British overseas cities

British overseas cities on British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies are remaining key places of the former far-reaching British Empire, which was a vast holding of many regions, countries, protectorates and territories. A number of notable settlements within England and constituent countries of the grouping from the medieval period onwards were granted city status by British monarchs. This is a honorific title only which grants no additional civic privileges, but it could confer a sense of increased local pride, additional prestige along with international notability and recognition to an area.

Primarily from the 20th century many territories gained independence, and this caused a reduction in the number of cities remaining within the Empire. These overseas lands did not form part of the modern United Kingdom except for Ireland, and later Northern Ireland. Today, the British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies remain outside the UK, but the power to designate cities continues to be vested ultimately with the UK government and the present sovereign Charles III, who is also the head of state for these lands. There are (as of 2022) presently four cities in the Overseas Territories, and one on a Crown Dependency.

Current overseas cities

Map of cities in Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies

History

British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies cities began as settlements in foreign lands controlled by England during medieval times from the 12th century as English overseas possessions, later from 1707 after union with Scotland becoming termed as the British Empire comprising Crown Colonies, which after a reduction of these due to countries being granted independence, became known as the British Dependent Territories, and this further evolved into the present British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. As these sometimes far-flung lands became established, locals and British settlers from the most notable settlements began to request privileges as a validation of their importance, and city status was one of the more dignified honours handed out to a select few communities, other title types including becoming a borough.

In England where city status began, a number of settlements which contained a cathedral initially were regarded as important places, especially after the Norman Invasion, with Norman leaders requesting that bishops base these within a recognisable location closer to the population. Later on, many of these notable towns were formally given city status using a legal instrument such as a city charter and later using letters patent. Certain overseas territories such Ireland began to follow this trend until the later 1800s, after which the designation became disassociated to cathedrals and other merits came into play, such as population size.

Ireland and Northern Ireland

The first English overseas expansion occurred as early as 1169, when the Norman invasion of Ireland began to establish English possessions in Ireland, with it initially styled as a lordship and later a dependent kingdom, before full union with the UK in 1800. City status there tended historically to be granted by royal charter. The criteria depended less on the presence of a cathedral, and there are many towns in Ireland with Church of Ireland cathedrals that have never been called cities. In 1923 Ireland was partitioned and became an independent state; Northern Ireland continues to be a part of the UK.

France

Prior to the commune status that cities in France presently hold, in medieval times French Normans from the House of Normandy, English Angevin and Plantagenet kings held large swathes of territory such as the Duchy of Normandy as part of the wider Angevin Empire for which the ownership was continually disputed and culminated in the Hundred Years War. Normandy was held until 1204 but forfeited to French kings, and remaining French land was held with them being feudal tenants-in-chief, so any control of city privileges continued to lay with French nobility and monarchs.

During the period a number of towns were given charters with varying levels of self-government and status. The grant of city status was much like England, generally based on cathedral status. This was sometimes confirmed by the use of city seals which were not necessarily connected to the presence of a church, although France was one of the more highly populated European countries of the period and had many cathedrals, by which more heavily inhabited areas were more likely to be given privileges.

Crown colonies and British overseas expansion

As the English empire expanded into the New World and parts of the old at the end of the medieval age, there were calls from these early communities for self-governance and charters were issued occasionally, sometimes by local governors which were ratified by monarchs. Unlike England, these early grants did not depend on the settlement having an ecclesiastical centre. Although many settlements had begun to build churches, the Church of England had not begun to create overseas dioceses until 1787, and the Colonial Office were given the power to declare cities in Crown colonies by letters patent when appointing bishops after a cathedral had been established. The first overseas place in this period to have a diocese in place (1793) and cathedral (1804) before a grant of city status (1832) was Quebec City, Canada. Later, Gibraltar, Jamestown, St Helena and several others were bestowed the status at the same time as the establishment of the diocese with diocesan letters patent instead of city status letters patent.

However, after a number of court cases, from 1863 the Privy Council ruled that the Church of England did not have jurisdiction over overseas dioceses in many circumstances where those countries had been given self-government, and therefore deprecating this short-lived tradition of royal grant establishing bishop sees at the same time as granting city status in the Empire, causing concerns on the patents issued; Goulburn in Australia for example found itself declared a city twice - once by letters patent in 1863 and once by law in 1885 after doubts arose to its status. As core colonies obtained local legislatures and dominions formed responsible government administrations (primarily those in present-day Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa), they adapted the laws of settlement incorporation and city status to be based on measures such as size of population and local revenue. Sensing the wind of change, creation of cities in the UK continued to be based on post-creation of dioceses until 1888 when the practice was discontinued, and later cities in Britain and overseas places such as Hamilton, Bermuda were instead granted the status by petitioning monarchs via officials or on royal occasions such as jubilees.

(brackets) contain former place names which the original grant may reference

* a select number of notable cities granted the status by responsible government administrations (given the status by local legislature without royal prerogative) but prior to independence are indicated

Post British Empire

The description of the remaining overseas lands were changed from colonies and 'dependencies of the crown' in 1983 to British Dependent Territories and later either British Overseas Territories from 2002 and Crown Dependencies. The last populated city of significance was Victoria, Hong Kong with its parent territory reverting to China in 1997, leaving relatively small resident populations in the remaining cities. Since the second Millennium, competitions have been arranged by the government to grant the status to UK settlements and this power remains delegated to it and the monarch. In 2021, submissions for city status were invited to mark the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II, with Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories being allowed to take part for the first time. The applicants on the British Overseas Territories were George Town (in the Cayman Islands), Gibraltar, Stanley (in the Falkland Islands); of the Crown Dependencies these were Douglas and Peel (both in the Isle of Man). It was later discovered that Gibraltar had been previously named a city, researchers at The National Archives confirming that Gibraltar's city status was still in effect, with the territory missing from the official list of cities for the past 140 years. Stanley and Douglas were later granted the honour, making a total of five cities.

See also

• Territorial evolution of the British Empire
• Historical development of Church of England dioceses
• List of cities in the United Kingdom

References

Bibliography

• Hallam, Elizabeth M; Everard, Judith (2001). Capetian France 987–1328. Pearson. ISBN 978-0582404281.

External links

• Commentary on city status process

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