ABSTRACT
The defence of the established Church was a central tenet of the Tory cause, and the Church in Wales offered a sizeable body of support as well as a means of presenting Conservative arguments. Religious loyalties might even bring other groups to support Tory views on specific issues. Parliamentary representation had increased in industrialised and more populous parts of the country, like Glamorgan. The rise of radical Liberalism in the 1880s coincided with a bleak time for Welsh agriculture. The depression which began in Britain in the 1870s initially had only a limited effect in Wales, chiefly in advanced regions like the north-eastern counties and south Pembrokeshire. Liberal voters in Cardiganshire may have had little first hand knowledge of the workings of industry in the south-east, but many Liberal industrialists were returned by the constituencies where their enterprises were based. The Liberal emphasis on temperance gave the drink industry a vested interest in the Conservative Party.
