John Vance (MP)


John Vance was a Conservative MP for Dublin City from 1852 until his defeat in 1865. He was later elected unopposed for Armagh City and represented the constituency from 30 June 1867 until his death.
In the 1847 General Election Vance was unsuccessful in his attempts to be elected for Canterbury. In 1853 the Canterbury Bribery Commission found his agent guilty of bribery.

Dublin City Elections

General Election, 1852 (2 seats)

reports Vance's address to the electors as all that the Protestant Party could reasonably or unreasonably desire. The Dublin Orange Lodges pronounce for him. He is against the Maynooth Grant.
  1. Edward Grogan 4,531
  2. John Vance 4,429
  3. John Reynolds 3,019

    General Election, 1857 (2 seats)

  4. Edward Grogan 3,767
  5. John Vance 3,711
  6. Francis William Brady 3,405
  7. John Reynolds 3,348

    General Election, 1859 (2 seats)

  8. Sir Edward Grogan, Bt 4,251
  9. John Vance 4,224
  10. Francis William Brady 3,976
  11. Alexander McCarthy 3,881

    General Election, 1865 (2 seats)

  12. Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, Bt 4,739
  13. Jonathan Pim 4,653
  14. John Vance 4,073
On Vance's defeat the Cork Examiner stated that Pim typified Dublin's reformation from ''unlightened and unadorned Orangeism.

"Rome Rule"

Vance coined the phrase "Home Rule is Rome Rule", meaning that the efforts to secure Irish Home Rule would result in a state dominated by the Roman Catholic Church. In a debate on an Irish Bill on 12 July 1871 he said: "He was speaking to the question raised by the hon. Member for Westmeath, and his own opinion was that "home rule" in Ireland would prove to be "Rome rule"." The slogan was popularized by John Bright to oppose the first Irish Home Rule Bill 1886 a decade after Vance's death.