The councillors were elected for electoral divisions corresponding to the parliamentary constituencies that had been created by the Representation of the People Act 1884.

The council was elected by First Past the Post with each elector having two votes in the dual member seats.

A General Election had taken place a couple of months earlier in January at which the Liberals had lost their overall majority.

After that election they shared out the 9 vacant Aldermanic seats giving them an effective working majority of 43.

After the election they decided to bolster their majority by giving themselves all 10 of the vacant Aldermanic seats.