The Ceremonial counties of England are areas of England are defined by the government with reference to the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England. They are also often called geographic counties.

Map

† ceremonial county covers larger area than the non-metropolitan county

Definition
The Lieutenancies Act 1997 defines the "ceremonial counties" in terms of local government areas created by the Local Government Act 1972 as amended. Schedule 1, paragraphs 2–5 defines them as:
 Bedfordshire, including Luton
 Berkshire
 Bristol
 Buckinghamshire, including Milton Keynes
 Cambridgeshire, including Peterborough
 Cheshire, including Halton and Warrington
 City of London
 Cornwall, including Isles of Scilly
 Cumbria
 Chester
 Derbyshire, including Derby
 Devon, including Plymouth and Torbay
 Dorset, including Bournemouth and Poole
 County Durham, including Darlington, Hartlepool, and Stockton-on-Tees north of the River Tees
 East Riding of Yorkshire, including Kingston-upon-Hull
 East Sussex, including Brighton and Hove
 Essex, including Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock
 Gloucestershire, including South Gloucestershire
 Greater London, excluding the City of London
 Greater Manchester
 Hampshire, including Southampton and Portsmouth
 Herefordshire
 Hertfordshire
 Isle of Wight
 Kent, including Medway
 Lancashire, including Blackburn with Darwen, and Blackpool
 Leicestershire, including Leicester
 Lincolnshire, including North Lincolnshire, and North East Lincolnshire
 Merseyside
 Norfolk
 North Yorkshire, including York, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees south of the River Tees
 Northamptonshire
 Northumberland
 Nottinghamshire, including Nottingham
 Oxfordshire
 Rutland
 Shropshire, including Telford and Wrekin
 Somerset, including Bath and North East Somerset and North Somerset
 South Yorkshire
 Staffordshire, including Stoke-on-Trent
 Suffolk
 Surrey
 Tyne and Wear
 Warwickshire
 West Midlands
 West Sussex
 West Yorkshire
 Wiltshire, including Swindon
 Worcestershire

Lieutenancy areas in 1890

 Bedfordshire
 Berkshire
 Buckinghamshire
 Cambridgeshire, including Isle of Ely
 Cheshire
 held jointly with Chester
 Cornwall
 Cumberland
 Derbyshire
 Devon
 held jointly with Exeter
 Dorset
 held jointly with Poole
 Durham
 Essex
 Gloucestershire
 held jointly with Gloucester and Bristol
 Herefordshire
 Hertfordshire
 Huntingdonshire
 Kent
 held jointly with Canterbury
 Lancashire
 Leicestershire
 Lincolnshire
 held jointly with Lincoln
 City of London, having commissioners of Lieutenancy (not shown on map)
 County of London
 Middlesex
 Norfolk
 held jointly with Norwich
 Northamptonshire, including the Soke of Peterborough
 Northumberland
 held jointly with Berwick-upon-Tweed and Newcastle upon Tyne
 Nottinghamshire
 held jointly with Nottingham
 Oxfordshire
 Rutland
 Salop (Shropshire)
 Somerset
 Southamptonshire (Hampshire)
 held jointly with Southampton
 Staffordshire
 held jointly with Lichfield
 Suffolk
 Sussex
 Warwickshire
 Westmorland
 Wiltshire
 Worcestershire
 held jointly with Worcester
 Yorkshire - had three Lieutenants, one for each of the three ridings
 (a) East Riding, held jointly with Kingston upon Hull
 (b) North Riding
 (c) West Riding, held jointly with York

References

Other websites
 Lieutenancies Act 1997