Waterford City (UK Parliament constituency)

UK former constituency infobox
Name = Waterford City
Type = Borough
Year = 1801
Abolition = 1922

Waterford City was a former United Kingdom Parliament constituency, in Ireland.

Boundaries and Boundary Changes

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

It returned one MP 1801-1832, two MPs 1832-1885 and one 1885-1922. It was an original constituency represented in Parliament when the Union of Great Britain and Ireland took effect on 1 January 1801.

From the dissolution of Parliament in 1922 the area was no longer represented in the United Kingdom House of Commons.

Politics

The constituency was a predominantly Nationalist area in 1918. The seat was contested by the party leader and was the only Irish seat it won outside Ulster.

The First Dáil

Sinn Féin contested the general election of 1918 on the platform that instead of taking up any seats they won in the United Kingdom Parliament, they would establish a revolutionary assembly in Dublin. In republican theory every MP elected in Ireland was a potential Deputy to this assembly. In practice only the Sinn Féin members accepted the offer.

The revolutionary First Dáil assembled on 21 January 1919 and last met on 10 May 1921. The First Dáil, according to a resolution passed on 10 May 1921, was formally dissolved on the assembling of the Second Dáil. This took place on 16 August 1921.

In 1921 Sinn Féin decided to use the UK authorised elections for the Northern Ireland House of Commons and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland as a poll for the Irish Republic's Second Dáil. This area, in republican theory, was incorporated in the five member Dáil constituency of Waterford-Tipperary East.

Members of Parliament

1885 "Representation reduced to one member"

Elections

The single-member elections in this constituency took place using the first past the post electoral system. Multi-member elections used the plurality at large variant of the bloc voting system.

Election box begin
title=General Election 14 December 1918: Waterford CityElection box candidate with party link
party = Irish Parliamentary Party
candidate = William Redmond
votes = 4,915
percentage =
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Sinn Féin
candidate = Vincent White
votes = 4,431
percentage =
change = "N/A"Election box majority
votes =
percentage =
change = "N/A"Election box turnout
votes = 12,063
percentage =
change = "N/A"Election box hold with party link
winner = Irish Parliamentary Party
swing = "N/A"

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)
*"Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume II 1886-1918", edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (The Harvester Press 1978)
*"Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume III 1919-1945", edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (The Harvester Press 1979)

External links

* http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0
* http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/en.toc.dail.html

ee also

* List of UK Parliament Constituencies in Ireland and Northern Ireland
* Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918
* MPs elected in the UK general election, 1918
* List of Dáil Éireann constituencies in Ireland (historic)
* Members of the 1st Dáil