South Donegal (UK Parliament constituency)

South Donegal
South Donegal
Former county constituency; for the House of Commons
1885–1922
Number of members	1
Replaced by	Donegal
Created from	Donegal

South Donegal was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland, returning one Member of Parliament 1885–1922.

Prior to the 1885 general election the area was part of the Donegal constituency. From 1922 it was not represented in the UK Parliament.

Boundaries[]

This constituency comprised the southern part of County Donegal, consisting of the baronies of Banagh and Tirhugh.

	Member	Party	Note
1885, 8 December	Bernard Kelly	Irish Parliamentary	replaced Thomas Lea
1886, 1 July	Bernard Kelly	Irish Parliamentary	Died 1 January 1887
1887, 2 February	John Gordon Swift MacNeill	Irish Parliamentary	By-election
1890, December ¹		Anti-Parnellite	Party split
1891, March ¹		Irish National Federation	Party reunion
1900, 6 October		Irish Parliamentary
1918, 14 December ²	Peter Joseph Ward	Sinn Féin	Did not take his seat at Westminster
1922, 26 October	UK constituency abolished

Note:-

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'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 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.

General election 1885: South Donegal^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Irish Parliamentary	Bernard Kelly	5,055	78.7
	Conservative	Arthur William Hamilton Foster	1,369	21.3
Majority			3,686	57.4
Turnout			6,424	81.8
Registered electors			7,854
	Irish Parliamentary win (new seat)

General election 1886: South Donegal^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	Bernard Kelly	4,905	77.8	−0.9
	Conservative	Arthur William Hamilton Foster	1,399	22.2	+0.9
Majority			3,506	55.6	−1.8
Turnout			6,304	80.3	−1.5
Registered electors			7,854
	Irish Parliamentary hold		Swing	−0.9

By-election, 1887: South Donegal^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	J.G. Swift MacNeill	4,604	83.1	+5.3
	Liberal Unionist	Henry Munster	933	16.9	−5.3
Majority			3,671	66.2	+10.6
Turnout			5,537	70.7	−9.6
Registered electors			7,837
	Irish Parliamentary hold		Swing	+5.3

General election 1892: South Donegal^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish National Federation	J.G. Swift MacNeill	3,930	73.7	−4.1
	Irish Unionist	Henry Stubbs	1,400	26.3	+4.1
Majority			2,530	47.5	−8.1
Turnout			5,330	79.4	−0.9
Registered electors			6,710
	Irish National Federation gain from Irish Parliamentary		Swing	−4.1

General election 1895: South Donegal^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish National Federation	J.G. Swift MacNeill	3,614	73.4	−0.3
	Irish Unionist	Henry Stubbs	1,313	26.6	+0.3
Majority			2,301	46.7	−0.8
Turnout			4,927	77.2	−2.2
Registered electors			6,380
	Irish National Federation hold		Swing	−0.3

General election 1900: South Donegal^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	J.G. Swift MacNeill	Unopposed
	Irish Parliamentary hold

General election 1906: South Donegal^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	J.G. Swift MacNeill	Unopposed
	Irish Parliamentary hold

General election January 1910: South Donegal^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	J.G. Swift MacNeill	Unopposed
	Irish Parliamentary hold

General election December 1910: South Donegal^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	J.G. Swift MacNeill	Unopposed
	Irish Parliamentary hold

General election 1918: South Donegal^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Peter J. Ward	5,787	54.9	*New*
	Irish Parliamentary	John Thomas Donovan	4,752	45.1	N/A
Majority			1,035	9.8	N/A
Turnout			10,539	62.4	N/A
Registered electors			16,894
	Sinn Féin gain from Irish Parliamentary		Swing	N/A

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. ISBN 0901714127.

Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922, edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978)
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 2)

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South Donegal
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1922
Number of members	1
Replaced by	Donegal
Created from	Donegal