The parliamentary borough of Wexford, Ireland, was represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885 by a borough constituency electing one Member of Parliament (MP), on the electoral system of first past the post.
History and boundaries It succeeded the two-seat constituency of Wexford represented in the Irish House of Commons until the abolition of the Irish Parliament on 1 January 1801 under the Acts of Union 1800.
Its boundaries were reviewed in December 1831. The proposal was adopted in the Parliamentary Boundaries (Ireland) Act 1832, which defined the area of the parliamentary borough as:
Under the Representation of the People (Ireland) Act 1868, its boundaries were extended to include all of the municipal borough of Wexford. The old municipal borough had been abolished under the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840, with a new royal charter granted in 1846 after a petition under s. 28 of that Act.
It was disenfranchised under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, which took effect at the 1885 general election. The town was thereafter represented by the county division of South Wexford.
Members of Parliament ElectionMPPartyNote 1801-01-01 Francis Leigh 1801: Co-opted; Resigned (appointed Escheator of Munster) 1801-02-20 Ponsonby Tottenham 1802-07-09 Richard Nevill 1806-11-10 Sir Robert Wigram, Bt 1807-05-21 Richard Nevill Resigned (appointed Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds) 1810-03-03 Capt. Peter Parker R.N. Resigned (appointed Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds) 1811-07-01 Richard Nevill Resigned (appointed Steward of the Manor of East Hendred) 1813-03-03 Vice Admiral John Fish Resigned (appointed Escheator of Munster) 1814-08-09 Richard Nevill Resigned (appointed Escheator of Ulster) 1819-03-01 Capt. Henry Evans R.N. 1820-03-20 William Wigram 1826-06-19 Rear Admiral Henry Evans Resigned (appointed Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds) 1829-06-03 Robert Wigram Unseated on petition 1830-03-15 Sir Edward Dering, Bt Declared duly elected 1830-08-07 William Wigram Unseated on petition 1831-02-21 Sir Edward Dering, Bt Declared duly elected 1831-05-06 Charles Arthur Walker Re-elected as a candidate of the Repeal Association 1832-12-14 Re-elected as a candidate of a Liberal/Repealer pact 1841-07-12 Sir Thomas Esmonde, Bt 1847-08-04 John Thomas Devereux Re-elected as an Independent Irish candidate 1852-07-09 Re-elected as a Liberal candidate 1857-03-20 1859-05-03 John Edward Redmond 1865-07-17 Richard Joseph Devereux Resigned 1872-04-26 William Archer Redmond Died 1880 1880-11-24 Tim Healy Joined new organisation 1882 Resigned to contest Monaghan 1883-07-17 Willie Redmond 1885-11-18 Constituency abolished
Elections Elections in the 1830s
On petition, Wigram was unseated and Dering was declared elected.
Elections in the 1840s
Elections in the 1850s
Elections in the 1860s
On petition, Devereux was unseated due to "informality" in the return, causing a by-election at which he was re-elected.
Elections in the 1870s Devereux resigned, causing a by-election.
Elections in the 1880s
Redmond's death caused a by-election.
Healy resigned to stand at the 1883 by-election in Monaghan, causing a by-election.
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)
References