Longford (UK Parliament constituency)

Longford
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1801–1885
Replaced by	North Longford and South Longford
1918–1922
Created from	North Longford and South Longford

Longford was a parliamentary constituency in Ireland, which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885, and one MP from 1918–1922.

Boundaries

This constituency comprised the whole of County Longford.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1801–1885

Year	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1801, 1 January		Sir Thomas Fetherston, Bt			Sir William Gleadowe-Newcomen, Bt
1802, 15 July					Hon. Thomas Gleadowe-Newcomen
1806, 25 November					Viscount Forbes
1819, 15 October		Sir George Fetherston, Bt
1830, 11 August		Anthony Lefroy
1832, 22 December		Luke White[1]			James Halpin Rorke[1]
1833, 2 April		Viscount Forbes			Anthony Lefroy	Conservative
1836, 30 December		Luke White[2]
1837, 5 May		Charles Fox
1837, 18 August		Luke White[3]			Henry White
1842, 18 April		Anthony Lefroy	Conservative
1847, 13 August		Samuel Wensley Blackall			Richard Maxwell Fox
1851, 21 April		Richard More O'Ferrall	Whig
1852, 19 July		Fulke Greville-Nugent	Liberal
1856, 13 May					Henry George Hughes
1857, 16 April					Henry White
1861, 4 July					Luke White	Liberal
1862, 7 March					Myles William O'Reilly	Home Rule League
1869, 31 December		Hon. Reginald Greville-Nugent [4]	Liberal
1870, 16 May		Hon. George Greville-Nugent	Liberal
1874, 12 February		George Errington
1879, 5 April					Justin McCarthy	Home Rule League
1885	Constituency divided: see North Longford and South Longford

MPs 1918–1922

Election		Member	Party	Note
1918		Single member constituency created
	1918, December 14 [5]	Joseph McGuinness	Sinn Féin	Did not take his seat at Westminster
	1922, May 31 [6]	Seat left vacant after the death of McGuinness
1922, October 26		UK constituency abolished. Succeeded by Longford-Westmeath constituency in Dáil Éireann

Elections

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Elections in the 1910s

^[7]

General Election 1918: Longford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Joseph McGuinness	11,122	72.7	n/a
	Irish Parliamentary	James Patrick Farrell	4,173	27.5	n/a
	Sinn Féin gain from Irish Parliamentary		Swing

Notes

1. both members were unseated in favour of George Forbes, Viscount Forbes and Anthony Lefroy 2 Apr 1833
2. he was unseated on petition in favour of Charles Fox 5 May 1837
3. Luke White was unseated on petition in favour of Anthony Lefroy 18 April 1842.^{[r 1]}
4. Greville-Nugent's election was declared void 12 Apr 1870
5. 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.
6. Not an election. Date of the death of McGuinness.
7. Brian M. Walker, ed. (1978). Parliamentary election results in Ireland 1801–1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. p. 189. ISBN 0-901714-12-7.

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)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 4)

1. Minutes of Proceedings of the Committee on the Longford Election Petition (PDF). Command papers 208. 26 April 1842.