Armagh City (UK Parliament constituency)

Armagh
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	County Armagh
Borough	Armagh
1801–1885
Seats	1
Created from	Armagh (IHC)
Replaced by	Mid Armagh

Armagh was an Irish constituency in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885.

History and boundaries

The parliamentary borough of Armagh in County Armagh was one of 33 Irish boroughs which were retained under the Acts of Union 1800. ^[1] It was the successor to the two-seat constituency of Armagh in the Irish House of Commons. ^[2] Its one MP in 1801 was chosen by lot to sit in the First Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Under the Parliamentary Boundaries (Ireland) Act 1832, it was defined as: ^[3]

From Mr. Carroll's Windmill on the West of the City in a straight Line in the Direction of the Spire of Grange Church to the Point at which such straight Line cuts the new Dungannon Road; thence in a straight Line in the Direction of the Eastern Dome of the Observatory to the Point at which such straight Line cuts the Boundary of the Grounds attached to the Observatory; thence, Eastward, along the Boundary of the Grounds of the Observatory to the Point at which the same meets the Road to the Deanery; thence in a straight Line to the Magazine near the Infantry Barracks; thence in a straight Line, through a Point on the Rich Hill Road which is distant Twenty-five Yards (measured along the Rich Hill Road) to the East of the South-eastern Corner of the Infantry Barracks, to a Point which is One hundred and thirty Yards beyond the said Point on the Rich Hill Road; thence in a straight Line in the Direction of the South-eastern Angle of the Palace to the Point at which such straight Line cuts the Demesne Wall; thence, Northward, along the Demesne Wall to the Point at which the same leaves the Boundary of the Corporation Land; thence, Northward, along the Boundary of the Corporation Land to the Point at which the same meets the Monaghan Road; thence in a straight Line to Mr. Carroll's Windmill.

The constituency was disenfranchised under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, which took effect at the 1885 general election. ^[4] The borough of Armagh, as part of the barony of Armagh, became part of the county division of Mid Armagh. ^[5]

Members of Parliament

Election	Member	Party		Note
1801 (co-option)	Patrick Duigenan		Tory
1801 (b)				Duigenan appointed commissioner of compensation
1802
1806
1807
1812
1816 (b)	Daniel Webb Webber		Tory	Death of Duigenan
1818	John Leslie Foster		Tory	Also returned for Lisburn
1820	William Stuart		Tory
1826	Rt Hon. Henry Goulburn		Tory [6]
1828 (b)				Goulburn appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer
1830
1831	Viscount Ingestre		Tory [6]
1831 (b)	Sir John Brydges		Tory [6]	Ingestre resigned to contest Dublin
1832	Leonard Dobbin		Whig [6]
1835
1837	William Curry		Whig [6] [7]
1840 (b)	John Rawdon		Whig [6] [8] [9]	Curry appointed Master in Chancery
1841
1847
1852	Ross Stephenson Moore		Conservative [10]
1855 (b)	Joshua Bond		Conservative	Death of Moore
1857	Stearne Miller		Conservative
1859	Joshua Bond		Conservative
1865	Stearne Miller		Conservative
1867 (b)	John Vance		Conservative	Miller appointed judge in bankruptcy
1868
1874
1875 (b)	George Beresford		Conservative	Death of Vance
1880
1885	Area became part of Mid Armagh

Elections

Elections in the 1830s

General election, 11 August 1830: Armagh City ^{[11] [6] [12]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	Henry Goulburn	Unopposed
Registered electors			13
	Tory hold

General election, 10 May 1831: Armagh City ^{[11] [6] [12]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	Henry Chetwynd-Talbot	Unopposed
Registered electors			13
	Tory hold

Chetwynd-Talbot resigned to contest a by-election at Dublin City, causing a by-election.

By-election, 25 August 1831: Armagh City ^{[11] [6] [12]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	John Brydges (MP)	Unopposed
Registered electors			13
	Tory hold

General election, 15 December 1832: Armagh City ^{[11] [6]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Leonard Dobbin	218	53.0
	Tory	Arthur Irwin Kelly	193	47.0
Majority			25	6.0
Turnout			411	92.6
Registered electors			444
	Whig gain from Tory

General election, 15 January 1835: Armagh City ^{[11] [6]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Leonard Dobbin	197	54.7	+1.7
	Conservative	Robert William Jackson	163	45.3	−1.7
Majority			34	9.4	+3.4
Turnout			360	66.5	−26.1
Registered electors			541
	Whig hold		Swing	+1.7

General election, 7 August 1837: Armagh City ^{[11] [6]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	William Curry (MP)	235	53.7	−1.0
	Conservative	Joseph Kidd	203	46.3	+1.0
Majority			32	7.4	−2.0
Turnout			438	57.1	−9.4
Registered electors			767
	Whig hold		Swing	−1.0

Elections in the 1840s

Curry resigned after being appointed a Master in Chancery, causing a by-election.

By-election, 22 May 1840: Armagh City ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	John Rawdon	Unopposed
Registered electors
	Whig hold

General election, 5 July 1841: Armagh City ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	John Rawdon	Unopposed
Registered electors			892
	Whig hold

General election, 31 July 1847: Armagh City ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	John Rawdon	Unopposed
Registered electors			838
	Whig hold

Elections in the 1850s

General election, 9 July 1852: Armagh City ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ross Stephenson Moore	Unopposed
Registered electors			318
	Conservative hold

Moore's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 6 December 1855: Armagh City ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Joshua Bond	186	55.9	N/A
	Conservative	Thomas Ball Miller	147	44.1	N/A
Majority			39	11.8	N/A
Turnout			333	82.6	N/A
Registered electors			403
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

General election, 2 April 1857: Armagh City ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stearne Miller	175	51.9	N/A
	Conservative	Joshua Bond	162	48.1	N/A
Majority			13	3.8	N/A
Turnout			337	83.6	N/A
Registered electors			403
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

General election, 5 May 1859: Armagh City ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Joshua Bond	201	59.5	+11.4
	Conservative	Stearne Miller	137	40.5	−11.4
Majority			64	19.0	+15.2
Turnout			338	82.8	−0.8
Registered electors			408
	Conservative hold		Swing	+11.4

Elections in the 1860s

General election, 17 July 1865: Armagh City ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stearne Miller	184	52.1	+11.6
	Liberal	William Kirk	169	47.9	New
Majority			15	4.2	−14.8
Turnout			353	86.3	+3.5
Registered electors			409
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Miller was appointed a judge in bankruptcy, causing a by-election.

By-election, 30 January 1867: Armagh City ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Vance	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election, 17 November 1868: Armagh City ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Vance	Unopposed
Registered electors			603
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1870s

General election 9 April 1874: Armagh City ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Vance	325	60.3	N/A
	Liberal	George C Cochrane	214	39.7	New
Majority			111	20.6	N/A
Turnout			539	90.4	N/A
Registered electors			596
	Conservative hold

Vance died, causing a by-election.

By-election, 18 Oct 1875: Armagh City ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Beresford	278	53.0	N/A
	Conservative	William Squire Barker Kaye	247	47.0	N/A
Majority			31	6.0	N/A
Turnout			525	88.1	−2.3
Registered electors			596
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1880s

General election 9 April 1880: Armagh City ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Beresford	Unopposed
Registered electors			657
	Conservative hold

References

1. "Armagh". History of the Irish Parliament. Ulster Historical Foundation. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
2. Jupp, P.J. (2009). "Armagh". In Fisher, D.R. (ed.). The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1820–1832.
3. "Parliamentary Boundaries (Ireland) Act 1832 (c. 89)". The law journal for the year 1832–1949. 1832.
4. First Schedule Part I: Boroughs to cease to exist as such. "Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, 48 & 49 Vict. C. 23". The public general acts. Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales.
5. Seventh Schedule (Counties at Large); Part III (Ireland). "Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, 48 & 49 Vict. C. 23". The public general acts. Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales.
6. Smith, Henry Stooks (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections (Second ed.). Simpkin, Marshall & Company. p. 215. Retrieved 15 September 2018– via Google Books.
7. McCracken, J. L. (1993). New Light at the Cape of Good Hope: William Porter – The Father of Cape Liberalism. Belfast: The Ulster Historical Foundation. p. 40. ISBN   0-901905-54-2 . Retrieved 18 August 2019– via Google Books.
8. "The Elections" . Dublin Weekly Nation. 7 August 1847. pp. 8–9. Retrieved 15 September 2018– via British Newspaper Archive.
9. "Irish Members Returned" . Sligo Journal. 13 August 1847. p. 4. Retrieved 15 September 2018– via British Newspaper Archive.
10. "General Election" . Cork Constitution. 13 July 1852. p. 4. Retrieved 15 September 2018– via British Newspaper Archive.
11. Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. pp. 195–196, 249–250. ISBN   0901714127.
12. Farrell, Stephen. Fisher, D.R. (ed.). Armagh . Retrieved 9 May 2020.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

Sources

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "A" (part 2)
• 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)
• Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. pp. 195–196, 249–250. ISBN   0901714127.