Question Details
- Question:
- Please can you help? In researching my Family History I have found a Jenkin Herbert who was an elector of Lledrod in 1774.
What does the term elector mean in this context?
Please reply by e-mail if possible.
Thank you Stephanie
- Answer:
- He must have had the right to vote and at this time there were 3 types of constituency ......
county, borough and university....... and the law relating to the right to vote is complex.
It is curious that you give the date 1774, as prior to that date the vote in counties was given to men over 21 years who held freehold lands or tenements there whose annual net value was 40s or more. Until 1774 such electors had to live in the county and where the land was situated. Between
1780 and 1832 the payment of Land Tax was sufficient to be an elector. It is just possible that Jenkin Herbert might not have actually resided in Lledrod but owned land there. On records it is normal only to find the name and parish of each elector. Since Jenkin would have been a land owner, you might want to schedule a trip to the NLW or Ceredigion Archives and go through records yourself. There are Land Tax Assessments (ca.1798), Freeholders Lists -- Estate Records (Rentals, etc.),Wills and probate returns.
Good Luck,
Carolyn Jacob
Merthyr Libraries
- Answered By:
- Merthyr Tydfil, Central Reference Library
