Carlow County (UK Parliament constituency)

Carlow County
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
1801 (1801)–1922 (1922)
Number of members	One

Carlow County was a parliamentary constituency in Ireland, which from 1801 to 1885 returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and one MP from 1885 to 1922.

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.

Politics

In the 1918 election the Sinn Féin candidate was unopposed.

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.

Members of Parliament

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 McClintock-Bunbury	Conservative
Jul 1852		John Ball	Liberal b
25 Apr 1853					William McClintock-Bunbury	Conservative
Apr 1857		Henry Bruen (younger)	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 Macfarlane	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 Borough 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.

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

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.

• 1918 general election (1 seat); polling 14 December, result declared 28 December
• 16,133 electors
• James Lennon (SF): Unopposed

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

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)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 2)

See also

• List of UK Parliament Constituencies in Ireland and Northern Ireland
• List of historic Dáil Éireann constituencies
• Dáil Éireann (1919-1922)
• Members of the 1st Dáil

External links

• Oireachtas Members Database