The district had its origins in the Beaminster
Poor Law Union, which had been created in 1836, covering Beaminster itself and several surrounding parishes. In 1872
sanitary districts were established, giving public health and local government responsibilities for rural areas to the existing
boards of guardians of poor law unions. The Beaminster Rural Sanitary District was administered from Beaminster Union Workhouse, which had been completed in 1838 at Stoke Water, about a mile south-west of Beaminster itself, in the neighbouring parish of
Stoke Abbott. Under the
Local Government Act 1894, rural sanitary districts became rural districts from 28 December 1894 with their own elected councils. The 1894 Act also specified that boundaries should be adjusted to avoid having districts straddle county boundaries. The Beaminster Rural Sanitary District was mostly in Dorset but also included the
Somerset parishes of
Misterton and
Seaborough. Misterton was therefore transferred to the
Chard Rural District on the day the new rural districts came into force, whilst Seaborough was transferred from Somerset to Dorset in September 1895, such that Beaminster Rural District was thereafter entirely in Dorset. The parish of Thorncombe was similarly transferred into the Beaminster Rural District in 1895, having been one of the few Dorset parishes in the
Axminster Rural Sanitary District prior to 1894, which was mostly in
Devon. Beaminster Rural District Council held its first meeting on 3 January 1895 at the workhouse. The first chairman was Edward Gapper Legg, who had also been the chairman of the Beaminster Board of Guardians for some years previously. ==Civil parishes==