Downpatrick was a United Kingdom Parliament constituency in Ireland, returning one MP. It was an original constituency represented in Parliament when the Union of Great Britain and Ireland took effect on 1 January 1801.
Boundaries This constituency was the parliamentary borough of Downpatrick in County Down.
Members of Parliament Election Member Party Note 1801, January 1 Clotworthy Rowley 1801: Co-opted. Appointed Commissioner of Compensation. 1801, March 10 Samuel Campbell Rowley 1802, July 17 Charles Stewart Hawthorne 1806, November 18 Edward Southwell Ruthven Whig 1 1807, May 22 John Wilson Croker Tory 1 1812, October 20 Charles Stewart Hawthorne Whig Appointed a Commissioner of Excise in Ireland 1815, March 9 Viscount Glerawley Tory 1818, August 4 1820, March 28 John Waring Maxwell Tory 1826, July 25 1830, August 7 Edward Southwell Ruthven Whig 1831, June 14 1832, December 13 John Waring Maxwell Tory 1834, December Conservative 1835, January 9 David Ker Conservative 1837, July/August 1841, July 2 David Stewart Ker Conservative 1847, August 4 Richard Ker Peelite Resigned 1851, August 8 Hon. Charles Hardinge Conservative Became the 2nd Viscount Hardinge, 24 September 1856 1852, July 1857, February 12 Richard Ker Peelite 3 1857, March/April 1859, May 3David Stewart Ker Conservative 1865, July Resigned 1867, August 5 William Keown Conservative 1868, Nov/Dec 1874, February 2 John Mulholland Conservative Last MP for the constituency 1885 Constituency abolished
Supplemental notes Stooks Smith suggests that after the 1806 election there was a petition, which led to Edward Southwell Ruthven (Whig) being unseated and John Wilson Croker {Tory} being declared duly elected. Walker does not make any reference to such a petition. Walker (like F. W. S. Craig in his compilations of election results for Great Britain) classifies Tory candidates as Conservatives from 1832. The name Conservative was gradually adopted as a description for the Tories. The party is deemed to be named Conservative from the 1835 general election. Walker (like F. W. S. Craig in his compilations of election results for Great Britain) classifies Whig, Radical and similar candidates as Liberals from 1832. The name Liberal was gradually adopted as a description for the Whigs and politicians allied with them, before the formal creation of the Liberal Party shortly after the 1859 general election.
Elections Elections in the 1830s
Elections in the 1840s
Elections in the 1850s Ker resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, causing a by-election.
Hardinge succeeded to the peerage, becoming 2nd Viscount Hardinge and causing a by-election.
Elections in the 1860s
Ker resigned, causing a by-election.
Elections in the 1870s
Elections in the 1880s
References
The Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844–50), 2nd edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973)