Athenry (Parliament of Ireland constituency)

Athenry was a constituency represented in the Irish House of Commons until its abolition on 1 January 1801.

Athenry
Former borough constituency for the Irish House of Commons
County	County Galway
Borough	Athenry
1378 (1378) (1378 (1378))–1801 (1801)
Seats	2
Replaced by	Disfranchised

History

Athenry was represented as early as 1378.^[1]

In the first Parliament of Elizabeth, Athenry was represented by Thomas Cusack, former Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and Andrew Browne. In Elizabeth's second Parliament, one of its representatives was John Hooker, an Englishman. Hooker wrote the Irish additions to the 1587 update of Holinshed's Chronicles, in which he describes his own participation in a debate on a bill for the impost of wines.^[2]

In the Patriot Parliament of 1689 summoned by King James II, Athenry was represented with two members.^[3]

Members of Parliament

• 1559 Sir Thomas Cusack and Andrew Browne
• 1569 John Hooker and another
• 1585 William Browne and Nicholas Lynch^[4]
• 1613–1615 Stephen Browne and Ludovic Bodkin^[5]
• 1634–1635 David Burke and Richard Martyn^[5]
• 1639–1649 Geoffrey Browne and John Blake alias Caddell^[6]
• 1661 Henry Whaley and Sir Henry Waddington^[6]

1689–1801

Election		First member	First party		Second member	Second party
1689 Patriot Parliament		James Talbot			Charles Daly
1692		Edward Pearce			Richard Whaley
1695		John Ormsby
1721		Robert Blakeney
1725					Arthur Ormsby
1727					John Blakeney
1733		Thomas Bolton
1741		James Daly
1747					Robert Blakeney
1763					John Blakeney
1768		Theophilus Blakeney
1776		John Blakeney
1781		William Blakeney
1783		Theophilus Blakeney
1790					William Blakeney
1800		William Needham			Michael Burke
1801		Constituency disenfranchised

Notes

References

1. Commissioners on Municipal Corporations in Ireland (1835). "Athenry". Appendix to the First Report, Part I. 287 §2.; "Close Roll, 1 Richard II, No.81". CIRCLE. Trinity College Dublin. 22 January 1378. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
2. Patterson, Annabel (1994). Reading Holinshed's Chronicles. University of Chicago Press. pp. 29–30. ISBN 9780226649122.; THE SVPPLIE OF THE Irish Chronicles extended to this present yeare of our Lord 1586, and the 28 of the reigne of queene Elisabeth. University of Oxford. 2008–2013 [1587]. pp. Vol.3 p.111. Retrieved 24 May 2017. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
3. O'Hart 2007, p. 502.
4. McGrath, Brid (1998). A biographical dictionary of the membership of the Irish House of Commons 1640-1641 (thesis thesis). Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland). Department of History. hdl:2262/77206.
5. McGrath, Brid (24 October 1998). "A biographical dictionary of the membership of the Irish House of Commons 1640-1641". hdl:2262/77206 – via www.tara.tcd.ie.
6. Parliamentary Papers, Volume 62, Part 2. p. 618.

Bibliography

• O'Hart, John (2007). The Irish and Anglo-Irish Landed Gentry: When Cromwell came to Ireland. Vol. II. Heritage Books. ISBN 978-0-7884-1927-0.
• Leigh Rayment's historical List of Members of the Irish House of Commons. Cites: Johnston-Liik, Edith Mary (2002). The History of the Irish Parliament 1692-1800 (6 volumes). Ulster Historical Foundation.