Category Archives: Ireland

“An upholder of the old liberal opinions”: the political career of Charles Owen O’Conor, the O’Conor Don (1838-1906)

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Kathryn Rix

This guest blog comes from Dr. Aidan Enright, of Leeds Beckett University, who has recently published a book on the O’Conor Don’s political career, and who has also written the biographical article on the O’Conor Don for our 1832-68 House … Continue reading →

Posted in Biographies, Guest blog, Ireland | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

‘Rotatory Parliaments’: The 1848 campaign for parliamentary sessions in Ireland

Posted on April 27, 2022 by sball1832

This post from our research fellow Dr. Stephen Ball looks at a proposal in 1848 to hold sittings of Parliament away from Westminster. The year 1848 witnessed revolutions in Europe and the climax of the Chartist agitation in England. Ireland … Continue reading →

Posted in Ireland, Parliamentary buildings | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

‘She, yes, she was the only member of parliament’: Harriet Grote, radical parliamentary tactics and House of Lords reform, 1835-6

Posted on March 16, 2022 by Martin Spychal

In the fifth of his blogs on Harriet Grote (1792-1878), our research fellow Dr Martin Spychal explores Harriet’s relationship with the veteran radical Francis Place (1771-1854), her views on radical tactics and her increasingly resourceful strategies for influencing Parliament during the 1835 and … Continue reading →

Posted in Harriet Grote, Harriet Grote, Ireland, Parliamentary life, Voting and Divisions, women | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Happy New Year from the Victorian Commons!

Posted on January 1, 2022 by salmonphilip

This new year (2022) marks our tenth anniversary of blogging about Victorian politics and society. Almost 300 blogs have now appeared on these pages, mainly written by researchers (past and present) working on the 1832-68 House of Commons project at … Continue reading →

Posted in Elections, Harriet Grote, Ireland, Monarchs, Parliamentary buildings, Parliamentary life, religion, Resources, Uncategorized, women | 1 Comment

Small borough politics in County Cork, 1832-1868: Bandon, Kinsale, Mallow and Youghal

Posted on February 12, 2021 by sball1832

This post from our research fellow Dr. Stephen Ball was originally published on the History of Parliament blog as part of a Local History series on electoral politics in Ireland. The county of Cork was widely referred to as ‘the … Continue reading →

Posted in Elections, Ireland | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

MP of the Month: Nicholas Aylward Vigors (1785-1840), soldier, scientist and politician

Posted on July 10, 2020 by sball1832

Like many of our MPs, Nicholas Vigors had a varied career, as a soldier, landowner, politician and eminent zoologist. Although best known as a founder and secretary of the Zoological Society of London, Vigors also enjoyed a lively career as … Continue reading →

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MP of the Month: William Nugent Macnamara (1776-1856)

Posted on February 27, 2020 by sball1832

By the time he retired from the House of Commons in 1852 William Nugent Macnamara, the long-serving MP for County Clare, was in his late seventies and had taken no practical part in parliamentary business for the previous three years. … Continue reading →

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MP of the Month: Charles Stanley Monck (1819-94) and Canadian Confederation

Posted on October 10, 2019 by sball1832

Today we mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Stanley Monck (1819-94), MP for Portsmouth, 1852-7, who in 1861 found himself at the head of Britain’s North American colonies at a turbulent time in their history. With a … Continue reading →

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MP of the Month: Andrew Carew O’Dwyer (1801-1877)

Posted on February 22, 2018 by sball1832

Many of our recent posts have focused on the way barriers to the franchise were gradually removed in the 19th century, but it is worth noting that there were also many barriers to becoming a Victorian MP. One of these … Continue reading →

Posted in Biographies, Elections, Ireland, MP of the Month | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

MP of the Month: Edward King Tenison

Posted on June 27, 2017 by sball1832

One of our earliest Victorian Commons blogs looked at the career of William Henry Fox Talbot, the inventor of photography, who sat briefly as Whig MP for Chippenham, 1832-5. Our MP of the Month is another pioneering photographer, Edward King … Continue reading →

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MP of the Month: Edward Lucas and the administration of Ireland, 1841-5

Posted on August 23, 2016 by sball1832

Edward Lucas was already an experienced parliamentarian when in September 1841 he was appointed under-secretary for Ireland, a post which for at least three-quarters of the year made the holder ‘the executive of Ireland’. In practice the political head of … Continue reading →

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John Edward Redmond: The ‘Wexford Railway King’

Posted on September 29, 2014 by sball1832

Earlier this month the Irish Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, gave his backing to a campaign for John Edward Redmond, the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party from 1900 until his death in 1918, to be honoured with a memorial in the Irish parliament … Continue reading →

Posted in Ireland, MP of the Month | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The Knights of St. Patrick

Posted on March 17, 2014 by sball1832

On the day of Ireland’s patron saint, we look at the highest order of chivalry associated with that country, and consider the careers of some of the Members of Parliament who sat in the Reformed Commons and who were created … Continue reading →

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MP of the Month: Joseph Myles McDonnell, thwarted bagpiper

Posted on February 19, 2014 by sball1832

An impecunious Catholic squire from a remote border region between counties Mayo and Sligo, ‘Joe Mór’ McDonnell (big Joe) was one of the most colourful Irish Members of our period, who once attempted to smuggle his bagpipes into the Commons … Continue reading →

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The Irish dimension

Posted on March 17, 2013 by sball1832

Following recent blogs on Scotland and on a notable Welsh MP, St. Patrick’s Day provides the ideal occasion to highlight the progress we have made in our research on Irish MPs and constituencies. In 1841 Ireland accounted for almost one … Continue reading →

Posted in Ireland | Tagged , | 3 Comments