1888 Dublin St Stephen's Green by-election

The Dublin St Stephen's Green by-election, 1888 was a parliamentary by-election held for the United Kingdom House of Commons constituency of Dublin St Stephen's Green on 12 May 1888. It arose as a result of the death of the sitting member, Edmund Dwyer Gray, of the Irish Parliamentary Party. In April, the Times reported that Wilfrid Blunt would be the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate.The Times, 25 April 1858 However, in a bid to appeal to Ulster Presbyterians, the Irish Party leader Charles Stewart Parnell nominated Thomas Alexander Dickson, a Presbyterian who had been Liberal MP for Dungannon and County Tyrone, as candidate.The Times, 3 and 4 May 1888 The Conservatives nominated Robert Sexton, a member of Dublin Corporation and Chairman of the South Dublin Union Poor Law Board.The Times, 21 April 1888. Sexton was supported also by the Liberal Unionists. His campaign was interrupted unexpectedly by the death of his wife.The Times, 9 May 1888.

Sexton received 2,932 votes, an increase on the Unionist performance in the preceding general election. Dickson received 4,819 votes, down slightly from Gray's general election result, and was declared elected. At the next general election, in 1892, he contested the seat of South Tyrone as a Liberal, losing to a Liberal Unionist.The Times, 15 May 1888 It was reported that a boy of 14, whose name was on the register, had voted for Dickson.The Times, 14 May 1888

Result

Previous result

References