The
County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as
Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the
Local Government Act 1888. The Act created an
administrative County of London, which included within its territory the
City of London. However, the City of London and the County of London formed separate counties for "
non-administrative" purposes. The local authority for the county was the
London County Council (LCC), which initially performed only a limited range of functions, but gained further powers during its 76-year existence. The LCC provided very few services within the City of London, where the ancient
Corporation monopolised local governance, as it still does. In 1900 the lower-tier
civil parishes and district boards were replaced with 28 new metropolitan boroughs. The territory of the county was in 1961. During its existence there was a long-term
decline in population as more residents moved into the outer suburbs; there were periodic reviews of the local government structures in the greater London area and several failed attempts to expand the boundaries of the county. In 1965, the
London Government Act 1963 replaced the county with the much larger
Greater London administrative area.