Portarlington was a

rotten borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorate ...

and is a former United Kingdom Parliament constituency, in Ireland, returning one MP. It was an original constituency represented in Parliament when the Union of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

took effect on 1 January 1801.

Boundaries

This constituency was the

Parliamentary borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

of Portarlington in Queen's County now called

County Laois County Laois ( ; gle, Contae Laoise) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a med ...

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 1830s

Elections in the 1840s

Dawson-Damer was appointed

Comptroller of the Household The Comptroller of the Household is an ancient position in the British royal household, nominally the second-ranking member of the Lord Steward's department after the Treasurer of the Household. The Comptroller was an ''ex officio'' member of ...

, requiring a by-election.

Elections in the 1850s

Dunne was appointed

Clerk of the Ordnance {{Infobox official post , post = Office of the Clerk of the Ordnance , body = , nativename = , insignia = File:Badge of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps on a RML 10 inch 18 ton gun in Gibraltar.jpg , insigniasize ...

, requiring a by-election.

Elections in the 1860s

Elections in the 1870s

Elections in the 1880s

FitzPatrick succeeded to the peerage, becoming Lord Castletown, causing a by-election.

References

*''The Parliaments of England'' by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844–50), 2nd edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973) * * Historic constituencies in County Laois Historic constituencies in County Offaly Portarlington Portarlington Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1801 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1885 Portarlington, County Laois Rotten boroughs {{Ireland-UK-hist-constituency-stub