1904 Carmarthenshire County Council election

The Liberals retained a strong majority with a majority of members returned unopposed.[2] From the outset the election was dominated by the debate over the implementation of the 1902 Education Act, which was fiercely opposed by the radial wing of the Welsh Liberal Party.

There were no boundary changes.

The election was fought on more explicitly political lines, largely as a result of the way the education question dominated the election. Following the nominations, the Liberals already had a majority due to the number of candidates returned unopposed.[3] These included all eight candidates in the Llanelli Urban area, including Joseph Roberts, who was returned unopposed for the division previously represented by the veteran tinplate leader, Tom Phillips, who retired due too ill-health.[3]

Several sitting members, mainly Anglican landowners, changed their political allegiance due to the Education question. These included J.W. Gwynne-Hughes of Tregib (Llandeilo).

There were only a small number of contested elections and the majorities were small in most instances.

As at previous elections, retiring aldermen were not required to seek re-election. The aldermen who retired at the election were

• J.S. Tregoning, Iscoed, Conservative
• John Lewis, Meirios Hall, Liberal
• D.L. Jones, Derlwyn, Liberal
• R.W. Stephens, Coedybrain, Liberal
• Rev. W. Thomas, Whitland, Liberal
• David Evans, Llangennech, Liberal
• Rev. William Davies, Llandilo, Liberal
• J. Williams, Llanginning, Liberal
• James Hill-Johnes, Dolaucothy, Conservative

This section summarises the detailed results which are noted in the following sections. In some cases there is an ambiguity in the sources over the party affiliations and this is explained below where relevant.

This table summarises the result of the elections in all wards. 51 councillors were elected.

In view of the controversy over education candidates stood as Unionists rather than Conservatives. However, the label Unionist has been used only for those former Liberals who stood under this banner.

In addition to the 51 councillors the council consisted of 17 county aldermen. Aldermen were elected by the council, and served a six-year term. Following the elections the following nine aldermen were elected (with the number of votes recorded in each case).

• John Williams, retiring alderman (47)
• W.N. Jones, elected member for Betws (46)
• John Lewis, retiring alderman (45)
• D.L. Jones, retiring alderman (42)
• R.W. Stephens, retiring alderman (48)
• John Rees, retiring alderman (42)
• Thomas Jones, elected member for Llanelli Ward 7 (42)
• Rev Thomas Johns, elected member for Llanelli Ward 4 (42)
• Rev William Davies, retiring alderman (42)

All the elected aldermen were supported by the majority of members.[4]