Glamorganshire

Social and economic profile

A maritime county, bordered on the south by the Bristol channel, on the west by Carmarthen Bay and on the east by the Severn estuary, Glamorgan was watered by various rivers, notably the Taff, the Tawe, the Neath and the Rhymney. The county’s north and north-east were mountainous, while the south was flatter, particularly the fertile Vale of Glamorgan, where arable and dairy farming took place. Agriculture employed 13.3% of the male workforce in 1851.1Parliamentary gazetteer of England and Wales (1844), ii. 144-6; J. Davies & G.E. Mingay, ‘Agriculture in an industrial environment’, in A.H. John & G. Williams (ed.), Glamorgan county history, vol. v. Industrial Glamorgan from 1700 to 1970 (1980), 277-8; C. Baber, ‘The subsidiary industries of Glamorgan’, in Ibid., 267. However, drawing on extensive coal and iron deposits, Glamorgan was ‘rapidly being transformed by industry’.2I.G. Jones, ‘Franchise reform and Glamorgan politics in the mid-nineteenth century’, Morgannwg, ii (1958), 49. In 1841, when it was described as ‘the Lancashire of Wales’, Glamorgan contained three of the six Welsh towns with populations exceeding 8,000 (Merthyr Tydfil, Swansea and Cardiff).3The Examiner, 26 June 1841; L. Miskell, ‘The making of a new “Welsh metropolis”: science, leisure and industry in early nineteenth-century Swansea’, History, 88 (2003), 32. In 1868 it was the wealthiest, most industrialised and most populous Welsh county, despite being only third largest in area.4Daily News, 17 Sept. 1868; T. Nicholas, The history and antiquities of Glamorganshire and its families (1874), 1.

Employing almost 20% of the male workforce in 1851, coal-mining was Glamorgan’s ‘great staple’.5Baber, ‘Subsidiary industries’, 267; Parliamentary gazetteer of England and Wales (1844), ii. 146. Over 2,000,000 tons of coal were produced in 1840; in 1860, the south Wales coalfield (located largely in Glamorgan) produced 7,500,000 tons, having been given a significant stimulus by Admiralty trials in 1845 which determined that its coals were the best suited for steam shipping.6J. Williams, ‘The coal industry, 1750-1914’, in John & Williams, Glamorgan county history, vol. v., 165, 178; Hansard, 9 Mar. 1860, vol. 157, c. 270. Iron-working – particularly the production of rails for Britain’s expanding railway network and for export – was another key industry, centred on Merthyr Tydfil, where (Josiah) John Guest’s Dowlais works and the Cyfarthfa works of Messrs. Crawshay and Sons were the largest employers.7T. Boyns, D. Thomas & C. Baber, ‘The iron, steel and tinplate industries, 1750-1914’, in John & Williams, Glamorgan county history, vol. v., 115, 117; S. Lewis, Topographical dictionary of Wales (1844), ii. 217. In 1847 a major ironworks was established at Aberdare by Crawshay Bailey.8S. Lewis, Topographical dictionary of Wales (1849), 1-12 [www.british-history.ac.uk]. The 1860s marked the peak of iron production, which declined from the 1870s as it was superseded by steel for tin-plate manufacture.9Boyns, Thomas & Baber, ‘Iron, steel and tinplate industries’, 118. The latter was another important industry, with the Ystalfyera works in the Swansea valley being ‘the largest tin-plate manufactory in the world’ in 1863.10Webster and Co’s Postal and Commercial Directory of the City of Bristol and County of Glamorgan (1865), 610. Copper-smelting, located largely in Swansea, with ore imported from Cornwall and overseas, was expanding rapidly. Iron and copper between them employed 12.4% of the workforce in 1851.11Lewis, Topographical dictionary of Wales (1844), ii. 381; Baber, ‘Subsidiary industries’, 267. Other local industries included quarrying, brick-making and pottery manufacture at Swansea, and small-scale woollen manufacture at Caerphilly.12Boyns, Thomas & Baber, ‘Iron, steel and tinplate industries’, 139; Baber, ‘Subsidiary industries’, 218, 220, 222, 229-30.

Improvements in transport aided Glamorgan’s industrial growth, with a canal network developed in the 1790s.13M. Elsas (ed.), Iron in the making. Dowlais iron company letters 1782-1860 (1960), pg. xiii; Williams, ‘Coal industry’, 162. In 1841, the Taff Vale railway from Cardiff to Merthyr was opened, in order to relieve congestion on the Glamorganshire canal, and extended to Aberdare in 1846. This, together with improved harbour facilities at Cardiff with the completion of the West Bute dock in 1839, facilitated the transportation of coal.14Williams, ‘Coal industry’, 177; H. Pollins, ‘The development of transport, 1750-1914’, in John & Williams, Glamorgan county history, vol. v., 444. The South Wales railway, running in the lowlands via Llantrisant, opened in sections from 1850 (when it reached Swansea), while the Vale of Neath railway ran from Neath to Aberdare and Merthyr by 1853, with its westward extension to Swansea completed in 1863. Both these lines were absorbed by the Great Western Railway in 1863, and branch lines along the valleys were developed in the late 1850s and 1860s.15Pollins, ‘Development of transport’, 447-9; L. Miskell, ‘Intelligent town’. An urban history of Swansea (2006), 157. Swansea’s dock facilities were extended in the 1840s and 1850s, contributing to its decline as ‘a fashionable sea-bathing resort’, which it had been in the first half of the nineteenth century.16R. Craig, ‘The ports and shipping, c. 1750-1914’, in John & Williams, Glamorgan county history, vol. v., 467; Miskell, ‘Making of a new “Welsh metropolis”’, 37, 49. Harbours were also developed at Aberavon (Port Talbot) and Neath, and Cardiff docks expanded further in the 1850s.17Pollins, ‘Development of transport’, 467. In addition to its ports and industrial centres, Glamorgan contained several smaller market towns, including Bridgend (where the nominations for county elections took place), Cowbridge and Llantrisant.18Parliamentary gazetteer of England and Wales (1844), ii. 147. The strength of Dissent was shown by the fact that the Anglican church made up only 22.6% of sittings in 1851. However, it was not until the 1860s that Nonconformists began to organise for political purposes, encouraged by the Liberation Society’s activities.19P. Jenkins, ‘Glamorgan politics 1789-1868’, in P. Morgan (ed.), Glamorgan county history, vol. vi. Glamorgan society 1780-1980 (1988), 14; Jones, ‘Franchise reform and Glamorgan politics’, 59-60.

Electoral history

As a result of the 1832 Reform Act Glamorgan received a second county seat, with polling places at Bridgend, Neath, Cardiff, Swansea and Merthyr Tydfil. The latter three were also parliamentary boroughs in their own right, Swansea and Merthyr having been newly enfranchised. In his political history of Wales, Matthew Cragoe observes that ‘even in the industrial belt, counties like... Glamorganshire were crucially influenced by the sentiments of the large landowners’.20M. Cragoe, Culture, politics, and national identity in Wales 1832-1886 (2004), 145. Since 1830 the county seat had been held by Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot, Glamorgan’s largest landowner, who succeeded his stepfather as MP, and continued to serve until his death in 1890.21Jones, ‘Franchise reform and Glamorgan politics’, 49. That a member of this family should represent the constituency was said to appear ‘to the average Glamorganshire intelligence as much a matter of course as that Caerphilly Castle should continue to stand’.22Western Mail, 22 Oct. 1873. While Talbot was a Liberal, ‘the nobility and many of the large landowners’ were ‘essentially conservative’, with the trustees of the marquess of Bute, the earl of Dunraven and the duke of Beaufort (who held the earldom of Glamorgan) all listed by Dod in 1853 as having influence alongside Talbot.23Daily News, 17 Sept. 1868; H.J. Hanham (ed.), Charles R. Dod. Electoral facts 1832-1858 impartially stated (1972), 124. The second marquess of Bute died in 1848, and the third marquess did not come of age until 1868. Analysing the composition of Glamorgan’s post-Reform electorate, Ieuan Jones has noted that the proportion of freeholders was declining relative to the proportion of tenant farmers. Freeholders comprised 2,381 out of 5,676 voters (42%) in 1842, but had only risen to 2,583 out of 6,424 (40%) by 1852, although this still meant that a significant proportion of electors were registered in respect of freehold property in the boroughs.24Jones, ‘Franchise reform and Glamorgan politics’, 52.

With Talbot a long-term incumbent, the key battle was for the second seat, although there were only two contests during this period. Jones has depicted a hostile relationship between landowners and industrialists, arguing that ‘Swansea industrialists constantly deplored and attempted to rectify’ the fact that once Lewis Weston Dillwyn retired in 1837, the second seat was held by Conservative representatives of the landed interest, until Henry Hussey Vivian, a Swansea copper smelter, triumphed in 1857.25Ibid., 49-50. In contrast, other accounts have rightly pointed to the overlap between landed and industrial interests. While Jones characterises Dillwyn as a Swansea industrialist, in fact he temporarily gave up pottery manufacture to manage his late father-in-law’s extensive estates, and ‘appeared to identify his interests almost completely with the squirearchy’. Conversely landowners such as Talbot possessed coalmining and other commercial interests.26E. Ball, ‘Glamorgan members during the Reform Bill period’, Morgannwg, x (1966), 10-11, 27. See also R. Grant, The parliamentary history of Glamorgan 1542-1976 (1978), 43. Thus while ‘industrial wealth was undoubtedly present in the county… it merged with traditional power with little animus, still less bloodshed’.27Jenkins, ‘Glamorgan politics 1789-1868’, 7. Tensions were also eased by the fact that the new Swansea and Merthyr seats provided representation for ambitious industrialists, although John Guest’s challenge for the county in 1837 threatened the equilibrium. The potency of another potentially divisive issue, free trade, was diminished by Talbot’s stance as a Liberal protectionist, meaning that this never became a straightforward party question. Not until 1857, when protection had receded as a political issue, and when Liberal strength on the registers was sufficient to justify putting forward a second candidate, did Talbot again join forces with another Liberal, easily seeing off what proved to be the last Conservative attempt at the seat in this period.

Seeking re-election in 1832, Talbot urged his agent to pay attention to registration, and although he believed that ‘it is not in my interest to register other landlords’ tenants’, he suggested that ‘if there are any you may be tolerably sure of, it may be as well’.28C.R.M. Talbot to G. Llewelyn, 12 Aug. 1832, cited in Cragoe, Culture, politics and national identity, 82. Although approached as a candidate for Swansea, Lewis Weston Dillwyn in April 1831 had accepted a requisition to stand for the second Glamorgan seat, persuaded by ‘such strong assurances of support from Mr. Talbot, Mr. Crawshay [of the Cyfarthfa ironworks] and the leading Interests both Agricultural and Commercial’.29L.W. Dillwyn, diary, 20 Apr. 1831, H.J. Randall & W. Rees (eds.), Diary of Lewis Weston Dillwyn (1963), 68. Soliciting support from the marquess of Bute, Dillwyn promised to ‘impartially exert myself to promote the agricultural and commercial prosperity of the whole county’.30NLW, Bute MSS, L74/26, L.W. Dillwyn to Marquess of Bute, 20 Apr. 1831. However, other candidates were trying to cultivate Bute, including John Iltyd Nicholl who also approached him in April 1831.31NLW, Bute MSS, L74/31, J. Nicholl jnr. to Marquess of Bute, 23 Apr. 1831. Nicholl, a Conservative, was the son of Sir John Nicholl of Merthyr Mawr (who had sat in the pre-Reform Parliament) and brother-in-law to Talbot. However, his family were said to be ‘so unpopular’ that even if he had secured Talbot’s support his chances would be slim, and in June 1832 he withdrew, standing instead with Bute’s backing at Cardiff.32NLW, Bute MSS, L74/34, R. Morgan to Marquess of Bute, 30 Apr. 1831; NLW, Penrice and Margam MSS, 9239, C.R.M. Talbot to G. Llewelyn, 26 June 1832. By this date four other rumoured candidates had also withdrawn: John Guest, who instead stood as a Liberal at Merthyr Tydfil; John Edwards Vaughan of Rheola, former Conservative MP for the county (1818-20), who stood his ground at Wells, where he had sat since 1830; Robert Jenner of Wenvoe Castle (high sheriff of Glamorgan 1828-9); and William Williams of Aberpergwm (high sheriff 1830-1).33L.W. Dillwyn, diary, 24 June 1832, Randall & Rees, Diary of Lewis Weston Dillwyn, 71. Guest had given up the idea of contesting the county in March: Cardiff Central Library, Bute estate letterbook, ii (1828-32), E.P. Richards to Marquess of Bute, 24 Mar. 1832.

Although Dillwyn now anticipated that he and Talbot would walk over, Talbot was less sanguine: ‘I fully expect the Merthyr men will get somebody up, for they are very bitter against me’.34NLW, Penrice and Margam MSS, 9239, C.R.M. Talbot to G. Llewelyn, 26 June 1832. The search for a Conservative candidate also continued, even after the earl of Dunraven had given his backing to Dillwyn and Talbot in July.35NLW, Bute MSS, L75/93, J.M. Traherne to Marquess of Bute, 21 July 1832. Various names were mooted, among them Charles Morgan Robinson Morgan of Ruperra, who as the sitting member for Brecon had the advantage of being known, ‘but really, his behaviour to many of the Glamorganshire gentlemen at Tredegar and also at his hunting meetings has been considered rather cool’.36NLW, Bute MSS, L75/101, Mr. Howells to Marquess of Bute, 26 July 1832. Morgan instead unsuccessfully contested Brecon in 1832. Other names mentioned as possible Conservative candidates were W.B. Grey, Mr. Grant (who was not felt to be popular enough) and Lewis Knight (who lacked an estate in the county): Bute estate letter book, ii (1828-32), E.P. Richards to Marquess of Bute, 31 July 1832. The problem for the party was that ‘we are sadly off for a few resident Conservatives possessing landed estates and habits of business’, and non-residence told against Lord Villiers, son of the fifth earl of Jersey, for whom a requisition was got up in September.37Cardiff Central Library, Bute estate letter book, iii (1832-35), E.P. Richards to Marquess of Bute, 8 Sept. 1832; HP Commons, 1820-32; ‘Glamorgan’, iii. 412. Although publicly a Whig, who had supported the reform bill, Talbot had privately reassured Bute of his ‘conservative’ views. He could not declare himself an adherent of either a Whig or a Conservative ministry until he knew their policies, but praised Wellington and Peel, confiding that ‘I am no admirer of the present ministry either in regard to their financial views, or their foreign policy’.38NLW, Bute MSS, L75/145, C.R.M. Talbot to Marquess of Bute, 16 Sept. 1832. At the end of September, Bute announced that he would offer no further opposition to Talbot and Dillwyn.39L.W. Dillwyn, diary, 29 Sept. 1832, cited in Grant, Parliamentary history of Glamorgan, 155. Bute’s acquiescence in Talbot and Dillwyn’s return, and likewise in that of Guest at Merthyr Tydfil and John Henry Vivian at Swansea, facilitated Nicholl’s return at Cardiff: HP Commons, 1820-32, ii. 412. They continued their canvass, and following ‘a rather stormy debate’ at a meeting at Merthyr Tydfil, when he refused to give any pledges, a motion of support for Dillwyn, proposed by Guest and seconded by Crawshay, was carried unanimously.40L.W. Dillwyn, diary, 26 Nov. 1832, cited in Grant, Parliamentary history of Glamorgan, 155.

That December, Talbot and Dillwyn walked in procession to the nomination at Bridgend, where Dillwyn announced his support for an equitable commutation of tithes and the abolition of slavery. He opposed the ballot and further franchise extension, and declared that any alteration in the corn laws ‘would be the ruin of the country’.41The Cambrian journal (1855), ii. 301-2. He and Talbot were returned unopposed, chaired together, and then attended a celebratory dinner ‘with the usual quantity of speechifying noise and tipsiness’.42L.W. Dillwyn, diary, 17 Dec. 1832, Randall & Rees, Diary of Lewis Weston Dillwyn, 73. The 1834 select committee on election expenses found that the returning officer’s charges for this election included £25 for favours and the chairing, £20 for silver coins thrown to the crowd, and £210 for tavern bills (all of which were illegal).43PP 1834 (591), ix. 284. Talbot and Dillwyn, whose close relations were cemented by the marriage of Dillwyn’s eldest son to Talbot’s sister in 1833, were re-elected unopposed in 1835. However, the formation by local landowners in 1836 of the Glamorganshire Constitutional and Conservative Society, which employed agents to attend the registration courts, signalled the Conservatives’ intention to challenge their tenure of the seats in future.44Grant, Parliamentary history of Glamorgan, 159-60. Among those involved with this body were Henry Austin Bruce (MP Merthyr Tydfil 1852-68) and Nash Vaughan Edwards Vaughan, son of John Edwards Vaughan.

At the 1837 election viscount Adare, heir to the second earl of Dunraven (and through his mother to the extensive Wyndham estates in the Vale of Glamorgan, centred on Dunraven Castle, near Bridgend), came forward in the Conservative interest. His maternal grandfather, Thomas Wyndham, had represented Glamorgan, 1789-1814, a connection emphasised during Adare’s campaign.45HP Commons, 1790-1820, v. 660. A report that Sir Charles Morgan of Ruperra, who had sat for Brecon and Monmouthshire in the pre-Reform period, would also offer as a Conservative, proved ill-founded.46The Times, 27 June 1837. Although Dillwyn had announced his retirement, Liberal ministers tried to persuade him to oppose Adare, but he declined their proffered baronetcy.47G. Gabb (ed.), Mr. Dillwyn’s diary (1998), 58. Meetings of freeholders at Merthyr and Swansea made efforts to find a second Liberal candidate.48Morning Chronicle, 10 July 1837, 11 July 1837. Complaining that ‘the apathy of the gentry is unaccountable’, the Morning Chronicle suggested that Guest should stand.49Ibid., 10 July 1837. Guest did indeed offer, whilst also defending his Merthyr Tydfil seat, although he planned to sit for the county if elected.50Earl of Bessborough (ed.), Lady Charlotte Guest: extracts from her journal 1833-1852 (1950), 49. Talbot subsequently claimed that Guest had offered £1,000 towards the expenses of any alternative Liberal candidate, and Dillwyn believed that it was the offer of a baronetcy which induced Guest to stand.51Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Guest, 55-6; L.W. Dillwyn, diary, 15 July 1837, Randall & Rees, Diary of Lewis Weston Dillwyn, 84. Guest was duly created a baronet in 1838.

Glamorgan’s first contested election since 1820 provoked much excitement: even children joined in the cries of ‘Lord Adare for ever! Guest in the gutter!’ and ‘great ladies put forth all their blandishments and kissed wavering voters, or at all events their children, by the dozen’.52Earl of Dunraven, Dunraven Castle Glamorgan: some notes on its history and associations (1926), 95-6. Adare – ‘their boy protégé’, ‘the Tory pet’ – was criticised for his youth and inexperience.53Morning Chronicle, 11 July 1837, 3 Aug. 1837. Guest’s wife, Lady Charlotte, recorded that when Adare went to canvass his opponent’s heartland at Dowlais, he was met by 700 of Guest’s workmen chanting ‘Guest for ever’, whereupon ‘the Little Lord was so frightened that he did not canvass a single vote, and got the Constables to escort him safely back again’.54Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Guest, 51. Adare’s supporters attacked the Liberal coalition which ‘sought to monopolize the Representation’, and claimed that having made Merthyr his pocket borough, Guest now wished to reduce Glamorgan ‘to a similar state of degradation’.55W.R. Grey (chairman of Lord Adare’s committee) to the electors of Glamorgan, 22 July 1837, reproduced in Grant, Parliamentary history of Glamorgan, plate 28. The main battle was clearly that of ‘Dunraven Castle, versus The Dowlais furnaces’, and voters were urged to cast off ‘this Iron Yoke, chained as it is to the Car of Revolution, having [Daniel] O’Connell as their Charioteer’, and to resist ‘these Free Trade Schemers’.56Dunraven, Dunraven Castle, 94. Although Guest’s election address carefully acknowledged the importance of Glamorgan’s agricultural interests, election broadsheets were more forthright in backing free trade: ‘Down with the farmers. Let’s have Guest and wheat at two shillings a bushel’.57J.J. Guest, Election address, 11 July 1837, reproduced in Grant, Parliamentary history of Glamorgan, plate 27; ‘Down with farmers’, 20 July 1837, reproduced in ibid., plate 29. Yet while their opponents alleged a compact between Talbot and Guest, Talbot was unhappy about Guest’s candidature, disliking his support of free trade and preferring to see the representation equitably divided.58Jenkins, ‘Glamorgan politics 1789-1868’, 11. See also Lady Charlotte Guest’s conclusion that Talbot was ‘not anxious [Guest] should get in’: Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Guest, 55. Guest’s attention was diverted by violence during the Merthyr poll, where he interceded to keep the peace. Lady Charlotte regarded the returning officer’s adjournment of the poll (on the grounds of rioting) as ‘a Tory trick’ to keep her husband busy in the borough, where he was returned prior to the Glamorgan contest.59Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Guest, 52-3.

His supporters wearing oak leaves, Adare was accompanied to the nomination by ‘nearly the whole of the resident gentry, 30 carriages and upwards, 300 horsemen, a band of music, and flags’, while Talbot’s carriage was followed by ‘a considerable body of his own tenants’, sporting laurel. Guest arrived without any retinue, accompanied by Crawshay and ‘several respectable tradesmen from Merthyr and Swansea’.60The Times, 5 Aug. 1837. Lady Charlotte’s indignation upon finding that her nosegay contained her opponents’ colours revealed the lack of cordial relations between Talbot and Guest:

Mr. Talbot coolly told me that he had assumed the Laurel, and hardly condescended to smile at my warmth... I tore up my nosegay and resolved never to wear colours again. These things are trifles, but I am superstitious, and I considered [Guest’s] having given way on this point a bad omen.61Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Guest, 53.

While The Times felt that Adare and Talbot’s hustings speeches were ‘marked by great ability and candour’, Lady Charlotte noted that Adare ‘read the whole of his speech... chiefly about his grandfather’, and the Morning Chronicle claimed that his lacklustre performance ‘was pitied by all – his ignorance on political matters is frightful’.62The Times, 5 Aug. 1837; Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Guest, 53; Morning Chronicle, 3 Aug. 1837. Standing as ‘a decided, but moderate, Conservative’, Adare opposed reforms which threatened the established Church, particularly the appropriation clauses of the Whigs’ Irish church proposals, but favoured legislation to improve Sabbath observance, a subject on which one of his supporters expounded at length.63The Times, 5 Aug. 1837; Cragoe, Culture, politics, and national identity, 55; Morning Chronicle, 3 Aug. 1837. Talbot cited his record as a reformer, having supported abolition of slavery, the new poor law and municipal reform, but, according to Guest’s seconder, ‘appeared anxious to conciliate the Tory party at Guest’s expense’.64Cragoe, Culture, politics, and national identity, 54. Proposed by Colonel Cameron, the mayor of Swansea, and seconded by the Unitarian colliery owner Walter Coffin, Guest attacked the high sheriff for having fixed the early hour of 9 a.m. for the nomination. Following the candidates’ speeches, Mr. Price, a Quaker, gave an address on temperance.65The Times, 5 Aug. 1837; Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Guest, 55-6.

With the show of hands too close to call, Guest demanded a poll.66The Times, 5 Aug. 1837. This was the high sheriff’s decision, although Lady Charlotte Guest claimed that Guest had the majority: Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Guest, 53. At the close of the first day, Adare lagged in third place, the totals being reported as 867 for Talbot, 747 for Guest, and 304 for Adare.67L.W. Dillwyn, diary, 5 Aug. 1837, Randall & Rees, Diary of Lewis Weston Dillwyn, 84. However, the contest ended with Adare topping the poll, over 200 votes ahead of Talbot, who took the second seat. Lady Charlotte felt this reflected the fact that Talbot been ‘very inactive’ and noted that ‘the little Squires, who hate him for the proud manner in which he has treated them, are quite charmed at his disgrace’.68Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Guest, 56. A breakdown of the polling figures revealed that Adare considerably outpolled his opponents in Bridgend and Cardiff, where Dunraven and Bute exercised powerful influence.69The Times, 8 Aug. 1837; Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Guest, 51. See also Morning Chronicle, 7 Aug. 1837, which gives slightly different figures, although with the same overall patterns. In his Merthyr heartland, Guest mustered only 33 votes more than Adare, but he and Talbot polled much more strongly at Swansea.70The Times, 8 Aug. 1837. The Anglican clergy rallied to defend the Church, being ‘extremely active’ against Guest.71Morning Chronicle, 3 Aug. 1837; ‘Y mae Guest...’, reproduced in Grant, Parliamentary history of Glamorgan, plate 30. It was alleged that intimidation had been used on Adare’s behalf, with one hostile report suggesting that he received the votes of ‘fifty pound tenants, without will’.72Merthyr and Cardiff Chronicle, 12 Aug. 1837, cited in Cragoe, Culture, politics, and national identity, 56. Lady Charlotte claimed that: ‘The Tory landlords brought their Tenants up themselves like flocks of sheep, and made them break their pledge-words. They absolutely dragged them to the Poll, threatening to turn them out of their farms unless they voted plumpers for Lord Adare.’73Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Guest, 54-5.

By contrast the 1841 election was a quiet affair. Talbot and Adare were returned unopposed after an ‘immense procession’ of their supporters – again sporting oak and laurel – to the hustings.74Ibid. Talbot regretted that ministers had made the corn laws the key issue: ‘there is no subject less adapted for the Hustings, and more requiring the calm and deliberate discussion of men uninfluenced by temporary and local exigencies’. While he had voted for reductions in the sugar duties, he opposed the proposed reductions in the corn and timber duties.75C.R.M. Talbot, Election address, 14 June 1841, cited in Grant, Parliamentary history of Glamorgan, 173. However, although he favoured protection, reports that Talbot had ‘renounced all connection with the Ministerial party’ were erroneous.76The Times, 12 July 1841.

Rumours that Adare would retire at the 1847 general election, and that John Nicholl, Conservative MP for Cardiff, would seek election alongside his brother-in-law, Talbot, proved to be untrue. The suggestion that Bute’s brother, Lord Patrick James Crichton-Stuart, would offer for the county, provided that he could secure his brother’s backing, also came to nothing.77The Times, 7 June 1847. Adare and Talbot were once again returned unopposed. By 1850, however, Adare’s local support was waning. Increasingly inattentive to his parliamentary duties, he spent most of the 1850 session at Lucerne, from where in July he responded to the Glamorgan Protection Society’s request for a declaration of his views on protection, after his votes, including that for repeal of the navigation laws, had caused concern. Adare’s response – that he had divided against corn law repeal, but considered it ‘quite another question’ whether free trade could now be safely reversed – was considered ‘vague and unsatisfactory’, and despite his assurances that he favoured measures of relief for the agricultural interest, the society withdrew its support.78The Times, 24 July 1850.

Adare did not face Glamorgan’s electors again, for that August he succeeded as third earl of Dunraven, and while an Irish peerage did not debar him from sitting, he took the Chiltern Hundreds, 24 Dec. 1850, wishing to devote more time to his newly inherited responsibilities (and perhaps mindful of his dwindling support base).79The Times, 6 Jan. 1851. He delayed the public announcement of his retirement until January 1851, to spare the parties ‘a long protracted canvass’.80Derby Mercury, 8 Jan. 1851. At the ensuing by-election that February Sir George Tyler, a naval officer and local landowner, stood as a Conservative, backed by the Bridgend Protectionist Society.81Grant, Parliamentary history of Glamorgan, 44. His address declared his attachment to the sovereign, to ‘Protestant institutions both in Church and State’, and to protection.82The Times, 13 Jan. 1851. Howel Gwyn, of Baglan Hall, near Neath, Conservative MP for Penryn and Falmouth, was also rumoured as a candidate, while on the Liberal side, John Henry Vivian, MP for Swansea, and Henry Thomas, of Preswylfa, the long-serving vice-chairman of the quarter sessions, were suggested. In the event, however, the Liberals decided to keep their powder dry for the general election, sparing Tyler a contest.83North Wales Chronicle, 28 Dec. 1850; The Times, 6 Jan. 1851; Daily News, 23 Jan. 1851, 27 Feb. 1851. His procession to the hustings, where he described the landed interest as ‘the real foundation of the wealth and strength of the country’, was ‘a sorry cavalcade, mustering twenty or thirty horsemen and only half-a-dozen carriages’.84Daily News, 27 Feb. 1851; Morning Chronicle, 27 Feb. 1851.

In March 1852 the ‘general talk’ in the county was that Tyler would be ousted at the general election by Henry Thomas. Thomas’s candidature did not materialise, however, and although several Cardiff men were keen to see Guest offer, his failing health precluded an arduous county contest.85J. Evans to Sir J. Guest, 24 Mar. 1852, Elsas, Iron in the making, 228. The Swansea copper smelter Henry Hussey Vivian, son of John Henry Vivian, considered coming forward, but an analysis of the registers suggested that his chances were ‘almost hopeless’, with at best 2,400 of the 5,600 active voters likely to support him, a figure which would be reduced by several hundred if Talbot went against him. Although Vivian had the support of Guest, Crawshay and Liberal voters in Merthyr, Swansea, Cardiff and Aberdare, otherwise he had ‘all the great influences in the County against him or at best shewing what may be termed an “armed neutrality”’. Hopes that a free trader would secure the support of the Dunraven interest and of John Dillwyn Llewelyn (eldest son of Lewis Weston Dillwyn) proved illusory.86J. Evans to Sir J. Guest, 8 Apr. 1852; D.W. James to Lady C. Guest, 9 Apr. 1852, Elsas, Iron in the making, 229. Another consideration was that a Liberal challenge for the county might prompt unwelcome opposition to Guest at Merthyr.87D.W. James to Lady C. Guest, 9 Apr. 1852, Elsas, Iron in the making, 230.

There was, however, a last-minute attempt to challenge Tyler. Having just been defeated at Cardiff, John Nicholl, now a Peelite, received a requisition signed by Liberals and Liberal-Conservatives. A deputation headed by the Swansea industrialist Sir John Morris, Talbot’s proposer in 1837, urged Talbot to persuade Tyler to retire in Nicholl’s favour ‘to save the turmoil of a Contest’. If this failed, Sir John Romilly (recently defeated at Devonport) would be asked to stand, with Lewis Llewelyn Dillwyn (son of Lewis Weston Dillwyn) a third option.88S. Howard to Sir J. Guest, 14 July 1852, Elsas, Iron in the making, 232-3. However, neither Romilly nor Dillwyn wished to come forward: W. Stroud to Sir J. Guest, 15 July 1852, Elsas, Iron in the making, 233. Amidst much uncertainty, Nicholl appeared at the hustings, nominated by Starling Benson, a Swansea copper smelter, and J.P. Budd, of the Ystalyfera ironworks. The accompanying cries of ‘He won’t stand’ proved correct, as, having declared his commitment to free trade, Nicholl withdrew – to the crowd’s ‘evident disappointment’ – just as the show of hands was being taken.89The Times, 15 July 1852. Having been assisted by part of the protectionist party at Cardiff, and having promised Tyler that he would not stand, he considered it dishonourable to proceed.90The Times, 15 July 1852; Morning Chronicle, 14 July 1852; W. Stroud to Sir J. Guest, 15 July 1852, Elsas, Iron in the making, 234. Tyler, whose nomination was interrupted by a procession carrying a ‘free trade’ loaf, was re-elected unopposed alongside Talbot, having voiced support for the Derby government and his hopes of ‘measures of substantial relief to the agricultural interest’. Talbot declared himself unable to say whether or not he would support Derby’s policies ‘because no person appeared to know what they were’, but stated that as free trade had been adopted, he would ‘for the relief of agriculturalists, vote in favour of applying the same principles to manufactures and other articles’.91The Times, 28 June 1852, 15 July 1852.

The Liberals stepped up their organisational efforts thereafter, establishing the Glamorganshire Liberal Registration Society, which appointed local committees to attend to registration.92W. Stroud to Sir J. Guest, 15 July 1852, Elsas, Iron in the making, 234. Henry Hussey Vivian recorded that ‘although rude and unorganized’, their efforts at the 1852 revision courts were a ‘brilliant success’. However, the Tories ‘vow vengeance & declare they will expunge every questionable Vote & put on all they can’, meaning that the county would ‘be won or lost in the Barristers’ Courts next year’.93H.H. Vivian to Lady C. Guest, 22 Oct. 1852, Elsas, Iron in the making, 236. In 1856 it was reported that the Liberals had added 2,500 voters to the register in the past four years.94The Times, 31 July 1856. By June 1856 it had become clear that Tyler would not seek re-election, and both parties quickly had candidates in place who issued addresses the following month.95Daily News, 30 June 1856. Vivian, who had been returned as Liberal MP for Truro in 1852 following his decision not to contest Glamorgan, declared himself opposed to church rates and religious disabilities, but favourable to free trade, the ballot, administrative reform and army reform.96The Examiner, 9 Aug. 1856. For the Conservatives, Nash Vaughan Edwards Vaughan, son of the former county MP John Edwards Vaughan, came forward, advocating ‘a sedulous promotion of religion, education and social progress’, and believed that a well-considered measure could settle the church rates question. Connected with both agricultural and mining interests, he saw their prosperity as intertwined, and supported ‘free and unrestricted commercial intercourse with other nations’.97Bristol Mercury, 2 Aug. 1856. A ‘sharp contest’ was predicted.98Morning Chronicle, 9 Mar. 1857.

The ensuing election in 1857 saw Talbot, who united with Vivian, offer again, but although Godfrey Morgan, son of Charles Morgan Robinson Morgan, was named as a second Conservative candidate, he did not proceed to the nomination.99The Times, 24 Mar. 1857; Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper, 22 Mar. 1857. Morgan was elected as MP for Breconshire in 1858. The perceived significance of Glamorgan’s first contested election for twenty years was shown by the number of parliamentarians mustered on the platform. Talbot was seconded by Lewis Llewelyn Dillwyn, MP for Swansea, while Vivian was proposed by Walter Coffin, outgoing MP for Cardiff. Vaughan was proposed by Crawshay Bailey, Glamorgan ironmaster and MP for Monmouth, and seconded by Howel Gwyn, former MP for Penryn and Falmouth. The Liberal candidates declared their support for the ballot, franchise extension and abolition of church rates. While Vivian was entirely satisfied with the government’s actions regarding Canton, Talbot was more hesitant, but had refrained from supporting Cobden’s censure motion.100The Times, 2 Apr. 1857. Earlier in the contest, Vaughan had stated that while he could not pledge to support Palmerston, he was not ‘an avowed opponent’.101The Times, 24 Mar. 1857. Although he opposed the ballot and abolition of church rates, he described himself as not a Tory, but a Liberal Conservative, in a speech met with hisses and ‘marks of general disapprobation’.102The Times, 2 Apr. 1857. The Liberals won both the show of hands and the poll. While Liberal registration efforts clearly played a significant part in Vaughan’s defeat, a later account ascribed it to the fact that ‘at least one of the most influential Conservatives in the county failed, on account of private reasons’ to give his backing to Vaughan.103Western Mail, 24 Oct. 1873.

Despite a reported Liberal gain of 348 on the register in 1857, the Conservatives maintained their efforts, and the Glamorganshire Liberal Registration Society’s secretary complained in 1858 that their opponents ‘give us a great deal of annoyance by continually objecting to our men’.104North Wales Chronicle, 14 Nov. 1857; E.M. Richards to G.T. Clark, 18 Sept. 1858, Elsas, Iron in the making, 237. However, after Vaughan’s poor showing, the Conservatives did not contest the seat in 1859, when Talbot’s election address declared his opposition to the Conservatives’ reform bill, not least because it would reduce Glamorgan’s electorate. Vivian likewise would not consent to disfranchising voters who ‘by industry and frugality’ had qualified for a borough as well as a county vote. He was keen to see the franchise extended, together with redistribution of seats, and suggested that the proposed ‘fancy franchise’ for savings bank depositors should apply to similar investments.105The Times, 11 Apr. 1859; Daily News, 11 Apr. 1859. The 1860s witnessed two key developments which further strengthened Glamorgan Liberalism. The economic downturns that followed the Crimean War and the American Civil War stimulated trade union activity, which was accompanied by demands for franchise extension and the ballot in Glamorgan’s industrial towns. Secondly, after 1862 the Liberation Society began to operate on a large scale in Wales, encouraging Nonconformity’s political awakening, and contributing to the establishment and funding of a South Wales Liberal Registration Society in 1867.106Jones, ‘Franchise reform and Glamorgan politics’, 59-60. The Conservatives abandoned the idea of bringing forward a member of the Dunraven family at the 1865 election, and Talbot and Vivian were once again spared a contest.107The Times, 10 July 1865.

The extension of the franchise in 1867, which the Daily News claimed added 4,000 Liberal voters to the register, cemented the party’s hold, and Vivian and Talbot were returned unopposed in 1868 and 1880, and saw off a Conservative challenge in 1874.108Daily News, 17 Sept. 1868. The Third Reform Act divided Glamorgan into five single-member seats. Talbot was returned for Mid Glamorgan in 1885 and (as a Liberal Unionist) in 1886.109Vivian transferred to Swansea district, where he served until his elevation to the peerage in 1893. After Talbot’s death in 1890, Mid Glamorgan returned middle-class Nonconformist Liberals, as did East Glamorgan and Gower.110Grant, Parliamentary history of Glamorgan, 63-4. The Rhondda division became the stronghold of the miners’ leader, William Abraham. This left South Glamorgan as the only constituency not a safe Liberal or Lib-Lab seat, due to the influence of the Bute and Dunraven families, and having won it from the Liberals in 1895, Major Windham Henry Wyndham-Quin (nephew of the third earl of Dunraven) held it until his defeat by Labour in 1906.111Ibid., 70.