John Morgan Howell (1855-1928) was a prominent figure in the public life of

Cardiganshire Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cere ...

in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A supporter of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, he represented

Aberaeron Aberaeron, previously anglicised as Aberayron, is a town, community, and electoral ward between Aberystwyth and Cardigan, in Ceredigion, Wales. Ceredigion County Council offices are in Aberaeron. The name of the town is Welsh for ''mouth of the ...

as a county councillor for over thirty years and served on many other public bodies. Shortly after he was elected as county councillor in 1889, Howell married Ann Evans at the Tabernacle Calvinistic Methodist Church, Aberaeron. Howell was a prominent figure at Tabernacle, became its precentor in 1874, and was also superintendent of the Sunday school from a young age. It was said that he was the mainstay of the musical festivals or Cymanfaoedd held in the district. Howell was a prominent businessman and operated a flourishing ironmongery business at Portland House, Aberaeron. He served as a director of the Lampeter and Aberayron Railway which opened in 1911. In many ways, he represented the urban, commercial, middle class, who became a powerful new force within society in Cardiganshire during the 1880s. J.M. Howell was associated with the radical wing of the

in Cardiganshire and a keen supporter of policies such as land reform and disestablishment. His submission to the 1894 Enquiry into the Land Question in Wales reflects his outlook. 'There is a spirit of vassalage among the tillers of the soil', according to his evidence, 'begotten by the tyranny of the past. The shadows of the oppression and evictions of 1868 have not lifted from among the people'. This was a reference to the general election of 1868 in Wales, which had been characterised by allegations of coercion by landowners at what proved to be the last election before the introduction of the ballot. However, recent historians have questioned the traditional version and claimed that there were also examples of coercion by nonconformist ministers. Elected to the Cardiganshire County Council at the first elections in

1889 Events January–March * January 1 ** The total solar eclipse of January 1, 1889 is seen over parts of California and Nevada. ** Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka experiences a vision, leading to the start of the Ghost Dance movement in the ...

, Howell became chairman of the Council in 1895-6 and was made an alderman in 1898. Having served as a county councillor for thirty years, the veteran Howell became embroiled in the infighting within the Liberal Association between supporters of Lloyd George and Asquith after the First World War. He presided at a meeting addressed by Asquith at Aberystwyth in 1919 and was invited to stand as an Asquithian Liberal candidate in 1921 when Lloyd George engineered a peerage for Vaughan Davies to allow his supporter Ernest Evans to contest the seat. Howell, however, refused, and announced that he supported Lloyd George. He regularly wrote articles for their Welsh language press on political and literary subjects and was also a keen amateur poet.

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Bibliography

* 1855 births 1928 deaths Councillors in Wales People from Ceredigion Liberal Party (UK) councillors Members of Cardiganshire County Council {{Wales-politician-stub