Dundalk 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 Dundalk constituency in the Parliament of Ireland.

Boundaries This constituency was the Parliamentary borough of Dundalk in County Louth.

History The constituency was two-member Borough constituency in the Parliament of Ireland, which became a single member United Kingdom constituency when the union of Great Britain and Ireland took effect on 1 January 1801.

The first member of the United Kingdom House of Commons was to be selected from the area's two MPs in the Irish Parliament, by drawing lots. However both members resigned so the seat could not be filled by co-option and a by-election was necessary. The by-election took place on 28 February 1801. Isaac Corry, the Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland, was elected the first United Kingdom MP for Dundalk.

Corry was associated with what came to be called the Tory Party after the death of William Pitt the Younger in 1806. Up until the extension of the franchise in 1832, the borough was strongly Tory in representation. No Tory or Conservative was elected after 1832.

Dundalk had a population of 9,256 in 1821. Walker records that the electorate in 1831 numbered 36. The population in 1831 had increased to 10,750. All the elections in the borough between 1801 and 1831 were unopposed returns.

The 1832 general election was conducted on a new franchise. The registered electorate, under the new system, numbered 318. At the borough's first contested election of the century 295 people voted (Liberal 167, Conservative 128).

From 1832 to 1885 the constituency returned members who were Liberals or who belonged to a series of Irish-based groups (the Repeal Association, the Independent Irish Party and the Home Rule League). The Liberals elected in Dundalk tended to have nationalist leanings.

The last MP for the constituency was the Liberal lawyer-politician, Charles Russell. An Irish-born Catholic, Russell was to be the lead Counsel for Charles Stewart Parnell during the inquiry into allegations which had appeared in The Times. In March 1887 it had been suggested that Parnell was complicit in the murders of the Chief Secretary for Ireland Lord Frederick Cavendish and the Permanent Under-Secretary for Ireland, T. H. Burke. Letters were produced to support the allegations. As a result of Russell's cross-examination of Richard Pigott, the forger of the letters, the Commission of Enquiry vindicated Parnell.

Members of Parliament ElectionMemberPartyNote 1801, 1 January seat vacant ... Both members in the Irish Parliament had resigned 1801, 28 February Rt Hon. Isaac Corry Tory 1802, 15 July Richard Archdall Tory 1806, 22 November John Metge Tory Resigned (appointed Escheator of Munster) 1807, 20 January Josias Porcher Tory 1807, May: Also returned by and elected to sit for Old Sarum 1807, 4 August Patrick Bruce Resigned (appointed Steward of the Manor of East Hendred) 1808, 27 July Thomas Hughan Died 1812, 21 February Frederick Trench Tory 1812, 26 October John Metge Tory Resigned (appointed Escheator of Munster) 1813, 2 January Lyndon Evelyn Tory 1818, 29 June Gerrard Callaghan Tory 1820, 24 March John Metge Tory Resigned (appointed Escheator of Munster) 1820, 29 June George Hartopp Tory Died 1824, 5 May Sir Robert Inglis, Bt Tory 1826, 12 June Charles Barclay Tory 1830, 14 August Hon. John Hobart Caradoc Whig 1831, 13 May James Edward Gordon Tory 1832, 19 December William O'Reilly Whig 1835, 14 January William Sharman Crawford Radical 1837, 2 August Thomas Nicholas Redington Whig Appointed Under-Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant 1846, 31 July Daniel O'Connell Jnr Repeal Association 1847, 6 August Charles MacTavish Repeal Association Unseated on petition 1848, 20 March William Torrens McCullagh Whig Declared duly elected, on petition 1852, 15 July Sir George Bowyer, Bt Independent Irish Party 1857, 2 April Whig 1859, 2 May Liberal 1868, 21 November Philip Callan Liberal Re-elected as a Home Rule League candidate 1874, 5 February Home Rule League Also returned by County Louth, but elects to sit here 1880, 2 April Charles Russell Liberal Last MP from the constituency1885 Constituency abolished

Elections Elections in the 1830s

Elections in the 1840s

Redington resigned after being appointed Under-Secretary for Ireland, causing a by-election.

Upon petition, MacTavish was unseated and McCullagh was declared elected on 20 March 1848

Elections in the 1850s

Elections in the 1860s

Elections in the 1870s

Elections in the 1880s

Notes

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)