Cardiff had become a county borough on 1 April 1889 as a result of the Local Government Act 1888.
On 25 July the General Purposes Committee of the council had redistributed the existing councillors over the ten wards.
[1] Contests took place in all ten electoral wards, namely Adamsdown, Canton, Cathays, Central, Grangetown, Park, Riverside, Roath, South and Splott.
[3] Prior to the election, seven of the eleven seats were held by the Liberal Party and four by the Conservatives.
[3] An election was held on the same date, for the seat of Conservative councillor Smith, who had recently died.