South County Dublin (UK Parliament constituency)

South Dublin was a county constituency in Ireland from 1885 to 1922. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, using the first past the post voting system.

Prior to the 1885 general election the area was part of the Dublin County constituency. From 1922 it was not represented in the UK Parliament.

Boundaries

This constituency comprised the south-eastern part of County Dublin.

From 1885–1918, it was a strip along the coast south of the city of Dublin to the county boundary. The constituency was bounded by the city of Dublin to the north, North Dublin to the west, East Wicklow to the south and the sea to the east. It included Dalkey, Kingstown, Blackrock, Stillorgan, Glencullen.

In 1918–1922 South Dublin was the southernmost of three constituencies south of the city of Dublin. The constituency boundary was also pushed a little further west than that of its previous incarnation had been. The other two successor constituencies to the 1885–1918 South Dublin were Rathmines, south of the city of Dublin, and Pembroke to the north of South Dublin. The other surrounding constituencies were unchanged.

History

At the general elections of 1885 and 1886, the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate gained a majority of the votes cast. At the general elections of 1892, 1895, 1900, 1906 and January 1910, Unionist candidates gained a majority of the votes cast, although in 1900 the Unionist vote was split and the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate was elected. In January 1910, the Unionist majority fell to 66, and in December 1910, the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate was returned with a majority of 133. 'The unionists had held on to the ... seat with the help of loyal upper and middle-class Catholics. When the seat eventually fell to the nationalists in the second election of 1910 the successful candidate was William Cotton, a leading figure in the business community whose patriotism was broad enough to allow him to support motions for loyal addresses to the monarch at Dublin Corporation meetings ... many nationalists were suspicious of Cotton’s conservative views'^[1] At a by-election in July 1917, the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate was returned unopposed. Following a redrawing of boundaries, the seat was won by the Sinn Féin candidate at the general election of 1918.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: South County Dublin^[2][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Sinn Féin	George Gavan Duffy	5,133	38.58	n/a
	Irish Unionist	Sir Thomas Robinson	4,354	32.72	n/a
	Irish Parliamentary	Thomas Clarke	3,819	28.70	n/a
Majority			779	5.85	n/a
Turnout			13,306	74.6	n/a
	Sinn Féin win

• Death of Cotton

By-Election 6 July 1917: South County Dublin

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Irish Parliamentary	Michael Louis Hearn	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Irish Parliamentary hold		Swing	N/A

General Election December 1910: South County Dublin^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Irish Parliamentary	William Francis Cotton	5,223	50.64	0.97
	Irish Unionist	Bryan Cooper	5,090	49.36	0.97
Majority			133	1.29
Turnout			10,313
	Irish Parliamentary gain from Irish Unionist		Swing	+0.64

General Election January 1910: South County Dublin^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Irish Unionist	Bryan Cooper	5,072	50.33	6.97
	Irish Parliamentary	William Francis Cotton	5,006	49.67	6.97
Majority			66	0.65	14.59
Turnout			10,078
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	-6.97

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1906: South County Dublin^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Irish Unionist	Walter H. Long	5,269	57.30	20.30
	Irish Parliamentary	Richard Hazleton	3,926	42.70	0.71
Majority			1,343	14.60	n/a
Turnout			9,195	87.16	+14.17
Registered electors			10,549
	Irish Unionist gain from Irish Parliamentary		Swing	+20.3

General Election 1900: South County Dublin^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Irish Parliamentary	John Joseph Mooney	3,410	43.41	5.74[5]
	Irish Unionist	Horace Plunkett	2,906	37.00	25.33
	Independent Unionist	F. Elrington Ball	1,539	19.59
Majority			504	6.42	n/a
Turnout			7,855	72.99
Registered electors			10,762
	Irish Parliamentary gain from Irish Unionist		Swing	+5.74[5]

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1895: South County Dublin^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Irish Unionist	Horace Plunkett	4,901	62.33	8.26
	Irish National League	Edmund Haviland-Burke	2,962	37.67	9.70
Majority			1,939	24.65	1.45
Turnout			7,863	71.81	6.01
Registered electors			10,949
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	+8.26

General Election 1892: South County Dublin^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Irish Unionist	Horace Plunkett	4,371	54.07	14.75
	Irish National League	Dr St. Lawrence Ffrench-Mullen	2,261	27.97	N/A
	Irish National Federation	Sir Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde	1,452	17.96	42.73
Majority			2,110	26.10	N/A
Turnout			8,084	77.82	4.68
Registered electors			10,388
	Irish Unionist gain from Irish Parliamentary		Swing	+13.99

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1886: South County Dublin^[6][4](Population 72,636)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Irish Parliamentary	Sir Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde	5,022	60.69	2.90
	Liberal Unionist	Joseph Todhunter Pim	3,254	39.31	2.90
Majority			1,768	21.36	5.78
Turnout			8,276	73.14	5.07
Registered electors			11,314
	Irish Parliamentary hold		Swing	+2.9

General Election 1885: South County Dublin^[6][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Irish Parliamentary	Sir Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde	5,114	57.79	N/A
	Irish Conservative	Ion. T. Hamilton	3,736	42.21	N/A
Majority			1,378	15.58	N/A
Turnout			8,850	78.21	N/A
Registered electors			11,314
	Irish Parliamentary win

References

• • Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 3)

Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922, edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978)