Richard Fothergill (politician)

Richard Fothergill (8 November 1822 – 24 June 1903) was an English ironmaster, a coalmine-owner in Wales and a Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1868 to 1880.

The campaign was led by Thomas Price of Calfaria, Aberdare, although ironically he and Fothergill soon buried their differences and became allies in the world of local politics.

[4] Following the closure of the Aberaman Ironworks in 1858, Fothergill became the most substantial ironmaster in the Aberdare Valley, although his works at Llwydcoed and Abernant were small compared with those at Merthyr.

[1] At the 1868 general election, Merthyr Tydfil became a two-member constituency with a much-increased electorate as a result of the Second Reform Act of 1867.

Price emerged as a supporter of Fothergill, arguing in an editorial in Seren Cymru that only if he declined an invitation to stand should the nomination be offered to a nonconformist radical.

A deputation of tradesmen and working men who attended a meeting at Swansea to request to offer himself once again as a candidate but he eventually declined.