County

The principal landowners in this predominantly Catholic county were Lords Digby, Rosse, Charleville, Drogheda and Glandore; and among the gentry, the Dalys, Bernards, Lloyds, Malones and O’Moores of Cloghan Castle. Digby was an English absentee who extracted no political capital from his Irish property, and of the remaining landowners the leading electoral interest belonged to the earls of Rosse who, by combining their interest with many smaller landowners, returned the Members at each successive election in this period.Wakefield, Account of Ireland, i.

The representation of this largely Catholic and relatively impoverished county was controlled throughout this period by two of its three largest landowners, the Earl of Ormonde (Butler) and the Earl of Bessborough (Ponsonby). As Lord Clifden, the other major landowner, remarked to the chief secretary in the winter of 1801: ‘I think there is no possibility of a contest in the county of Kilkenny at the next election, as I doubt anybody’s being able to raise an effectual one except myself, and I have no such intention’.Wakefield, Account of Ireland, i. 264; PRO 30/9/1/2, pt.

The most important landowner in Kildare at the beginning of this period was the 2nd Duke of Leinster (Fitzgerald), whose estate was reliably estimated to comprise 70,000 acres, or nearly one-fifth of the entire county.Wakefield, Account of Ireland, i. 263. The Fitzgeralds, who were closely related to several important Whig families (Fox was Leinster’s cousin), had largely dominated county elections in the 18th century until the immediate pre-Union years, when pressing domestic and financial problems began to weaken their interest.

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.

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.

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.

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.

County Down was one of Ireland’s most heavily populated constituencies and, thanks to successful farming from productive soil and a substantial linen industry, one of the wealthiest. In terms of property and religion the social structure was relatively broad and diverse. Down possessed a numerous gentry and a significant number of ‘middling’ farmers, and while perhaps half the population were presbyterians, the remainder were divided between Catholics and members of the Established Church. As far as can be ascertained, the relatively large electorate reflected these features.

For some years before the Union, elections for this wild and unproductive county had been largely dominated by Alexander Montgomery, a radical squire who relied more upon his general popularity than on his tenantry and who had materially assisted in the return of Henry Vaughan Brooke. The Marquess of Abercorn challenged them in 1797, but did not then succeed.

As Ireland’s largest county, Cork had an unusually high number of wealthy landlords—at least 20 with more than £8,000 p.a., and several in excess of £20,000 according to one estimate.Wakefield, Account of Ireland, ii. 303. In electoral terms the most important were the earls of Shannon (Boyle) whose influence had traditionally had a national as well as a local dimension; the earls of Bandon (Bernard) and Kingston (King); and, though dormant in the earlier part of this period, the dukes of Devonshire.Chatsworth mss, Knowlton to Devonshire, 28 Sept.