A statistical definition in 1881 included the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland, an area historically known as the Five Burghs of Danelaw.

A Second World War civil defence region called North Midland included the five counties and Northamptonshire.

A new definition of the region appeared in 1939, for various government statistical purposes: Derbyshire without High Peak, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland and the Soke of Peterborough.

B. Priestley's play An Inspector Calls specifies that it is set in the fictional town of Brumley in the North Midlands.

A somewhat different definition of the North Midlands appeared in David Hackett Fischer's 1989 book Albion's Seed, which detailed migrations from distinct parts of Britain to the American Colonies.