South Donegal (UK Parliament constituency)

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

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

Prior to the 1885 general election the area was part of the Donegal constituency. From 1922, on the establishment of the Irish Free State, 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.

Members of Parliament

Election		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	J. G. Swift MacNeill	Irish Parliamentary	By-election
	1890, December 1		Irish National Federation	Party split
	1891, March 1		Irish National Federation	Party reunion
	1900, 6 October		Irish Parliamentary
	1918, 14 December 2	Peter J. Ward	Sinn Féin	Did not take his seat in the House of Commons
	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.

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

1885 general election: South Donegal

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	Bernard Kelly	5,055	78.7
	Irish 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)

1886 general election: South Donegal

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	Bernard Kelly	4,905	77.8	−0.9
	Irish 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

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

Elections in the 1890s

1892 general election: South Donegal

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	47.4	−8.2
Turnout			5,330	79.4	−0.9
Registered electors			6,710
	Irish National Federation gain from Irish Parliamentary		Swing	−4.1

1895 general election: South Donegal

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	46.8	−0.6
Turnout			4,927	77.2	−2.2
Registered electors			6,380
	Irish National Federation hold		Swing	−0.3

Elections in the 1900s

1900 general election: South Donegal

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	J. G. Swift MacNeill	Unopposed
	Irish Parliamentary hold

1906 general election: South Donegal

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	J. G. Swift MacNeill	Unopposed
	Irish Parliamentary hold

Elections in the 1910s

January 1910 general election: South Donegal

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	J. G. Swift MacNeill	Unopposed
	Irish Parliamentary hold

December 1910 general election: South Donegal

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	J. G. Swift MacNeill	Unopposed
	Irish Parliamentary hold

1918 general election: South Donegal

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Peter J. Ward	5,787	54.9	New
	Irish Parliamentary	John 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

References

• Walker, Brian M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. ISBN 0901714127.
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 2)