Shires of Scotland - Counties From 1890 To 1975

Counties From 1890 To 1975

Caithness Sutherland Ross and Cromarty Inverness-shire Nairnshire County of Moray (also known as Elginshire until 1918) Banffshire Aberdeenshire Kincardineshire Angus (Forfarshire until 1928) Perthshire Argyll County of Bute Ayrshire Renfrewshire Dunbartonshire Stirlingshire Clackmannanshire Kinross-shire Fife East Lothian (Haddingtonshire until 1921) Midlothian (County of Edinburgh until 1890) West Lothian (Linlithgowshire until 1924) Lanarkshire Peeblesshire Selkirkshire Berwickshire Roxburghshire Dumfriesshire Kirkcudbrightshire Wigtownshire Zetland (Shetland) Orkney

Further information: History of local government in the United Kingdom

The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 established county councils in Scotland. Unlike in England and Wales, where corresponding legislation created new entities called administrative counties, the Act amended the existing counties for local government purposes, including merging Ross and Cromartyshire into Ross and Cromarty, and setting up a boundary commission to make further changes as necessary. Generally speaking, exclaves were abolished, the only significant exclave left untouched being the part of Dunbartonshire between Stirlingshire and Lanarkshire.

These local government counties excluded from their area the 'counties of cities' in Scotland. Originally only the city and royal burgh of Edinburgh had this status, but Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen were added in 1893, 1894 and 1899 respectively. Each of these counties of cities were enlarged on a number of occasions at the expense of the surrounding counties. These are not shown on the map below as separate entities.