1870 Merionethshire by-election
UK parliamentary by-election in Wales
The 1870 Merionethshire by-election was a parliamentary by-election held for the UK House of Commons constituency of Merionethshire in North Wales on 17 January 1870.
Vacancy
The by-election was caused by the death of the sitting Liberal MP, David Williams.
Candidates
Two candidates were nominated.
The Liberal Party nominated former High Sheriff of Merionethshire Samuel Smith.
The Conservative Party nominated Charles John Tottenham, an Honorary Colonel in the Denbighshire Yeomanry Cavalry.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “1870 Merionethshire by-election” is uK parliamentary by-election in Wales. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Merionethshire, by-election and parliamentary, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “uK parliamentary by-election in Wales” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q114000186. The first chronological checks are 1870.
Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “1870 Merionethshire by-election”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 1870 Merionethshire by-election primary sources, 1870 Merionethshire by-election archive and Merionethshire research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “1870 Merionethshire by-election” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.