Wexford (UK Parliament constituency)

The parliamentary borough of Wexford, Ireland, was represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885 by a borough constituency electing one Member of Parliament (MP), on the electoral system of first past the post.^[1]^[2]

CountyCounty Wexford

BoroughWexford

Seats1

Created fromWexford (IHC)

Quick facts County, Borough ...

Wexford
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	County Wexford
Borough	Wexford
1801–1885
Seats	1
Created from	Wexford (IHC)
Replaced by	South Wexford

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History and boundaries

It succeeded the two-seat constituency of Wexford represented in the Irish House of Commons until the abolition of the Irish Parliament on 1 January 1801 under the Acts of Union 1800.^[3]^[4]

Its boundaries were reviewed in December 1831.^[5] The proposal was adopted in the Parliamentary Boundaries (Ireland) Act 1832, which defined the area of the parliamentary borough as:^[6]

From the Point on the South-east of the Town at which the Sea-shore is met by a Wall and Footpath which run a few Yards to the North of the Burial Ground which is near the Country House belonging to Mr. Talbot, along the said Wall to the Point at which the same meets the Fayeth Road; thence in a straight Line to the Flagstaff at the Signal Station; thence in a straight Line in the Direction of the Eastern Corner of Cromwell's Fort House to the Point at which such straight Line cuts the Wall of the Pleasure Grounds of Cromwell's Fort House; thence, Northward, along the Wall of the said Pleasure Grounds to the Duncormick Road; thence, Westward, still along the Wall of the said Pleasure Grounds, to the westernmost Point at which the same leaves the Duncormick Road, thus excluding the whole of the said Pleasure Grounds; thence in a straight Line in the Direction of the South-western Corner of the Distillery to the Point at which such straight Line cuts the Road which runs in front of the Distillery; thence along the last-mentioned Road to the Point at which the same crosses the Johnstown Road near the Bridge over the Bishop's Water; thence in a straight Line to the Point close to the Female Orphan House, at which the Northern Duncannon Road is met by a Road which leads therefrom into the New Ross Road; thence along the Road so leading into the New Ross Road to the Ruins of the southernmost of Two old Windmills; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the New Ross Road which is distant One hundred and sixty Yards (measured along the New Ross Road) to the North-west of the Obelisk; thence in a straight Line to the northernmost Point at which the Boundary of the Premises of Mr. Scallen, a Brewer, meets the Enniscorthy Road; thence, Westward, along the Enniscorthy Road to an Iron Gate in a Stone Wall distant about Three hundred and sixty Yards from the Centre of the Diocesan School; thence along the Road or Path which leads from the said Iron Gate to the Point at which the same meets the Sea-shore; thence along the Sea-shore to the Point first described.

Under the Representation of the People (Ireland) Act 1868, its boundaries were extended to include all of the municipal borough of Wexford.^[7] The old municipal borough had been abolished under the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840, with a new royal charter granted in 1846 after a petition under s. 28 of that Act.

It was disenfranchised under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, which took effect at the 1885 general election.^[8] The town was thereafter represented by the county division of South Wexford.^[9]

Members of Parliament

More information Election, MP ...

Election	MP		Note
1801-01-01	Francis Leigh		1801: Co-opted; Resigned (appointed Escheator of Munster)
1801-02-20	Ponsonby Tottenham
1802-07-09	Richard Nevill^[a]	Tory
1806-11-10	Sir Robert Wigram, Bt	Tory^[10]
1807-05-21	Richard Nevill^[a]	Tory	Resigned (appointed Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds)
1810-03-03	Capt. Peter Parker R.N.	Tory	Resigned (appointed Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds)
1811-07-01	Richard Nevill^[a]	Tory	Resigned (appointed Steward of the Manor of East Hendred)
1813-03-03	Vice Admiral John Fish	Tory	Resigned (appointed Escheator of Munster)
1814-08-09	Richard Nevill^[a]	Tory	Resigned (appointed Escheator of Ulster)
1819-03-01	Capt. Henry Evans R.N.	Tory
1820-03-20	William Wigram	Tory^[10]
1826-06-19	Rear Admiral Henry Evans	Tory	Resigned (appointed Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds)
1829-06-03	Robert Wigram^[b]	Tory^[10]	Unseated on petition
1830-03-15^[c]	Sir Edward Dering, Bt	Tory^[10]	Declared duly elected
1830-08-07	William Wigram	Tory^[10]	Unseated on petition
1831-02-21^[c]	Sir Edward Dering, Bt	Ultra-Tory	Declared duly elected
1831-05-06	Charles Arthur Walker	Whig	Re-elected as a candidate of the Repeal Association
1832-12-14	Charles Arthur Walker	Repeal^[11]	Re-elected as a candidate of a Liberal/Repealer pact
1841-07-12	Sir Thomas Esmonde, Bt	Whig^[10]^[12]
1847-08-04	John Thomas Devereux	Repeal^[11]	Re-elected as an Independent Irish candidate
1852-07-09		Independent Irish^[11]	Re-elected as a Liberal candidate
1857-03-20		Whig
1859-05-03	John Edward Redmond	Liberal^[11]
1865-07-17	Richard Joseph Devereux	Liberal^[11]	Resigned
1872-04-26	William Archer Redmond	Home Rule^[11]	Died 1880
1880-11-24	Tim Healy	Home Rule^[11]	Joined new organisation
1882^[d]	Tim Healy	Irish Parliamentary^[11]	Resigned to contest Monaghan
1883-07-17	Willie Redmond	Irish Parliamentary^[11]
1885-11-18	Constituency abolished

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[a]
Stooks Smith names the MP 1802–1806 as Richard Neville Furness, 1807–1810 as Richard Neville, 1811–1813 as Robert Neville and 1814–1819 as Richard Neville. Walker names the MP for all these terms as Richard Nevill.
[b]
From 1832 known as Robert Fitzwygram.
[c]
Not an election - date when the previous member was unseated and the petitioner was declared duly elected.
[d]
Not an election - change of party allegiance.