The District originally consisted of that part of the Province of Quebec west of "a north and south line, intersecting the extreme projection of
Long Point into the
lake Erie," being the territory described as: As
Detroit was still occupied British territory in 1792, it formed part of the District at the time. In the
first election to the
Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, three former or current residents of Detroit were elected. This anomaly, together with other occupied places at
Fort Mackinac and
Fort Miami, were finally vacated upon the ratification of the
Jay Treaty in 1795; they were withdrawn from the District in June 1796. The District, after detaching territory that would be part of the new
London District, was reconstituted as the Western District by an Act of the
Parliament of Upper Canada in 1798. It was described as consisting of "...the Counties of
Essex and
Kent together with so much of this Province as is not included within any other district thereof..." The counties were described as consisting of the following: In 1847, legislation was initiated to create a new Kent District; however, facilities at the designated district town of
Chatham needed to be built. The creation of the new district was not completed. At the beginning of 1850, the District was abolished, being replaced by the United Counties of Essex and Kent for municipal purposes. In 1851, the southern part of Kent was detached to for a separate county, with the northern part becoming
Lambton County, which was united with Essex to become the United Counties of Essex and Lambton. However, Kent and Lambton were united for the purpose of electing a member to the
Parliament of the Province of Canada. The former District's townships were accordingly distributed as follows: ==Legacy==