South Kilkenny was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland.

Boundaries and boundary changes

This

county constituency In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by electoral districts called "constituenc ...

comprised the southern part of

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny ( gle, Contae Chill Chainnigh) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the cou ...

. From 1885 to 1922 it returned one

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 ...

. It was redrawn in 1918 as a result of the abolition of the Kilkenny City constituency and the transfer of part of the town of

New Ross New Ross (, formerly ) is a town in southwest County Wexford, Ireland. It is located on the River Barrow, near the border with County Kilkenny, and is around northeast of Waterford. In 2016 it had a population of 8,040 people, making it the ...

County Wexford County Wexford ( ga, Contae Loch Garman) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was based on the historic Gaelic territory of Hy Kinsella (''Uí Ceinns ...

and the transfer of the Kilculliheen area to County Kilkenny from

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

city under the 1898 Local Government Act. 1885–1918: The baronies of Callan, Ida, Iverk and Knocktopher, and that part of the barony of Gowran contained within the parishes of Ballylinch, Columbkille, Famma, Graiguenamanagh, Inistioge, Jerpoint Abbey, Jerpoint West, Kilfane, Pleberstown, Thomastown and Ullard. 1918–1922: The rural districts of Callan, Carrick-on-Suir No. 3, Ida, Thomastown and Waterford No. 2. Before the

1885 United Kingdom general election The 1885 United Kingdom general election was held from 24 November to 18 December 1885. This was the first general election after an Representation of the People Act 1884, extension of the franchise and Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, redistri ...

the area was part of the

constituency. The constituency ceased to be entitled to be represented in the UK

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

on the

dissolution Dissolution may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books * ''Dissolution'' (''Forgotten Realms'' novel), a 2002 fantasy novel by Richard Lee Byers * ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), a 2003 historical novel by C. J. Sansom Music * Dissolution, in mu ...

of 26 October 1922, shortly before the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...

came into legal existence on 6 December 1922.

First Dáil

The constituency was, in Irish republican theory, entitled to return one

Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( , ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). It is the equivalent of terms such as ''Member of Parli ...

(known in English as a Deputy) in 1918 to serve in the

Irish Republic The Irish Republic ( ga, Poblacht na hÉireann or ) was an unrecognised revolutionary state that declared its independence from the United Kingdom in January 1919. The Republic claimed jurisdiction over the whole island of Ireland, but by ...

First Dáil The First Dáil ( ga, An Chéad Dáil) was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919 to 1921. It was the first meeting of the unicameral parliament of the revolutionary Irish Republic. In the December 1918 election to the Parliament of the Unite ...

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...

used the

UK general election This is a list of United Kingdom general elections (elections for the UK House of Commons) since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliament of Ireland, ...

in 1918 to elect the Dáil. The revolutionary body assembled on 21 January 1919. The list of members read out on that day included everyone elected in Ireland. Only the Sinn Féin Deputies participated in the Dáil, but the other Irish MPs could have done so if they had chosen to adhere to the Republic. The First Dáil, passed a motion at its last meeting on 10 May 1921, the first three parts of which make explicit the republican view. # That the Parliamentary elections which are to take place during the present month be regarded as elections to Dáil Éireann. # That all deputies duly returned at these elections be regarded as members of Dáil Éireann and allowed to take their seats on subscribing to the proposed Oath of Allegiance. # That the present Dáil dissolve automatically as soon as the new body has been summoned by the President and called to order. The

Second Dáil The Second Dáil () was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 16 August 1921 until 8 June 1922. From 1919 to 1922, Dáil Éireann was the revolutionary parliament of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic. The Second Dáil consisted of members elected ...

first met on 16 August 1921, thereby dissolving the First Dáil. Sinn Féin had decided to use the polls for the

Northern Ireland House of Commons The House of Commons of Northern Ireland was the lower house of the Parliament of Northern Ireland created under the ''Government of Ireland Act 1920''. The upper house in the bicameral parliament was called the Senate. It was abolished wit ...

and the

House of Commons of Southern Ireland The Parliament of Southern Ireland was a Home Rule legislature established by the British Government during the Irish War of Independence under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. It was designed to legislate for Southern Ireland,"Order in Cou ...

as an election for the Irish Republic's

. No actual voting was necessary in

Southern Ireland Southern Ireland, South Ireland or South of Ireland may refer to: *The southern part of the island of Ireland *Southern Ireland (1921–1922), a former constituent part of the United Kingdom *Republic of Ireland, which is sometimes referred to as ...

as all the seats were filled by unopposed returns. Except for Dublin University all other constituencies elected Sinn Féin TDs. As with the First Dáil, the other Deputies could have joined the Dáil if they chose. From the

Third Dáil The Third Dáil was elected at the general election held on 16 June 1922. This election was required to be held under the Anglo-Irish Treaty signed on 6 December 1921. It first met on 9 September and until 6 December 1922, it was the Provisio ...

onwards the Dáil represented only the twenty-six counties which formed the

. In the 2nd and 3rd Dála Kilkenny South formed part of the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency.

Politics

defeated the Irish Parliamentary Party by better than 4 to 1 in the 1918 election. James O'Mara (1873 – 21 November 1948) had been Nationalist MP for the constituency 1900–1907. He had resigned the seat when he joined Sinn Féin.

Members of Parliament

Notes:- * ¹ Not an election, but the date of a party change. The Irish Parliamentary Party had been created in 1882, on the initiative of

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 ...

's Irish National League. Both the IPP and the INL split into Parnellite and Anti-Parnellite factions, in December 1890. The Parnellites remained members of the Irish National League after the split and the Anti-Parnellites organised the Irish National Federation in March 1891. The two organisations and the

United Irish League The United Irish League (UIL) was a nationalist political party in Ireland, launched 23 January 1898 with the motto ''"The Land for the People"''. Its objective to be achieved through agrarian agitation and land reform, compelling larger grazi ...

merged in 1900, to re-create the Irish Parliamentary Party. * ² Date of polling day. The result was declared on 28 December 1918, to allow time for votes cast by members of the armed forces to be included in the count.

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1900s

Murphy is declared bankrupt, prompting a by-election.

Elections in the 1910s

References

* *

External links

* https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/ * http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/en.toc.dail.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Kilkenny South Westminster constituencies in County Kilkenny (historic) Dáil constituencies in the Republic of Ireland (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1885 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1922 Historic constituencies in County Kilkenny