County Sligo (UK Parliament constituency)

Sligo County
Sligo County
Former County constituency; for the House of Commons
1801–1885
Seats	Two
Replaced by	North Sligo and South Sligo

Sligo County is a former county constituency in Ireland, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It returned two Members of Parliament (MPs), elected by the bloc vote system of election.

Boundaries

This constituency comprised the whole of County Sligo, except the Parliamentary borough of Sligo 1801-1870. From 1885 the constituency was divided into North Sligo and South Sligo.

Members of Parliament

Election	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1801	style="background-color: Template:Tories (British political party)/meta/color" \|	Joshua Edward Cooper	Tory	rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Tories (British political party)/meta/color" \|	Charles O'Hara	Tory
Nov 1806	rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Tories (British political party)/meta/color" \|	Edward Synge Cooper	Tory		Charles O'Hara	Tory
Dec 1822	rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Whigs (British political party)/meta/color" \|	Edward Synge Cooper	Tory	Henry King	Whig^[1]
Aug 1830	rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Tories (British political party)/meta/color" \|	Edward Joshua Cooper	Tory^[1]^[2]	Henry King	Whig^[1]
May 1831	style="background-color: Template:Tories (British political party)/meta/color" \|		Tory^[1]^[2]	Alexander Perceval	Tory^[1]^[2]
Dec 1834	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|		Conservative^[1]^[2]		rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	Conservative^[1]^[2]
Jul 1841	rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:Irish Conservative Party/meta/color" \|	William Ormsby-Gore	Conservative^[1]^[2]			Conservative^[1]^[2]
Sep 1841	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|			John Ffolliott	Conservative^[1]^[2]
Mar 1850	rowspan="7" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|			Sir Robert Gore-Booth	Conservative^[2]
Jul 1852	style="background-color: Template:Independent Irish Party/meta/color" \|	Richard Swift	Ind. Irish^[2]
Apr 1857	style="background-color: Template:Irish Conservative Party/meta/color" \|	Edward Joshua Cooper	Conservative^[2]
May 1859	style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	Charles William Cooper changed name to O'Hara, 1860	Conservative^[2]
Jul 1865	style="background-color: Template:Irish Conservative Party/meta/color" \|	Edward Henry Cooper	Conservative^[2]
Dec 1868	style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	Denis Maurice O'Conor	Liberal^[2]
Dec 1874	rowspan="3" style="background-color: Template:Home Rule League/meta/color" \|		Home Rule League^[2]
Jan 1877	style="background-color: Template:Home Rule League/meta/color" \|			Edward King-Harman	Home Rule^[2]
Apr 1880	style="background-color: Template:Home Rule League/meta/color" \|			Thomas Sexton	[[Template:Parnellite Home Rule League/meta/shortname]]^[2]
Oct 1882	style="background-color: Template:Irish Parliamentary Party/meta/color" \|		Irish Parliamentary		rowspan = 2 style="background-color: Template:Irish Parliamentary Party/meta/color" \|	Irish Parliamentary^[2]
Aug 1883	style="background-color: Template:Irish Parliamentary Party/meta/color" \|	Nicholas Lynch	Irish Parliamentary^[2]			Irish Parliamentary^[2]
1885	constituency abolished: see North Sligo and South Sligo

Elections

Elections in the 1830s

General Election 1830: Sligo County (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Tory	Edward Joshua Cooper	465	47.89
	Tory	Henry King	390	40.16
	Independent	Fitzstephen French	116	11.95
Turnout			971	N/A	N/A

Elections in the 1850s

Ffolliott resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, causing a by-election.

By-election, 12 March 1850: Sligo County^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Gore-Booth	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

General Election 1852: Sligo County (2 seats)^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Gore-Booth	943	35.9	*N/A*
	Independent Irish	Richard Swift	870	33.1	*N/A*
	Conservative	William Ormsby-Gore	774	29.5	N/A
	Whig	John Taaffe^[3]	39	1.5	N/A
Turnout			1,313 (est)	62.4 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			2,105
Majority			73	2.8	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A
Majority			96	3.7	N/A
	Independent Irish gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

General Election 1857: Sligo County (2 seats)^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Gore-Booth	1,471	45.2	+9.3
	Conservative	Edward Joshua Cooper	1,471	45.2	+15.7
	Whig	John Ball^[4]	305	9.4	+7.9
	Independent Irish	Richard Swift	5	0.2	−32.9
Majority			1,166	35.9	+33.1
Turnout			1,776 (est)	74.3 (est)	+11.9
Registered electors			2,389
	Conservative hold		Swing	+12.9
	Conservative gain from Independent Irish		Swing	+16.1

General Election 1859: Sligo County (2 seats)^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Robert Gore-Booth	Unopposed
	Conservative	Charles William Cooper	Unopposed
Registered electors			2,445
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1860s

General Election 1865: Sligo County (2 seats)^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Edward Henry Cooper	Unopposed
	Conservative	Robert Gore-Booth	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,181
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

General Election 1868: Sligo County (2 seats)^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Denis Maurice O'Conor	1,671	41.7	*N/A*
	Conservative	Robert Gore-Booth	1,208	30.1	*N/A*
	Conservative	Edward Henry Cooper	1,129	28.2	N/A
	Liberal	Cornelius Alexander Keogh	2	0.0	N/A
Turnout			2,840 (est)	87.8 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			3,233
Majority			463	11.5	N/A
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A
Majority			1,206	30.1	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1870s

General Election 1874: Sligo County (2 seats)^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Home Rule	Denis Maurice O'Conor	Unopposed
	Conservative	Robert Gore-Booth	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,539
	Home Rule gain from Liberal
	Conservative hold

Gore-Booth's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 12 Jan 1877: Sligo County (1 seat)^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Home Rule	Edward King-Harman	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,414
	Home Rule gain from Conservative

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1880: Sligo County (2 seats)^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Parnellite Home Rule League	Thomas Sexton	1,591	36.1	*N/A*
	Home Rule	Denis Maurice O'Conor	1,551	35.2	*N/A*
	Home Rule	Edward King-Harman	1,267	28.7	N/A
Majority			284	6.4	N/A
Turnout			2,205 (est)	67.7 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			3,256
	Home Rule gain from Conservative		Swing
	Home Rule hold		Swing

O'Conor's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 18 Aug 1883: Sligo County (2 seats)^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	Nicholas Lynch	1,545	61.1	*N/A*
	Conservative	Charles Kane O'Hara^[5]	983	38.9	N/A
Majority			562	22.2	N/A
Turnout			2,528	79.6	+11.9
Registered electors			3,174
	Irish Parliamentary hold		Swing	N/A

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Smith, Henry Stooks (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections (Second ed.). Simpkin, Marshall & Company. p. 239. Retrieved 9 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 ^x ^y ^z ^aa Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. ISBN 0901714127.
^ "Election Intelligence". The Atlas. 24 July 1852. pp. 5–6. Retrieved 9 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
^ "Belfast Mercury". 23 April 1857. p. 2. Retrieved 9 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
^ "Election Intelligence". South Wales Daily News. 15 August 1883. p. 4. Retrieved 22 December 2017 – 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 "S" (part 3)

[stookssmith1842-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Smith, Henry Stooks (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections (Second ed.). Simpkin, Marshall & Company. p. 239. Retrieved 9 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 ^x ^y ^z ^aa Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. ISBN 0901714127.

[3] "Election Intelligence". The Atlas. 24 July 1852. pp. 5–6. Retrieved 9 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)

[4] "Belfast Mercury". 23 April 1857. p. 2. Retrieved 9 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)

[5] "Election Intelligence". South Wales Daily News. 15 August 1883. p. 4. Retrieved 22 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)

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