1870 Londonderry City by-election

Last updated

An 1871 caricature of Richard Dowse Richard Dowse, Vanity Fair, 1871-03-25,crop.jpg
An 1871 caricature of Richard Dowse

The 1870 Londonderry City by-election was held on 15 February. It was a ministerial by-election, triggered by the appointment of Liberal Party member of parliament Richard Dowse as Solicitor-General for Ireland. The election was strongly contested by the Irish Conservative Party at a time when such by-elections were increasingly unchallenged. During this period the Catholic population of Londonderry tended to support the Liberals while the Protestant population supported the Conservatives. Dowse won, with a slightly reduced majority, and the result has been cited as evidence for the increasing co-operation between Episcopalian and Presbyterian voters in Ulster.

Contents

Background

Richard Dowse was a Liberal Party politician who was first elected to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom for the Londonderry City constituency at the 17 November 1868 general election. [1] [2] At this election he had defeated his only rival, the Irish Conservative Party's Claud Hamilton, by 704 votes to 599. [3]

A lawyer by profession, Dowse was appointed Solicitor-General for Ireland in February 1870 which, under the law of the time, triggered a ministerial by-election. [3] [4] The election was scheduled for 15 February and Dowse faced a strong challenge by the Conservative Party's Robert Baxter, at a time when ministerial by-elections (abolished in 1926) were increasingly uncontested. [5] [6]

Results

Dowse was re-elected, receiving 680 votes compared to 592 received by Baxter. [3] The vote in Londonderry at this time was usually sectarian with the numbers of Protestant and Catholic voters directly correlating with support for the Conservative and Liberal parties respectively. [7] The 1870 result was regarded as indicating an increasing co-operation between Episcopalian and Presbyterian voters in Ulster. [8] This was the last parliamentary election in the constituency before the introduction of the secret ballot in 1872 and registers of all the voters for each elector are still held on record. [1] [9] Dowse stood down as member of parliament in 1872 to take up a position as Baron of the Exchequer, the resulting by-election saw the loss of the seat to the Conservatives as some Liberals switched their support because of the Liberal candidate's record in government and the party's education policy. [10]

By-election, 15 February 1870: Londonderry City [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Richard Dowse 680 53.5 −0.5
Irish Conservative Robert Baxter59246.5+0.5
Majority887.0−1.0
Turnout 1,27285.8−2.1
Registered electors 1,483
Liberal hold Swing −0.5

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberal Party (UK)</span> Major political party in the United Kingdom from 1859 to 1988

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Conservative Party, in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Beginning as an alliance of Whigs, free trade–supporting Peelites, and reformist Radicals in the 1850s, by the end of the 19th century, it had formed four governments under William Ewart Gladstone. Despite being divided over the issue of Irish Home Rule, the party returned to government in 1905 and won a landslide victory in the 1906 general election. Under prime ministers Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1905–1908) and H. H. Asquith (1908–1916), the Liberal Party passed reforms that created a basic welfare state. Although Asquith was the party leader, its dominant figure was David Lloyd George.

The Independent Irish Party (IIP) was the designation chosen by the 48 Members of the United Kingdom Parliament returned from Ireland with the endorsement of the Tenant Right League in the 1852 general election. The League had secured their promise to offer an independent opposition to the dominant landlord interest, and to advance an agrarian reform programme popularly summarised as the "three F's": fair rent, fixed tenure and free sale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unionism in Ireland</span> Political ideology in favour of union with Great Britain

Unionism in Ireland is a political tradition that professes loyalty to the crown of the United Kingdom and to the union it represents with England, Scotland and Wales. The overwhelming sentiment of Ireland's Protestant minority, unionism mobilised in the decades following Catholic Emancipation in 1829 to oppose restoration of a separate Irish parliament. Since Partition in 1921, as Ulster unionism its goal has been to retain Northern Ireland as a devolved region within the United Kingdom and to resist the prospect of an all-Ireland republic. Within the framework of the 1998 Belfast Agreement, which concluded three decades of political violence, unionists have shared office with Irish nationalists in a reformed Northern Ireland Assembly. As of February 2024, they no longer do so as the larger faction: they serve in an executive with an Irish republican First Minister.

The Reform Acts are legislation enacted in the United Kingdom in the 19th and 20th century to enfranchise new groups of voters and to redistribute seats in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. When short titles were introduced for these acts, they were usually Representation of the People Act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Halifax (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom

Halifax is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Kate Dearden of the Labour Party.

Dublin City was an Irish borough constituency in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It comprised the city of Dublin in the county of Dublin, and was represented by two Members of Parliament from its creation in 1801 until 1885.

The Tenant Right League was a federation of local societies formed in Ireland in the wake of the Great Famine to check the power of landlords and advance the rights of tenant farmers. An initiative of northern unionists and southern nationalists, it articulated a common programme of agrarian reform. In the wake of the League's success in helping return 48 pledged MPs to the Westminster Parliament in 1852, the promised unity of "North and South" dissolved. An attempt was made to revive the all-Ireland effort in 1874, but struggle for rights to the land was to continue through to the end of the century on lines that reflected the regional and sectarian division over Ireland's continued place in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Sharman Crawford</span> Irish landowner (1780-1861)

William Sharman Crawford (1780–1861) was an Irish landowner who, in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, championed a democratic franchise, a devolved legislature for Ireland, and the interests of the Irish tenant farmer. As a Radical representing first, with Daniel O'Connell's endorsement, Dundalk (1835-1837) and then, with the support of Chartists, the English constituency of Rochdale (1841–1852) he introduced bills to codify and extend in Ireland the Ulster tenant right. In his last electoral contest, standing on the platform of the all-Ireland Tenant Right League in 1852 he failed to unseat the Conservative and Orange party in Down, his native county.

Liskeard was a parliamentary borough in Cornwall, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1832, and then one member from 1832 until 1885. The constituency was abolished by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.

The 1913 Altrincham by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 28 May 1913. The constituency returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irish Home Rule movement</span> Political campaign for self-government (1870–1918)

The Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for self-government for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1870 to the end of World War I.

James Chaine was an Irish shipping businessman and a Conservative Party politician in the Imperial Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland where he represented County Antrim, Ulster from 1874 to 1885..

The 1912 Holmfirth by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 20 June 1912. The constituency returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spencer Leigh Hughes</span> British politician

Spencer Leigh Hughes was a British engineer, journalist, and Liberal politician.

The 1887 Liverpool Exchange by-election was held on 26 January 1887 after the death of the incumbent Liberal MP David Duncan. It was retained by the Liberal candidate Ralph Neville, with a narrow majority of 7 votes.

The Londonderry City by-election of 1872 was held on 23 November following the resignation of incumbent Liberal Party member of parliament Richard Dowse to become a Baron of the Exchequer. The Liberal vote was split as their candidate, Christopher Palles, was considered by Catholics as a "priest-hunter" for his prosecution of clergy as Attorney-General and denounced by Protestants for his views on education along denominational lines. The election was won by the Irish Conservative Party's Charles Lewis who secured a 174-vote majority. The election was the first Irish election to the British Parliament to be held by secret ballot.

Paul Andrew Readman, FRHistS, is a political and cultural historian. He is Professor in Modern British History at King's College London, where he was Head of the History Department (2008–12) and as of 2018 is Vice-Dean for Research.

The 1860 Londonderry City by-election was held on 2 April following the 13 March 1860 death of the incumbent, the Liberal Party's Sir Robert Ferguson. Ferguson had held the seat since 1830 and had received significant support from the Catholic segment of the constituency. The Liberal Party's candidate Samuel MacCurdy Greer had counted on this support transferring to him, however the Irish Conservative Party's candidate William McCormick, who employed a significant number of Catholic workers, managed to split the Catholic vote. The Liberal Party's Presbyterian support had also been adversely affected by their defeat to the Tories in Londonderry County in 1857, which led many to withdraw from politics.

The 1887 St George's, Hanover Square by-election was held on 9 February 1887 following the resignation of the incumbent Conservative MP, Lord Algernon Percy. Percy vacated his Parliamentary seat by being appointed Steward of the Manor of Northstead on 31 January 1887.

References

  1. 1 2 Thompson, Frank (2013). The End of Liberal Ulster: Land Agitation and Land Reform, 1868–1886. Ulster Historical Foundation. p. 74. ISBN   978-1-903688-06-9.
  2. ↑ "Mr Richard Dowse". Hansard. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 Thom's Directory of Ireland. Dublin: Alexander Thom. 1876. p. 749.
  4. ↑ Otte, Thomas; Readman, Paul (2013). By-Elections in British Politics, 1832–1914. Boydell Press. p. 74. ISBN   978-1-84383-780-0.
  5. ↑ Otte, Thomas; Readman, Paul (2013). By-Elections in British Politics, 1832–1914. Boydell Press. pp. 73–74. ISBN   978-1-84383-780-0.
  6. ↑ Blackburn, R. M. (2016). The Electoral System in Britain. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Springer. p. 184. ISBN   978-1-349-24090-6.
  7. ↑ Larkin, Emmet J. (1990). The Roman Catholic Church and the Home Rule Movement in Ireland, 1870–1874. Gill and Macmillan. p. 153. ISBN   978-0-7171-1760-4.
  8. ↑ Hoppen, Karl Theodore (1984). Elections, Politics, and Society in Ireland, 1832–1885. Clarendon Press. p. 38. ISBN   978-0-19-822630-7.
  9. ↑ Hoppen, Karl Theodore (1984). Elections, Politics, and Society in Ireland, 1832-1885. Clarendon Press. p. 489. ISBN   978-0-19-822630-7.
  10. ↑ Thompson, Frank (2013). The End of Liberal Ulster: Land Agitation and Land Reform, 1868–1886. Ulster Historical Foundation. p. 75. ISBN   978-1-903688-06-9.
  11. ↑ Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. ISBN   0901714127.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.