PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION 1874 – 1918: THE IRISH DIMENSION by Donal Kennedy

Following the BALLOT ACT of 1872 there were eleven  General Elections in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland before Westminster’s Better Government of Ireland Act was passed in 1920. Previous to the Ballot  Act, voting was not secret and pressure and bribery were used  openly to influence the voters.

I’m neither a psephologist nor a historian but have been doing some amateur research which I  found interesting and I would be grateful for honest help in correcting any errors I’ve made, or for any useful information which I have missed.

“Truth is good for men” according to a quotation in “The Penguin Book of Twentieth Century Speeches”  taken from a 1974 address in London’s Guildhall  by Harold Evans. And I believe he was right when he said it.

1874                             Home Rule Party  60 Seats

1880                                  ”      ”        ”    63     ”

1885                              Irish Nationalists  86
1886                                                        85

1892                                                        81

1895                                                        82

1900                                                        82

1906                                                        83

1910 Jan/Feb                                           82

1910 Dec                                                 84

1918                                                         7                   Sinn Fein 73 Seats            Ulster Unionists   26 Seats.

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From 1885 to 1918 (and until 1928) T.P. O’Connor was the Irish Nationalist MP for the Scotland Division of Liverpool) and is included above.

In 1886                                66 of the Irish Nationalist Party’s  85 seats were won without  opposition.

In 1900                                58 of the Irish Nationalist Party’s  82 seats were won without opposition.

In 1906                                74  of the Irish Nationalist Party’s 83    ”        ”      ”       ”             ”

In Jan/Feb     1910                55  ”   ”     ”          ”             ”     82    ”        ”      ”       ”             ”

In December  1910                53 ”    ”     ”          ”             ”     84    ”        ”      ”       ”             ”

In 1918   SINN FEIN won       25   of its total  of                      73 Seats UNOPPOSED .

In 1918 in Great Britain Coalition Liberals took 23 seats unopposed, Conservatives took 41 unopposed, Labour took 11 seats unopposed  and (Asquithian) Liberals took 4 seats unopposed.

It was not regarded as a unique, uncommon, or sinister phenomenon for seats to be won without opposition.

NEXT BLOG WILL BE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT RESULTS IN IRELAND IN 1920 UNDER THE NEWLY IMPOSED SYSTEM OF PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION.