The
earliest cities () in
Britain were the fortified settlements organised by the
Romans as capitals of the
Celtic tribes under
Roman rule. The
British clerics of the
early Middle Ages later preserved a traditional list of the "
28 Cities" () which was mentioned in
De Excidio Britanniae and
Historia Brittonum. The title of city was initially informal and, into the 20th century, royal charters were considered to
recognise city status rather than grant it. The usual criterion in
early modern Britain was the presence of a
cathedral, particularly after
King Henry VIII granted
letters patent establishing six new cities when he established a series of new
dioceses of the Church of England in the 1540s as part of the
English Reformation. No new cities were created between the 16th and 19th centuries, but following the
Industrial Revolution and the accompanying
population boom and growth in
urbanisation, new
sees were established at
Ripon (1836) and
Manchester (1847); their councils began to style them cities immediately.
Inverness in Scotland was refused a charter at the time of the
Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria honours of 1897, in part because it would have drawn more attention to the other traditional "cities" still not formally chartered as such. Beginning in the mid-19th century, however, the process became more formal. After a visit by
Queen Victoria in 1851, Manchester petitioned
Parliament for recognition of its status. Ripon followed in the 1860s, and a series of hitherto informal "cities" were formally recognised in the 1880s and 1890s. On the basis of its size, importance, and regular government,
Belfast was elevated in spite of its lack of a cathedral in 1888; other large municipalities followed, while smaller applicants began to be rejected. King
Edward VII and the
Home Office established three criteria for future applicants in 1907: a minimum population of 300,000, a good record of local government, and a "local metropolitan character". These criteria were not made public, however, and following
Leicester's successful elevation in 1919, a series of exceptions were made. The
Local Government Act 1972 effectively eliminated all authorities holding city status outside
Greater London on 1 April 1974; most of their replacements were confirmed in their predecessor's status—even in cases such as the 1974–2023
City of Carlisle district, where much of the local authority area was undeveloped countryside—but the
Borough of Medway was
not permitted to continue Rochester's title. In recent times there have been
competitions for new grants of city status. Towns or councils that claim city status or add "city" to their name have been rebuked by the
Advertising Standards Authority. The cities of the
Kingdom of Scotland and
Kingdom of Ireland were treated separately. Scottish towns irregularly applied the description to themselves, but were formally organised as
royal burghs; the special rights of these were preserved by Article XXI of the
Treaty of Union which established the single state of the
Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707.
Edinburgh and
Glasgow were confirmed as cities "by ancient usage" in the 18th century, as was
Aberdeen, and this was later reconfirmed in the Act enlarging the burgh in 1891.
Dundee was granted
letters patent in 1889 and
Elgin and
Perth were recognised as cities by the Home Office in 1972, before the privilege was removed by the
Scottish Local Government Act of 1973. In Northern Ireland, only the seat of the
Primate of All Ireland at
Armagh was accorded city status by ancient usage, and this status was abolished by the
Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840. All other cities have been those explicitly recognised as such. Thirty-two cities have a Lord Provost (in Scotland) or a Lord Mayor (in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland), see
List of lord mayoralties and lord provostships in the United Kingdom. The six cities where the Lord Mayor or Lord Provost has the right to the style
The Right Honourable are York, the City of London, Edinburgh, Glasgow (since 1912), Belfast (since 1923), and Cardiff (since 1956). == Statistical role ==