Bagwell was MP for the Irish constituency of Cashel from 1799 until the Union in 1801. He then became MP for Cashel in the unified Parliament of the United Kingdom. Under the House of Commons (Clergy Disqualification) Act 1801, passed in June 1801, it was unclear if he would be able to retain his seat; it prevented those in holy orders from sitting in Parliament, but Bagwell had been elected before the Act was passed and it was not clear if it applied to him. Bagwell believed that he should be disqualified and requested his father to move a writ for a by-election; after some debate, Bagwell agreed to resign from Parliament by taking the Chiltern Hundreds.[5][6] He was succeeded in the seat by his brother John Bagwell.
^Clogher clergy and parishes : being an account of the clergy of the Church of Ireland in the Diocese of Clogher, from the earliest period, with historical notices of the several parishes, churches, etc Leslie, J. B. p. 36: Fermanagh, R. H. Ritchie 1929
^Fasti ecclesiae Hibernicae : the succession of the prelates and members of the Cathedral bodies of Ireland Vol 4Cotton, H. p. 204: Dublin, John Charles & Son, 1878
^Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology (Third Edition, reprinted 2003 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 361–362 ISBN0-521-56350-X
^Fasti ecclesiae Hibernicae : the succession of the prelates and members of the Cathedral bodies of Ireland Vol 3 Cotton, H. p. 89: Dublin, John Charles & Son, 1878
^Fasti ecclesiae Hibernicae : the succession of the prelates and members of the Cathedral bodies of Ireland Vol 1 Cotton, H. p. 42: Dublin, John Charles & Son, 1878
^The Gentleman's Magazine, Volume 140 Urban, S. p. 641 Obituaries: London, John Nichols & Son; 1826