Cardiganshire County Council

See also Ceredigion County Council, the post-1996 unitary authority.

The administrative county of Cardiganshire and its local authority, the Cardiganshire County Council was established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888. The first elections were held in January 1889. The county was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974.

As a result of the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, which came into force on 1 April 1996, a new unitary authority of Ceredigion was established. Its boundaries were identical to those of the previous county council and the Ceredigion District Council which operated between 1974 and 1996.

During the period, Liberal candidates win large majorities at each election and Conservative support was limited to some of the towns and areas where local gentry continued to gain some personal support. The leadership of the council was composed mainly of prosperous middle class tradesmen, professionals and nonconformist ministers.

The first election was held in 1889 and the Liberal Party held a large majority of the seats down to the First World War, reflecting its dominance over the politics of the county.

The first meeting of the council was a notable watershed, as Morgan Evans of Oakford proposed that in fairness to the Welsh councillors business should be transacted in Welsh as well as in English. He proceeded to propose the Aberystwyth tradesmen Peter Jones, elected to represent rural Trefeurig as chair. The Earl of Lisburne seconded this proposal. Despite the fiery rhetoric at this initial election and at later contests, the Conservatives' willingness to accept the Liberal triumph was met in return with a tacit acceptance by the Liberals that the Conservatives be allocated a number of aldermanic seats. It was nearly ten years, however, before the Council had a Conservative chairman.

By the early years of the twentieth century much of the earlier enthusiasm had become dissipated and many members attended only a few meetings a year.

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