Wikipedia

South Dublin (UK Parliament constituency)

South Dublin, a division of County Dublin, was a county constituency in Ireland from 1885 to 1922. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, using the first past the post voting system.

South Dublin
Former county constituency
for the House of Commons
1885–1922
Seats1
Created fromCounty Dublin
Replaced byDublin County

Prior to the 1885 general election the area was part of the County Dublin constituency. From 1918 to 1921, it was also used as a constituency for Dáil Éireann. From the dissolution of 1922, shortly before the establishment of the Irish Free State, the area was not represented in the UK Parliament.

Boundaries edit

From 1885 to 1918, South Dublin was defined as:[1]

The barony of Dublin,

that part of the barony of Rathdown (except so much as is comprised in the constituency of North Dublin),

and so much of the parishes of Donnybrook, St. Catherine's and St. Peter's, and the townland of Cherry Orchard, in the parish of St. Nicholas Without, as is comprised in the barony of Uppercross.

This constituency comprised the south-eastern part of County Dublin, as a strip along the coast south of the city of Dublin to the county boundary. The constituency was bounded by the city of Dublin to the north, North Dublin to the west, East Wicklow to the south and the sea to the east. It included Dalkey, Kingstown, Blackrock, Stillorgan, Glencullen.

From 1918 to 1922, South Dublin was defined as:[2]

the part of the rural district of Rathdown No. 1 which is not contained in the Pembroke Division and the urban districts of Blackrock, Dalkey, Killiney and Ballybrack, and Kingstown.

History edit

Prior to the 1885 general election, the county was the undivided two-member County Dublin constituency. Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the county was divided into two single-member divisions of North Dublin and South Dublin. Under the Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918, the parliamentary representation of the administrative county was increased from two to four divisions. South Dublin was extended to the west, with the creation of two new divisions of Pembroke and Rathmines.[3]

At the general elections of 1885 and 1886, the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate gained a majority of the votes cast. At the general elections of 1892, 1895, 1900, 1906 and January 1910, Unionist candidates gained a majority of the votes cast, although in 1900 the Unionist vote was split and the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate was elected. In January 1910, the Unionist majority fell to 66, and in December 1910, the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate was returned with a majority of 133. 'The unionists had held on to the ... seat with the help of loyal upper and middle-class Catholics. When the seat eventually fell to the nationalists in the second election of 1910 the successful candidate was William Cotton, a leading figure in the business community whose patriotism was broad enough to allow him to support motions for loyal addresses to the monarch at Dublin Corporation meetings ... many nationalists were suspicious of Cotton's conservative views'[4] At a by-election in July 1917, the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate was returned unopposed. Following a redrawing of boundaries, the seat was won by the Sinn Féin candidate at the general election of 1918.

At the 1918 general election, Sinn Féin issued an election manifesto in which it called for a "establishment of a constituent assembly comprising persons chosen by Irish constituencies". After the election, Sinn Féin invited all those elected for Irish constituencies to sit as members of Dáil Éireann, termed Teachta Dála (or TD, known in English as a Deputy). In practice, only those elected for Sinn Féin attended. This included George Gavan Duffy, elected for South Dublin.

Under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the area was combined with the North Dublin, Pembroke and Rathmines Divisions to form Dublin County, a 6-seat constituency for the Southern Ireland House of Commons and a two-seat constituency at Westminster.[5] Sinn Féin treated the 1921 election for the Southern Ireland House of Commons as part of the election to the Second Dáil.[6] The six seats were won uncontested by Sinn Féin. Gavan Duffy was one of the six TDs for Dublin County.

Under s. 1(4) of the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922, no writ was to be issued "for a constituency in Ireland other than a constituency in Northern Ireland".[7] Therefore, no vote was held in County Dublin at the 1922 United Kingdom general election on 15 November 1922, shortly before the Irish Free State left the United Kingdom on 6 December 1922.

Members of Parliament edit

Election Member[8] Party
1885 Sir Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde Irish Parliamentary
1891 Irish National Federation (Anti-Parnellite)
1892 Horace Plunkett Irish Unionist
1900 John Joseph Mooney Irish Parliamentary
1906 Walter Hume Long Irish Unionist
Jan. 1910 Bryan Cooper Irish Unionist
Dec. 1910 William Francis Cotton Irish Parliamentary
1917 by-election Michael Louis Hearn Irish Parliamentary
1918 George Gavan Duffy Sinn Féin
1922 constituency abolished

Elections edit

Elections in the 1910s edit

1918 general election: South Dublin [9][10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Sinn Féin George Gavan Duffy 5,133 38.56 New
Irish Unionist Sir Thomas Robinson 4,354 32.72  16.64
Irish Parliamentary Thomas Clarke 3,819 28.70  21.94
Majority 779 5.84 N/A
Turnout 13,306 74.63
Sinn Féin gain from Irish Parliamentary Swing N/A
  • Death of Cotton
By-Election 6 July 1917: South Dublin
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Parliamentary Michael Louis Hearn Unopposed N/A N/A
Irish Parliamentary hold Swing N/A
December 1910 general election: South Dublin [11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Parliamentary William Francis Cotton 5,223 50.64  0.97
Irish Unionist Bryan Cooper 5,090 49.36  0.97
Majority 133 1.28 N/A
Turnout 10,313
Irish Parliamentary gain from Irish Unionist Swing  0.64
January 1910 general election: South Dublin [11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Unionist Bryan Cooper 5,072 50.33  6.97
Irish Parliamentary William Francis Cotton 5,006 49.67  6.97
Majority 66 0.66  14.60
Turnout 10,078
Irish Unionist hold Swing  6.97

Elections in the 1900s edit

1906 general election: South Dublin [11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Unionist Walter H. Long 5,269 57.30  20.30
Irish Parliamentary Richard Hazleton 3,926 42.70  0.71
Majority 1,343 14.60 N/A
Turnout 9,195 87.16  14.17
Registered electors 10,549
Irish Unionist gain from Irish Parliamentary Swing  20.30
1900 general election: South Dublin [11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Parliamentary John Joseph Mooney 3,410 43.41  5.74[12]
Irish Unionist Horace Plunkett 2,906 37.00  25.33
Ind. Unionist F. Elrington Ball 1,539 19.59 New
Majority 504 6.42 N/A
Turnout 7,855 72.99   1.18
Registered electors 10,762
Irish Parliamentary gain from Irish Unionist Swing  5.74[12]

Elections in the 1890s edit

1895 general election: South Dublin [11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Unionist Horace Plunkett 4,901 62.33  8.26
Parnellite Nationalist Edmund Haviland-Burke 2,962 37.67  9.70
Majority 1,939 24.66  1.44
Turnout 7,863 71.81  6.01
Registered electors 10,949
Irish Unionist hold Swing  8.26
1892 general election: South Dublin [11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Unionist Horace Plunkett 4,371 54.07   14.76
Parnellite Nationalist Dr St. Lawrence Ffrench-Mullen 2,261 27.97 New
Irish National Federation Sir Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde 1,452 17.96   42.73
Majority 2,110 26.10 N/A
Turnout 8,084 77.82   4.68
Registered electors 10,388
Irish Unionist gain from Irish Parliamentary Swing  13.99

Elections in the 1880s edit

1886 general election: South Dublin [13][11](Population 72,636)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Parliamentary Sir Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde 5,022 60.69  2.90
Liberal Unionist Joseph Todhunter Pim 3,254 39.31  2.90
Majority 1,768 21.36   5.78
Turnout 8,276 73.14  5.07
Registered electors 11,314
Irish Parliamentary hold Swing  2.90
1885 general election: South Dublin [13][11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Parliamentary Sir Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde 5,114 57.79
Irish Conservative Ion. T. Hamilton 3,736 42.21
Majority 1,378 15.58
Turnout 8,850 78.21
Registered electors 11,314
Irish Parliamentary win (new seat)

References edit

  1. ^ "Representation of the People Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict., c. 23)". Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales. p. 188.
  2. ^ "Report of the Boundary Commission (Ireland)". Enhanced British Parliamentary Papers on Ireland. DIPPAM: Documenting Ireland, Parliament, People and Migration. p. 17. Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  3. ^ "Redistribution of seats (Ireland) Act 1918 (7 & 8 Geo. 5, c. 65)". Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  4. ^ Yeates, Pádraig (9 September 2011). A City in Wartime – Dublin 1914–1918: The Easter Rising 1916. ISBN 9780717151912.
  5. ^ "Government of Ireland Act 1920 (10 & 11 Geo. 5, c. 67): Fifth Schedule". legislation.gov.uk. The National Archives. Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  6. ^ "PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT. - ELECTIONS – Dáil Éireann (1st Dáil) – Vol. F No. 21". Houses of the Oireachtas. 10 May 1921. Archived from the original on 5 August 2020. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  7. ^ "Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922 (12 & 13 Geo. 5, c. 4)". Historical Documents. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012.
  8. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 3)
  9. ^ "The Irish General Election of 1918". www.ark.ac.uk.
  10. ^ General Election: 14 December 1918 – Dublin South, ElectionsIreland.org
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922, pp. 348–349, 389, edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978)
  12. ^ a b compared to percentage of vote gained by Parnellite Nationalist in previous election
  13. ^ a b "Parliamentary and Electoral Statistics. — Alphabetical List of Places Represented | NZETC". nzetc.victoria.ac.nz.

External links edit

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