Aberdare Urban District Council was a local authority in

Aberdare Aberdare ( ; cy, Aberdâr) is a town in the Cynon Valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, at the confluence of the Rivers Dare (Dâr) and Cynon. Aberdare has a population of 39,550 (mid-2017 estimate). Aberdare is south-west of Merthyr Tyd ...

, Wales.

History

It was created in 1894 as a result of the

1894 Local Government of England and Wales Act The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level un ...

and the 1894 Aberdare Urban District Council election saw the election of the first members of the authority. The Council existed until 1973 and replaced the

Aberdare Local Board of Health Aberdare Local Board of Health was established in 1854 in response to the 1848 Public Health Act, and a report on the sanitary condition of the town conducted by Thomas Webster Rammell. It was eventually replaced in 1894 by Aberdare Urban Distric ...

which had functioned since the 1840s. Its boundaries were identical to those of the original parish of

. Initially, the Council had fifteen members but this was increased to twenty in 1906, as a result of the increase in population. There were five wards, namely

Aberaman Aberaman is a village near Aberdare in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, south Wales. It was heavily dependent on the coal industry and the population, as a result, grew rapidly in the late nineteenth century. Most of the industry has now ...

(also known as No. 5 Ward), Blaengwawr (also known as No. 4 Ward), Gadlys (also known as No. 2 Ward),

Llwydcoed Llwydcoed is a small village and community north of the Cwm Cynon, near the town of Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, with a population of 1,302 as of 2011 census. History The village initially developed in the Tregibbon area, where in 1801 ...

(also known as No. 1 Ward), and the Town Ward (also known as No. 3 Ward). The first councillors were elected at the 1894 elections. Members of the first Aberdare Urban District Council, 1894

Members of the first Aberdare Urban District Council, 1894

Most of the first members of the authority had served on the Local Board, including the first chairman, Rees Hopkin Rhys who had chaired the Local Board since the 1860s. Other inaugural members included Rees Llewellyn, owner of the Bwllfa Colliery and

Edmund Mills Hann Edmund Mills Hann (1850–1931) was a Welsh prominent figure in the industrial life of South Wales, and a leading coal owner during the industrial struggles of the 1920s. He was active in local politics in the Aberdare area and an inaugural me ...

who later became a director of Powell Duffryn Collieries. All three of these men were leading figures in the industrial life of the valley and beyond. From the outset there was a strong representation on the Council of middle-class nonconformist liberals, who were typical of the new elite who rose to prominence in Wales in the late-Victorian and Edwardian periods. Chief among these were Benjamin Evans, minister of Gadlys Chapel, Thomas Humphreys, minister of

Seion, Cwmaman Seion, Cwmaman is a Welsh Baptist church, originally established in 1859. The chapel closed in 2013 but the church still meets at another location in the village. Early history The church dates from the early days of Cwmaman as a mining communi ...

, and

Griffith George Griffith George (1847–1910) was a Liberal politician, businessman and a prominent figure in the cultural and religious of Aberdare and Glamorgan, Wales. George was born in Llangoedmor, near Cardigan, but moved at a young age to Pontseli, near ...

, a prominent businessman in the town. All three were leading

Baptists Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

. Following the inaugural elections there were comparatively few contests during the next few years. The elections of 1896 and 1897 were low key and several seats were uncontested. In the years leading up to the First World War, representatives of the Labour Party began to gain ground. At the initial election, miners' agent David Morgan had been heavily defeated and the workers' candidates made little headway until the turn of the century, and the Town and Gadlys wards remained barren territory for Labour candidates for many years. By 1914, however, they held several seats, and dominated the Aberaman and Blaengwawr wards. The elected representatives included

Charles Butt Stanton Charles Butt Stanton (7 April 1873 – 6 December 1946) was a British politician, who served as an Member of Parliament (MP) from 1915 to 1922. He entered Parliament by winning one of the two seats for Merthyr Tydfil at a by-election on 25 No ...

. In 1974 the authority was abolished, and together with the former urban district of

Mountain Ash Mountain ash may refer to: * ''Eucalyptus regnans'', the tallest of all flowering plants, native to Australia * Mountain-ashes or rowans, varieties of trees and shrubs in the genus ''Sorbus'' See also * Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf Mounta ...

and some outlying areas, formed the

Cynon Valley Borough Council Cynon may refer to: Cynon Valley * Cynon Valley, one of the South Wales Valleys * River Cynon, the river which gives its name to the Cynon Valley * Rhondda Cynon Taf, an administrative area in Wales created through the merger of the former district ...

which, in turn, was subsumed into the unitary authority of

Rhondda Cynon Taf Rhondda Cynon Taf (; RCT; also spelt as Rhondda Cynon Taff) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It consists of five valleys: the Rhondda Fawr, Rhondda Fach, Cynon, Taff (Welsh: ''Taf'') and Ely valleys, plus a number of towns and vill ...

in 1996.

Notable members of the Council

* Rev Benjamin Evans, Baptist minister *

, industrialist * Rees Llewellyn, coalowner * Rees Hopkin Rhys, industrialist *

Charles Stanton Charles Butt Stanton (7 April 1873 – 6 December 1946) was a British politician, who served as an Member of Parliament (MP) from 1915 to 1922. He entered Parliament by winning one of the two seats for Merthyr Tydfil at a by-election on 25 No ...

, miners' agent

History

Notable members of the Council

References

Bibliography

See also