Meath (UK Parliament constituency)

Meath
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1801–1885
Number of members	Two
Replaced by	North Meath and South Meath

Meath was a parliamentary constituency in Ireland, which from 1801 to 1885 returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.

Boundaries

This constituency comprised the whole of County Meath.

Members of Parliament

Election	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1801		Hamilton Gorges			Sir Marcus Somerville, 4th Baronet
1802		Thomas Cherburgh Bligh
1812		Thomas Taylour,Earl of Bective (later Marquess of Headfort)
Feb 1830		Arthur Plunkett, Baron Killeen, later Earl of Fingall
Aug 1831					Henry Grattan
1832		Morgan O'Connell	Repealer			Repealer
1835			Liberal Repealer			Liberal Repealer
Feb 1840		Matthew Elias Corbally	Liberal
1841		Daniel O'Connell[1]	Repealer			Repealer
Jun 1842		Matthew Elias Corbally	Liberal
1852					Frederick Lucas	Liberal
1855					Edward McEvoy	Irish Independent
1857			Irish Independent
1871		John Martin	Home Rule League
1874					Nicholas Ennis	Home Rule League
1875		Charles Stewart Parnell[2]	Home Rule League
Apr 1880					Robert Henry Metge	Home Rule League
May 1880		Alexander Martin Sullivan	Home Rule League
Feb 1882		Michael Davitt[3]	Home Rule League
Apr 1882		Edward Sheil	Home Rule League
Feb 1884					William Meagher	Home Rule League
1885	Constituency divided: see South Meath and North Meath

Elections

Notes

1. O'Connell was also returned for County Cork and chose to sit for Cork
2. At the 1880 general election, Parnell was also returned for both Mayo and Cork City. He chose to sit for Cork
3. As a convicted felon, Davitt was held to be incapable of taking his seat. A by-election was held in April 1882

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 "M" (part 2)