The Local Government Act 1888 created four small neighbouring administrative counties in the east of England: Cambridgeshire, Isle of Ely, Huntingdonshire, and the Soke of Peterborough.

Following the Second World War, a Local Government Boundary Commission was formed to review county-level administration in England and Wales.

The four counties were included in the East Midlands General Review Area, and the LGCE made its draft proposals in April 1960.

The amalgamation was opposed by Sir Harry Legge-Bourke, member of parliament (MP) for the Isle of Ely, noting that his constituents "in general were in favour of continuing with an independent county council with which they were entirely satisfied."

Legge-Bourke asked why the Isle was to be abolished as a county, when Rutland was being retained, and went on to state that some parts of the area had more interests in common with Peterborough than with Cambridge.

A High Sheriff was also appointed to the new county, and a single commission of peace and court of quarter sessions established.

Supporters: on either side a great bustard proper, the exterior leg resting on a closed book gules, garnished or.

The county had only a brief existence: the Local Government Act 1972 reformed all administrative structures in England and Wales outside Greater London.