Bandon (UK Parliament constituency)

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Bandon Borough constituency
Created:	1801
Abolished:	1885
Type:	House of Commons
Members:	One

Bandon (sometimes called Bandon Bridge or Bandonbridge) was a former United Kingdom Parliament constituency, in Ireland. It was one of the borough constituencies, which had had two representatives in the Parliament of Ireland before 1801. The area retained one member after the union, until the borough was disenfranchised in 1885.

Contents 1 Boundaries 2 History 3 Members of Parliament 4 Elections 5 External links 6 References

[edit] Boundaries

This constituency was the parliamentary borough of Bandon in County Cork.

In 1832 a new boundary was formed for electoral purposes closely encircling the town, and comprising an area of 439 acres. The exact definition, contained in the Parliamentary Boundaries (Ireland) Act 1832 (c. 89 2& 3 Will. 4), was as follows.

"From the Point at which the Eastern Road to Macroom leaves the old or Northern Road to Cork, in a straight Line in a Westerly Direction, to the North-western Corner of Mr. Swanson's Garden; thence along the Wall of the said Garden to the South-western Corner thereof; thence in a straight Line across the River Bandon, and across the Enniskane Road, to the Point at which the old Road to Clonakilty is joined by a Bye Road which runs thereto from the new Road to Clonakilty; thence along the said Bye Road to the Point at which the same joins the new Road to Clonakilty; thence towards Bandon, along the new Road to Clonakilty, to that Point thereof which is nearest to the Northern Pillar of the Gate of Mr. M'Creight's House; thence in a straight Line to the said Northern Pillar; thence in a straight Line across the centre Kilbritten Road to the Point at which the Eastern Kilbritten Road is joined by a small Bye Road running Westward to the Fields, about Three hundred and thirty Yards to the South of the Point at which the Eastern Kilbritten Road leaves the Innishannon Road; thence in a straight Line to the Southern Corner, on the Ballinade Road, of the Premises of Mr Ormond's Distillery; thence, Eastward, along the Boundary of the Premises of Mr. Ormond's Distillery to the Point at which the same meets the Southernmost Road to Innishannon; thence in a straight Line across the River Bandon to the Point at which the old Innishannon Road is joined by a Bye Road which runs North-west in the Direction of the Kilbrogan Chapel; thence in a straight Line to the Northern Pillar of a Gateway on the old Cork Road, about Four hundred and thirty Yards to the North of the Point at which the same leaves the Innishannon Road; thence in a straight Line to the Point first described."

[edit] History

The borough, which existed as a local government unit until it was abolished by the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840, had an oligarchic constitution.

The corporation of the borough was formally known as "The Provost, Free Burgesses, and Commonalty of the Borough of Bandon-Bridge" and consisted of a provost, 12 burgesses, and an unlimited number of freemen. The common council, a body not mentioned in the borough charter, was constituted by a by-law of the corporation made in 1621. It consisted of twelve members, who were elected from the freemen by the corporation at large, as vacancies arose. The burgesses were chosen from the common council, on vacancies occurring, by the provost and burgesses. The provost was elected annually from and by the burgesses at Midsummer. The provost entered upon his office at Michaelmas. The freedom was acquired by birth for the eldest son of a freeman, and nomination of the provost, who during the year of his office had the privilege of naming one. The freemen were elected by a majority of the body at large assembled in a court of D'Oyer Hundred; neither residence nor any other qualification was considered necessary.

Before 1832 the Parliamentary franchise for this constituency was extremely restricted. Only the provost (who was the returning officer for the borough) and the twelve burgesses were enfranchised. The population of the town, in 1821, was 10,179. All the elections in this period were unopposed returns; except for one election in 1831, where only ten voters participated and eleven votes were cast (including the returning officer's casting vote).

Stooks Smith gives an account of this contested election. It was the second by-election of 1831. As his book is out of copyright, the whole passage is set out below.

"This election took place on 22nd July. After the Provost, (John Swete, Esq.) had been sworn, the Hon. W.S. Bernard rose, and without preface or remark, proposed Sir Augustus William Clifford, Kt., (the Duke of Devonshire's nominee) as a fit and proper representative for the borough of Bandon in Parliament; John Leslie, Esq., seconded the proposition. The Rev. Somers Payne then rose and proposed Viscount Lowther to the burgesses; the Rev. Richard Meade seconded the nomination. By way of ruse, or pairing off, Viscount Bernard was proposed by John Beamish, Esq., and seconded by Ambrose Hikey, Esq., two gentlemen of opposite opinions.

No other candidate being proposed, the Town Clerk asked the Provost for whom he would vote, in his official capacity? This was objected by Mr. Meade and Mr. Payne, who stated that, though a long time connected with the Corporation, they never knew this line of proceeding to be adopted. This was overruled by the assessor, who quoted in support of his opinion, an election case in the borough of Harwich, decided by a majority in the House of Commons. This point disposed of, the polling commenced, when the numbers were declared as follows.

• For Sir A. W. Clifford, 4 (Hon. William Smyth Bernard, Hon. Richard Boyle Bernard, John Leslie, Esq., John Swete, Esq.)
• For Viscount Lowther, 4 (W.H. Kingston, Esq., Rev. Richard Meade, Rev. Somers Payne, Benjamin Swete, Esq.)
• For Viscount Bernard, 2 (John Beamish, Esq., Ambrose Hickey, Esq.)

The Provost, as returning officer, then gave his vote for Sir A.W. Clifford, who was about to be duly elected, when Mr. Payne said, I object to the monopoly of the Provost, He has no right to more than one vote. The assessor (A. Connell, Esq.):- We shall take your objection if you state it in writing. A protest was then entered by Mr. Payne and those who voted for Viscount Lowther; and Sir A.W. Clifford was declared duly elected."

In 1832, when the franchise was expanded to add the £10 householders to the electorate and the registration of voters was introduced, there were 266 registered electors and 233 votes were cast in the general election.

It appears, from the list of MPs and the report of the 1831 election, that the choice of the borough electorate both before and after 1832 was influenced by aristocratic patrons like the Duke of Devonshire and the Bernard family (whose head had the title of Earl of Bandon). If a Bernard was not elected then quite prominent political figures, notably the future Whig leaders George Tierney and Lord John Russell, were sometimes returned for the borough.

In 1868 the incumbent Bernard MP was defeated by William Shaw, standing in the Liberal interest. Later in his career Shaw was an associate of Isaac Butt in the Home Rule League. After Butt's death in 1879, Shaw became the parliamentary leader of Irish Nationalism until he was replaced by Charles Stewart Parnell in 1880.

The constituency was disenfranchised in 1885. The area was then represented in Parliament as part of one of the divisions of County Cork.

[edit] Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Note
	1801, January 1	Sir Broderick Chinnery, Bt	Whig	1801: Co-opted
	1806, November 15	Hon. Courtenay Boyle	Tory
	1807, May 15	Henry Boyle, Viscount Boyle	Tory	Succeeded as the 3rd Earl of Shannon a
	1807, August 3	Rt Hon. George Tierney	Whig
	1812, October 16	Hon. Richard Boyle Bernard	Tory	Resigned
	1815, March 24	William Sturges Bourne	Tory
	1818, June 27	Augustus William James Clifford	Whig
	1820, March 13	James Bernard, Viscount Bernard	Tory
	1826, June 17	John Ponsonby, Viscount Duncannon	Whig	Also returned by and elected to sit for County Kilkenny
	1826, December 19	Lord John Russell	Whig	Later Prime Minister 1846-1852 and 1865-1866
	1830, August 7	James Bernard, Viscount Bernard	Tory	Succeeded as the 2nd Earl of Bandon
	1831, January 6	Francis Bernard, Viscount Bernard	Tory	Resigned
	1831, July 22	Sir Augustus William James Clifford	Whig
	1832, December 15	Hon. William Smyth Bernard	Conservative
	1835, January 14	Joseph Devonsher Jackson	Conservative	Appointed Solicitor-General for Ireland
	1842, February 14	Francis Bernard, Viscount Bernard	Conservative	Succeeded as the 3rd Earl of Bandon
	1857, February 14	Hon. William Smyth Bernard	Conservative	Died
	1863, February 27	Hon. Henry Boyle Bernard	Conservative
	1868, November 21	William Shaw	Liberal
	1874, February 3	Alexander Swanston	Liberal
	1880, April 2	Percy Broderick Bernard	Conservative	Resigned
	1880, June 25	Richard Lane Allman	Liberal	Last MP for the constituency
1885		Constituency abolished

Further note:-

• ^a Both Walker and Stooks Smith confirm that the MP succeeded as Earl of Shannon in 1807. There is an inconsistency with the Wikipedia article for that title.

[edit] Elections

By-Election 22 July 1831: Bandon
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Sir Augustus William James Clifford	5	45.45	N/A
	Tory	William Lowther, Viscount Lowther	4	36.36	N/A
	Tory	Francis Bernard, Viscount Bernard	2	18.18	N/A
Majority			1	9.09	N/A
Turnout			11 (10 voters)	76.92	N/A
Registered Electors			13
	Whig gain from Tory		Swing	N/A

• Note (1831 (July): Clifford was elected on the Returning Officer's casting vote.

General Election 15 December 1832: Bandon
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Hon. William Smyth Bernard	133	57.08	N/A
	Liberal	Jacob Biggs	100	42.92	N/A
Majority			33	14.16	N/A
Turnout			233	87.59	N/A
Registered Electors			266
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	N/A

[edit] 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 Bandon

[edit] 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)

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