The cathedral element was no longer needed after the 1880s.
The definition of a city in the UK is a place which has been granted city status by the monarch. There are 66 cities in the UK - 50 in England, five in Wales, six in Scotland and five in Northern Ireland...
It goes back to Tudor times. Henry VIII broke away from Rome, & dissolved a lot of monasteries. His daughter Mary, brought back Roman Catholicism & persecuted Protestants.
Then Edward & his half sister Elizabeth changed it back to Protestant again.
The Duke of Norfolk is a Howard as was Ann...