 He was also supported by the prominent Baptist minister, Thomas Price, with whom he has allied in the past.Price emerged as a supporter of Fothergill, arguing in an editorial in "Seren Cymru" that only if he declined an invitation to stand should the nomination be offered to a nonconformist radical.The sitting member, Henry Austen Bruce, remained unpopular as a result of his actions during the Aberdare Strike of 1857–8, although it initially appeared that the Fothergill would be elected to the second seat alongside Bruce.