Carlow County (UK Parliament constituency)

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Carlow County
County constituency
Created: 1801
Abolished: 1922
Type: House of Commons
Members: One

Carlow County is a former parliamentary constituency in Ireland, represented in the British House of Commons.

Contents

[edit] Boundaries and Boundary changes

This constituency comprised the whole of County Carlow, except for Carlow Borough 1801-1885.

It returned two MPs 1801-1885, but only one from 1885 to 1922. This was the only Irish county not divided for Parliamentary purposes in the redistribution of 1885. It was thus the only Irish county constituency to exist at every general election from the union with Great Britain to the partition of Ireland.

The constituency ceased to be entitled to be represented in the UK House of Commons on the dissolution of 26 October 1922, shortly before the Irish Free State came into legal existence on 6 December 1922.

[edit] Politics

In the 1918 election the Sinn Féin candidate was unopposed.

[edit] Dáil Éireann 1918-1922

The constituency was, in Irish republican theory, entitled to return one Teachta Dála (known in English as a Deputy) in 1918 to serve in the Irish Republic's First Dáil. Sinn Féin used the UK general election in 1918 to elect the Dáil. The revolutionary body assembled on 21 January 1919. The list of members read out on that day included everyone elected in Ireland. Only the Sinn Féin Deputies participated in the Dáil, but the other Irish MPs could have done so if they had chosen to adhere to the Republic.

The First Dáil, passed a motion at its last meeting on 10 May 1921, the first three parts of which make explicit the republican view.

  • 1. That the Parliamentary elections which are to take place during the present month be regarded as elections to Dáil Éireann.
  • 2. That all deputies duly returned at these elections be regarded as members of Dáil Éireann and allowed to take their seats on subscribing to the proposed Oath of Allegiance.
  • 3. That the present Dáil dissolve automatically as soon as the new body has been summoned by the President and called to order.

The Second Dáil first met on 16 August 1921, thereby dissolving the First Dáil.

Sinn Féin had decided to use the polls for the Northern Ireland House of Commons and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland as an election for the Irish Republic's Second Dáil. No actual voting was necessary in Southern Ireland as all the seats were filled by unopposed returns. Except for Dublin University all other constituencies elected Sinn Féin TDs. As with the First Dáil, the other Deputies could have joined the Dáil if they chose.

From the Third Dáil onwards the Dáil represented only the twenty-six counties which formed the Irish Free State.

In the 2nd and 3rd Dála Carlow formed part of the Carlow-Kilkenny constituency.

[edit] Members of Parliament

[edit] MPs 1801-1885

Election 1st Member 1st Party 2nd Member 2nd Party
1801 William Henry Burton Sir Richard Butler, Bt
Jul. 1802 David Latouche Whig Walter Bagenal Whig
Oct. 1812 Henry Bruen Tory
18 Apr 1816 Robert Anthony Latouche Whig
Jun 1818 Sir Ulysses Bagenal Burgh Tory
Jun 1826 Thomas Kavanagh Tory
May 1831 Walter Blackney Whig Sir John Milley Doyle Whig
Dec 1832 Repeal Association Thomas Wallace Liberal
Jan. 1835 Henry Bruen Conservative Thomas Kavanagh Conservative
15 Jun 1835 Nicholas Aylward Vigors Liberal a Alexander Raphael Liberal
19 Aug 1835 Henry Bruen Conservative Thomas Kavanagh Conservative
18 Feb 1837 Nicholas Aylward Vigors Liberal a
Aug 1837 John Ashton Yates Liberal
5 Dec 1840 Henry Bruen Conservative
Jul 1841 Thomas Bunbury Conservative
1 Jul 1846 William Bunbury McClintock-Bunbury Conservative
Jul 1852 John Ball Liberal b
25 Apr 1853 William Bunbury McClintock-Bunbury Conservative
Apr 1857 Henry Bruen Conservative
7 Aug 1862 Denis William Pack Beresford Conservative
Nov 1868 Arthur MacMurrough Kavanagh Conservative
Apr 1880 Edmund Dwyer Gray Home Rule League Donald Horne McFarlane Home Rule League
1885 representation reduced to one member

Notes:-

  • a Vigors was a supporter of the Liberal/Repealer pact, 1835-1841, who in 1832-1835 had been MP for the borough of Carlow as a member of the Repeal Association.
  • b Ball became a member of the Independent Irish Party when it was formed after the 1852 election.

[edit] MPs 1885-1922

From To Name Party Died
1885 1886 Edmund Dwyer Gray Nationalist 27 March 1888
1886 1887 John Aloysius Blake Nationalist 22 May 1887
1887 1891 Charles James Patrick O'Gorman Mahon Nationalist 15 June 1891
1891 1892 John Hammond Nationalist 17 November 1907
1892 1900 Anti-Parnellite
1900 1908 Nationalist
1908 1910 Walter MacMurrough Kavanagh Nationalist 18 July 1922
1910 1918 Michael Molloy Nationalist
1918 1922 James Lennon Sinn Féin 13 August 1958

[edit] Elections

In 1918 the constituency used the first past the post system. No poll was necessary as only one candidate was nominated. In 1918 the electorate included all men, who were qualified to vote, if they had attained the age of 21. Female electors had to be at least 30 and meet property qualifications to acquire the franchise.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

[edit] References

  • The Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844-50), 2nd edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973)
  • Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922, edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978)

[edit] External links

[edit] See also