Patrick Baxter

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Patrick Francis Baxter (1 October 1891 – 3 April 1959)^[1] was a Farmers' Party politician from County Cavan in Ireland. He was a Teachta Dala (TD) in the 1920s, and later a senator for over 25 years, serving as Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann from 1954 to 1957.

Baxter was first elected to Dáil Éireann in the 1923 general election, when he won a seat as one 4 TDs for Cavan in the 4th Dáil. He had stood unsuccessfully in the 1922, but after topping the poll in 1923 he was re-elected at the June 1927 general election with his vote halved. He lost his seat in the September 1927 general election.

After the collapse of the Farmers' Party in the late 1920s, he made three further unsuccessful attempts to return to the Dáil: at the 1932 general election as a Cumann na nGaedheal candidate in Cavan, at the 1933 election as a National Centre Party candidate in Clare, and as a Fine Gael candidate in Cavan at the 1943 general election.^[2]

He was elected in 1934 as a senator, for a nine-year term, but the Free State Seanad was abolished in 1936. When the house was re-establ.ished, he was e was re-elected in 1938 to the 2nd Seanad^[3], and held the seat until his death in 1959.^[4]

[edit] References

^ Patrick F. Baxter. Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved on 2008-01-30.
^ Election record: Patrick Baxter. ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.
^ The 2nd Seanad Éireann was actually the first Seanad elected under the 1937 constitution. This is because the Free State Seanad was considered to be in continuous session, since it members were elected for a period of nine years (reduced in 1928 from the original 12 years), with elections every three years for a those senators whose terms had expired. The Free State Seanad is therefore collectively known as the twelfth Seanad
^ Baxter's party affiliation in the Seanad is unclear. He is listed in the Oireachtas Members Database as a member of the Farmer's Party, which is impossible since that party was defunct in 1932.