Commons 1790-1820

The prevailing interest in the fairly prosperous port of Tralee during this period was that of the most substantial landowner in the area, Sir Edward Denny, 3rd Bt.: his family’s influence was so strong that Peel once compared it with Lord Caledon’s in Old Sarum.Add. 40280 f. 48. Denny made a point of being present during at least one election, but he did not himself take a leading part in the choice of those who were elected. This was entrusted to his father-in-law, Judge Robert Day, who took upon himself the role of adviser on matters of state to a number of Kerry dignitaries.

Kerry, one of the largest counties in Ireland, contained a predominantly Catholic population which was largely dependent upon subsistence farming. There were numerous substantial landowners—at least 15 with average rent-rolls of £9,000 p.a.—and of these the most important in electoral terms were Lords Kenmare (Browne), Glandore (Crosbie) and Ventry (Mullins). The Kenmare and Ventry interests were based upon their extensive estates and potential and actual tenant strength.

At the Union the patrons of the medium-sized port of Galway were Denis Bowes Daly and, prospectively, his cousin James, then under age. Their influence derived from their property in and around the town and their traditional domination of the exclusively protestant corporation. For example, every mayor of Galway from 1776 to 1820 was either a member of the Daly clan or one of their nominees. It was the freeholder element within the electorate that had prevented the borough from ever being entirely close.

Galway, despite its extent, was one of the poorest and most thinly populated counties in Ireland. With its ‘barbarous manners’ it was ‘the dominion of Castle Rackrent’, where ‘neither law, arts, sciences or free trade penetrated’. According to a calculation made in 1799, one-fifth of the landed property was owned by Catholics and there is no doubt that Catholics predominated in the rapidly expanding electorate, yet in this period the religious question was largely obscured by the fact that nearly all candidates at parliamentary elections averred their support for Catholic relief.

Enniskillen, a burgess borough by prescription, was completely in the pocket of the earls of Enniskillen (Cole). It had been since the 17th century, and in 1836 the report on Irish corporations stated that, of the 15 members of the governing body, four were the earl’s relations and the rest his private or professional friends, so that his influence was still ‘paramount’.Rep. on Munic. Corps. in Ireland (1836), xxiv. 1085.

Fermanagh was a largely agricultural county, populated almost equally by Catholics and Protestants. Elections were traditionally dominated by the most substantial landowners Lord Enniskillen (Cole), the Archdalls and the Brookes of Brookeborough. In fact, an Archdall and a Cole had represented the county continuously since 1731 and 1783 respectively, and a Brooke between those dates. Not surprisingly, the main feature of elections after the Union was the three attempts of Henry Brooke to recapture a county seat.

On the death of the provost John Hely Hutchinson in 1794 the Marquess of Abercorn’s plan, hatched three years before by his adherents the brothers Thomas and George Knox, to assume the patronage of Trinity College went into operation.

Despite its being a freeman-freeholder constituency Dublin had, in practice, a largely protestant freeman electorate. Of just over 3,000 electors in 1806, only 382 were freeholders and by 1820 the number had dropped to 138.Dublin SPO 522/913/9, ‘Contested elections for Dublin City, 1806 and 1820’. It is also significant that the majority of freeholders had freeholds worth £20 or more.

Dublin was Ireland’s smallest county and the electorate was correspondingly limited, although as a result of the residential nature of the constituency it included a substantial proportion of well-to-do freeholders. Elections reflected the influence of a number of different interests, no one of which was dominant at the beginning of this period. There were several powerful territorial interests and those of Alexander and Rev.

Newry, a port and commercial town near the borders of counties Down and Louth, was the largest householder borough in Ireland and had a population said to be equally divided between Catholics and Protestants. The principal personal interest in the borough belonged traditionally to the Viscounts Kilmorey (Needham) who possessed a large estate near and in the town, together with the local turbary (the right to cut turf on common land).