Sussex was historically divided into six sub-divisions known as
rapes. From the 12th century the practice arose of holding the
quarter sessions separately for the three eastern rapes and the three western rapes, with the courts for eastern rapes being held at
Lewes. This position was formalised by the County of Sussex Act 1865, with the eastern and western divisions of Sussex treated as separate counties for the purposes of taxation, law enforcement,
asylums and highways, whilst still deemed to be one county for the purposes of
lieutenancy,
militia and the
coroner. Elected county councils were established in 1889 under the
Local Government Act 1888 to take over the administrative business of the quarter sessions. The eastern and western divisions of Sussex therefore became the
administrative counties of
East Sussex and
West Sussex with separate county councils. The two administrative counties were still treated as one county for certain ceremonial purposes, notably sharing the
Lord Lieutenant of Sussex and
Sheriff of Sussex. The large towns of
Brighton and
Hastings were deemed capable of providing their own county-level services and so they were made
county boroughs, independent from East Sussex County Council.
Eastbourne was later also made a county borough in 1911. The first elections were held in January 1889 and East Sussex County Council formally came into its powers on 1 April 1889, holding its first official meeting on the same day at
County Hall in Lewes.
John Dodson, Lord Monk Bretton, a
Liberal peer and former
Member of Parliament, was appointed the first chairman of the council. Local government was reformed in 1974 under the
Local Government Act 1972, which made East Sussex a
non-metropolitan county. As part of the 1974 reforms it ceded the
Mid Sussex area (including
Burgess Hill and
Haywards Heath) to
West Sussex, but gained the three former county boroughs of Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings. East Sussex and West Sussex also became separate
ceremonial counties, with East Sussex gaining its own
Lord Lieutenant and
High Sheriff. The lower tier of local government was rearranged at the same time, with the county being divided into seven
non-metropolitan districts. In 1997 the two districts of
Hove and
Brighton were merged to become a
unitary authority called
Brighton and Hove, independent from the county council, leaving only five districts in the area administered by the county council. Brighton and Hove (which subsequently gained
city status in 2001) remains part of the ceremonial county of East Sussex. ==Governance==