Ennis (UK Parliament constituency)

Ennis
Ennis
Former borough constituency; for the House of Commons
County	County Clare
Borough	Ennis
1801–1885
Seats	1
Created from	Ennis
Replaced by	East Clare

Ennis is a former United Kingdom Parliament constituency in Ireland, returning one MP. It was an original constituency represented in Parliament when the Union of Great Britain and Ireland took effect on 1 January 1801.

Boundaries

This constituency was the parliamentary borough of Ennis in County Clare.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Note
	1801	John Ormsby Vandeleur	Tory	1801: Co-opted
	1802	Rt Hon. James Fitzgerald	Tory	Resigned (appointed Escheator of Munster)
	1808	Rt Hon. William Vesey-Fitzgerald	Tory	^a
	1812	Rt Hon. James Fitzgerald	Tory	Resigned (appointed Escheator of Munster)
	1813	Rt Hon. William Vesey-Fitzgerald	Tory	^a
	1818	Spencer Perceval	Tory	Not the Prime Minister assassinated in 1812 but his son
	1820	Sir Ross Mahon, Bt	Tory	Resigned (appointed Escheator of Munster)
	1820	Richard Wellesley	Tory
	1826	Thomas Frankland Lewis	Tory^[1]	Resigned
	1828	William Smith O'Brien	Tory^[2]	^b
	1831	Rt Hon. William Vesey-Fitzgerald	Tory^[3]	Succeeded as the 2nd Baron FitzGerald and Vesey^a
	1832	Sir Augustine Fitzgerald, Bt	Tory^[4]
	1832	Francis McNamara	Repeal Association^[3]
	1835	Hewitt Bridgeman	Radical^[5]^[6]
	1847	James Patrick Mahon	Repeal Association^[7]^[8]
	1852	John Fitzgerald	Ind. Irish^[7]	Appointed Solicitor-General for Ireland, as a Whig
	1855		Whig^[9]
	1859		Liberal	Appointed Judge of the Irish Queen's Bench
	1860	William Stacpoole	Liberal	Sought re-election as a Home Rule League candidate
	1874	William Stacpoole	Home Rule League	Died
	1879	James Lysaght Finegan	Home Rule League	1880 United Kingdom general election: Supporter of Parnellite faction. Resigned.
	1882	Matthew Joseph Kenny	Irish Parliamentary	Last MP for the constituency
1885		Constituency abolished

Notes:-

^a William Vesey Fitzgerald (MP for Ennis 1808–1812 and 1813–1818) appears to be the same person as William Vesey-Fitzgerald, the MP from 1831 to 1832. Walker includes all three terms as MP for Ennis in one index entry. The History of Parliament website confirms it was the same person and that he was also MP for Clare in 1818–1828, Newport, Cornwall in 1829 and Lostwithiel in 1830.^[10]
^b Stooks Smith classifies O'Brien as a Whig MP, but the Wikipedia biographical article suggests he was a Conservative MP (i.e. a Tory) in 1828–1831.

Elections

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1830: Ennis^[7]^[3]^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Tory	William Smith O'Brien	Unopposed
Registered electors			13
	Tory hold

General election 1831: Ennis^[7]^[3]^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Tory	William Vesey-FitzGerald	Unopposed
Registered electors			13
	Tory hold

Vesey-FitzGerald succeeded to the peerage, becoming 2nd Baron FitzGerald and Vesey and causing a by-election.

By-election, 28 February 1832: Ennis^[7]^[3]^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Tory	Augustine FitzGerald	Unopposed
Registered electors			13
	Tory hold

General election 1832: Ennis^[7]^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Irish Repeal	Francis McNamara (British politician)	111	53.4
	Radical	Hewitt Bridgeman Snr.	84	40.4
	Tory	Michael Finucane	10	4.8
	Radical	Hewitt Bridgeman, Jnr.	3	1.4
Majority			27	13.0
Turnout			208	87.8
Registered electors			237
	Irish Repeal gain from Tory

General election 1835: Ennis^[7]^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Radical	Hewitt Bridgeman	100	51.5	+10.7
	Conservative	Michael Finucane	94	48.5	+43.7
Majority			6	3.0	N/A
Turnout			194	81.5	−6.3
Registered electors			238
	Radical gain from Irish Repeal		Swing	−16.3

General election 1837: Ennis^[7]^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Radical	Hewitt Bridgeman	Unopposed
Registered electors			353
	Radical hold

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: Ennis^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Radical	Hewitt Bridgeman	Unopposed
Registered electors			161
	Radical hold

General election 1847: Ennis^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Irish Repeal	James Patrick Mahon	Unopposed
Registered electors			212
	Irish Repeal gain from Radical

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: Ennis^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Irish	John FitzGerald	59	56.2	*New*
	Whig	James Patrick Mahon	46	43.8	New
Majority			13	12.4	N/A
Turnout			105	73.4	N/A
Registered electors			143
	Independent Irish gain from Irish Repeal		Swing	N/A

FitzGerald was appointed Solicitor-General for Ireland, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 8 March 1855: Ennis^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	John FitzGerald	Unopposed
Registered electors			303
	Whig gain from Independent Irish

FitzGerald was appointed Attorney-General for Ireland, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 8 April 1856: Ennis^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	John FitzGerald	Unopposed
	Whig gain from Independent Irish

General election 1857: Ennis^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	John FitzGerald	Unopposed
Registered electors			161
	Whig gain from Independent Irish

General election 1859: Ennis^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	John FitzGerald	Unopposed
Registered electors			191
	Liberal hold

FitzGerald was appointed Attorney-General for Ireland, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 29 June 1859: Ennis^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	John FitzGerald	Unopposed
Registered electors			191
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1860s

Fitzgerald resigned after being appointed a judge of the Queen's Bench, causing a by-election.

By-election, 20 February 1860: Ennis^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Stacpoole	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

General election 1865: Ennis^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Stacpoole	97	72.9	*N/A*
	Liberal	Chartres Brew Molony	36	27.1	N/A
Majority			61	45.8	N/A
Turnout			133	70.4	N/A
Registered electors			189
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1868: Ennis^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	William Stacpoole	Unopposed
Registered electors			231
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: Ennis^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Home Rule	William Stacpoole	115	53.7	*New*
	Home Rule	The O'Gorman Mahon	99	46.3	New
Majority			16	7.4	N/A
Turnout			214	88.4	N/A
Registered electors			242
	Home Rule gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

Stacpoole's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 26 July 1879: Ennis^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Home Rule	James Lysaght Finegan	83	38.8	*N/A*
	Home Rule	William O'Brien	77	36.0	N/A
	Conservative	William Henry Wilson Fitzgerald	54	25.2	New
Majority			6	2.8	−4.6
Turnout			214	86.6	−1.8
Registered electors			247
	Home Rule hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: Ennis^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Parnellite Home Rule League	James Lysaght Finegan	124	56.6	*N/A*
	Home Rule	William O'Brien	95	43.4	N/A
Majority			29	13.2	+5.8
Turnout			219	88.7	+0.3
Registered electors			247
	Home Rule hold		Swing	N/A

Finegan resigned, causing a by-election.

By-election, 14 Nov 1882: Ennis^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	Matthew Joseph Kenny	136	58.9	+2.3
	Conservative	Robert William Carey Reeves	95	41.1	New
Majority			41	17.8	+4.6
Turnout			231	87.8	−0.9
Registered electors			263
	Irish Parliamentary hold		Swing	N/A

References

^ Escott, Margaret. "LEWIS, Thomas Frankland (1780-1855), of Harpton Court, Rad". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
^ Farrell, Stephen. "SMITH O'BRIEN, William (1803-1864)". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Stooks Smith, Henry (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections: Containing the Uncontested Elections Since 1830. London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. p. 227.
^ Farrell, Stephen; Fisher, David R. "FITZGERALD, Sir Augustine, 1st bt. (?1765-1834), of Carrigoran, co. Clare". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
^ Churton, Edward (1838). The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer. p. 38.
^ "The New Parliament". Clare Journal, and Ennis Advertiser. 12 February 1835. p. 4. Retrieved 21 August 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ ^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. pp. 215, 278–279. ISBN 0901714127.
^ "Mr. O'Gorman Mahon and the Repeal Association". Cork Examiner. 9 August 1847. p. 2. Retrieved 30 September 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "The Advocate; or, Irish Industrial Journal". 25 March 1857. p. 3. Retrieved 30 September 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "VESEY FITZGERALD (formerly FITZGERALD), William (?1782–1843), of Inchicronan, co. Clare". History of Parliament. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c Farrell, Stephen. "Ennis". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 15 May 2020.

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)
Walker, Brian M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922. Royal Irish Academy.
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 2)