West Midlands. The metropolitan county of West Midlands was the creation of the Local Government Act of 1972. It brought together the county boroughs of Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley, Warley and West Bromwich, Solihull, and Coventry. In addition, Brownhills was transferred from Staffordshire; Halesowen and Stourbridge from Worcestershire; Sutton Coldfield from Warwickshire; and a number of parishes from the rural district of Meriden. The county headquarters was at Birmingham. The authority was abolished, along with the other metropolitan counties, by the Local Government Act of 1985.

J. A. Cannon

West Midlands Metropolitan county in central England. It is divided into seven council districts: Birmingham (the administrative centre), Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall, and Wolverhampton. The other major town is West Bromwich. Area: 899sq km (347sq mi). Pop. (1996) 2,550,907.