Ardee (Parliament of Ireland constituency)

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Ardee Borough constituency
Created:	1378
Post-Union:	Disfranchised
Type:	Irish House of Commons

Ardee (also known as Ardee Borough) was a constituency represented in the Irish House of Commons from 1378 to 1801.

1 Boundaries and Boundary Changes
2 Electoral System and Electorate
3 Members of Parliament (Ireland) to 1800
4 Elections
5 See also

[edit] Boundaries and Boundary Changes

Ardee in County Louth was enfranchised as a borough constituency in 1378. It continued to be entitled to send two Members of Parliament to the Irish House of Commons until the Parliament of Ireland was merged into the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 1 January 1801. The constituency was disenfranchised on 31 December 1800.

The borough was represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom as part of the county constituency of Louth.

[edit] Electoral System and Electorate

The parliamentary representatives of the borough were elected using the bloc vote for two-member elections and first past the post for single-member by-elections.

A summary of the borough electorate was included in Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837. The electorate consisted of the members of the Borough Corporation (the local Council) and the freemen. All of the classes of electors qualified because of co-option by all or part of the existing ones, so this was a constituency with an oligarchic constitution rather than a democratic one.

[edit] Members of Parliament (Ireland) to 1800

1559-1559 ?
1568-1571 ?
1585-1586 Robert Barnewall and ?
1613-1615 ?
1634-1635 ?
1639-1649 ?
1661-1666 John Chambers and John Ruxton; changes (1665) Sir Robert Byron vice Chambers and Brent Moore vice Ruxton
1689-1689 Hugh Gernon and John Babe Members of the Patriot Parliament
1692-1693 ?
1695-1699 ?
1703-1713 ?
1713-1714 ?
1715-1727 ?
1727-1760 ?; changes (1741) Tichborne Aston (b. before 1723 - d. 4 March 1747/48) vice ?
1761-1768 ?
1769-1776 ?
1776-1783 ?
1783-1790 ?
1790-1797 ?
1798-1800 ?

Note: In 1665 the Lord Lieutenant (James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde) wrote to the Portreeve of Ardee recommending Sir Robert Byron, as Burgess in Parliament for Ardee, in the room of Captain John Chambers, "removed" and Colonel Brent Moore, in the "stead of Lieutenant John Ruxton, removed".