King's County (UK Parliament constituency)

King's County was a parliamentary constituency in Ireland, represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. It returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) 1801–1885 and one in 1918–1922.

King's County
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1801–1885
Replaced by	King's County Birr and King's County Tullamore
1918–1922
Replaced by	Laois–Offaly (in Dáil Éireann)
Created from	King's County Birr and King's County Tullamore

Boundaries

This constituency comprised the whole of King's County now known as County Offaly.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1801–1885

Election	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1801, 1 January		Sir Lawrence Parsons, Bt			Denis Bowes Daly
1802, 22 July					Thomas Bernard	Tory[1][2]
1807, 22 May		Hardress Lloyd
1818, 30 June		John Clere Parsons
1821, 30 July		William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse Lord Oxmantown	Tory[3]
1830, 12 August			Whig[1]
1833, 1 January					Nicholas Fitzsimon	Repeal Association[1][4]
1835, 16 January		Hon. John Westenra	Whig[1][5][6]
1841, 24 February					Sir Andrew Armstrong	Whig[1][5][6]
1852, 26 July		Sir Patrick O'Brien, Bt	Independent Irish[4][7]		Loftus Henry Bland	Independent Irish[4][8]
1857, 11 April			Whig[9]			Whig[9]
1859, 19 May			Liberal[4]		John Pope Hennessy	Conservative[4]
1865, 24 July					John Gilbert King	Conservative[4]
1868, 23 November					David Sherlock	Liberal[4]
1874, 11 February			Home Rule			Home Rule[4]
1880, 13 April[4]					Bernard Charles Molloy	Home Rule
1885	Constituency divided: see King's County Birr and King's County Tullamore

MPs 1918–1922

Year		Member	Party
	1918	Patrick McCartan	Sinn Féin
	1922	Constituency abolished

Elections

• Note: Turnout estimated by dividing votes cast by 2. This will underestimate turnout to the extent that electors only used one of their two possible votes. Where there are two seats available but one party fields just one candidate, the turnout is estimated as the sum of the highest vote for each party. This method may overestimate turnout.

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1830: King's County (2 seats)[4][1][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	William Parsons	Unopposed
	Tory	Thomas Bernard	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,139
	Whig gain from Tory
	Tory hold

General election 1831: King's County (2 seats)[4][1][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	William Parsons	411	46.5
	Tory	Thomas Bernard	316	35.8
	Whig	John Westenra	156	17.7
Turnout			c. 600	c. 52.7
Registered electors			1,139
Majority			95	10.7
	Whig hold
Majority			160	18.1
	Tory hold

General election 1832: King's County (2 seats)[4][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Repeal	Nicholas Fitzsimon	755	44.8	New
	Whig	William Parsons	471	27.9	−18.6
	Tory	Thomas Bernard	460	27.3	−8.5
Turnout			1,043	79.6	c. +26.9
Registered electors			1,310
Majority			284	16.9	N/A
	Irish Repeal gain from Tory		Swing	N/A
Majority			11	0.6	−10.1
	Whig hold		Swing	−5.1

General election 1835: King's County (2 seats)[4][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Irish Repeal (Whig)	Nicholas Fitzsimon	Unopposed
	Whig	John Westenra	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,514
	Irish Repeal hold
	Whig hold

General election 1837: King's County (2 seats)[4][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Irish Repeal (Whig)	Nicholas Fitzsimon	Unopposed
	Whig	John Westenra	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,877
	Irish Repeal hold
	Whig hold

Elections in the 1840s

Fitzsimon resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, causing a by-election.

By-election, 24 February 1841: King's County[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Andrew Armstrong	426	67.0	N/A
	Conservative	Thomas Bernard	210	33.0	New
Majority			216	34.0	N/A
Turnout			636	59.0	N/A
Registered electors			1,078
	Whig gain from Irish Repeal		Swing

General election 1841: King's County (2 seats)[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	John Westenra	Unopposed
	Whig	Andrew Armstrong	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,078
	Whig hold
	Whig gain from Irish Repeal

General election 1847: King's County (2 seats)[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	John Westenra	Unopposed
	Whig	Andrew Armstrong	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,370
	Whig hold
	Whig hold

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: King's County (2 seats)[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Irish	Patrick O'Brien	1,264	40.1	N/A
	Independent Irish	Loftus Henry Bland	1,191	37.8	N/A
	Conservative	Thomas Bernard	697	22.1	New
Majority			494	15.7	N/A
Turnout			1,925 (est)	80.3 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			2,397
	Independent Irish gain from Whig		Swing	N/A
	Independent Irish gain from Whig		Swing	N/A

General election 1857: King's County (2 seats)[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Patrick O'Brien	Unopposed
	Whig	Loftus Henry Bland	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,228
	Whig gain from Independent Irish
	Whig gain from Independent Irish

General election 1859: King's County (2 seats)[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Pope Hennessy	1,301	27.8	New
	Liberal	Patrick O'Brien	1,293	27.6	N/A
	Liberal	Loftus Henry Bland	1,216	26.0	N/A
	Liberal	Tristram Kennedy	867	18.5	N/A
Majority			8	0.2	N/A
Turnout			2,339 (est)	70.4 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			3,324
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: King's County (2 seats)[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Gilbert King	2,182	46.7	+32.8
	Liberal	Patrick O'Brien	1,246	26.7	−45.4
	Conservative	John Pope Hennessy	1,240	26.6	+12.7
Turnout			2,957 (est)	87.5 (est)	+17.1
Registered electors			3,380
Majority			936	20.0	+19.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	+27.8
Majority			6	0.1	N/A
	Liberal hold		Swing	−45.5

General election 1868: King's County (2 seats)[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Patrick O'Brien	Unopposed
	Liberal	David Sherlock	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,435
	Liberal hold
	Liberal gain from Conservative

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: King's County (2 seats)[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Home Rule	Patrick O'Brien	2,009	48.8	New
	Home Rule	David Sherlock	1,264	30.7	New
	Home Rule	Bernard Charles Molloy	758	18.4	New
	Home Rule	William Arnett Gowing[11]	82	2.0	New
Majority			506	12.3	N/A
Turnout			2,057 (est)	60.4 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			3,407
	Home Rule gain from Liberal		Swing
	Home Rule gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: King's County (2 seats)[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Home Rule	Patrick O'Brien	1,893	43.0	+5.8
	Home Rule	Bernard Charles Molloy	1,712	38.9	+8.2
	Conservative	Henry Vincent Jackson	801	18.2	New
Majority			911	20.7	+8.4
Turnout			2,694 (est)	84.0 (est)	+23.6
Registered electors			3,208
	Home Rule hold		Swing	N/A
	Home Rule hold		Swing	N/A

• Constituency abolished 1885 and re-created as a single member constituency 1918

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: King's County

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Patrick McCartan	Unopposed	N/A	N/A

• Constituency abolished 1922

References

1. Smith, Henry Stooks (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections (Second ed.). Simpkin, Marshall & Company. p. 35. Retrieved 2 October 2018 – via Google Books.
2. Salmon, Philip. "BERNARD, Thomas (?1769-1834), of Castle Bernard, King's Co". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
3. Salmon, Philip. "PARSONS, William, Lord Oxmantown (1800-1867)". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
4. Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. ISBN 0901714127.
5. "King's County". Shipping and Mercantile Gazette. 28 July 1847. p. 3. Retrieved 2 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
6. "The Irish Members". Dublin Weekly Nation. 14 August 1847. p. 4. Retrieved 2 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "Kings County Chronicle". 21 July 1852. p. 2. Retrieved 2 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
8. "Kings County Chronicle". 14 July 1852. pp. 2–3. Retrieved 2 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
9. "King's County Chronicle". 18 May 1859. pp. 2–3. Retrieved 2 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
10. Salmon, Philip. "King's County". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
11. "The General Election". Freeman's Journal. 12 February 1874. p. 3. Retrieved 2 January 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.

• 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 "K" (part 2)