Dublin College Green (UK Parliament constituency)

College Green, a division of the parliamentary borough of Dublin, was a parliamentary constituency which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1922. From 1918 to 1921, it was also used as a constituency for Dáil Éireann

College Green
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
College Green constituency within Dublin, 1885 to 1918
1885–1922
Seats	1
Created from	Dublin
Replaced by	Dublin Mid

From the dissolution of 1922, the area was no longer represented in the UK Parliament.

Boundaries

This constituency comprised part of the city of Dublin. It was predominantly on the northside of the city, but crossed the River Liffey to include College Green.^[1]

From 1885 to 1918, it was defined as:^[2]

Arran Quay Ward, Inns Quay Ward, North City Ward and South City Ward, and that part of Rotunda Ward lying south-west of a line drawn along the centre of North Frederick Street and a line drawn along the centre of East Cavendish Row.

From 1918 to 1922, it was defined as:^[3]

The Inns Quay, North City, South City and Rotunda wards of the Borough.

History

Prior to the 1885 general election, the city was the undivided two-member Dublin City constituency. Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, Dublin was divided into four divisions: College Green, Dublin Harbour, St Stephen's Green and St Patrick's. This was a strongly Nationalist area, which moved after the 1916 Easter Rising to supporting Sinn Féin. In the 1918 election, Sinn Féin got more than three-quarters of the vote.

Under the Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918, the city was allocated seven seats: in addition to the four existing constituencies, the new divisions were Clontarf, St James's and St Michan's.^[4]

At the 1918 general election, Sinn Féin issued an election manifesto in which it called for a "establishment of a constituent assembly comprising persons chosen by Irish constituencies". After the election, Sinn Féin invited all those elected for Irish constituencies to sit as members of Dáil Éireann, termed Teachta Dála (or TD, known in English as a Deputy). In practice, only those elected for Sinn Féin attended. This included Seán T. O'Kelly, elected for College Green. He was the presiding officer of the First Dáil (with the title Ceann Comhairle) from 22 January 1919.^[5] His appointment as Ceann Comhairle was confirmed 1 April 1919.^[6]

Under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the area was combined with the Dublin Harbour Division to form Dublin Mid, a 4-seat constituency for the Southern Ireland House of Commons and a single constituency at Westminster.^[7] At the 1921 election for the Southern Ireland House of Commons, the four seats were won uncontested by Sinn Féin, who treated it as part of the election to the Second Dáil.^[8] Seán T. O'Kelly was one of the four TDs for Dublin Mid.

Under s. 1(4) of the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922, no writ was to be issued "for a constituency in Ireland other than a constituency in Northern Ireland".^[9] Therefore, no vote was held in Dublin Mid at the 1922 United Kingdom general election on 15 November 1922, shortly before the Irish Free State left the United Kingdom on 6 December 1922.

Members of Parliament

Year	MP[10]	Party
1885	Timothy Daniel Sullivan		Irish Parliamentary
1890			Irish National Federation (Anti-Parnellite)
1892	J.E. Kenny		Irish National League (Parnellite)
1896	James Laurence Carew		Irish National League (Parnellite)
1900	Joseph Nannetti		Irish Parliamentary
1915	John Dillon Nugent		Irish Parliamentary
1918	Seán T. O'Kelly		Sinn Féin
1922	constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

1885 general election: Dublin College Green^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	Timothy Daniel Sullivan	6,548	81.2
	Liberal	David Sherlock	1,518	18.8
Majority			5,030	62.4
Turnout			8,066	74.7
Registered electors			10,797
	Irish Parliamentary win (new seat)

1886 general election: Dublin College Green^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	Timothy Daniel Sullivan	Unopposed
	Irish Parliamentary hold

Elections in the 1890s

1892 general election: Dublin College Green^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish National League	J.E. Kenny	2,568	50.1	N/A
	Irish Unionist	Henry Cochrane	1,441	28.1	New
	Irish National Federation	Timothy Daniel Sullivan	1,116	21.8	N/A
Majority			1,127	22.0	N/A
Turnout			5,125	75.6	N/A
Registered electors			6,781
	Irish National League gain from Irish Parliamentary		Swing	N/A

1895 general election: Dublin College Green^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish National League	J.E. Kenny	Unopposed
	Irish National League hold

By-election, 1896: Dublin College Green^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish National League	James Laurence Carew	Unopposed
	Irish National League hold

Elections in the 1900s

1900 general election: Dublin College Green^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	Joseph Nannetti	2,467	53.2	N/A
	Healyite Nationalist	James Laurence Carew	2,173	46.8	N/A
Majority			294	6.4	N/A
Turnout			4,640	45.4	N/A
Registered electors			10,223
	Irish Parliamentary hold		Swing	N/A

1906 general election: Dublin College Green^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	Joseph Nannetti	Unopposed
	Irish Parliamentary hold

Elections in the 1910s

January 1910 general election: Dublin College Green^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	Joseph Nannetti	4,559	78.6	N/A
	Irish Unionist	George Bernard O'Connor	1,239	21.4	New
Majority			3,320	57.2	N/A
Turnout			5,798	66.3	N/A
Registered electors			8,739
	Irish Parliamentary hold		Swing	N/A

December 1910 general election: Dublin College Green^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	Joseph Nannetti	Unopposed
	Irish Parliamentary hold

By-election 1915: Dublin College Green^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	John Dillon Nugent	2,445	57.38	N/A
	Labour	Thomas Farren	1,816	42.62	New
Majority			629	14.76	N/A
Turnout			4,261	52.2	N/A
Registered electors			8,167
	Irish Parliamentary hold		Swing	N/A

General election, 1918: Dublin College Green^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Seán T. O'Kelly	9,662	77.2	New
	Ind. Nationalist	Joseph Coghland Briscoe	2,853	22.8	New
Majority			6,809	54.4	N/A
Turnout			12,515	58.4	N/A
Registered electors			21,414
	Sinn Féin gain from Irish Parliamentary		Swing	N/A

See also

• Historic Dáil constituencies