1926 Dublin County by-election
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18 February 1926
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| Turnout | 33,050 (33.7%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A Dáil by-election was held in the constituency of Dublin County in the Irish Free State on Thursday, 18 February 1926, to fill a vacancy in the 4th Dáil. Dublin County was an 8-seat constituency comprising the administrative county of County Dublin.[1]
Darrell Figgis was a journalist and nationalist activist who had taken part in the 1914 Howth gun-running, was a judge in the Dáil Courts and was vice-chairman of the Committee that drafted the Constitution of the Irish Free State. He was elected as an independent TD for Dublin County at the 1922 general election and the 1923 general election. On 27 October 1925, he killed himself while staying in London.[2]
On 27 January 1926, the Dáil directed the Clerk to issue the writ of election to fill the vacancy.[3] Thomas Healy contested for Cumann na nGaedheal. William Norton, an officer in the Post Office Workers' Union, contested for the Labour Party.[4] Patrick Belton, who had taken part in the Easter Rising and had contested the 1923 general election in Leix–Offaly for the National Democratic Party, contested this by-election as an independent candidate.[5] It was held on the same day as the 1926 Leix–Offaly by-election.
Result
[edit]The by-election was held on 18 February 1926. The seat was won by William Norton.[6] It was first by-election in Ireland won by the Labour Party; it did not gain a seat again at a by-election until the 1976 Dublin South-West by-election.
| Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | ||||
| Cumann na nGaedheal | Thomas Healy | 37.2 | 12,279 | 14,303 | |
| Labour | William Norton | 35.7 | 11,797 | 15,168 | |
| Independent | Patrick Belton | 27.2 | 8,974 | ||
| Electorate: 98,187 Valid: 33,050 Quota: 16,526 Turnout: 33.7% | |||||
Norton took his seat in Dáil Éireann on 26 March, after taking the Oath of Allegiance required under Article 17 of the Constitution of the Irish Free State.[6] He later served as leader of the Labour Party (1932–1960) and Tánaiste (1948–1951, 1954–1957).
The third-place candidate, Patrick Belton, was elected at the June 1927 general election for Fianna Fáil. He split with the party when he took his seat in the 5th Dáil on 26 July before a change in party policy.[11] He later joined Cumann na nGaedheal, spending various periods as a member of that party (and its successor Fine Gael) and again as an independent.
References
[edit]- ↑ Electoral Act 1923, 8th Sch.: Constituencies (No. 12 of 1923, 8th Sch.). Enacted on 17 April 1923. Act of the Oireachtas. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 17 May 2022.
- ↑ Murphy, William (October 2009). "Figgis, Darrell". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.003078.v1. Archived from the original on 27 November 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
- ↑ "Dail Vacancies—Dublin and Leix–Offaly". Dáil Debates. 14 (2). Houses of the Oireachtas. 27 January 1926.
- ↑ White, Lawrence William (October 2009). "Norton, William Joseph". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006239.v1. Archived from the original on 16 November 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
- ↑ Dempsey, Pauric J. (October 2009). "Belton, Patrick". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.000572.v1.
- 1 2 "Teachtaí Nua (New Members)". Dáil Debates. 14 (10). Houses of the Oireachtas. 23 February 1926. Archived from the original on 21 January 2025. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
- ↑ Walker, Brian M., ed. (1992). Parliamentary election results in Ireland, 1918–92. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. ISBN 0-901714-96-8. ISSN 0332-0286.
- ↑ Gallagher, Michael (1993). Irish Elections 1922–44: Results and Analysis. PSAI Press. ISBN 0951974815.
- ↑ "By-election 1926: Dublin County". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 5 November 2025. Retrieved 13 February 2009.
- ↑ "Dublin County: 1926 by-election". Ireland Elections. Archived from the original on 2 December 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
- ↑ "Deputy Takes His Seat". Dáil Debates. 20 (13). Houses of the Oireachtas. 26 July 1927. Archived from the original on 24 November 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2022.