Queen's County (UK Parliament constituency)

Queen's County was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland, returning two Members of Parliament from 1801 to 1885 and one from 1918 to 1922.

Queen's County
Former county constituency
for the House of Commons
CountyQueen's County
18011885
Seats2
Created fromQueen's County (IHC)
Replaced byQueen's County Leix and Queen's County Ossory
19181922
Seats1
Created fromQueen's County Leix and Queen's County Ossory (IHC)
Replaced byLeix–Offaly

Boundaries

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This constituency comprised the whole of Queen's County, now known as County Laois, except for the parliamentary borough of Portarlington 1801–1885.

Members of Parliament

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MPs 1801–1885

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Year 1st Member 1st Party 2nd Member 2nd Party
1801 Sir John Parnell, Bt Charles Coote
1801, 28 December Hon. William Wellesley-Pole Tory[1]
1802, 5 April Henry Parnell Whig[1]
1802, 23 July Sir Eyre Coote
1806, 17 February Sir Henry Parnell Whig[1]
1821, 27 August Sir Charles Coote, Bt Tory[1][2]
1832, 24 December Patrick Lalor Repeal Association[2]
1834, 18 December Conservative[1][2]
1835, 20 January Hon. Thomas Vesey Conservative[1][2]
1837, 15 August John FitzPatrick Whig[1][3][4]
1841, 10 July Hon. Thomas Vesey Conservative[1][2]
1847, 7 August John FitzPatrick Whig[1][3][4]
1852, 19 July Michael Dunne Ind. Irish[2] Sir Charles Coote, Bt Conservative[2]
1857, 11 April Whig
1859, 10 May Liberal[2] Francis Plunkett Dunne Conservative[2]
1865, 22 July John FitzPatrick Liberal[2]
1868, 23 November Kenelm Thomas Digby Liberal[2]
1870, 4 January Edmund Dease[5] Liberal[2]
1874, 7 February Home Rule League[2] Home Rule League[2]
1880, 8 April Richard Lalor Parnellite Home Rule League[2] Arthur O'Connor Parnellite Home Rule League[2]
1885 Constituency divided: see Queen's County Leix and Queen's County Ossory

MPs 1918–1922

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Election Member Party Note
1918 Single member constituency created
1918, 14 December 1 Kevin O'Higgins Sinn Féin Did not take his seat at Westminster
1922, 26 October UK constituency abolished

Note:-

  • 1 Date of polling day. The result was declared on 28 December 1918, to allow time for votes cast by members of the armed forces to be included in the count.

Elections

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Elections in the 1830s

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General election 1830: Queen's County[2][1][6]
Party Candidate Votes %
Tory Charles Coote Unopposed
Whig Henry Parnell Unopposed
Tory hold
Whig hold

Parnell was appointed as Secretary of State for War, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 16 April 1831: Queen's County[2][1][6]
Party Candidate Votes %
Whig Henry Parnell Unopposed
Whig hold
General election 1831: Queen's County[2][1][6]
Party Candidate Votes %
Whig Henry Parnell 393 43.9
Tory Charles Coote 312 34.9
Whig Thomas Brown Kelly 190 21.2
Turnout c. 448 c. 37.8
Registered electors 1,184
Majority 81 9.0
Whig hold
Majority 122 13.7
Tory hold
General election 1832: Queen's County[2][1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Repeal Patrick Lalor 772 35.6 New
Tory Charles Coote 694 32.0 −2.9
Irish Repeal Peter Gale 683 31.5 New
Whig Edward Dunne 18 0.8 −64.3
Turnout 1,380 93.8 c. +56.0
Registered electors 1,471
Majority 754 34.8 N/A
Irish Repeal gain from Whig
Majority 11 0.5 −13.2
Tory hold
General election 1835: Queen's County[2][1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Charles Coote 787 28.2 +12.2
Conservative Thomas Vesey 695 24.9 +8.9
Irish Repeal (Whig) Patrick Lalor 673 24.2 −11.4
Irish Repeal (Whig) Robert Cassidy 631 22.6 −8.9
Majority 22 0.7 +0.2
Turnout 1,445 85.4 −8.4
Registered electors 1,692
Conservative hold Swing
Conservative gain from Irish Repeal Swing
General election 1837: Queen's County[2][1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Charles Coote 1,224 39.4 +11.2
Whig John FitzPatrick 943 30.4 N/A
Conservative Thomas Vesey 894 28.8 +3.9
Conservative Sir Charles Henry Coote, 10th Baronet 40 1.3 N/A
Whig John Michael Henry Fock, 3rd Baron de Robeck 4 0.1 N/A
Turnout 1,885 78.6 −6.8
Registered electors 2,397
Majority 281 9.0 +8.3
Conservative hold
Majority 49 1.6 N/A
Whig gain from Conservative

Elections in the 1840s

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General election 1841: Queen's County[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Charles Coote Unopposed
Conservative Thomas Vesey Unopposed
Registered electors 1,657
Conservative hold
Conservative gain from Whig
General election 1847: Queen's County[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Thomas Vesey Unopposed
Whig John FitzPatrick Unopposed
Registered electors 1,166
Conservative hold
Whig gain from Conservative

Elections in the 1850s

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General election 1852: Queen's County[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Charles Coote Unopposed
Independent Irish Michael Dunne Unopposed
Registered electors 2,727
Conservative hold
Independent Irish gain from Whig
General election 1857: Queen's County[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Charles Coote 1,850 41.0 N/A
Whig Michael Dunne 1,424 31.6 N/A
Whig John FitzPatrick 1,239 27.5 N/A
Majority 611 13.5 N/A
Turnout 2,257 (est) 66.0 (est) N/A
Registered electors 3,419
Conservative hold Swing N/A
Whig gain from Independent Irish Swing N/A
General election 1859: Queen's County[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Francis Plunkett Dunne Unopposed
Liberal Michael Dunne Unopposed
Registered electors 3,489
Conservative hold
Liberal hold

Elections in the 1860s

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General election 1865: Queen's County[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Francis Plunkett Dunne 1,800 42.5 N/A
Liberal John FitzPatrick 1,515 35.8 N/A
Liberal Patrick McDonald 916 21.6 N/A
Majority 285 6.7 N/A
Turnout 3,016 (est) 87.7 (est) N/A
Registered electors 3,438
Conservative hold Swing N/A
Liberal hold Swing N/A
General election 1868: Queen's County[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal John FitzPatrick Unopposed
Liberal Kenelm Thomas Digby Unopposed
Registered electors 3,726
Liberal hold
Liberal gain from Conservative

Elections in the 1870s

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FitzPatrick was made Lord Castletown, causing a by-election.

By-election, 4 Jan 1870: Queen's County[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Edmund Dease Unopposed
Liberal hold
4358
General election 1874: Queen's County[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Home Rule Kenelm Thomas Digby 1,726 39.6 New
Home Rule Edmund Dease 1,639 37.6 N/A
Liberal George Dunne 993 22.8 N/A
Majority 646 14.8 N/A
Turnout 2,676 (est) 74.5 (est) N/A
Registered electors 3,593
Home Rule gain from Liberal Swing N/A
Home Rule gain from Liberal Swing N/A

Elections in the 1880s

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General election 1880: Queen's County[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Parnellite Home Rule League Richard Lalor 1,686 39.8 N/A
Parnellite Home Rule League Arthur O'Connor 1,545 36.4 N/A
Conservative Robert Ashworth Godolphin Cosby 899 21.2 New
Home Rule Kenelm Thomas Digby 109 2.6 −37.0
Majority 646 15.2 +0.4
Turnout 2,585 (est) 81.0 (est) +6.5
Registered electors 3,190
Home Rule hold Swing N/A
Home Rule hold Swing N/A

Elections in the 1910s

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1918 general election: Queen's County[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Sinn Féin Kevin O'Higgins 13,452 67.5
Irish Parliamentary Patrick Meehan 6,480 32.5
Majority 6,972 35.0
Turnout 19,932 76.5
Registered electors 26,063
Sinn Féin win (new seat)

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Smith, Henry Stooks (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections (Second ed.). Simpkin, Marshall & Company. p. 238. Retrieved 7 October 2018 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ 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 ab ac ad ae af ag Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. pp. 235–236, 308–309, 395. ISBN 0901714127.
  3. ^ a b Dod, Charles Roger; Dod, Robert Phipps (1847). Dod's Parliamentary Companion, Volume 15. Dod's Parliamentary Companion. p. 166. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Morning Post". 19 August 1837. p. 2. Retrieved 7 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ^ "The Grattan Connection". Archived from the original on 20 September 2007. Retrieved 20 December 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ^ a b c Salmon, Philip. "Queen's Co". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 21 May 2020.