The 1860 Londonderry City by-election was held on 2 April following the 13 March 1860 death of the incumbent, the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

's Sir Robert Ferguson. Ferguson had held the seat since 1830 and had received significant support from the Catholic segment of the constituency. The Liberal Party's candidate

Samuel MacCurdy Greer Samuel MacCurdy Greer (1810–1880), was an Irish politician who, in Ulster championed Presbyterian representation and tenant rights. He was a founder member of the Ulster Tenant Right Association and of the all-Ireland Tenant Right League. In ...

had counted on this support transferring to him, however the

Irish Conservative Party The Irish Conservative Party, often called the Irish Tories, was one of the dominant Irish political parties in Ireland in the 19th century. It was affiliated with the Conservative Party in Great Britain. Throughout much of the century it and th ...

's candidate William McCormick, who employed a significant number of Catholic workers, managed to split the Catholic vote. The Liberal Party's Presbyterian support had also been adversely affected by their defeat to the Tories in Londonderry County in 1857, which led many to withdraw from politics. The election resulted in a narrow victory for McCormick, with a 19-vote majority. He held the seat until his retirement at the

1865 United Kingdom general election The 1865 United Kingdom general election saw the Liberals, led by Lord Palmerston, increase their large majority over the Earl of Derby's Conservatives to 80. The Whig Party changed its name to the Liberal Party between the previous election an ...

Background

Londonderry City, a one-seat

borough constituency In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by ...

, had been represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

of the British Parliament by

Sir Robert Ferguson, 2nd Baronet Sir Robert Alexander Ferguson, 2nd Baronet (26 December 1795 –13 March 1860) was a Whig and then Liberal Party politician from Ireland. Ferguson was born in Derry in 1796 as son of Sir Andrew Ferguson (1761–1808), a banker and mayor of ...

since the

1830 United Kingdom general election The 1830 United Kingdom general election was triggered by the death of King George IV and produced the first parliament of the reign of his successor, William IV. Fought in the aftermath of the Swing Riots, it saw electoral reform become a majo ...

. Ferguson, who represented first the Whig and then the

, died on 13 March 1860, triggering a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

. Ferguson had been unopposed in all five elections held in the constituency since 1841.

Candidates

The

's candidate was William McCormick, a Donegal-born engineering contractor. He arrived in Londonderry in 1840 as an entrepreneur during a land reclamation project on

Lough Swilly Lough Swilly () in Ireland is a glacial fjord or sea inlet lying between the western side of the Inishowen, Inishowen Peninsula and the Fanad Peninsula, in County Donegal. Along with Carlingford Lough and Killary Harbour it is one of three glaci ...

. McCormick was popular as he had intervened to save local railway lines running to

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

and

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , 'Cethlenn, Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of ...

and employed hundreds of local people. There were two Liberal Party candidates

and George Skipton. Greer was born in

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

and represented the county constituency as a

Radical Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...

between the

1857 Events January–March * January 1 – The biggest Estonian newspaper, ''Postimees'', is established by Johann Voldemar Jannsen. * January 7 – The partly French-owned London General Omnibus Company begins operating. * Janua ...

and 1859 general elections. Skipton was a resident of Beech Hill in Londonderry. All of the candidates were prominent in the municipal life of Londonderry.

Results

The electorate comprised freemen of the city, houseowners with property rated at a value in excess of £10 per year and occupiers of properties rated at £8 or more per year. Ferguson had been largely apolitical and had received the support of the Catholic population. However the majority of constituents were Protestants (around 37% Presbyterians and 22% Episcopalians) and, with a weakening of Liberal support in the city following Ferguson's death, from 1860 the Conservative Party entered a period of dominance. The Presbyterians had supported Greer at the 1857 by-election for Londonderry County but the victory of Tory landlord-nominee

James Johnston Clark James Johnston Clark (1809 – June 1891) was a Unionist politician in Ireland. Clark was born the son of Alexander and Margaret (née Johnston) Clark of Maghera. He inherited Largantogher House, Maghera, County Londonderry on the death of his fa ...

led to the withdrawal of many Presbyterians from politics. McCormick, many of whose employees were Catholic, campaigned heavily for support from this segment of the population. This was successful in splintering the Catholic vote, which Greer had thought he could count on. Skipton had hoped to attract support from across all groups in the city, but because of strong denominational ties in the constituency only received a handful of votes. McCormick won the election, held on 2 April, with 327 votes compared to 309 for Greer and 82 for Skipton. An

election petition An election petition refers to the procedure for challenging the result of a Parliamentary election. Outcomes When a petition is lodged against an election return, there are 4 possible outcomes: # The election is declared void. The result is q ...

was made against the result but the House of Commons committee declared the result as valid on 8 June 1860. McCormick chose to serve only one term, retiring on 11 July 1865 with the dissolution of parliament ahead of the

References

{{reflist Londonderry City by-election Londonderry City by-election 19th century in Derry (city) Elections in Derry (city) By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in County Londonderry constituencies 1860 elections in Ireland