Youghal (Parliament of Ireland constituency)


Youghal was a parliamentary borough represented in the Irish House of Commons to 1800. It was a corporation with burgesses and freemen.

History

In 1700 the borough was under the patronage of Charles Boyle, 2nd Earl of Burlington. It passed through his granddaughter Charlotte Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington to her husband William Cavendish, later Duke of Devonshire, who by 1758 had entrusted it to Henry Boyle, 1st Earl of Shannon. Following the Act of Union 1800 the borough sent one MP to Westminster, still under the patronage of the Earls of Shannon.
A Topographical Directory of Ireland, published in 1837, describes the Parliamentary history of the borough of Youghal in County Cork.

The borough appears to have exercised the elective franchise by prescription, as, though no notice of that privilege appears in any of its charters, it continued to send two members to the Irish parliament from the year 1374 till the Union, since which period it has returned one member to the imperial parliament; the right of election was vested solely in the members of the corporation and the freemen, whether resident or not; but by the act of the 2nd of Wm. IV., cap. 88, it has been granted to the £10 householders, and the non-resident freemen have been disfranchised. A new boundary has been drawn round the town, including an area of 212 statute acres.

Members of Parliament 1559–1801

ElectionFirst memberFirst partySecond memberSecond party
1559John WalchJohn Portyngall
1585Thomas CoppingerJames Collen
1613Edmund CoppingerJohn Forrest
1634Edward GoughTheobald Ronayne
1661Sir Boyle MaynardOwen Silver
1689 Patriot ParliamentThomas UniackEdward Gough
1692Henry BoyleRobert FitzGerald
1695Henry BoyleRobert FitzGerald
1703Henry LutherJohn Hayman
1713Henry LutherBoyle Smyth
1715Francis PalmesArthur Hyde
1719Henry RuggeArthur Hyde
October 1721Henry RuggeRichard FitzPatrick
1721Henry RuggeArthur Hyde
1727James TynteJames O'Brien-
1758Arthur HydeJames O'Brien-
1761Sir John Colthurst, 1st BtBellingham Boyle
1768James DennisJoseph Lysaght
1776James DennisJames Uniacke
1777Robert UniackeJames Uniacke
1798Robert UniackeJohn Keane
1801Succeeded by Westminster constituency of YoughalSucceeded by Westminster constituency of YoughalSucceeded by Westminster constituency of YoughalSucceeded by Westminster constituency of YoughalSucceeded by Westminster constituency of Youghal

Elections

;1613 June 7: Edmund Coppinger 62 votes; John Forrest 53; Thomas Ronayne 12; Henry Gosnold 6.
;1628 October 9: William Bluet and Edward Gough returned.
;1634 June/July: Edward Gough 59; Theobald Ronane 41; Edward Stoute 21; Christmas Harford 5.
;1639 February 25: Edward Gough 51; Theobald Ronaine 44; William Gough 21; Nicholas Forest 10.
;1695
;1703
;1713
;1715
;1719 July 20: Henry Rugge 88 votes; Sir John Osberne, baronet, 60.
;1727
;1761
;1768
;1776
;1783
;1790
;1797
;1800 January: Robert Uniacke re-elected after appointment as Master General of the Ordnance of Ireland.

Citations