For Hampshire, like other counties, the introduction of representative democracy in the late 1880s was hailed as an event of considerable importance. Electoral competition was seen as a more appropriate method of determining who should govern the county than the system of appointed magistrates which it replaced. For many decades, however, contested county council elections were the exception rather than the rule. Consequently, the healthy test of direct contact between electors and elected, which had been anticipated, did not materialise. Nonetheless those contests which did take place offer some fascinating insights into a lost world of electioneering. It was only after the Second World War that competition became a more prominent feature of county council elections in Hampshire thanks to the increasing participation of political parties, initially Labour and subsequently Conservative and Liberal. This trend, however, led to a decline in the number of Independent councillors which some regretted. It also meant that the principal determinant of the outcome of elections was the standing of the parties nationally as opposed to their performance locally. Moreover, party politicisation was accompanied by a fall in the turnout, another cause for concer