The 1917 North Roscommon by-election was held on 3 February 1917. The by-election was held due to the death of the incumbent Irish Parliamentary MP,

James Joseph O'Kelly James Joseph O'Kelly (1845 – 22 December 1916) was an Irish nationalist journalist, politician and member of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and as member of the Irish Parliamentary Party represented t ...

. The election took place nine months after the 1916 Rising. The election was contested by Thomas Devine, standing for the Irish Parliamentary Party, who was expected to win comfortably, and Jasper Tully, a local newspaper owner who was running as an independent. An outsider candidate was proposed as an Independent candidate: Count

George Noble Plunkett George Noble Plunkett (3 December 1851 – 12 March 1948) was an Irish nationalist politician, museum director and biographer, who served as Minister for Fine Arts from 1921 to 1922, Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1919 to 1921 and Ceann Comh ...

; the father of

Joseph Plunkett Joseph Mary Plunkett ( Irish: ''Seosamh Máire Pluincéid''; 21 November 1887 – 4 May 1916) was an Irish nationalist, republican, poet, journalist, revolutionary and a leader of the 1916 Easter Rising. Joseph Mary Plunkett married Grace Gif ...

, who had been executed for his role in the Easter Rising. Count Plunkett was proposed by John J. O'Kelly (Sceilg), P. T. Keohane and Fr.

Michael O'Flanagan Michael O'Flanagan ( ga, Mícheál Ó Flannagáin; 13 August 1876 – 7 August 1942) was a Roman Catholic priest, Irish language scholar, inventor and historian. He was a popular, socialist Irish republican; "a vice-president of the Irish Ag ...

, the curate of Crossna in North Roscommon. Fr. O'Flanagan was main organiser of the election, assisted by Larry Ginnell, and many others who came down from Dublin to take on the Irish Parliamentary Party. Though often credited as Sinn Féin's first victory in a Parliamentary election, Plunkett was not a member of Sinn Féin.

Result

References

North Roscommon by-election By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in County Roscommon constituencies North Roscommon by-election North Roscommon by-election {{Ireland-UK-Parl-by-election-stub