Waterford (UK Parliament constituency)

Waterford was a parliamentary constituency

United Kingdom constituencies

In the United Kingdom , each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly.Within the United Kingdom there are now five bodies with members elected by constituencies:...

in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, represented in the British House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

Boundaries and boundary changes

This constituency once comprised the whole of County Waterford

County Waterford

*Abbeyside, Affane, Aglish, Annestown, An Rinn, Ardmore*Ballinacourty, Ballinameela, Ballinamult, Ballinroad, Ballybeg, Ballybricken, Ballyduff Lower, Ballyduff Upper, Ballydurn, Ballygunner, Ballylaneen, Ballymacarbry, Ballymacart, Ballynaneashagh, Ballysaggart, Ballytruckle, Bilberry, Bunmahon,...

, except for the Parliamentary borough

Parliamentary borough

Parliamentary boroughs are a type of administrative division, usually covering urban areas, that are entitled to representation in a Parliament...

s of Dungarvan

Dungarvan (UK Parliament constituency)

Dungarvan was a parliamentary constituency in Ireland, which from 1801 to 1885 returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....

(1801–1885) and Waterford City

Waterford City (UK Parliament constituency)

Waterford City was a 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...

(1801–1885 and 1918–1922). It returned two Members of Parliament 1801–1885 and one 1918–1922.

It was an original constituency represented in Parliament when the Union of Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

and Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

took effect on 1 January 1801.

Between 1885 and 1918 the area had been divided between the constituencies of East Waterford and West Waterford

West Waterford (UK Parliament constituency)

West Waterford was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland, returning one Member of Parliament 1885–1918.Prior to the United Kingdom general election, 1885 and after the dissolution of Parliament in 1918 the area was part of the County Waterford constituency.-Members of Parliament:- Sources...

. From 1922 it was no longer represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.

Politics

In the 1918 election Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

defeated by 3 to 1 the Nationalist candidate representing the Irish Parliamentary Party

Irish Parliamentary Party

The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at...

.

The newly elected Sinn Féin MP for the constituency was Cathal Brugha

Cathal Brugha

Cathal Brugha was an Irish revolutionary and politician, active in the Easter Rising, Irish War of Independence, and the Irish Civil War and was the first Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann.-Background:...

. Like other Sinn Féin MPs elected that year, he did not take his seat at Westminster but instead, took a seat in the revolutionary First Dáil

First Dáil

The First Dáil was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919–1921. In 1919 candidates who had been elected in the Westminster elections of 1918 refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled as a unicameral, revolutionary parliament called "Dáil Éireann"...

which assembled in Dublin on 21 January 1919. As better known figures were under arrest, Brugha became the first presiding officer (with the title of Ceann Comhairle

Ceann Comhairle

The Ceann Comhairle is the chairman of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas of Ireland. The person who holds the position is elected by members of the Dáil from among their number in the first session after each general election...

) and a day later the first head of government (with the title of President of Dáil Éireann

President of Dáil Éireann

The President of Dáil Éireann was the leader of the revolutionary Irish Republic of 1919–1921. The office, also known as Príomh Aire , was created in the Dáil Constitution adopted by Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Republic, at its first meeting in January 1919. This provided that the...

), of the Irish Republic

Irish Republic

The Irish Republic was a revolutionary state that declared its independence from Great Britain in January 1919. It established a legislature , a government , a court system and a police force...

The First Dáil

Sinn Féin

contested the general election of 1918

Irish (UK) general election, 1918

The Irish general election of 1918 was that part of the 1918 United Kingdom general election that took place in Ireland. It is seen as a key moment in modern Irish history...

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

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

Second Dáil

The Second Dáil was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 16 August 1921 until 8 June 1922. From 1919–1922 Dáil Éireann was the revolutionary parliament of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic. The Second Dáil consisted of members elected in 1921...

. 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

Irish Republic

The Irish Republic was a revolutionary state that declared its independence from Great Britain in January 1919. It established a legislature , a government , a court system and a police force...

's Second Dáil

Second Dáil

. This area, in republican theory, was incorporated in the five member Dáil constituency of Waterford–Tipperary East.

MPs 1801–1885

Year	\|2nd Member	2nd Party
1801 United Kingdom general election, 1801 The United Kingdom general election, 1801 was not an election as such, but the co-option of members to serve in the first Parliament to be held after the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on 1 January 1801...		Hon. John Beresford	Richard Power
21 Jul 1802		Hon. John Beresford	Edward Lee	Whig
6 Jan 1806		John Claudius Beresford John Claudius Beresford John Claudius Beresford was a Tory UK Member of Parliament representing Dublin City 1801–1804 and County Waterford 1806–1811.-Early life:...	Edward Lee	Whig
18 Nov 1806			Richard Power
28 Jun 1811		Sir William Beresford William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford General William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, 1st Marquis of Campo Maior, GCB, GCH, GCTE, PC , was a British soldier and politician...	Richard Power
25 Apr 1814			Richard Power
25 May 1814		Lord George Beresford Lord George Beresford General Lord George Thomas Beresford GCH, PC was an Anglo-Irish soldier, courtier and Tory politician. He served as Comptroller of the Household from 1812 to 1830.-Background:...
1 Jul 1826		Henry Villiers-Stuart Henry Villiers-Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Decies Henry Villiers-Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Decies PC , was a British Tory politician.-Background and education:Born Henry Chrichton-Stuart, in London, he was the eldest son of Lord Henry Chrichton-Stuart, third son of John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute. His mother was Lady Gertrude Emilia, daughter...
2 Mar 1830		Lord George Beresford Lord George Beresford General Lord George Thomas Beresford GCH, PC was an Anglo-Irish soldier, courtier and Tory politician. He served as Comptroller of the Household from 1812 to 1830.-Background:...
13 Aug 1830			Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847; often referred to as The Liberator, or The Emancipator, was an Irish political leader in the first half of the 19th century...
11 May 1831		Sir Richard Musgrave, Bt	Robert Power
26 Dec 1832		John Matthew Galwey	Sir Richard Keane, Bt
19 Jan 1835		Sir Richard Musgrave, Bt	Patrick Power
21 Sep 1835		Sir Richard Musgrave, Bt	William Villiers-Stuart William Villiers-Stuart Captain William Villiers-Stuart , was a British soldier and Member of Parliament.Born William Stuart, he was the second son of Lord Henry Stuart, third son of John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute. His mother was Lady Gertrude Amelia, only child and heiress of George Mason-Villiers, 2nd Earl Grandison,...
9 Aug 1837		John Power
24 Aug 1840		Hon. Robert Carew Robert Carew, 2nd Baron Carew Sir Robert Shapland Carew, 2nd Baron Carew KP was an Irish Member of Parliament in the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1840 to 1847, and a member of the Irish and United Kingdom peerages....
11 Aug 1847		Nicholas Mahon Power	Robert Keating
26 Jul 1852		Nicholas Mahon Power	Sir John Esmonde, Bt
12 May 1859		Walter Cecil Talbot
18 Jul 1865		Earl of Tyrone John Beresford, 5th Marquess of Waterford John Henry de la Poer Beresford, 5th Marquess of Waterford KP, PC , styled Earl of Tyrone from 1859 to 1866, was an Irish peer and Conservative politician...
31 Dec 1866		Edmond de la Poer
5 Jul 1873		Henry Villiers-Stuart Henry Villiers-Stuart Henry Windsor Villiers-Stuart , was a British soldier, politician, clergyman and author.Villiers-Stuart was the son of Henry Villiers-Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Decies, son of Lord Henry Stuart and his wife Lady Gertrude Amelia, daughter of George Mason-Villiers, 2nd Earl Grandison...
10 Feb 1874		Lord Charles Beresford Lord Charles Beresford Charles William de la Poer Beresford, 1st Baron Beresford GCB GCVO , styled Lord Charles Beresford between 1859 and 1916, was a British Admiral and Member of Parliament....
24 Jan 1877			James Delahunty
9 Apr 1880		Henry Villiers-Stuart Henry Villiers-Stuart Henry Windsor Villiers-Stuart , was a British soldier, politician, clergyman and author.Villiers-Stuart was the son of Henry Villiers-Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Decies, son of Lord Henry Stuart and his wife Lady Gertrude Amelia, daughter of George Mason-Villiers, 2nd Earl Grandison...	John Aloysius Blake
25 Aug 1884			Patrick Joseph Power
1885 Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equally populated constituencies, in an attempt to equalise representation across...	Constituency divided: see East Waterford and West Waterford West Waterford (UK Parliament constituency) West Waterford was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland, returning one Member of Parliament 1885–1918.Prior to the United Kingdom general election, 1885 and after the dissolution of Parliament in 1918 the area was part of the County Waterford constituency.-Members of Parliament:- Sources...

MPs 1918–1922

Key to parties: N Nationalist (Irish Parliamentary Party)
Irish Parliamentary Party
The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at...

, SF Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

.

From	To	Name (Party)	Born	Died
1918	1922	Cathal Brugha Cathal Brugha Cathal Brugha was an Irish revolutionary and politician, active in the Easter Rising, Irish War of Independence, and the Irish Civil War and was the first Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann.-Background:... (SF)	18 July 1874	7 July 1922

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 voting

Plurality-at-large voting

Plurality-at-large voting is a non-proportional voting system for electing several representatives from a single multimember electoral district using a series of check boxes and tallying votes similar to a plurality election...

system.

External links

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