Limerick City (UK Parliament constituency)

Limerick City
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1801–1922

Limerick City was a United Kingdom Parliament constituency, in Ireland. It returned one MP 1801–1832, two MPs 1832–1885 and one thereafter. It was an original constituency represented in Parliament when the Union of Great Britain and Ireland took effect on 1 January 1801. It ceased to be represented in the United Kingdom Parliament in 1922.

Boundaries

This was a borough constituency, comprising the parliamentary borough of Limerick in County Limerick. It was south of Clare East but was otherwise surrounded by Limerick East.

Members of Parliament

One member 1801–1832

Election		Member	Party	Note
	1801, 1 January	Henry Deane Grady		1801: Co-opted
	1802, 16 July	Charles Vereker	Tory	Succeeded as the 2nd Viscount Gort
	1817, 25 July	Hon. John Vereker	Tory	Unseated on petition
	1820, 3 July	Thomas Spring Rice	Whig	Declared duly elected
1832		Constituency allocated two seats

Two members 1832–1885

Election			First member	First party	Second member	Second party
		1832, 21 December	William Roche	Repeal Association	Sir David Vandeleur Roche, Bt ^b	Repeal Association
		1835, 8 January		Liberal ^a		Liberal ^a
		1841, 6 July	John O'Brien	Liberal		Repeal Association
		1844, 9 July			James Kelly	Repeal Association
		1847, 6 August		Repeal Association	John O'Connell ^b	Repeal Association
		1851, 1 August			Earl of Arundel and Surrey	Liberal
		1852, 15 July	Robert Potter ^d	Liberal ^c	Francis William Russell ^d	Liberal
		1852		Independent Irish ^c
		1854, 28 October	James O'Brien ^e	Liberal
		1858, 15 February	George Gavin ^f	Liberal
		1858, 21 May	James Spaight	Conservative
		1859, 5 May	George Gavin	Liberal
		1871, 20 September			Isaac Butt	Home Rule League
		1874, 5 February	Richard O'Shaughnessy ^g	Home Rule League
		1879, 20 September			Daniel Fitzgerald Gabbett	Home Rule League
		1883, 16 November	Edward McMahon	Home Rule League
1885			Constituency allocated one seat

Notes:-

• ^a Re-elected in 1835 and 1837 as a candidate of a Liberal/Repealer pact.
• ^b Resigned.
• ^c Elected as a Liberal pledged to form an independent opposition in Parliament. He joined the Independent Irish Party when it was formed after the 1852 election.
• ^d Died.
• ^e Appointed a Judge of the Irish Court of Queen's Bench.
• ^f Unseated on petition and new writ issued.
• ^g Appointed Registrar of Petty Sessions Clerk.

One member 1885–1922

Key to party: N Irish Parliamentary Party, PN Parnellite Nationalist, SF Sinn Féin.

From	To	Name (Party)	Born	Died
1885	1888	Henry Joseph Gill (N)	1836
1888	1895	Francis Arthur O'Keefe (N)	1856	1909
1895	1895	John Daly (PN)
1895	1900	Francis Arthur O'Keefe (N)	1856	1909
1900	1918	Michael Joyce (N)	1851	1941
1918	1921	Michael Colivet (SF)	May 1884	4 May 1954

Elections

In 1801–1832 and 1885–1922 the constituency used the first past the post electoral system to fill its one seat. In 1832–1885 the block vote was used to elect two members and first past the post to return one member at by-elections.

• 1895 John Daly, serving a term of life imprisonment, was elected unopposed after the Official Nationalist candidate (O'Keefe) withdrew in his favour. As a convicted felon, Daly was not eligible to sit in the House of Commons, and the election was declared void.
• 1918 general election (1 seat); polling 14 December, result declared 28 December
• 17,121 electors
• Michael Patrick Colivet (SF): Unopposed

See also

• List of UK Parliament Constituencies in Ireland and Northern Ireland
• Limerick City (Dáil Éireann constituency)

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 3)