Dublin County (UK Parliament constituency)

Dublin County was a parliamentary constituency in Ireland, which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Dublin County
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Local government in Ireland	County Dublin
Major settlements	Blanchardstown, Swords, Balbriggan
1801–1885
Replaced by	North Dublin and South Dublin
Created from	Dublin County constituency

The constituency was created under the Act of Union 1800, replacing the Dublin County constituency in the Parliament of Ireland. For the 1885 general election, it was replaced with two new county divisions, Dublin County South and Dublin County North.

Boundaries

This constituency comprised the whole of County Dublin, except for the Dublin borough constituency (which was separately represented). The borough comprised the whole of the county of the city of Dublin and the portion of the county at large within the Circular Road (see Dublin City (UK Parliament constituency) for further details.

A Topographical Directory of Ireland, published in 1837, describes some aspects of the Parliamentary history of the county.

Two knights of the shire are returned to the Imperial parliament, who are elected at the county court-house at Kilmainham : the number of electors registered under the 2d of William IV., c. 88, up to Feb. 1st, 1837, is 2728, of which 788 were £50, 407 £20, and 622 £10, freeholders; 18 £50, 427 £20, and 423 £10, leaseholders; and 12 £50, 30 £20, and 1 £10, rent-chargers : the number that voted at the last general election was 1480. Prior to the Union, the boroughs of Swords and Newcastle sent each two members to the Irish House of Commons.

Members of Parliament

Year	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1801, 1 January		Hans Hamilton	Tory[1]		Sir Frederick Falkiner, Bt	Tory[1]
1807, 26 May					Richard Talbot	Whig[1]
1823, 11 February		Henry White	Whig[1]
1830, 16 August					William Brabazon	Whig[1][2]
1832, 22 December		Christopher Fitzsimon	Repeal Association		George Hampden Evans	Whig[1]
1837, 7 August		William Brabazon	Whig[2]
1841, 16 July		James Hans Hamilton	Conservative[1]		Thomas Edward Taylor	Conservative[1]
1863, 22 April		Ion Hamilton	Conservative
1883, 27 February					Edward King-Harman	Conservative
1885	Constituency divided: see Dublin County South and Dublin County North

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

By-election, 27 Feb 1883: County Dublin[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Conservative	Edward King-Harman	2,514	63.6	N/A
	Irish Parliamentary	Edward MacMahon	1,428	36.1	New
	Irish Conservative	Thomas Hosea Guinness[4]	13	0.3	N/A
Majority			1,086	27.5	N/A
Turnout			3,955	79.0	N/A
Registered electors			5,008
	Irish Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1880: County Dublin[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Conservative	Thomas Edward Taylor	Unopposed
	Irish Conservative	Ion Hamilton	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,539
	Irish Conservative hold
	Irish Conservative hold

Elections in the 1870s

By-election, 18 Mar 1874: Dublin County[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Conservative	Thomas Edward Taylor	2,183	63.9	N/A
	Home Rule	Charles Stewart Parnell	1,235	36.1	New
Majority			948	27.8	N/A
Turnout			3,418	81.5	N/A
Registered electors			4,193
	Irish Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

• Caused by Taylor's appointment as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

General election 1874: County Dublin[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Conservative	Thomas Edward Taylor	Unopposed
	Irish Conservative	Ion Hamilton	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,193
	Irish Conservative hold
	Irish Conservative hold

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1868: County Dublin[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Conservative	Ion Hamilton	2,174	39.4	+3.7
	Irish Conservative	Thomas Edward Taylor	2,163	39.2	+3.2
	Liberal	Peter Paul McSwiney	1,183	21.4	−6.8
Majority			980	17.8	+10.3
Turnout			3,352 (est)	75.1 (est)	−3.7
Registered electors			4,465
	Irish Conservative hold		Swing	+3.6
	Irish Conservative hold		Swing	+3.3

5829

General election 1865: County Dublin[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Conservative	Thomas Edward Taylor	2,100	36.0	N/A
	Irish Conservative	Ion Hamilton	2,083	35.7	N/A
	Liberal	Charles William White	1,646	28.2	New
Majority			437	7.5	N/A
Turnout			3,738 (est)	78.8 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			4,744
	Irish Conservative hold		Swing	N/A
	Irish Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

By-election, 22 April 1863: County Dublin[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Conservative	Ion Hamilton	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,894
	Irish Conservative hold

• Caused by Hamilton's resignation.

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1859: County Dublin[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Conservative	James Hans Hamilton	Unopposed
	Irish Conservative	Thomas Edward Taylor	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,251
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

By-election, 11 March 1858: County Dublin[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Conservative	Thomas Edward Taylor	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

• Caused by Taylor's appointment as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury

General election 1857: County Dublin[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Conservative	James Hans Hamilton	2,451	38.0	+8.8
	Irish Conservative	Thomas Edward Taylor	2,338	36.3	+7.3
	Whig	Charles Compton William Domvile[5]	1,659	25.7	−16.1
Majority			679	10.6	+2.6
Turnout			4,054 (est)	66.2 (est)	−2.8
Registered electors			6,123
	Conservative hold		Swing	+8.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.7

General election 1852: County Dublin[3][6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Conservative	James Hans Hamilton	1,962	29.2	N/A
	Irish Conservative	Thomas Edward Taylor	1,946	29.0	N/A
	Whig	Augustus Craven	1,410	21.0	New
	Whig	John Lentaigne	1,396	20.8	New
Majority			536	8.0	N/A
Turnout			3,357 (est)	69.0 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			4,864
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1847: County Dublin[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Conservative	James Hans Hamilton	Unopposed
	Irish Conservative	Thomas Edward Taylor	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,278
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

General election 1841: County Dublin[3][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Conservative	James Hans Hamilton	1,051	25.6	New
	Irish Conservative	Thomas Edward Taylor	1,042	25.4	New
	Whig	William Brabazon	1,009	24.6	N/A
	Whig	George Hampden Evans	1,006	24.5	N/A
Majority			33	0.8	N/A
Turnout			2,054 (est)	72.8 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			2,820
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	N/A
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1837: County Dublin[3][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	William Brabazon	Unopposed
	Whig	George Hampden Evans	Unopposed
Registered electors			2,820
	Whig hold
	Whig gain from Irish Repeal

General election 1835: County Dublin[3][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Repeal (Whig)	Christopher Fitzsimon	878	35.6	+3.9
	Whig	George Hampden Evans	825	33.4	+5.4
	Irish Conservative	James Hans Hamilton	764	30.9	+5.2
	Irish Conservative	John Johnston	2	0.0	N/A
Turnout			1,530	61.7	-22.5
Registered electors			2,478
Majority			53	2.2	−1.5
	Irish Repeal hold		Swing	+0.7
Majority			61	2.5	+0.2
	Whig hold		Swing	+1.4

General election 1832: County Dublin[3][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Irish Repeal	Christopher Fitzsimon	958	31.7
	Whig	George Hampden Evans	847	28.0
	Irish Conservative	George Alexander Hamilton	777	25.7
	Whig	William Brabazon	442	14.6
Turnout			1,705	84.2
Registered electors			2,025
Majority			111	3.7
	Irish Repeal gain from Whig
Majority			70	2.3
	Whig hold

General election 1831: County Dublin[3][1][7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Henry White	Unopposed
	Whig	William Brabazon	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,649
	Whig hold
	Whig hold

General election 1830: County Dublin[3][1][7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	William Brabazon	522	35.9
	Whig	Henry White	417	28.6
	Tory	George Alexander Hamilton	343	23.6
	Whig	Richard Talbot	174	12.0
Majority			74	5.0
Turnout			867	52.6
Registered electors			1,649
	Whig hold		Swing
	Whig hold

Notes

1. Stooks Smith, Henry (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections: Containing the Uncontested Elections Since 1830. London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. pp. 223–224. Retrieved 21 August 2019 – via Google Books.
2. Churton, Edward (1838). The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer. pp. 36–37. Retrieved 21 August 2019 – via Google Books.
3. Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. ISBN 0901714127.
4. "County Dublin Election". Gloucester Citizen. 22 February 1883. p. 4. Retrieved 19 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
5. "Ireland". London Evening Standard. 16 April 1857. p. 3. Retrieved 30 September 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
6. "State of Polls". Kilkenny Journal, and Leinster Commercial and Literary Advertiser. 31 July 1852. p. 3. Retrieved 30 September 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. Farrell, Stephen. "Co. Dublin". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 15 May 2020.

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 "D" (part 3)

External links

• Part of the Library Ireland: Irish History and Culture website containing the text of A Topographical Directory of Ireland, by Samuel Lewis (a work published by S. Lewis & Co of London in 1837) including an article on County Dublin