derby was one of the boroughs reformed by the municipal corporations act 1835, and it became a county borough with the local government act 1888. the borough expanded in 1877 to include little chester and litchurch, and then in 1890 to include new normanton and rowditch. the borough did not increase substantially again until 1968, when under a recommendation of the local government boundary commission it was expanded into large parts of the rural district of belper, repton and south east derbyshire. this vastly increased derby's population from 132,408 in the 1961 census to 219,578 in the 1971 census.