Prior to the 19th century the government of the town was divided between the parish vestry and the county magistrates of Lancashire.

All landowners owning property worth more than £50 a year or paying an annual rent of £30 were entitled to become a commissioner.

[2] In December 1848 the inhabitant householders of the parliamentary borough of Oldham petitioned the Privy council for a charter of incorporation under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835.

[5] The bill was unsuccessful, and there were only minor boundary adjustments to the borough until the 1950s, while the four surrounding towns became urban districts in their own right in 1894.

[11] In 1954 the borough was enlarged and in the following year a thirteenth ward of Bardsley was formed, and the council increased to fifty-two members.

[6] By the 1880s groups aligned with the parliamentary Conservative and Liberal parties contested elections to the borough council.

The arms form part of the insignia of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, founded by the bishop.

[20] The Latin motto adopted was Sapere Aude or "dare to be wise", and was a reference to the owls in the arms.