Cardigan Boroughs

Cardigan
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1542–1885
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Cardiganshire

The Cardigan District of Boroughs was a parliamentary constituency in Wales which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and its predecessors, from 1542 until it was abolished for the 1885 general election. The borough constituency comprised the four towns of Cardigan, Aberystwyth, Lampeter and Adpar - geographically separated from each other but all within the county of Cardiganshire.

For much of its existence, the constituency was dominated by a relatively small number of landed families. During the eighteenth century, representation was keenly contested between the county families.

At the turn of the nineteenth century, the county town of Cardigan remained the largest of the boroughs with a population of 1,911 in 1801, and was controlled by the Earl of Lisburne. Lisburne's heir, John Vaughan, held the seat unopposed from 1796. However, Aberystwyth experienced rapid population growth in this period and its population reached 1,758 by 1801. Aberystwyth was under the influence of Edward Loveden, of Gogerddan. Loveden had obtained the estate through his marriage to Margaret Pryse, and coveted a parliamentary seat for his son, Pryse Loveden, who had adopted the name Pryse Pryse upon inheriting the estate upon his mother's death in 1796.

However, the Lisburne interest remained predominant until after the closely contested election of 1812, when Vaughan defeated Herbert Evans of Highmead by eighty votes.

After this contest, Vaughan's position became untenable, and it was assumed that he would not to contest the next election. In 1816, following the death of Thomas Johnes, the member for the county, Pryse Pryse of Gogerddan withdrew in favour of William Edward Powell of Nanteos, in order to avoid a contest. This was regarded as a political as well as a personal compromise, since Powell was a Tory and Pryse a Whig. In 1818, Pryse was elected unopposed for the boroughs, and held the seat for over thirty years. For most of this period, he was returned unopposed, but in 1841 there was a close contest with John Harford, which was characterized by allegations of coercion. In 1842, largely as a result of this episode, Pryse declared his support for the secret ballot..

...
Wikipedia