Bandon (sometimes called Bandon Bridge or Bandonbridge) was a borough constituency representing the parliamentary borough of Bandon in County Cork, Ireland from 1801 to 1885. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Bandon was a borough constituency with two representatives in the Irish House of Commons before 1801. The borough retained one member after the Acts of Union, until the borough was disfranchised in 1885.
Boundaries A report into the boundaries was undertaken in 1831. The report found that limits of the borough were not known, but as it was certain that it was not co-extensive with the town, it drew a boundary line comprising the whole of what might be considered the town. In 1832 a new boundary was formed for electoral purposes closely encircling the town, and comprising an area of , defined in the Parliamentary Boundaries (Ireland) Act 1832 as:
History Before the Representation of the People (Ireland) Act 1832, the parliamentary franchise for this constituency was extremely restricted. Only the provost (who was the returning officer for the borough) and the twelve burgesses were enfranchised. The population of the town, in 1821, was 10,179. All the elections in this period were unopposed returns; except for one election in 1831, where only ten voters participated and eleven votes were cast (including the returning officer's casting vote).
Stooks Smith gives an account of this contested election. It was the second by-election of 1831.
The franchise was expanded under the Representation of the People (Ireland) Act 1832, when the £10 householders were added to the electorate and the registration of voters was introduced. In the election later that year, there were 266 registered electors in Bandon and 233 votes were cast in the general election. It appears, from the list of MPs and the report of the 1831 election, that the choice of the borough electorate both before and after 1832 was influenced by aristocratic patrons like the Duke of Devonshire and the Bernard family (whose head had the title of Earl of Bandon). If a Bernard was not elected then quite prominent political figures, notably the future Whig leaders George Tierney and Lord John Russell, were sometimes returned for the borough.
The constituency was disfranchised in 1885. The area was then represented in Parliament as part of South East Cork, one of seven divisions of the former constituency of County Cork.
Members of Parliament Notable MPs include Lord John Russell, later prime minister (1846–1852 and 1865–1866), and William Shaw, later leader of the Home Rule League (1879–1880). ElectionMemberPartyNote 1801, 1 January Sir Broderick Chinnery, Bt Whig 1801: Co-opted 1806, 15 November Hon. Courtenay Boyle Tory 1807, 15 May Henry Boyle, Viscount Boyle Tory Succeeded as the 3rd Earl of Shannon 1807, 3 August Rt Hon. George Tierney Whig 1812, 16 October Hon. Richard Bernard Tory Resigned 1815, 24 March William Sturges Bourne Tory 1818, 27 June Augustus Clifford Whig 1820, 13 March James Bernard, Viscount Bernard Tory 1826, 17 June John Ponsonby, Viscount Duncannon Whig Also returned by and elected to sit for County Kilkenny 1826, 19 December Lord John Russell Whig 1830, 7 August James Bernard, Viscount Bernard Tory Succeeded as the 2nd Earl of Bandon 1831, 6 January Francis Bernard, Viscount Bernard Tory Resigned 1831, 22 July Sir Augustus Clifford Whig 1832, 15 December Hon. William Smyth Bernard Conservative 1835, 14 January Joseph Devonsher Jackson Conservative Appointed Solicitor-General for Ireland 1842, 14 February Francis Bernard, Viscount Bernard Conservative Succeeded as the 3rd Earl of Bandon 1857, 14 February Hon. William Smyth Bernard Conservative Died 1863, 27 February Hon. Henry Boyle Bernard Conservative 1868, 21 November William Shaw Liberal 1874, 3 February Alexander Swanston Liberal 1880, 2 April Percy Bernard Conservative Resigned 1880, 25 June Richard Allman Liberal Last MP for the constituency1885 Constituency abolished
Elections
Elections in the 1880s
Caused by Bernard's resignation.
Elections in the 1870s
Elections in the 1860s
Caused by Bernard's death
Elections in the 1850s
Caused by Bernard's succession to the peerage, becoming 3rd Earl of Bandon
Elections in the 1840s
Caused by Jackson's appointment as Solicitor-General for Ireland
Elections in the 1830s
Note [1831 (July)]: By-election caused by Bernard's resignation. Clifford was elected on the Returning Officer's casting vote. The Returning Officer John Swete was also Provost and had already cast one of the four votes for Clifford, so this was actually his second vote.
Caused by Bernard's succession to the peerage, becoming 2nd Earl of Bandon
References
Sources 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)