Glamorgan County Council was established in 1889 together with the administrative county of Glamorganshire under the Local Government Act 1888. The first elections to the council were held in January 1889. The council was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974. It was replaced by Mid Glamorgan County Council, South Glamorgan County Council and West Glamorgan County Council.
There were sixty-eight members elected to the new county council in 1889. [1] Prior to 1889 local government had been carried out by unelected magistrates, often wealthy industrialists and landowners. The first intake of Glamorgan County Council reflected this. Eight members declaring themselves as 'colliery proprietors' (and 15 others being chairmen, directors or prominent colliery shareholders). Owner of Cyfarthfa Ironworks, William T. Crawshay, was elected in the Cyfarthfa ward and four tinplate manufacturers were elected. [1] Sir Hussey Vivian (shortly to become Lord Swansea) was elected in Tyrdennau and his brother Arthur was elected in Margam. The Earl of Dunraven was elected in Bridgend. [1]
The first meeting of the Council was held at the Gwyn Hall in Neath and Sir Hussey Vivian MP elected to the chair. [2] The Liberal group did agree on a list of aldermen beforehand, but they were not as cohesive as in other counties in using a block vote.
One of the main debates related to the venue for meetings, with the claims of Neath and Pontypridd being most prominent. The Bridgend Local Board of Health had petitioned Lord Dunraven to lobby for that town to be considered. [3] The matter was resolved for the time being at the first statutory meeting, held at Pontypridd on 1 April where it was decided that the meetings be held alternately at Pontypridd and Neath, with the claims of Cardiff being rejected. [4]
At this meeting also, the chairman of the Council, Sir Hussey Vivian, paid tribute to the magistrates for their past conduct of county business. Although not a representative body, he stated, they had conducted their work honourably and he hoped that the Council 'would be able in future to conduct the business of the county in as complete and perfect a manner as it had been conducted hitherto by the magistrates.' [4]
In contrast to the first Council which included no working men, a number were elected to the second council.
Lord Swansea died in 1894. The Liberal group were divided on a successor as chairman of the Council and J. Blandy Jenkins defeated Arthur Pendarves Vivian by 31 votes to 30 in March 1895. [5] He was repeatedly re-elected for the next fifteen years.
The county council considered a number of locations for a single county headquarters, including Bridgend, Llandaff, Merthyr Tydfil, Neath and Pontypridd. Cardiff offered a site in the centre of the city and the county council launched a competition in July 1908 inviting designs for a new building. [6] County Hall was built on Edward VII Avenue, Cathays Park, completed in 1911 and opened in 1912. [6]
Glamorgan, or sometimes Glamorganshire, is one of the thirteen historic counties of Wales and a former administrative county of Wales. Originally an early medieval petty kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing, then taken over by the Normans as a lordship, the area that became known as Glamorgan was both a rural, pastoral area, and a conflict point between the Norman lords and the Welsh princes. It was defined by a large concentration of castles.
Pontypridd is both the county town of Rhondda Cynon Taf in Wales and a community. Often colloquially known as "Ponty", it is 12 miles (19 km) north of Cardiff.
Bridgend is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, 20 miles (32 km) west of the capital Cardiff and 20 miles (32 km) east of Swansea. The river crossed by the original bridge, which gave the town its name, is the River Ogmore, but the River Ewenny also passes to the south of the town.
Henry Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Swansea, known between May 1882 and June 1893 as Sir Hussey Vivian, 1st Baronet, was a Welsh industrialist and politician from the Vivian family.
Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot FRS was a Welsh landowner, industrialist and Liberal politician. He developed his estate at Margam near Swansea as an extensive ironworks, served by railways and a port, which was renamed Port Talbot. He served as a Member of Parliament for Glamorgan constituencies from 1830 until his death in 1890, a sixty-year tenure which made him the second longest serving MP in the nineteenth century. He was Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan, from 1848 to 1890.
Hirwaun is a village and community at the north end of the Cynon Valley in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales. It is 4 miles (6 km) NW of the town of Aberdare, and comes under the Aberdare post town. At the 2001 census, Hirwaun had a population of 4,851. increasing at the 2011 census to 4,990. The village is on the Heads of the Valleys Road and at the southern edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park.
Alfred Thomas, 1st Baron Pontypridd, was a Welsh Liberal Party politician, who served as MP for East Glamorganshire from 1885 until 1910, when he was elevated to the peerage as Lord Pontypridd.
Swansea was a borough constituency. It was represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election.
Mid Glamorganshire was a county constituency in Glamorganshire, Wales. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.
Sir Samuel Thomas Evans was a Welsh barrister, judge and Liberal politician.
This page is a list of High Sheriffs of Glamorgan. Sheriffs of Glamorgan served under and were answerable to the independent Lords of Glamorgan until that lordship was merged into the crown. This is in contrast to sheriffs of the English shires who were from the earliest times officers of the crown. Sheriffs in the modern sense, appointed and answerable to the crown, were instituted in the county of Glamorgan in 1541.
William Williams was a Welsh businessman and Liberal party politician.
The first election to the Glamorgan County Council were held on 17 January 1889. Results were announced over several days. They were followed by the 1892 election. The authority, by far the largest county in Wales in terms of population, was established by the 1888 Local Government Act. The county of Glamorgan was at this time becoming heavily industrialised although some areas such as the Vale of Glamorgan remained essentially rural.
William Morris, widely known by his bardic name, Rhosynnog, was the minister of Noddfa Baptist Church, Treorchy, South Wales from soon after its formation in 1868 until his death.
The second election to the Glamorgan County Council was held on 8 March 1892. The 1889 election was the first contest and the next was the 1895 election. Glamorgan County Council had been established by the 1888 Local Government Act, and the first election held in January 1889. Glamorgan was by far the largest county in Wales in terms of population. The county of Glamorgan was at this time becoming heavily industrialised, although some areas such as the Vale of Glamorgan remained essentially rural. The rise of nonconformist liberalism, especially since the 1860s, throughout Wales, had challenged the prevailing influence of the landed gentry. However, even in 1889, the traditional forces remained influential and no working men were elected to the Council. This changed in 1892 with the unopposed return of David Morgan in Aberdare and the success of Isaac Evans in Resolven.
The third election to Glamorgan County Council election was held on 4 March 1895. It was preceded by the 1892 election and followed by the 1898 election.
The Glamorgan County Council election, 1898 was the fourth contest for seats on this authority. It was preceded by the 1895 election and followed by the 1901 election. Glamorgan was by far the largest county in Wales in terms of population. Glamorgan County Council had been established by the 1888 Local Government Act, and the first elections held in early 1889. The county of Glamorgan was at this time becoming heavily industrialised, although some areas such as the Vale of Glamorgan remained essentially rural. The rise of nonconformist liberalism, especially since the 1860s, throughout Wales, had challenged the prevailing influence of the landed gentry. However, even in 1889, the traditional forces remained influential and no working men were elected to the Council. This changed in 1892 with the unopposed return of David Morgan in Aberdare and the success of Isaac Evans in Resolven.
The Glamorgan County Council election, 1901 was the fifth contest for seats on this authority in south Wales. It was preceded by the 1898 election and followed by the 1904 election. Glamorgan was by far the largest county in Wales in terms of population. Glamorgan County Council had been established by the Local Government Act 1888, the first elections being held in early 1889.
Robert John Dickson Burnie was a Liberal politician who served as MP for the Swansea Town constituency from 1892 to 1895. He was regarded as being on the radical wing of the party and was popular with working-class electors. Defeated by Sir John Llewelyn in 1895 he was rejected as a candidate for the constituency in 1900 due to his opposition to the South African War.