Glamorgan - Administration

Administration

See also: History of local government in Wales

After the fall of the Welsh kingdom of Morgannwg to Robert FitzHamon in 1091, the region became the English Lordship of Glamorgan, sometimes called the Lordship of Glamorgan and Morgan because it was divided into the Norman settled Plain or Vale of Glamorgan and the Welsh upland area called Morgannwg, anglicized to Morgan. Both areas were under the control of the Norman Lords of Glamorgan (often the Earls of Gloucester). As well as building a military and defensive network, the Normans also undertook an ecclesiastical reorganisation on Glamorgan. In Llandaff there was a small monastic community based on a small church; which was made the headquarters of the diocese, incorporated into the Province of Canterbury. The Diocese of Llandaff covered almost the entirety of Glamorgan and continued throughout the history of the county of Glamorgan, and through to modern times.

In 1536, the Laws in Wales Act 1535 attached the Lordship of Gower and Kilvey to Glamorgan and created the historic county of Glamorgan. Along with gaining parliamentary representation in 1536, Glamorgan became part of the King's circuit, with judges from England administering law at the Great Session or Assizes. Local magistrates were appointed to deal with petty sessions while Lords Lieutenant were appointed as the King's representative. Law enforcement within the confines of the shire was the responsibility of the High Sheriff of Glamorgan.

From the 1790s a call was made for parliamentary reform to address the imbalance between the number of Members of Parliament for each Welsh county and the population each seat represented. Radnorshire had only a tenth of the population of Glamorganshire, though Radnorshire had one MP to Glamorganshire's two (Glamorgan and the District of Cardiff). The First Reform Act (1832) gave five more seats to Wales, three went to Glamorganshire. The Act increased the number of MPs for Glamorganshire from one to two, it created the separate District of Swansea and Merthyr Tydfil became a borough constituency. Reflecting the increased importance and wealth of Merthyr the borough was given a second MP after the Reform Act 1867.

The next major redistribution of MPs occurred with the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. Glamorganshire was split from its two Members of Parliament to five, with the creation of constituencies for East, Mid and South Glamorganshire, Gower and Rhondda.

An administrative county of Glamorgan was created under the Local Government Act 1888, excluding Swansea and Cardiff, which became independent county boroughs. In 1908, county borough status was also granted to Merthyr Tydfil, despite protests from the southern part of the borough, where it was claimed that links were stronger with Pontypridd. In 1935, a Royal Commission argued that Merthyr County Borough, then heavily burdened by the cost of maintaining many unemployed people, should be abolished and merged with Glamorgan. The county council refused the proposal.

The first chairman of the County Council was Henry Vivian, 1st Baron Swansea. The county council's coat of arms, granted in 1950, was: Or, three chevronels gules between as many Tudor roses barbed and seeded proper. The red chevronels on a gold shield were the arms of the De Clare Marcher Lords, while the roses recorded the shiring of Glamorgan by Henry VIII. The crest above the shield was a Welsh dragon rising from flames, symbolising the revival of the county's industry following a period of economic depression. The dragon supported a flag bearing a clarion from the arms of the De Granville family, lords of Neath. The supporters of the arms were a coalminer and a steel worker. The motto adopted by the county council: A Ddioddefws A Orfu or "He Who suffered, conquered" was that of the lineage of Iestyn ap Gwrgant, and was considered appropriate to an area whose wealth depended on great hardship.

Under the Local Government Act 1972, the county boroughs and administrative county of Glamorgan were abolished on 1 April 1974, with three new counties being established, each containing a former county borough - West Glamorgan, Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan. It 1996 these areas were reorganised into several unitary authorities by the Local Government Act of 1994. The South Wales Police force covers an area that is similar to Glamorgan.