South County Dublin (UK Parliament constituency)

South Dublin
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
18851922
Number of members 1

South Dublin was a county constituency in Ireland from 1885 to 1922. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, using the first past the post voting system.

Prior to the 1885 general election the area was part of the Dublin County constituency. From 1922 it was not represented in the UK Parliament.

Boundaries

This constituency comprised the south-eastern part of County Dublin.

From 1885–1918, it was a strip along the coast south of the city of Dublin to the county boundary. The constituency was bounded by the city of Dublin to the north, North Dublin to the west, East Wicklow to the south and the sea to the east. It included Dalkey, Kingstown, Blackrock, Stillorgan, Glencullen.

In 1918–1922 South Dublin was the southernmost of three constituencies south of the city of Dublin. The constituency boundary was also pushed a little further west than that of its previous incarnation had been. The other two successor constituencies to the 1885–1918 South Dublin were Rathmines, south of the city of Dublin, and Pembroke to the north of South Dublin. The other surrounding constituencies were unchanged.

History

At the general elections of 1885 and 1886, the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate gained a majority of the votes cast. At the general elections of 1892, 1895, 1900, 1906 and January 1910, Unionist candidates gained a majority of the votes cast, although in 1900 the Unionist vote was split and the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate was elected. In January 1910, the Unionist majority fell to 66, and in December 1910, the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate was returned with a majority of 133. 'The unionists had held on to the ... seat with the help of loyal upper and middle-class Catholics. When the seat eventually fell to the nationalists in the second election of 1910 the successful candidate was William Cotton, a leading figure in the business community whose patriotism was broad enough to allow him to support motions for loyal addresses to the monarch at Dublin Corporation meetings ... many nationalists were suspicious of Cotton’s conservative views'[1] At a by-election in July 1917, the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate was returned unopposed. Following a redrawing of boundaries, the seat was won by the Sinn Féin candidate at the general election of 1918.

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberParty
1885 Sir Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde Irish Parliamentary Party
1891 Irish National Federation
1892 Horace Plunkett Unionist
1900 John Joseph Mooney Irish Parliamentary Party
1906 Walter Hume Long Unionist
Jan. 1910 Bryan Cooper Unionist
Dec. 1910 William Francis Cotton Irish Parliamentary Party
1917 by-election Michael Louis Hearn Irish Parliamentary Party
1918 George Gavan Duffy Sinn Féin
1922 constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: South County Dublin[2][3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Sinn Féin George Gavan Duffy 5,133 38.58 n/a
Irish Unionist Sir Thomas Robinson 4,354 32.72 n/a
Irish Parliamentary Thomas Clarke 3,819 28.70 n/a
Majority 779 5.85 n/a
Turnout 13,306 74.6 n/a
Sinn Féin win
By-Election 6 July 1917: South County Dublin
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Irish Parliamentary Michael Louis Hearn Unopposed N/A N/A
Irish Parliamentary hold Swing N/A
General Election December 1910: South County Dublin[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Irish Parliamentary William Francis Cotton 5,223 50.64 Increase0.97
Irish Unionist Bryan Cooper 5,090 49.36 Decrease0.97
Majority 133 1.29
Turnout 10,313
Irish Parliamentary gain from Irish Unionist Swing +0.64
General Election January 1910: South County Dublin[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Irish Unionist Bryan Cooper 5,072 50.33 Decrease6.97
Irish Parliamentary William Francis Cotton 5,006 49.67 Increase6.97
Majority 66 0.65 Decrease14.59
Turnout 10,078
Irish Unionist hold Swing -6.97

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1906: South County Dublin[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Irish Unionist Walter H. Long 5,269 57.30 Increase20.30
Irish Parliamentary Richard Hazleton 3,926 42.70 Decrease0.71
Majority 1,343 14.60 n/a
Turnout 9,195
Irish Unionist gain from Irish Parliamentary Swing +20.3
General Election 1900: South County Dublin[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Irish Parliamentary John Joseph Mooney 3,410 43.41 Increase5.74[5]
Irish Unionist Horace Plunkett 2,906 37.00 Decrease25.33
Independent Unionist F. Elrington Ball 1,539 19.59
Majority 504 6.42 n/a
Turnout 7,855
Irish Parliamentary gain from Irish Unionist Swing +5.74[5]

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1895: South County Dublin[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Irish Unionist Horace Plunkett 4,901 62.33 Increase8.26
Parnellite Nationalist Edmund Haviland-Burke 2,962 37.67 Increase9.70
Majority 1,939 24.65 n/a
Turnout 7,863
Irish Unionist hold Swing +8.26
General Election 1892: South County Dublin[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Irish Unionist Horace Plunkett 4,371 54.07
Parnellite Nationalist Dr St. Lawrence Ffrench-Mullen 2,261 27.97
Irish National Federation Sir Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde 1,452 17.96
Majority 2,110 26.10
Turnout 8,084
Irish Unionist gain from Irish Parliamentary Swing

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1886: South County Dublin[6] Registered electors 11,316
(Population 72,636)
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Irish Parliamentary Sir Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde 5,022 60.69 Increase2.9
Liberal Unionist J. T. Pim 3,254 39.32 n/a
Majority 1,768 21.36
Turnout 8,276 73.14 Decrease5.07
Irish Parliamentary hold Swing +2.9
General Election 1885: South County Dublin[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Irish Parliamentary Sir Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde 5,114 57.79 n/a
Irish Conservative Ion. T. Hamilton 3,736 42.21 n/a
Majority 1,378 15.58 n/a
Turnout 8,850 78.21 n/a
Irish Parliamentary win

References

  1. Pádraig Yeates, 'A City in Wartime – Dublin 1914–1918: The Easter Rising 1916',
  2. http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/h1918.htm
  3. General Election: 14 December 1918 – Dublin South, ElectionsIreland.org
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922, pages 348-9, edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978)
  5. 1 2 compared to percentage of vote gained by Parnellite Nationalist in previous election
  6. 1 2 http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Stout14-t15-body-d4.html

Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922, edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978)

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