershire for non-administrative purposes, forming an exclave of the county until 1966, when it was transferred to Staffordshire after an expansion of the borough boundaries. Following local government reorganization in 1974, Dudley took in the boroughs of
Halesowen and
Stourbridge to form the present-day
Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the newly formed
West Midlands county.