The Borough of Gillingham was formed in 1903. In 1928 the adjoining parish of Rainham was added.
In 1944, a Medway Towns Joint Amalgamation Committee was formed by the borough corporations of Chatham, Gillingham and Rochester, to discuss the possibility of the towns forming a single county borough. In 1948 the Local Government Boundary Commission recommended that the area become a "most purposes" county borough, but the recommendation was not carried out.
Political control
From the first election to the council in 1973 until the council's abolition in 1998 political control of the council was held by the following parties:[1]