Why are the counties around London called the "Home counties"?

Michael Nates, Bushey, England

• Presumably following the custom of having a Home Farm around a large house - to supply the population. London would have needed supplies on a larger scale - Tess of the D'Urbevilles shows that by C19th even Dorset was roped into service.

  Vivienne, London

• I was taught this at school.It is becuase Queen Victoria had a house in them. But then, Aberdeenshire isn't a home county, and she spent years at Balmoral.

  Kenny Baird, Newbury, UK

• The Asspociation of Britih Counties website (www.abcounties.co.uk)gives this explanation: The phrase "home counties" has no specific legal definition but as a popular expression it appears to have been around for many years. According to the OED it is simply "the counties nearest to London, namely Surrey, Kent, Essex and Middlesex; sometimes with the addition of Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and ocassionally Sussex."

  M Cain, Basildon Essex

• I was always told it referred to the Home & Colonial Stores which fitted out officials travelling to the colonies on government business. The H&C stores were only in Berks, Herts etc, clustered around London which was the seat of power - ie decided where the said officials would be sent.

  Connie Nolan, Canterbury

• Presumably because that is where dominant members of London society have second homes.

  Sion, Bracknell, UK

• It should be remembered that London, as an autonomous administrative region, has only existed since 1889. In that year, an Act of Parliament was passed creating the County of London from the metropolitan parts of the three counties of Surrey, Middlesex and Kent. it was ruled by the London County Council, later Greater London Council (abolished 1984), and now effectively reconstituted as the Greater London Assembly. Hence, the term 'the home counties' has since come to be applied to those counties which are now entirely or in part subsumed by the Greater London metropolis - the original three, plus Sussex, Essex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. ' The 'home' derives ultimately from Westminster, 'the home of parliamentary democracy'.

  Nick, London

• Because the middle classes have their homes there and then commute into London to work, I suppose.

  David Short, London UK