Sligo Borough (UK Parliament constituency)

Sligo Borough
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1801–1870
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Sligo County

Sligo Borough is a former borough constituency in Ireland, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

It was an original constituency represented in Parliament when the Union of Great Britain and Ireland took effect on 1 January 1801, and returned one Member of Parliament (MP), elected by the first past the post system of election.

There were problems with the 20 November 1868 election in the Borough. A petition was presented by the losing candidate, alleging corruption. As a result, the election was declared void. Parliament then passed the Sligo and Cashel Disenfranchisement Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c.38). On 1 August 1870 Sligo Borough lost the right to elect its own MP. The area was transferred to form part of the Sligo County constituency.

Boundaries

This constituency was the Parliamentary borough of Sligo in County Sligo.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Note
	1801, January 1	Owen Wynne	Tory	Resigned (appointed Escheator of Munster)
	1806, July 16	Col. George Canning	Tory	A cousin of the Rt Hon. George Canning
	1812, November 5	Rt Hon George Canning	Tory	1812: Also returned by and elected to sit for Liverpool. Subsequently Prime Minister 1827.
	1813, April 5	Joshua Spencer		Resigned (appointed Escheator of Munster)
	1815, March 27	Sir Brent Spencer
	1818, June 29	John Bent	Tory
	1820, March 21	Owen Wynne	Tory
	1830, August 4	John Arthur Wynne	Tory
	1832, December 21	John Martin	Liberal 1
	1837, August 5	John Patrick Somers	Liberal 1	Re-elected as a Repeal Association candidate
	1841, July 9		Repeal Association	Unseated on petition - new writ issued
	1848, April 11	Charles Towneley	Liberal 1	Unseated on petition - new writ issued
	1848, July 15	John Patrick Somers	Repeal Association
	1852, July 15	Charles Towneley	Liberal 1	Joined the Independent Irish Party
	1852		Independent Irish	Unseated on petition - new writ issued
	1853, July 8	John Sadleir	Liberal 1	Died
	1856, March 8	Rt Hon. John Arthur Wynne	Conservative
	1857, April 2	John Patrick Somers	Liberal 1	Unseated on petition
	1857, July 31	Rt Hon. John Arthur Wynne	Conservative	Declared duly elected on petition. Resigned
	1860, August 9	Francis Macdonogh	Conservative
	1865, July 15	Richard Armstrong	Liberal
	1868, November 20	Lawrence Edward Knox	Conservative	Last MP for the constituency. Election declared void on petition.
1870, August 1		constituency disenfranchised

Supplemental Note:-

• ¹ Walker (like F. W. S. Craig in his compilations of election results for Great Britain) classifies Whig, Radical and similar candidates as Liberals from 1832. The name Liberal was gradually adopted as a description for the Whigs and politicians allied with them, before the formal creation of the Liberal Party shortly after the 1859 general election.

Elections

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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)
• Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922, edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978)
• British Electoral Facts 1832-1987, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services, 5th edition, 1989)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 3)