Wiltshire County Council (established in 1889) was the county council of Wiltshire in the South West of England, an elected local Government body responsible for most local government services in the county. As a result of the 2009 restructuring of local government in some parts of England, the council was merged with four district councils into a new unitary authority for Wiltshire with effect from 1 April 2009. This was treated as a "continuing authority" and covers exactly the same area, although renamed "Wiltshire Council". At first almost all departments continued little changed, but after 2009 most services were substantially changed and relocated into fewer buildings around Wiltshire. History County Councils were first introduced in England and Wales with full powers from 22 September 1889 as a result of the Local Government Act 1888, taking over administrative functions until then carried out by the unelected Quarter Sessions. The areas they covered were termed administrative counties and were not in all cases identical to the traditional shire counties, but in Wiltshire the whole 'ceremonial county' came under the authority of the new council. The first elections to the new county council were held on 23 January 1889, with sixty seats available, but only thirty-two of them were contested. Among those elected unopposed were the 4th Marquess of Bath, the 13th Earl of Pembroke, the 18th Earl of Suffolk, Sir Thomas Grove, 1st Baronet, M. P., Sir Charles Hobhouse, 4th Baronet, and Sir R. H. Pollen, Bart. The first provisional meeting of the council was held at Devizes on 31 January 1889, with all of the members present, when Lord Bath was elected as chairman. Several voting aldermen were appointed, all from outside the elected members of the council. In 1896 the County Council acquired Arlington House in The Parade in Trowbridge as a base for many of its employees; later extensions included a block of offices on land behind the building, completed in 1900, and another block of offices near the building completed in 1913. Schools, both elementary and higher-grade, were added to the County Council's responsibilities by the Education Act 1902, which created local education authorities to replace the earlier School Boards. And until the 1990s the county council was also responsible for operating Colleges of Further Education. In 1930, the members of the county council decided by 45 votes to 27 to build a new county hall in Devizes,