[1] The initial expectation, as described by one newspaper, was for a closely fought contest, for the two political factions in the town were thought to be fairly evenly matched.
[3] When his father, the 2nd Marquis of Camden, was made Lord Lieutenant of the Brecknockshire in succession to the late Col. Watkins, Brecknock unequivocally declared his support for the Palmerston administration.
[4] As a result, Thomas Price of Aberdare, a prominent Welsh nonconformist minister and a native of Brecon, offered himself as a Liberal candidate.
[4] Price had connections with Brecon since his younger days and he stated in his address: I have waited with considerable interest, but hitherto in vain, hoping that a gentleman of local influence and of advanced liberal principles would come forward to seek your suffrages; neither of the candidates now before the electors is prepared to advocate measures that would have had the hearty support of your late respected Member; and, firmlv believing that neither of the addresses already issued contains & programme suitable to the wishes of the great majority of the Independent Electors of the Borough of Brecon, or the wants of the period in which we live, I beg most respectfully to offer myself as a candidate for the honour of representing my native town in Parliament.
[4] On 24 January 1866, Price addressed a packed meeting held at the Town Hall, with hundreds reportedly failing to gain admittance.