The 1891 North Sligo by-election was a parliamentary
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 ...
held for the
United Kingdom House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England.
The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...
constituency
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...
of
North Sligo on 2 April 1891. It arose as a result of the death of the sitting member,
Peter McDonald of the
Irish Parliamentary Party.
Background
In the period before the by-election, the Irish Parliamentary Party had been undergoing a serious crisis. Its leader,
Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of the ...
, had been cited as co-respondent in a divorce case, which he had not contested, causing a scandal. A majority of the party's MPs left to form the
Irish National Federation, a new Anti-Parnellite group. The remainder stayed within the
Irish National League
The Irish National League (INL) was a nationalist political party in Ireland. It was founded on 17 October 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell as the successor to the Irish National Land League after this was suppressed. Whereas the Land League h ...
led by Parnell. The contest at North Sligo was the second of three by-elections which followed the split and gave the voters an opportunity to express their views of the two sides - as Callanan puts it, "a staggered plebiscite on
arnell'sleadership".
The campaign
Two candidates were nominated:
Bernard Collery for the Irish National Federation, and
Valentine Blake Dillon
Valentine Blake Dillon (1847 – 31 March 1904)'Obituary', ''The Times'', 1 April 1904 was an Irish lawyer and politician.
Valentine Blake Dillon was a nephew of John Blake Dillon and cousin of John Dillon. He qualified as a solicitor in 1870, a ...
for the Irish National League.
The Anti-Parnellite campaign was managed by Maurice Healy and David Sheehy.
Clerical opposition to Parnell was strong, with two of the bishops whose dioceses covered parts of the constituency taking a firm anti-Parnell line. But in Tireragh, in the west around the part of
Ballina in County Sligo, Parnellite support was strong and the Bishop of Killala, whose diocese included the town, took a neutral line and allowed local priests to canvass for Parnell.
Result
Like the
1890 North Kilkenny by-election
The 1890 North Kilkenny by-election was a parliamentary by-election held for the United Kingdom House of Commons constituency of North Kilkenny on 22 December 1890. It arose as a result of the death of the sitting member, Edward Marum of the Iri ...
, the result was a triumphant success for the Anti-Parnellites. Collery won 3,261 votes, as opposed to 2,493 for Dillon - a majority of 768.
[''The Times'', 4 April 1891]