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Drogheda was a parliamentary borough constituency in Ireland, which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was an original constituency represented in Parliament when the Union of Great Britain and Ireland took effect on 1 January 1801, replacing the Drogheda constituency in the Parliament of Ireland.

Drogheda
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
1801–1885
Number of members	1
Replaced by	South Louth

Boundaries

This constituency was the Parliamentary borough of Drogheda in County Louth.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Note
	1 January 1801	Edward Hardman		1801: Co-opted
	14 November 1806	Henry Meade Ogle	Tory
	14 November 1807	Thomas Foster	Whig[1]
	21 October 1812	Henry Meade Ogle	Tory[1]
	28 March 1820	Henry Metcalfe	Tory[1]	Died
	9 March 1822	William Meade Smyth	Tory[2]
	17 June 1826	Peter Van Homrigh	Tory[2]
	13 August 1830	John Henry North	Tory[1]	Died
	20 October 1831	Thomas Wallace	Whig[1]
	15 December 1832	Andrew Carew O'Dwyer	Repeal Association[1][3]
	21 January 1835			Unseated on petition. New writ issued.
	24 April 1835			Unseated on petition
	29 June 1835	Randal Edward Plunkett	Conservative[1][3]	Declared elected on petition
	3 August 1837	William Somerville	Whig[1][4][5]
	13 July 1852	James McCann	Independent Irish	Re-elected as a Whig candidate
	4 April 1857		Whig[6]
	7 May 1859		Liberal
	17 July 1865	Benjamin Whitworth	Liberal	Unseated on petition. New writ issued.
	15 March 1869	Thomas Whitworth	Liberal
	5 February 1874	Dr William Hagarty O'Leary	Home Rule League	Died
	2 March 1880	Benjamin Whitworth	Home Rule League	Last MP for the constituency
1885		Constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1830: Drogheda[3][1][7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Tory	John Henry North	373	58.2
	Irish Repeal	Maurice O'Connell	268	41.8
Majority			105	16.4
Turnout			641	68.5
Registered electors			936
	Tory hold		Swing

General election 1831: Drogheda[3][1][7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Tory	John Henry North	355	55.5	−2.7
	Whig	Thomas Wallace	285	44.5	New
Majority			70	11.0	-5.6
Turnout			640	55.7	−12.8
Registered electors			1,150
	Tory hold		Swing	−2.7

North's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 20 October 1831: Drogheda[3][1][7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Thomas Wallace	Unopposed
	Whig gain from Tory

General election 1832: Drogheda[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Repeal	Andrew Carew O'Dwyer	249	100.0	N/A
	Tory	Francis Ball	0	0.0	-55.5
Majority			249	100.0	N/A
Turnout			249	44.5	−11.2
Registered electors			560
	Irish Repeal gain from Tory		Swing	N/A

• Stooks Smith gives the poll as 237 for O'Dwyer and 12 for Ball, but Walker's numbers have been used above.[1]

General election 1835: Drogheda[3][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Irish Repeal (Whig)	Andrew Carew O'Dwyer	Unopposed
Registered electors			651
	Irish Repeal hold

On petition, O'Dwyer was unseated for "want of qualification", causing a by-election.[7]

By-election, 24 April 1835: Drogheda[3][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Irish Repeal (Whig)	Andrew Carew O'Dwyer	320	71.0
	Conservative	Randall Edward Plunkett, 15th Baron of Dunsany	131	29.0
Majority			189	42.0
Turnout			451	69.3
Registered electors			651
	Irish Repeal hold

• Stooks Smith gives the poll as 313 for O'Dwyer and 130 for Plunkett but Walker's figures have been used here.[1] On petition, O'Dwyer's election was declared void and Plunkett was declared elected, on 21 June 1835.[3]

General election 1837: Drogheda[3][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	William Somerville	Unopposed
Registered electors			799
	Whig gain from Irish Repeal

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: Drogheda[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	William Somerville	Unopposed
Registered electors			506
	Whig hold

General election 1847: Drogheda[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	William Somerville	155	50.5	N/A
	Irish Repeal	Thomas Lamie Murray	152	49.5	New
Majority			3	1.0	N/A
Turnout			307	41.8	N/A
Registered electors			734
	Whig hold		Swing

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1852: Drogheda[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Irish	James McCann	306	100.0	+50.5
	Whig	William Somerville	0	0.0	−50.5
	Whig	John Magee	0	0.0	N/A
Majority			306	100.0	N/A
Turnout			306	61.1	+19.3
Registered electors			501
	Independent Irish gain from Whig		Swing	+50.5

General election 1857: Drogheda[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	James McCann	350	96.2	−3.8
	Independent Irish	Francis Brodigan[8]	14	3.8	N/A
Majority			336	92.4	-7.6
Turnout			364	56.1	−5.0
Registered electors			649
	Whig gain from Independent Irish		Swing	N/A

General election 1859: Drogheda[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James McCann	308	59.8	−36.4
	Liberal-Conservative	Charles Marmaduke Middleton[9]	205	39.8	New
	Liberal	Francis Brodigan	2	0.4	−3.4
Majority			103	20.0	-72.4
Turnout			515	80.6	+24.5
Registered electors			639
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1865: Drogheda[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Benjamin Whitworth	291	77.6	+17.8
	Liberal	Francis Brodigan	84	22.4	+22.0
Majority			207	55.2	+35.2
Turnout			375	64.5	−16.1
Registered electors			581
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1868: Drogheda[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Benjamin Whitworth	365	68.5	−9.1
	Conservative	Francis McClintock	138	25.9	New
	Liberal	Francis Brodigan	30	5.6	−16.8
Majority			227	42.6	−12.6
Turnout			533	73.4	+8.9
Registered electors			726
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.9

Polling for the 1868 election was marred by riots at or outside the polling house, during which people were fired upon by the military, and one man was seriously injured.[10] Although this was later not shown to have affected the result significantly, on petition, Whitworth was unseated for separate findings of an "organised system of intimidation and force was established by Mr. Whitworth and his friends and agents."[11]

By-election, 15 March 1869: Drogheda[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Whitworth	Unopposed
Registered electors			726
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: Drogheda[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Home Rule	William Hagarty O'Leary	284	50.9	New
	Liberal	Benjamin Whitworth	274	49.1	−19.4
Majority			10	1.8	N/A
Turnout			558	72.7	−0.7
Registered electors			768
	Home Rule gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1880s

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

By-election, 2 Mar 1880: Drogheda[3][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Benjamin Whitworth	382	67.9	+18.8
	Home Rule	James Carlile McCoan	181	32.1	−18.8
Majority			201	35.8	N/A
Turnout			563	75.8	+3.1
Registered electors			743
	Liberal gain from Home Rule		Swing	+18.8

General election 1880: Drogheda[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Benjamin Whitworth	Unopposed
Registered electors			743
	Liberal gain from Home Rule

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2008)

References

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

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