Aberdare Local Board of Health was established in 1854 in response to the 1848 Public Health Act, and a report on the sanitary condition of the town conducted by Thomas Webster Rammell.^[1] It was eventually replaced in 1894 by Aberdare Urban District Council.

The challenges facing a rapidly developing urban community were a concern to the relatively small middle class of Aberdare as well as the more community-spirited of the industrialists. One of the leading figures in persuading the community to adopt the Health of Town Acts was the nonconformist minister, Thomas Price.^[2] The first board, elected in 1854, included David Davis, Blaengwawr, Crawshay Bailey, Thomas Price and Richard Fothergill who became its first chairman. 'We hope', reflected a local newspaper, 'after so much delay, that active measures will now be taken immediately, as a very wide field for exertion is open to the board'. Cholera was the main concern and although, at that stage, there had been no cases at Aberdare, there had been an outbreak at nearby Hirwaun.^[3]

The main challenge in the early years was dealing with cholera outbreaks and the rapidly developing industrial community.

At the end of its first year, four members of the Board were to retire and seek re-election and it was proposed by Thomas Price, and agreed by the other members, that they would seek to secure their return.^[4] Fothergill was re-elected chairman in August 1855.^[5]

In 1866, Thomas Price, after an absence of some years, resumed his membership of the Board, heading the poll ahead of David Davis. William Thomas Lewis, later Lord Merthyr, was also elected to the Board for the first time.^[6]