Gillingham was a non-metropolitan district in Kent, England. It was abolished on 1 April 1998 and replaced by Medway.
The Borough of Gillingham was formed in 1903. In 1928, the adjoining parish of Rainham was added.
In 1944, a Medway Towns Joint Amalgamation Committee was formed by the borough corporations of Chatham, Gillingham and Rochester, to discuss the possibility of the towns forming a single county borough. In 1948, the Local Government Boundary Commission recommended that the area become a "most purposes" county borough, but the recommendation was not carried out.
The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities before coming into its powers on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council from 1974 until its abolition in 1998 was as follows:
The leaders of the council from 1976 until its abolition in 1998 were: