Dublin St Stephen's Green (UK Parliament constituency)

Dublin St Stephen's Green
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1885–1922
Number of members 1
Created from Dublin

St Stephen's Green, a division of Dublin, was a UK parliamentary constituency in Ireland. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the British House of Commons 1885–1922.

Prior to the 1885 general election, the city was the undivided two member Dublin City constituency. In 1885, Dublin was divided into four constituencies: the St Stephen's Green, Dublin College Green, Dublin Harbour and Dublin St Patrick's constituencies.

In 1918, the city was allocated seven seats: in addition to the four existing constituencies, the new divisions were Dublin Clontarf, Dublin St James's and Dublin St Michan's.

From the dissolution of 1922, the area was no longer represented in the UK Parliament.

Boundaries

This constituency comprised part of the city of Dublin.

Politics

Dublin St Stephen's Green gave Sinn Féin almost two-thirds of its votes. The minority was fairly evenly divided between the Irish Parliamentary Party and the Unionists.

In common with other Sinn Féiners, elected in 1918, the Deputy did not take his seat at Westminster but instead participated in the revolutionary Dáil Éireann.

Members of Parliament

Key to parties: APN Anti-Parnellite Nationalist (Irish Parliamentary Party), Ind N Independent Nationalist, Ind N-H Independent Nationalist (supporter of Timothy Healy), Lab Irish Labour Party, N Nationalist (Irish Parliamentary Party), PN Parnellite Nationalist (Irish Parliamentary Party), SF Sinn Féin, U Unionist, LU Liberal Unionist, L Liberal Party.

From To Member Party Born Died
1885 1888 Edmund Dwyer Gray Irish Parliamentary Party 1845 27 March 1888
1888 1892 Thomas Alexander Dickson Liberal 1833 17 June 1909
1892 1898 William Kenny Liberal Unionist 14 January 1846 4 February 1921
1898 1900 James Henry Mussen Campbell Unionist 4 April 1851 22 March 1931
1900[1][2][3] 1904 James McCann Irish Parliamentary Party 1840 14 February 1904
1904[4] 1910 Laurence Ambrose Waldron Irish Parliamentary Party 14 November 1858 27 December 1923
1910 1918 Patrick Joseph Brady Irish Parliamentary Party 1868 20 May 1943
1918 1922 Thomas Kelly Sinn Féin 13 September 1868 20 April 1942

Elections

This constituency elected its MP using the first past the post electoral system.

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Dublin St Stephen's Green[5][6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Sinn Féin Thomas Kelly 8,461 59.93 n/a
Irish Parliamentary Patrick Joseph Brady 2,902 20.56 n/a
Irish Unionist Henry Hanna 2,755 19.51 n/a
Majority 5,559 39.38 n/a
Turnout 14,118 71.45 n/a
Sinn Féin win
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See also

References

  1. ↑ Campbell was defeated 'very largely because of the actions of die-hard unionists' - see D.George Boyce, Alan O'Day (editors) 'Defenders of the Union: A Survey of British and Irish Unionism Since 1801', page 123
  2. ↑ 'Unionist abstentionism helped to unseat Campbell' - see Alvin Jackson, 'Ireland 1798-1998: War, Peace and Beyond',page 226
  3. ↑ 'He lost the seat partly because middle-class Protestants, like their Catholic counterparts, were involved in a widespread flight to the suburbs, where the air was cleaner and the rates lower.' - Pádraig Yeates, 'A City in Wartime – Dublin 1914–1918: The Easter Rising 1916',
  4. ↑ '[This] by-election ... revealed how deep the divisions in unionist ranks ran, but it was also a harbinger of the future. Senior figures within the Unionist Party were not inclined to contest the seat, especially as the new nationalist-backed ‘independent’ candidate, Laurence Waldron, was a stockbroker and former unionist who would be a moderating influence in the House of Commons. Several leading business figures, including Sir William Goulding, chairman of the Great Southern and Western Railway, and Lord Iveagh, head of the Guinness dynasty, resigned from the Unionist Representative Association in protest at a grass-roots revolt that led to the association supporting the candidacy of Norris Godard, a Crown solicitor. It was a foolish nomination, as Godard could stand only by relinquishing his lucrative government post, which he declined to do. The former Unionist MP for the constituency, James Campbell KC, was available to stand and had the added advantage of being wealthy enough to finance his own campaign, but the Unionist Representative Association would not have him. There followed an unseemly row about the rival candidacies of another lawyer, C. L. Matheson, and Michael McCarthy, a colourful renegade nationalist from Cork who was popular with militant unionists because of his books denouncing the evils of Catholicism. Matheson secured the nomination but, as expected, was defeated by Waldron.' - Pádraig Yeates, 'A City in Wartime – Dublin 1914–1918: The Easter Rising 1916',
  5. ↑ http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/h1918.htm
  6. ↑ General Election: 14 December 1918 – Dublin St Stephen's, ElectionsIreland.org

External links


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