ABSTRACT
Between 1790 and 1868, a survey of the parliamentary history of Wales would give little or no idea o f the changes taking place in the wider society and economy. The great majority of Welsh MPs were from exactly the same sort o f families that had controlled the parliamentary seats for centuries. If there was a change from the late eighteenth century, it was perhaps a movement towards greater oligarchy, even tighter domination by a few wealthy houses, who were often aristocrats. In the first half of the century, Lords Cawdor and Dynevor ruled Carmarthenshire; Pembrokeshire was under Lords Kensington and Milford, and the Owens o f Orielton; the Marquesses o f Bute regarded Cardiff as virtually in their gift. Both Anglesey and Caernarvonshire were in the hands o f the Bulkeleys and the Pagets. Merionethshire was represented from 1796 to 1832 by Sir Robert Williames Vaughan o f Nannau.
