Roscommon (UK Parliament constituency)

Roscommon
Roscommon
Former County constituency; for the House of Commons
1801–1885
Number of members	Two
Replaced by	North Roscommon and South Roscommon

Roscommon was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland. The constituency sent two MPs to Westminster from the Act of Union 1800 until the constituency was split into Roscommon North and Roscommon South in 1885.

Boundaries

This constituency comprised the whole of County Roscommon.

Members of Parliament

Year	1st Member		1st Party		2nd Party
1801		Arthur French (I)		Thomas Mahon
1802				Edward King
1806				Stephen Mahon
1821		Arthur French (II)	Whig[1]	Stephen Mahon
1826				Robert King	Tory[2]
1830				Owen O'Conor	Whig[1]
1831				Denis O'Conor	Repeal Association[3]
1832		Fitzstephen French	Whig[1][4][5]	Denis O'Conor	Repeal Association[3]
1847			Whig[1][4][5]	Oliver Dowell John Grace	Whig[4][5]
1852			Ind. Irish[3]		Ind. Irish[3]
1857			Whig[1][3][4][5]		Whig[3][4][5]
1859			Liberal[3]	Thomas William Goff	Conservative[3]
1860			Liberal[3]	Charles Owen O'Conor	Liberal[3]
1873		Charles French	Liberal[3]		Liberal[3]
1874		Charles French	Home Rule League[3]		Home Rule League[3]
1880		Andrew Commins	Parnellite Home Rule League[3]	James O'Kelly	Parnellite Home Rule League[3]
1885	Constituency divided: see North Roscommon and South Roscommon

Elections

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1830: Roscommon[3][1][6]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	Arthur French	Unopposed
	Whig	Owen O'Conor	Unopposed
Registered electors			629
	Whig hold
	Whig gain from Tory

General election 1831: Roscommon[3][1][6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Arthur French	514	38.4
	Whig	Owen O'Conor	479	35.8
	Tory	William Lloyd	346	25.8
Majority			133	10.0
Turnout			c. 670	c. 91.8
Registered electors			729
	Whig hold
	Whig hold

O'Connor's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 25 July 1831: Roscommon[3][1][6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Irish Repeal	Denis O'Conor	Unopposed
	Irish Repeal gain from Whig

General election 1832: Roscommon[3][1]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	Fitzstephen French	Unopposed
	Irish Repeal	Denis O'Conor	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,776
	Whig hold
	Irish Repeal gain from Whig

General election 1835: Roscommon[3][1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Fitzstephen French	985	39.4
	Irish Repeal (Whig)	Denis O'Conor	955	38.2
	Conservative	Thomas Johnston Barton	523	20.9
	Conservative	Arthur Browne	40	1.6
Turnout			1,453	78.0
Registered electors			1,864
Majority			30	1.2
	Whig hold
Majority			432	17.3
	Irish Repeal hold

General election 1837: Roscommon[3][1]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	Fitzstephen French	Unopposed
	Irish Repeal (Whig)	Denis O'Conor	Unopposed
Registered electors			2,070
	Whig hold
	Irish Repeal hold

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: Roscommon[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	Fitzstephen French	Unopposed
	Irish Repeal	Denis O'Conor	Unopposed
Registered electors			1,059
	Whig hold
	Irish Repeal hold

O'Connor was appointed a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 21 July 1846: Roscommon[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Repeal	Denis O'Conor	Unopposed
	Irish Repeal hold

General election 1847: Roscommon[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Fitzstephen French	205	41.8	*N/A*
	Whig	Oliver Dowell John Grace	170	34.7	*N/A*
	Irish Repeal	Valentine O'Connor Blake	115	23.5	N/A
Majority			55	11.2	N/A
Turnout			245 (est)	18.3 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			1,341
	Whig hold		Swing	N/A
	Whig gain from Irish Repeal		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: Roscommon[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Independent Irish	Fitzstephen French	Unopposed
	Independent Irish	Oliver Dowell John Grace	Unopposed
Registered electors			2,236
	Independent Irish gain from Whig
	Independent Irish gain from Whig

General election 1857: Roscommon[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Whig	Fitzstephen French	Unopposed
	Whig	Oliver Dowell John Grace	Unopposed
Registered electors			2,890
	Whig gain from Independent Irish
	Whig gain from Independent Irish

General election 1859: Roscommon[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Fitzstephen French	1,930	40.6	*N/A*
	Conservative	Thomas William Goff	1,541	32.4	*New*
	Liberal	Edward King-Tenison	1,280	26.9	N/A
	Liberal	Patrick Dignan	3	0.0	N/A
Turnout			2,377 (est)	71.1 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			3,345
Majority			389	8.2	N/A
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A
Majority			261	5.5	N/A
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1860s

On petition, Goff was unseated and a by-election was called.

By-election, 26 March 1860: Roscommon[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Owen O'Conor	Unopposed
	Liberal gain from Conservative

General election 1865: Roscommon[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Fitzstephen French	Unopposed
	Liberal	Charles Owen O'Conor	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,650
	Liberal hold
	Liberal gain from Conservative

General election 1868: Roscommon[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Fitzstephen French	Unopposed
	Liberal	Charles Owen O'Conor	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,814
	Liberal hold
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1870s

French's death caused a by-election

By-election, 24 Jun 1873: Roscommon[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Charles French	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,809
	Liberal hold

General election 1874: Roscommon[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Home Rule	Charles Owen O'Conor	Unopposed
	Home Rule	Charles French	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,710
	Home Rule gain from Liberal
	Home Rule gain from Liberal

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: Roscommon[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Parnellite Home Rule League	Andrew Commins	1,585	31.1	*N/A*
	Parnellite Home Rule League	James Joseph O'Kelly	1,479	29.0	*N/A*
	Home Rule	Charles Owen O'Conor	1,107	21.7	N/A
	Home Rule	Thomas Austin Patrick Mapother	933	18.3	N/A
Majority			372	7.3	N/A
Turnout			2,552 (est)	70.8 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			3,602
	Home Rule hold		Swing	N/A
	Home Rule hold		Swing	N/A

References

Smith, Henry Stooks (1842). The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections (Second ed.). Simpkin, Marshall & Company. p. 238. Retrieved 8 October 2018 – via Google Books.
Farrell, Stephen. "KING, Hon. Robert (1804-1869), of Rockingham, co. Roscommon". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. ISBN 0901714127.
"Election Details". The Examiner. 14 August 1847. pp. 8–11. Retrieved 8 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
"Glove". 13 August 1847. p. 2. Retrieved 8 October 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
Farrell, Stephen. "Co. Roscommon". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 21 May 2020.

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "R" (part 2)
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, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. ISBN 0901714127.