Leitrim (UK Parliament constituency)

County Leitrim
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
County	County Leitrim
1801–1885
Seats	2
Created from	County Leitrim (IHC)
Replaced by	North Leitrim South Leitrim
1918–1922
Seats	1
Created from	North Leitrim South Leitrim
Replaced by	Leitrim–Roscommon North

County Leitrim was a Parliamentary constituency in Ireland, represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It returned two MPs from 1801 to 1885 and one from 1918 to 1922.

Boundaries

This constituency comprised the whole of County Leitrim.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1801–85

Election	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1801		Nathaniel Clements, Viscount Clements, later Earl of Leitrim	Whig [1]		Theophilus Jones	Tory [1]
1802					Peter La Touche	Whig [1]
1805 by-election		Henry John Clements	Tory [1]
1806					William Gore
1807					John La Touche	Whig [1]
1818		Luke White	Tory [1]
1820					John Marcus Clements	Tory [1]
1824 by-election		Samuel White	Whig [1] [2]
1826					Robert Clements, Viscount Clements	Whig [1] [2]
1830					John Marcus Clements	Tory [1] [3]
1832					Robert Clements, Viscount Clements	Whig [1] [4]
1839 by-election					William Clements, Viscount Clements, later Earl of Leitrim	Whig
1847		Edward King-Tenison	Whig [5] [6] [7]		Charles Skeffington Clements	Whig [7] [5]
1852		Hugh Lyons-Montgomery	Conservative [3]		John Brady	Ind. Irish [3]
1858 by-election		William Ormsby-Gore, later Baron Harlech	Conservative [3]
1859						Liberal [3]
1865
1868
1874						Home Rule [3]
1876 by-election		Francis O'Beirne	Home Rule [3]
1880					Arthur Loftus Tottenham	Conservative [3]
1885	Constituency divided: see North Leitrim and South Leitrim

MPs 1918–22

Election		Member	Party	Note
1918		Single member constituency created
	1918, December 14 [8]	James Dolan	Sinn Féin	Did not take his seat at Westminster
1922, October 26		UK constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1830: Leitrim (2 seats) ^{[3] [1] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	John Marcus Clements	285	39.6
	Whig	Samuel White	218	30.3
	Whig	Robert Bermingham Clements	212	29.5
	Whig	Luke White	4	0.6
Turnout			436	72.4
Registered electors			602
Majority			67	9.3
	Tory gain from Whig
Majority			6	0.8
	Whig hold

General election 1831: Leitrim (2 seats) ^{[3] [1] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	John Marcus Clements	Unopposed
	Whig	Samuel White	Unopposed
Registered electors			602
	Tory hold
	Whig hold

General election 1832: Leitrim (2 seats) ^{[3] [1]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Samuel White	730	39.1
	Whig	Robert Bermingham Clements	625	33.5
	Tory	John Marcus Clements	513	27.5
Majority			112	6.0
Turnout			1,217	92.3
Registered electors			1,318
	Whig hold
	Whig gain from Tory

General election 1835: Leitrim (2 seats) ^{[3] [1]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Samuel White	Unopposed
	Whig	Robert Bermingham Clements	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,437
	Whig hold
	Whig hold

General election 1837: Leitrim (2 seats) ^{[3] [1]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Samuel White	Unopposed
	Whig	Robert Bermingham Clements	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,734
	Whig hold
	Whig hold

Clements' death caused a by-election.

By-election, 6 March 1839: Leitrim ^{[3] [1]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	William Clements	Unopposed
	Whig hold

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: Leitrim (2 seats) ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Samuel White	Unopposed
	Whig	William Clements	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,488
	Whig hold
	Whig hold

General election 1847: Leitrim (2 seats) ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Edward King-Tenison	389	34.5	N/A
	Whig	Charles Skeffington Clements	376	33.4	N/A
	Conservative	John Robert Godley	329	29.2	New
	Independent	John Reynolds Dickson	32	2.8	New
Majority			47	4.2	N/A
Turnout			563 (est)	41.5 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			1,357
	Whig hold		Swing	N/A
	Whig hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: Leitrim (2 seats) ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Hugh Lyons-Montgomery	617	36.1	+6.9
	Independent Irish	John Brady	551	32.3	N/A
	Whig	Charles Skeffington Clements	540	31.6	−4.0
Turnout			854 (est)	67.5 (est)	+26.0
Registered electors			1,265
Majority			77	4.5	N/A
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	+3.9
Majority			11	0.7	N/A
	Independent Irish gain from Whig		Swing	N/A

General election 1857: Leitrim (2 seats) ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Hugh Lyons-Montgomery	1,577	49.7	+13.6
	Independent Irish	John Brady	1,006	31.7	−0.6
	Whig	Edward King-Tenison	591	18.6	−13.0
Turnout			1,587 (est)	60.4 (est)	−7.1
Registered electors			2,628
Majority			986	20.1	+15.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.0
Majority			415	13.1	+12.4
	Independent Irish hold		Swing	−3.7

Montgomery resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Manor of Hempholme, causing a by-election.

By-election, 17 May 1858: Leitrim ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Ormsby-Gore	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General election 1859: Leitrim (2 seats) ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Ormsby-Gore	Unopposed
	Liberal	John Brady	Unopposed
Registered electors			2,404
	Conservative hold
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: Leitrim (2 seats) ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Ormsby-Gore	1,383	42.1	N/A
	Liberal	John Brady	1,011	30.8	N/A
	Liberal	Edward King-Tenison	892	27.1	N/A
Majority			372	11.3	N/A
Turnout			2,335 (est)	97.7 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			2,389
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1868: Leitrim (2 seats) ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Ormsby-Gore	Unopposed
	Liberal	John Brady	Unopposed
Registered electors			2,637
	Conservative hold
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: Leitrim (2 seats) ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Home Rule	John Brady	1,313	37.9	New
	Conservative	William Ormsby-Gore	1,098	31.7	N/A
	Home Rule	Francis O'Beirne	1,055	30.4	New
Turnout			2,282 (est)	88.8 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			2,571
Majority			215	6.2	N/A
	Home Rule gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A
Majority			43	1.3	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Gore succeeded to the peerage, becoming Lord Harlech, and causing a by-election.

1876 Leitrim by-election (1 seat) ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Home Rule	Francis O'Beirne	1,276	58.9	−9.4
	Conservative	Arthur Loftus Tottenham	885	40.8	+9.1
	Home Rule	Charles McGowan	7	0.3	N/A
Majority			391	18.1	N/A
Turnout			2,168	85.4	−3.4
Registered electors			2,383
	Home Rule gain from Conservative		Swing	+9.3

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: Leitrim (2 seats) ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Arthur Loftus Tottenham	1,038	33.1	+1.4
	Home Rule	Francis O'Beirne	837	26.7	−10.2
	Home Rule	Thomas Quinn	668	21.3	−10.4
	Home Rule	Isaac Nelson	593	18.9	N/A
Majority			201	6.4	+0.2
Turnout			2,087 (est)	87.6 (est)	−1.2
Registered electors			2,383
	Conservative hold		Swing	+5.6
	Home Rule hold		Swing	-5.5

Elections in the 1910s

1918 general election: Leitrim ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	James Dolan	17,711	85.1
	Irish Parliamentary	Gerald Farrell	3,096	14.9
Majority			14,615	70.2
Turnout			20,807	69.2
Registered electors			30,079
	Sinn Féin win (new seat)

Notes

1. Smith, Henry Stooks (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections (Second ed.). Simpkin, Marshall & Company. pp. 231–232. Retrieved 4 October 2018– via Google Books.
2. Farrell, Stephen. Fisher, D. R.. (ed.). "WHITE, Samuel (c.1784–1854), of Killakee, co. Dublin". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
3. Walker 1978.
4. Churton, Edward (1838). The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer. p. 57. Retrieved 24 August 2019– via Google Books.
5. "Leitrim (Country)" . Bell's Weekly Messenger . 14 August 1847. p. 2. Retrieved 24 February 2018– via British Newspaper Archive.
6. "MP of the Month: Edward King Tenison". The Victorian Commons. 27 June 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
7. "Leitrim" . Dublin Weekly Nation. 21 August 1847. pp. 4–5. Retrieved 4 October 2018– via British Newspaper Archive.
8. 14 December was the 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.
9. Farrrell, Stephen. "Co. Leitrim". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 17 May 2020.

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)
• Walker, Brian M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. pp. 224, 290–291, 392. ISBN   0901714127.
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 2)