Dublin City was an Irish borough constituency in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It comprised the city of Dublin in the county of Dublin, and was represented by two Members of Parliament from its creation in 1801 until 1885.
In 1885, Dublin City was split into four divisions which were separate single member constituencies: Dublin College Green, Dublin Harbour, Dublin St Stephen's Green and Dublin St Patrick's.
Boundaries
The city of Dublin was accounted a county of itself, although it remained connected with County Dublin for certain purposes. A Topographical Directory of Ireland, published in 1837, describes the parliamentary history of the city:
The city returns two members to the Imperial parliament; the right of election, formerly vested in the corporation, freemen, and 40s. freeholders, has been extended to the £10 householders, and £20 and £10 leaseholders for the respective terms of 14 and 20 years, by the act of the 2nd of William IV., cap. 88. The number of voters registered at the first general election under that act was 7041, of which number, 5126 voted. The limits of the city, for electoral purposes, include an area of 3538 statute acres, the boundaries of which are minutely detailed in the Appendix; the number of freemen is about 3500, of whom 2500 are resident and 1000 non-resident, and the number of £10 houses is 16,000 : the sheriffs are the returning officers.
The boundary was defined in the Parliamentary Boundaries (Ireland) Act 1832 as:
The County of the City of Dublin, and such Parts of the County at large as lie within the Circular Road.
Members of Parliament
Year |
1st Member |
1st Party |
2nd Member |
2nd Party
|
1801, 1 January
|
|
John Claudius Beresford[1]
|
Tory[2]
|
|
Rt Hon. George Ogle
|
Tory[2]
|
1802, 21 July
|
|
John La Touche
|
Whig[2]
|
1804, 31 March
|
|
Sir Robert Shaw, Bt
|
Tory[2]
|
1806, 19 November
|
|
Rt Hon. Henry Grattan[3]
|
Whig[2]
|
1820, 30 June
|
|
Thomas Ellis
|
Tory[2]
|
1826, 12 June
|
|
Henry Grattan
|
Whig[2]
|
|
George Moore
|
Tory[2]
|
1830, 4 August
|
|
Frederick Shaw
|
Tory[2]
|
1831, 19 May[4]
|
|
Robert Harty
|
Whig[2]
|
|
Louis Perrin
|
Whig[2]
|
1832, 18 August [5]
|
|
Frederick Shaw
|
Tory[2]
|
|
Viscount Ingestre
|
Tory[2]
|
1832, 22 December[6]
|
|
Daniel O'Connell
|
Repeal Association[2]
|
|
Edward Southwell Ruthven
|
Repeal Association[2]
|
1836, 16 May
|
|
George Alexander Hamilton
|
Conservative[2]
|
|
John Beattie West
|
Conservative[2]
|
1837, 5 August[7]
|
|
Daniel O'Connell
|
Repeal Association[2]
|
|
Robert Hutton
|
Whig[8]
|
1841, 10 July
|
|
John Beattie West[9]
|
Conservative[2]
|
|
Sir Edward Grogan, Bt[10]
|
Conservative[2]
|
1842, 29 January
|
|
William Henry Gregory
|
Conservative[2]
|
1847, 7 August
|
|
John Reynolds
|
Repeal Association
|
1852, 12 July
|
|
John Vance
|
Conservative
|
1865, 17 July
|
|
Sir Benjamin Guinness, Bt
|
Conservative
|
|
Jonathan Pim
|
Liberal
|
1868, 1 June
|
|
Sir Arthur Guinness, Bt[11]
|
Conservative
|
1870, 18 August
|
|
Sir Dominic Corrigan, Bt
|
Liberal
|
1874, 6 February
|
|
Sir Arthur Guinness, Bt
|
Conservative
|
|
Maurice Brooks[12]
|
Home Rule League
|
1880, 5 April
|
|
Robert Dyer Lyons
|
Liberal
|
1882
|
|
Irish Parliamentary
|
1885
|
constituency abolished
|
Elections
From 1832 (when registers of electors were first prepared) a turnout figure is given, for the percentage of the registered electors who voted. If the number of registered electors eligible to take part in a contested election is unknown, then the last known electorate figure is used to calculate an estimated turnout. If the numbers of registered electors and electors taking part in the poll are known, an exact turnout figure is calculated. In two member elections (in which an elector could cast one or two votes as he chose), where the exact number of electors participating is unknown, an estimated turnout figure is given. This is calculated by dividing the total number of votes cast by two. To the extent that electors used only one of their votes the estimated turnout figure is an underestimate.
Elections in the 1800s
Elections in the 1810s
Elections in the 1820s
Elections in the 1830s
On petition, Harty and Perrin were unseated, causing a by-election.
- On petition, O'Connell and Ruthven were unseated and Hamilton and West were declared elected on 16 May 1836
Elections in the 1840s
West's death caused a by-election.
On petition, the poll was amended and 92 votes were struck off Reynolds, although this did not cause him to be declared unelected.
Elections in the 1850s
Elections in the 1860s
Guinness' death caused a by-election.
Transparency of results
Following the election, a publication was printed listing the names of those who had voted, and for whom.[17] The listing was categorised by the seventeen individual wards and districts of Dublin, and a further category solely reserved for the Freemen of Dublin.[17] A similar publication was produced for the voters in the wider County of Dublin.[18]
Elections in the 1870s
On petition, Guinness was unseated.
Elections in the 1880s
Notes
- ^ Beresford resigned 1804.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa Stooks Smith, Henry (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections: Containing the Uncontested Elections Since 1830. London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. pp. 224–225. Retrieved 15 May 2020 – via Google Books.
- ^ Grattan died 1820.
- ^ Harty and Perrin were unseated on petition and a new writ was issued, 1831.
- ^ The 1832 by-election was the last contest in Ireland for the Unreformed House of Commons.
- ^ O'Connell and Ruthven were re-elected in 1835, as the candidates of a Whig/Repealer electoral pact. As the result of an election petition, the result of the 1835 election was reversed. O'Connell and Ruthven were unseated, with Hamilton and West being declared duly elected, on 16 May 1836.
- ^ O'Connell and Hutton were the candidates, in 1837, of a Whig/Repealer electoral pact.
- ^ Hill, Jacqueline (2007). "The 1847 general election in Dublin city". In Blackstock, Allan; Magennis, Eoin (eds.). Politics and Political Culture in Britain and Ireland: 1750–1850. Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-903688-68-7. Retrieved 21 August 2019 – via Google Books.
- ^ West died 1842.
- ^ Grogan was a Baronet from 23 April 1859.
- ^ On petition after the 1868 general election, Guinness was unseated and a new writ was issued in 1870.
- ^ The Home Rule League was replaced by the Irish Parliamentary Party in 1882.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. pp. 210–211, 271–272. ISBN 0901714127.
- ^ a b c Farrell, Stephen. "Dublin". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
- ^ Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons, Volume 50. 1843. Retrieved 25 August 2019 – via Google Books.
- ^ "City Election—Meeting of Freemen". Saunders's News-Letter. 27 March 1857. pp. 2–3. Retrieved 30 September 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ a b City of Dublin Election, July 15th 1865. List of Electors for the Year 1865, Distinguishing the Names of Those who Exercised their Franchise at the Above Election, and Showing for Whom they Voted. Dublin: J. Atkinson, Printer, 72, Grafton Street. 1865.
- ^ County of Dublin Election, July 1865. List of the Registered Voters of the County of Dublin, Showing for Whom they Voted. Dublin: Browne & Nolan, Printers, Nassau-Street. 1865.
References
External links