County Louth (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Louth, Lincolnshire (UK Parliament constituency).

For other parliamentary constituencies called Louth, see Louth (disambiguation).

Louth
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
1801–1885
Created from	North Louth and South Louth
1918–1922
Replaced by	North Louth and South Louth

County Louth, otherwise known as Louth County or Louth, is a former parliamentary constituency in Ireland, which was represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From 1801 to 1885 it returned two Members of Parliament (MPs), and one in 1918–1922.

Boundaries

From 1801 to 1885, the constituency comprised the whole of County Louth, except for the Parliamentary boroughs of Drogheda and Dundalk. Between 1885 and 1918 the county was divided into the county division constituencies North Louth and South Louth. In 1918, the reunited constituency covered the entire county of Louth plus a small part of County Meath near Drogheda.

History

Louth was a constituency in the first Dáil election in December 1918 when Sinn Féin won by 255 votes, its narrowest margin of victory in that election. John J. O'Kelly, a native of Kerry, resident in Glasnevin (Dublin), was Louth's first TD. The constituency was merged with Meath to form the 5 seat Louth–Meath constituency for the 2nd and 3rd Dála. In 1923 Louth became a new 3 seat constituency.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1801–85

Election	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1801, 1 January	rowspan="5" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |	John Foster		style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |	William Charles Fortescue
1806, 18 November	style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |			Viscount Jocelyn
1807, 19 May	style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |			John Jocelyn
1810, 10 February	style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |			Viscount Jocelyn
1820, 10 August	rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |			John Jocelyn
1821, 27 September	style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |	Thomas Skeffington
1824, 21 February	rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |	John Leslie Foster
1826, 21 June	rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |			Alexander Dawson
1830, 13 August	style="background-color: Template:Conservative/meta/color" |	John McClintock	Conservative
1831, 18 May	rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |	Richard Lalor Shiel
1831, 28 September	style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |			Sir Patrick Bellew, Bt
1832, 21 December	style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |	Thomas FitzGerald		rowspan="6" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |	Richard Montesquieu Bellew
1834, 24 December	style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |	Sir Patrick Bellew, Bt
1837, 5 August	style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |	Henry Chester
1840, 31 July	style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |	Thomas Fortescue
1841, 15 July	style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |	Thomas Vesey Dawson
1847, 10 August	rowspan="6" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |	Chichester Fortescue
1852, 22 July	style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |			Tristram Kennedy
1857, 10 April	style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |			John McClintock
1859, 16 May	style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |			Richard Montesquieu Bellew
1865, 15 April	style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |			Tristram Kennedy
1868, 24 November	style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |			Matthew O'Reilly Dease
1874, 14 February	rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |	Alexander Martin Sullivan		style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |	Philip Callan
1874, 9 April	style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |			George Harley Kirk
1880, 15 April	rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" |			Philip Callan
1880, 31 May	style="background-color: Template:Conservative/meta/color" |	Alan Henry Bellingham	Conservative
1885	Constituency divided: see North Louth and South Louth

MPs 1918–22

Election	Member		Party
1918	style="background-color: Template:Sinn Féin/meta/color" |	John J. O'Kelly	Sinn Féin
1922	Constituency abolished

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)
• "County Louth: the Irish political revolution and the 1918 general election" by O. S. Kelly (MA thesis, 2006, UCD)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 4)