1898 Carmarthenshire County Council election

The fourth election to the Carmarthenshire County Council was held in March 1898.^[1] It was preceded by the 1895 election and followed by the 1901 election.

The Liberal Party once again retained a strong majority.

42 candidates were returned unopposed, with only nine seats being contested, and several of these were between rival Liberal candidates. This was the highest number of uncontested seats since the council was created. Fourteen of those elected at the first election, and who had served continuously since then, sought re-election

Of the retiring aldermen, only Gwilym Evans, former chairman of the council, sought election. He had been defeated for a Llanelli ward in 1892 but was now returned unopposed for a different ward.

Although the number of contested elections was small, a number of wards were keenly contested.

There were notable Liberal victories at Caio, where Sir James Hills-Johnes was defeated, and at Pembrey, where W.J. Buckley lost to the Liberal candidate David Evans. Buckley had been a member since 1889 and was parliamentary candidate for West Carmarthenshire.

The Conservatives, in turn, gained ground by winning a number of seats including St Clears and Llanboidy. In Llanelli, John Allen Williams, editor of the Llanelly Guardian, was returned unopposed as a Liberal Unionist.

Seven of the aldermanic seats were occupied by Liberals with the newly elected aldermen including Sir James Hills-Johnes and John Williams, both of whom had been defeated at the polls. Two Conservatives were elected as aldermen, a net gan of one on the aldermanic bench.

In addition to the 51 councillors the council consisted of 17 county aldermen. Aldermen were elected by the council, and served a six-year term. Following the elections, the following aldermen were appointed by the newly elected council.^[2]

The following retiring aldermen were re-elected:

• J.S. Tregoning, Iscoed, Conservative (retiring alderman) 43
• John Lewis, Meirios Hall, Liberal (retiring alderman) 42
• D.L. Jones, Derlwyn, Liberal (retiring alderman) 42
• R.W. Stephens, Coedybrain, Liberal (retiring alderman) 41
• David Evans, Llangennech, Liberal (retiring alderman)38

In addition, the following four new aldermen were elected:

• Rev. William Davies, Llandilo, Liberal 38
• James Hill-Johnes, Dolaucothy, Conservative (defeated candidate at Caio) 35
• Rev. W. Thomas, Whitland, Liberal (elected member for Whitland) 38
• John Williams, Llanginning, Liberal 35 (defeated candidate at St Clears)

One retiring alderman was elected as councillor but not re-elected as alderman:

• Gwilym Evans, Liberal

Two aldermen were not re-elected

• J. Bagnall Evans, Liberal
• Robert Scourfield, Llansteffan, Liberal