John Murphy (1870 – 17 April 1930) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

politician. He was

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for East Kerry from 1900 to 1910, taking his seat in 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 ...

. Murphy was first elected to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

at the general election in October 1900 when he was returned unopposed as a candidate of 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 ...

. He was re-elected at the 1906 general election, with a narrow majority of 54 votes over rival nationalist candidate Eugene O'Sullivan. However, at the next general election, in January 1910, O'Sullivan won the seat with a majority of 489 votes (10%). Murphy then launched an electoral petition, claiming that the vote had been rigged and that O'Sullivan had only won through violence and intimidation. The court cleared O'Sullivan of vote rigging but found him guilty of intimidation.''The Times (London)'', Wednesday 22 June 1910, p. 10 col. B The election was declared void, unseating O'Sullivan and creating a vacancy, but no by-election was called before the December 1910 general election. Murphy did not stand again.

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* 1870 births 1930 deaths UK MPs 1900–1906 UK MPs 1906–1910 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Kerry constituencies (1801–1922) Irish Parliamentary Party MPs {{Ireland-UK-MP-stub