Dr Andrew Commins (1829 – 7 January 1916) was an Irish lawyer and politician.‘COMMINS, Andrew’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 200
accessed 16 July 2013
/ref> Andrew Commins was born in Ballybeg,

County Carlow County Carlow ( ; ga, Contae Cheatharlach) is a county located in the South-East Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Carlow is the second smallest and the third least populous of Ireland's 32 traditional counties. Carlow Cou ...

and educated at

St. Patrick's College, Carlow St Patrick's, Carlow College, is a liberal arts college located in Carlow, Ireland. The college is the second oldest third level institution in Ireland and was founded in 1782 by James Keefe, then Roman Catholic Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, and ...

and

Queen's College, Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1 ...

where he was awarded an MA in 1854. In 1858, he was awarded an LLD degree from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. He became a barrister at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in 1860, working on the

Northern Circuit {{Use dmy dates, date=November 2019 The Northern Circuit is a court circuit in England. It dates from 1176 when Henry II sent his judges on circuit to do justice in his name. The Circuit encompassed the whole of the North of England but in 1876 i ...

. In 1876, he was elected as an

Irish Home Rule The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for Devolution, self-government (or "home rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1 ...

Councillor to Liverpool Town Council to represent the

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...

ward which he continued to represent until 1892, when he was elected as an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

, a post he continued to hold until his resignation in 1913. In 1880, he was elected to parliament for

Roscommon Roscommon (; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60, N61 and N63 roads. The name Roscommon is derived from Coman mac Faelchon who built ...

representing the

Home Rule League The Home Rule League (1873–1882), sometimes called the Home Rule Party, was an Irish political party which campaigned for home rule for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, until it was replaced by the Irish Parliam ...

, then the

Irish Parliamentary Party The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish national ...

. From 1885 he sat for the new constituency of Roscommon South. In the Parnell split of 1891, he was a member of the majority Anti-Parnellite group, and in the general election of 1892 lost his seat to a Parnellite candidate. In a June 1893 by-election he was returned for South East Cork, and sat as MP for the constituency until the general election of 1900.''Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Branch'' (Dean and Son, 1896) page 32.

Notes

External links

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Painting of Andrew Commins in 1876, from National Museums Liverpool
{{DEFAULTSORT:Commins, Andrew 1829 births 1916 deaths Irish Parliamentary Party MPs Anti-Parnellite MPs UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 UK MPs 1895–1900 19th-century Irish lawyers Alumni of Carlow College Alumni of University College Cork Politicians from County Carlow Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Roscommon constituencies (1801–1922) Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Cork constituencies (1801–1922) Irish nationalist councillors in Liverpool Lawyers from County Carlow