Gloucester is a suburb of and within the City of Ottawa. Gloucester Township was established in 1792 and originally included lands east of the Rideau River from the Ottawa River south to Manotick.

It was incorporated as a township in 1850 and became a city in 1981. Gloucester was one of the 11 municipalities that merged in 2001 to form the new city of Ottawa. As of the Canada 2016 Census, the former city of Gloucester had a population of 133,280.