1890 Cardiff County Borough Council election

The 1890 Cardiff County Borough Council election was held on Saturday 1 November 1890 to elect councillors to Cardiff County Borough Council in Cardiff, Wales. These were the second all-Cardiff elections since the creation of the county borough. They were first to take place since the increase in number of electoral wards from four to ten.

Background

Cardiff had become a county borough on 1 April 1889 as a result of the Local Government Act 1888. With its municipal year running from November, the November 1889 elections were the first all-Cardiff elections in the town since becoming a county borough.[1] In July 1890 the town's ward boundaries were redrawn, increasing the number of electoral wards from five to ten. On 25 July the General Purposes Committee of the council had redistributed the existing councillors over the ten wards.[2]

The November 1890 elections were the second all-Cardiff elections in the county borough. Not all council seats were up for election, because councillors stood down for election in three-yearly rotation. The next all-Cardiff election took place in November 1891.

The council consisted of 30 councillors who were elected by the town's voters and ten aldermen who were elected by the councillors.[1]

Overview of the result

Contests took place in all ten electoral wards, namely Adamsdown, Canton, Cathays, Central, Grangetown, Park, Riverside, Roath, South and Splott. One council seat was up for election in all wards except for Riverside, where two seats were up for election because of the recent death of a sitting councillor.[3] Prior to the election, seven of the eleven seats were held by the Liberal Party and four by the Conservatives. The election resulted in the Liberals increasing their overall representation by one. The Liberals received 6,518 votes in comparison with 5,535 for the Conservative candidates.[3]

Notable defeats included Sir Morgan Morgan in the Park ward, who lost to the Liberal candidate by 98 votes.[3]

Council composition

Following these elections, the council's Liberal majority increased by two, with 25 Liberal members and 15 Conservatives.[4]

Ward results

Adamsdown

Adamsdown ward 1890

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Edward Thomas *	727
	Conservative	L. S. Bickley	287
	Liberal hold		Swing

Canton

Canton ward 1890

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	W. E. Vaughan *	548
	Conservative	H. Butler	382
	Liberal hold		Swing

Cathays

Cathays ward 1890

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Peter Price *	621
	Conservative	H. White	561
	Independent Labour	A. Good	262
	Liberal hold		Swing

Central

Central ward 1890

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Walter Raleigh Parker	617
	Liberal	J. Guy Proger *	615
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

Mr Proger had represented the ward for the previous 12 years.[3]

Grangetown

Grangetown ward 1890

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Lib-Lab	John Jenkins	484
	Conservative	Robert Upham	260

John Jenkins, a shipwright and a nominee of Cardiff Trades Council, was declared to be the first genuine working man's representative elected to the council.[3]

Park

Cathays ward 1890

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Charles Shepherd	747
	Conservative	Sir Morgan Morgan *	649
	Independent	Rees Enoch	36
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

Despite trailing by 100 votes after the first count, Sir Morgan Morgan's supporters demanded two recounts before conceding defeat.[3]

Riverside (two seats)

Riverside ward (1) 1890

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Dr James	638
	Conservative	R. Price *	615
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

An election was held on the same date, for the seat of Conservative councillor Smith, who had recently died.[3]

Riverside ward (2) 1890

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Noah Rees	635
	Conservative	Mr Evans	605
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

Roath

Roath ward 1890

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	W. J. Trounce *	746
	Liberal	J. Sully Stowe	378
	Conservative hold		Swing

South

South ward 1890

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	J. H. Cory	512
	Liberal	F. J. Beavan *	456
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

Splott

Splott ward 1890

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Thomas Andrews	397
	Conservative	Charles Jenkins	301

* = 'retiring' ward councillor for re-election

References

1. B. W. Row, F. G. Squire (1974), Cardiff 1889-1974 - The Story of the County Borough, The Corporation of Cardiff, City Hall, Cardiff, pp. 14–16
2. "District News - Cardiff". The Western Mail. 26 July 1890. p. 6 – via Welsh Newspapers Online. "The General Purposes Committee of the Cardiff Coroporation sat yesterday for the purpose of re-distributing the seats of the council, consequent on the re-division of the borough into ten wards. It had been anticipated that a good deal of acrimony would be shown in this delicate task. The matter, however, passed off good humouredly."
3. "Cardiff Municipal Elections - Liberal Victory". South Wales Daily News. 3 November 1890. pp. 3–4 – via Welsh Newspapers Online.
4. "The Municipal Elections - Cardiff". The Western Mail. 3 November 1890. p. 5 – via Welsh Newspapers Online.