Kilkenny City (UK Parliament constituency)

Kilkenny City
Kilkenny City
Former Borough constituency; for the House of Commons
1801–1918
Seats	One
Replaced by	North Kilkenny

Kilkenny City was an Irish Borough constituency in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, returning one Member of Parliament (MP). It was an original constituency represented in Parliament when the Union of Great Britain and Ireland took effect on 1 January 1801, and remained in existence until its abolition for the 1918 general election.

Boundaries

This constituency was the Parliamentary borough of Kilkenny in County Kilkenny.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Note
style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" \|	1 January 1801	William Talbot		1801: Co-opted. Resigned.
style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" \|	2 March 1802	Richard Archdall
style="background-color: Template:Whigs (British political party)/meta/color" \|	22 July 1802	Hon. Charles Harward Butler	Whig	Resigned
style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" \|	4 February 1809	Robert Williams
style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" \|	24 October 1812	Overington Blunden		Resigned
style="background-color: Template:Whigs (British political party)/meta/color" \|	27 May 1814	Hon. Charles Harward Butler	Whig
style="background-color: Template:Tories (British political party)/meta/color" \|	7 April 1820	Rt Hon. Denis Browne	Tory
style="background-color: Template:/meta/color" \|	22 June 1826	John Doherty
style="background-color: Template:Whigs (British political party)/meta/color" \|	11 August 1830	Nicholas Philpot Leader	Whig^[1]
style="background-color: Template:Repeal Association/meta/color" \|	13 December 1832	Richard Sullivan	Repeal Association^[2]	Re-elected as a candidate of a Liberal/Repealer pact
style="background-color: Template:Repeal Association/meta/color" \|	17 May 1836	Daniel O'Connell	Repeal Association^[1]^[2]
style="background-color: Template:Radicals (UK)/meta/color" \|	7 August 1837	Joseph Hume	Radical^[1]
style="background-color: Template:Repeal Association/meta/color" \|	3 July 1841	John O'Connell	Repeal Association^[1]^[2]^[3]	1847: Also returned by and elected to sit for Limerick
style="background-color: Template:Repeal Association/meta/color" \|	18 December 1847	Michael Sullivan	Repeal Association^[2]^[4]	Re-elected as a Liberal candidate
style="background-color: Template:Independent Irish Party/meta/color" \|	10 July 1852		Ind. Irish^[2]
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	5 May 1859		Liberal
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	13 July 1865	Sir John Gray	Liberal	Re-elected as a Home Rule League candidate
style="background-color: Template:Home Rule League/meta/color" \|	2 February 1874	Sir John Gray	Home Rule League	Died
style="background-color: Template:Home Rule League/meta/color" \|	28 April 1875	Benjamin Whitworth	Home Rule League	Resigned
style="background-color: Template:Home Rule League/meta/color" \|	26 February 1880	John Francis Smithwick	Home Rule League
style="background-color: Template:Irish Parliamentary Party/meta/color" \|	1882	John Francis Smithwick	Irish Parliamentary Party
style="background-color: Template:Irish Parliamentary Party/meta/color" \|	1886	Thomas Quinn	Irish Parliamentary Party
style="background-color: Template:Parnellite/meta/color" \|	1890		Parnellite
style="background-color: Template:Anti-Parnellite/meta/color" \|	1891–1892		Anti-Parnellite
style="background-color: Template:Anti-Parnellite/meta/color" \|	1892–1895	Thomas Bartholomew Curran	Anti-Parnellite
style="background-color: Template:Parnellite/meta/color" \|	1895	Patrick O'Brien	Parnellite
style="background-color: Template:Irish Parliamentary Party/meta/color" \|	1900–1917	Patrick O'Brien	Irish Parliamentary Party
style="background-color: Template:Sinn Féin/meta/color" \|	1917	W. T. Cosgrave	Sinn Féin
1918		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1850s

General Election 1852: Kilkenny City^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Independent Irish	Michael Sullivan	Unopposed
Registered electors			664
	Independent Irish gain from Irish Repeal

General Election 1857: Kilkenny City^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Irish	Michael Sullivan	218	55.2	N/A
	Whig	Francis Harvey Devereux^[5]	177	44.8	N/A
Majority			41	10.4	N/A
Turnout			395	74.4	N/A
Registered electors			531
	Independent Irish hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1859: Kilkenny City^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Michael Sullivan	236	52.9	−2.3
	Liberal	Matthew O'Donnell	210	47.1	+2.3
Majority			26	5.8	−4.6
Turnout			446	76.2	+1.8
Registered electors			585
	Liberal hold		Swing	−2.3

Elections in the 1860s

General Election 1865: Kilkenny City^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	John Gray	Unopposed
Registered electors			574
	Liberal hold

General Election 1868: Kilkenny City^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	John Gray	Unopposed
Registered electors			739
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1870s

General Election 1874: Kilkenny City^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Home Rule	John Gray	Unopposed
Registered electors			709
	Home Rule gain from Liberal

Gray's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 28 Apr 1875: Kilkenny City^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Home Rule	Benjamin Whitworth	290	55.6	N/A
	Home Rule	Edmund Dwyer-Gray	120	23.0	N/A
	Home Rule	Edward Marum	112	21.5	N/A
Majority			170	32.6	N/A
Turnout			522	75.7	N/A
Registered electors			690
	Home Rule hold

Elections in the 1880s

Whitworth's resignation caused a by-election.

By-election, 26 Feb 1880: Kilkenny City^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Home Rule	John Francis Smithwick	Unopposed
Registered electors			675
	Home Rule hold

General Election 1880: Kilkenny City^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Home Rule	John Francis Smithwick	316	60.8	N/A
	Home Rule	William James Doherty	204	39.2	N/A
Majority			112	21.5	N/A
Turnout			520	77.0	N/A
Registered electors			675
	Home Rule hold

General Election 1885: Kilkenny City^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Irish Parliamentary	John Francis Smithwick	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,899
	Irish Parliamentary hold

General Election 1886: Kilkenny City^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Irish Parliamentary	Thomas Quinn	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,899
	Irish Parliamentary hold

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: Kilkenny City^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish National Federation	Thomas Bartholomew Curran	744	55.2	N/A
	Irish National League	John O'Connor	604	44.8	N/A
Majority			140	10.4	N/A
Turnout			1,348	74.6	N/A
Registered electors			1,806
	Irish National Federation gain from Irish Parliamentary		Swing	N/A

General Election 1895: Kilkenny City^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish National League	Pat O'Brien	681	50.5	+5.7
	Irish National Federation	James Patrick Farrell	667	49.5	−5.7
Majority			14	1.0	N/A
Turnout			1,348	76.2	+1.6
Registered electors			1,769
	Irish National League gain from Irish National Federation		Swing	+5.7

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1900: Kilkenny City^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Irish Parliamentary	Pat O'Brien	Unopposed
Registered electors			2,556
	Irish Parliamentary hold

General Election 1906: Kilkenny City^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Irish Parliamentary	Pat O'Brien	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,533
	Irish Parliamentary hold

Elections in the 1910s

General Election January 1910: Kilkenny City^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Irish Parliamentary	Pat O'Brien	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,742
	Irish Parliamentary hold

General Election December 1910: Kilkenny City^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Irish Parliamentary	Pat O'Brien	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,742
	Irish Parliamentary hold

1917 by-election^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	W. T. Cosgrave	772	66.3	N/A
	Irish Parliamentary	John Magennis	392	33.7	N/A
Majority			380	32.6	N/A
Turnout			1,164	68.4	N/A
Registered electors			1,702
	Sinn Féin gain from Irish Parliamentary		Swing	N/A

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Smith, Henry Stooks (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections (Second ed.). Simpkin, Marshall & Company. pp. 230–231. Retrieved 2 October 2018 – via Google Books.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. ISBN 0901714127.
^ "Kilkenny—The County Election". Wexford Independent. 14 August 1847. pp. 1–2. Retrieved 2 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
^ "Cork Examiner". 22 December 1847. p. 3. Retrieved 2 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
^ "The Evening Freeman". 8 April 1857. p. 2. Retrieved 2 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)

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 "K" (part 2)

[stookssmith1842-1] Smith, Henry Stooks (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections (Second ed.). Simpkin, Marshall & Company. pp. 230–231. Retrieved 2 October 2018 – via Google Books.

[“walker”-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. ISBN 0901714127.

[3] "Kilkenny—The County Election". Wexford Independent. 14 August 1847. pp. 1–2. Retrieved 2 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)

[4] "Cork Examiner". 22 December 1847. p. 3. Retrieved 2 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)

[5] "The Evening Freeman". 8 April 1857. p. 2. Retrieved 2 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)

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