‘Langholm’ was a burgh (a town with specified powers), a civil parish and a county district, and had three different governance entities for these, with different responsibilities.
1. Town council
The town became a police burgh in 1845, giving it powers with regard to minor crimes, lighting, paving, water supply, sanitation and other civic matters. It was run by a burgh council, usually referred to as the town council. Its boundary ran around both the Old Town and New Town but did not include the rural (‘landward’) area of the civil parish.
Prior to 1893, police burghs were run by a minimum of five elected police commissioners and a burgh council, but the Police Burgh (Scotland) Act 1892 amalgamated police and municipal functions. From 1900, the governing body consisted of a provost, magistrates and councillors.
2. Parish council
The Langholm parish council covered the whole parish (including the town) for some issues, e.g. responsibility for implementing Scottish ‘poor laws’, but only the rural (‘landward’) area for other issues, e.g. roads.
3. County district committee
Langholm, as part of the county of Dumfriesshire, had a district committee with responsibilities for some aspects of public health and roads outside the police burgh, e.g. it was jointly responsible with the parish council for the Eskdale Infectious Diseases Hospital.
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