The district was named after the hundred of Bullingdon, which had covered part of the area.
Bullingdon Rural District Council held its first meeting on 4 April 1932 at County Hall, Oxford, when George Parker, 7th Earl of Macclesfield, was appointed the council's first chairman.
He had previously been the chairman of the Thame Rural District Council.
In 1971 the council moved to offices on London Road in Wheatley.
The new council continued to use the former Bullingdon Rural District Council offices in Wheatley until new purpose-built offices were opened at Crowmarsh Gifford in 1981.