# Dublin St Stephen's Green (UK Parliament constituency)

St Stephen's Green, a division of Dublin, was a borough constituency in Ireland. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the United Kingdom House of Commons from 1885 until 1922 on the first past the post electoral system.
From the dissolution of 1922, shortly before the establishment of the Irish Free State, the area was no longer represented in the UK Parliament.

## Boundaries

This constituency was named for St Stephen's Green and comprised parts of the south-east of the city of Dublin.
From 1885 to 1918, it was defined as:
From 1918 to 1922, it was defined as:

## History

Prior to the 1885 general election, the city was the undivided two-member Dublin City constituency. Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, Dublin was divided into four divisions: College Green, Dublin Harbour, St Stephen's Green, and St Patrick's. Under the Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918, the city was allocated seven seats: in addition to the four existing constituencies, the new divisions were Clontarf, St James's and St Michan's.
Sinn Féin used the 1918 general election to elect members of Dáil Éireann, inviting all those elected in Ireland to sit as a Teachta Dála (known in English as a Deputy) in the Dáil rather than at Westminster, although only the Sinn Féin members attended. Thomas Kelly sat as a member of the First Dáil.
Under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the area was combined with the St Patrick's Division to form Dublin South, a 4-seat constituency for the Southern Ireland House of Commons and a single constituency at Westminster. At the 1921 election for the Southern Ireland House of Commons, the four seats were won uncontested by Sinn Féin, who treated it as part of the election to the Second Dáil. Thomas Kelly was one of the four TDs for Dublin South.
Under s. 1(4) of the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922, no writ was to be issued "for a constituency in Ireland other than a constituency in Northern Ireland". Therefore, no vote was held in Dublin South at the 1922 United Kingdom general election on 15 November 1922, shortly before the Irish Free State left the United Kingdom on 6 December 1922.

## Members of Parliament

| From | To | Member | Party |
| 1885 | 1888 | Edmund Dwyer Gray | Irish Parliamentary |
| 1888 | 1892 | Thomas Alexander Dickson | Liberal |
| 1892 | 1898 | William Kenny | Liberal Unionist |
| 1898 | 1900 | James Henry Mussen Campbell | Irish Unionist |
| 1900 | 1904 | James McCann | Irish Parliamentary |
| 1904 | 1910 | Laurence Ambrose Waldron | Irish Parliamentary |
| 1910 | 1918 | Patrick Joseph Brady | Irish Parliamentary |
| 1918 | 1922 | Thomas Kelly | Sinn Féin |

## Elections
### Elections in the 1910s

1918 general election: Dublin St Stephen's Green :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Sinn Féin | Thomas Kelly | 8,461 | 59.9 | New |
| | Irish Parliamentary | Patrick Joseph Brady | 2,902 | 20.6 | 35.9 |
| | Irish Unionist | Henry Hanna | 2,755 | 19.5 | 24.0 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 5,559 | 39.3 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 14,118 | 71.5 | 8.9 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 19,759 | | |
| | Sinn Féin gain from Irish Parliamentary | Sinn Féin gain from Irish Parliamentary | Swing | N/A | |
December 1910 general election: Dublin St Stephen's Green :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Irish Parliamentary | P. J. Brady | 3,594 | 56.5 | 1.6 |
| | Irish Unionist | Reginald Herbert | 2,765 | 43.5 | 1.6 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 829 | 13.0 | 3.2 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 6,359 | 80.4 | 4.4 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 7,909 | | |
| | Irish Parliamentary hold | Irish Parliamentary hold | Swing | 1.6 | |
January 1910 general election: Dublin St Stephen's Green :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Irish Parliamentary | P. J. Brady | 3,683 | 54.9 | 6.2 |
| | Irish Unionist | Henry Daniel Connor | 3,021 | 45.1 | 6.2 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 662 | 9.8 | 12.4 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 6,704 | 84.8 | 9.5 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 7,909 | | |
| | Irish Parliamentary hold | Irish Parliamentary hold | Swing | 6.2 | |

### Elections in the 1900s

1906 general election: Dublin St Stephen's Green :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Irish Parliamentary | Laurence Ambrose Waldron | 4,055 | 61.1 | 6.7 |
| | Irish Unionist | William Ireland | 2,581 | 38.9 | 6.7 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,474 | 22.2 | 13.4 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 6,636 | 75.3 | 3.0 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 8,816 | | |
| | Irish Parliamentary hold | Irish Parliamentary hold | Swing | 6.7 | |
1904 Dublin St Stephen's Green by-election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Irish Parliamentary | Laurence Ambrose Waldron | 3,457 | 55.1 | 0.7 |
| | Irish Unionist | Charles Louis Matheson | 2,821 | 44.9 | 0.7 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 636 | 10.2 | 1.4 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 6,278 | 78.3 | 6.0 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 8,018 | | |
| | Irish Parliamentary hold | Irish Parliamentary hold | Swing | 0.7 | |
Death of McCann
1900 general election: Dublin St Stephen's Green :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Irish Parliamentary | James McCann | 3,429 | 54.4 | 7.7 |
| | Irish Unionist | James Campbell | 2,873 | 45.6 | 7.7 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 556 | 8.8 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 6,302 | 72.3 | 6.6 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 8,714 | | |
| | Irish Parliamentary gain from Liberal Unionist | Irish Parliamentary gain from Liberal Unionist | Swing | 7.7 | |

### Elections in the 1890s

1898 Dublin St Stephen's Green by-election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Irish Unionist | James Campbell | 3,525 | 51.0 | 2.3 |
| | Irish National League | George Plunkett | 3,387 | 49.0 | 2.3 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 138 | 2.0 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 6,912 | 79.1 | 0.2 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 8,735 | | |
| | Irish Unionist gain from Liberal Unionist | Irish Unionist gain from Liberal Unionist | Swing | 2.3 | |
Kenny appointed a Judge of the High Court
1895 Dublin St Stephen's Green by-election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal Unionist | William Kenny | 3,325 | 53.5 | 0.2 |
| | Irish National League | Pierce Mahoney | 2,893 | 46.5 | 0.2 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 432 | 7.0 | 0.4 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 6,218 | 78.9 | |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 8,697 | | |
| | Liberal Unionist hold | Liberal Unionist hold | Swing | 0.2 | |
Kenny appointed Solicitor-General
1895 general election: Dublin St Stephen's Green :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal Unionist | William Kenny | 3,661 | 53.3 | 8.0 |
| | Irish National League | George Plunkett | 3,205 | 46.7 | 1.6 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 456 | 6.6 | 6.4 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 6,866 | 78.9 | 9.0 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 8,697 | | |
| | Liberal Unionist hold | Liberal Unionist hold | Swing | 3.2 | |
1892 general election: Dublin St Stephen's Green :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal Unionist | William Kenny | 2,893 | 45.3 | 11.4 |
| | Irish National League | Joseph Meade | 2,878 | 45.1 | N/A |
| | Irish National Federation | William Lovell Pearson | 615 | 9.6 | N/A |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 15 | 0.2 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 6,386 | 87.9 | 13.5 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 7,261 | | |
| | Liberal Unionist gain from Irish Parliamentary | Liberal Unionist gain from Irish Parliamentary | Swing | N/A | |

### Elections in the 1880s

1888 Dublin St Stephen's Green by-election Registered electors 10,530 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Thomas Alexander Dickson | 4,819 | 62.2 | New |
| | Irish Conservative | Robert Sexton | 2,932 | 37.8 | 3.9 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,887 | 24.4 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 7,751 | 73.6 | 0.8 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 10,530 | | |
| | Liberal gain from Irish Parliamentary | Liberal gain from Irish Parliamentary | Swing | N/A | |
Death of Gray
1886 general election: Dublin St Stephen's Green :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Irish Parliamentary | Edmund Dwyer Gray | 5,008 | 66.1 | 4.8 |
| | Liberal Unionist | Sir Edward Sullivan, 2nd Baronet | 2,565 | 33.9 | 4.8 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 2,443 | 32.2 | 9.6 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 7,573 | 74.4 | 10.2 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 10,184 | | |
| | Irish Parliamentary hold | Irish Parliamentary hold | Swing | 4.8 | |
1885 general election: Dublin St Stephen's Green :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Irish Parliamentary | Edmund Dwyer Gray | 5,277 | 61.3 | |
| | Irish Conservative | Edward Guinness | 3,334 | 38.7 | |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,943 | 22.6 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 8,611 | 84.6 | |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 10,184 | | |
| | Irish Parliamentary win (new seat) | Irish Parliamentary win (new seat) | Irish Parliamentary win (new seat) | Irish Parliamentary win (new seat) | Irish Parliamentary win (new seat) |

## Notes, citations and sources
### Citations

* ↑ "Report of the Boundary Commission (Ireland): Map". Enhanced British Parliamentary Papers on Ireland. DIPPAM: Documenting Ireland, Parliament, People and Migration. p. 18. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
* ↑ "Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885 (48 & 49 Vict., c. 23)". Archive.org. Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales. p. 143. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
* ↑ "Report of the Boundary Commission (Ireland)". Enhanced British Parliamentary Papers on Ireland. DIPPAM: Documenting Ireland, Parliament, People and Migration. p. 35. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
* ↑ "Redistribution of seats (Ireland) Act, 1918". Retrieved 1 October 2022.
* ↑ "Government of Ireland Act 1920 (10 & 11 Geo. 5, c. 67): Fifth Schedule". legislation.gov.uk. The National Archives. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
* ↑ "Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922 (12 & 13 Geo. 5, c. 4)". Historical Documents. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012.
* ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 1)
* 1 2 Campbell was defeated 'very largely because of the actions of die-hard unionists' - see D.George Boyce, Alan O'Day (editors) 'Defenders of the Union: A Survey of British and Irish Unionism Since 1801', page 123 Archived 15 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine
* 1 2 'Unionist abstentionism helped to unseat Campbell' - see Alvin Jackson, 'Ireland 1798-1998: War, Peace and Beyond',page 226 Archived 15 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine
* ↑ 'He lost the seat partly because middle-class Protestants, like their Catholic counterparts, were involved in a widespread flight to the suburbs, where the air was cleaner and the rates lower.' - Pádraig Yeates, 'A City in Wartime – Dublin 1914–1918: The Easter Rising 1916', Archived 15 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine
* 1 2 '[This] by-election ... revealed how deep the divisions in unionist ranks ran, but it was also a harbinger of the future. Senior figures within the Unionist Party were not inclined to contest the seat, especially as the new nationalist-backed ‘independent’ candidate, Laurence Waldron, was a stockbroker and former unionist who would be a moderating influence in the House of Commons. Several leading business figures, including Sir William Goulding, chairman of the Great Southern and Western Railway, and Lord Iveagh, head of the Guinness dynasty, resigned from the Unionist Representative Association in protest at a grass-roots revolt that led to the association supporting the candidacy of Norris Godard, a Crown solicitor. It was a foolish nomination, as Godard could stand only by relinquishing his lucrative government post, which he declined to do. The former Unionist MP for the constituency, James Campbell KC, was available to stand and had the added advantage of being wealthy enough to finance his own campaign, but the Unionist Representative Association would not have him. There followed an unseemly row about the rival candidacies of another lawyer, C. L. Matheson, and Michael McCarthy, a colourful renegade nationalist from Cork who was popular with militant unionists because of his books denouncing the evils of Catholicism. Matheson secured the nomination but, as expected, was defeated by Waldron.' - Pádraig Yeates, 'A City in Wartime – Dublin 1914–1918: The Easter Rising 1916', Archived 15 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine In fact, Campbell had been elected as one of the MPs for Dublin University in 1903. McCarthy's article is at Michael McCarthy (Irish lawyer)
* ↑ "The Irish General Election of 1918". Ark.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 24 August 2006. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
* ↑ General Election: 14 December 1918 – Dublin St Stephen's Archived 24 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, ElectionsIreland.org
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Walker, B. M. Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922. Royal Irish Academy. p. 346.
* ↑ The Constitutional Year Book, 1904, published by Conservative Central Office, page 194 (218 in web page)
* ↑ Walker, Brian Mercer (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. p. 142. ISBN 0-901714-12-7.
* ↑ Walker, B. M. Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922. Royal Irish Academy. p. 138.
* ↑ Walker, B. M. Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922. Royal Irish Academy. p. 132.

### Sources

* Walker, Brian M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. pp. 345–346, 388. ISBN 0901714127.
* Boundary Commission (Ireland) established in 1917 to redistribute seats in the House of Commons under the terms of the Representation of the People Bill, 1917 (1917). "Schedule 10 : Parliamentary borough of Dublin" (PDF). Report. Vol. CSO/RP/1917/29520/36. National Archives of Ireland. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 December 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2018.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)