West Donegal (UK Parliament constituency)

West Donegal was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland, returning one Member of Parliament from 1885 to 1922.

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

Prior to the 1885 United Kingdom 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 western part of County Donegal, consisting of the barony of Boylagh and that part of the barony of Kilmacrenan contained within the parishes of Clondahorky, Gartan, Kilmacrenan, Mevagh, Raymunterdoney and Tullaghobegly and the townlands of Ballybolander, Boheolan, Cabra Brook, Cabra Glebe, Carnatreantagh, Carrick, Carrickyscanlan, Cloncarney, Dromore, Drumcavany, Keeloges, Maghernagran, Pollans, Roshin, Stackarnagh, Temple Douglas, Treanbeg and Tullanascreen in the parish of Conwal.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [1]	Party	Note
	1885, December 1	Patrick O'Hea	Irish Parliamentary	Resigned
	1890, May 30	James Joseph Dalton	Irish Parliamentary	Party split
	1890, December 1		Irish National League
	1892, July 11	Timothy Daniel Sullivan	Irish National Federation
	1900, October 3	James Boyle	Irish Parliamentary	Resigned
	1902, April 25	Hugh Alexander Law	Irish Parliamentary
	1918, December 14 2	Joseph Sweeney	Sinn Féin	Did not take his seat at Westminster
	1922, October 26	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

General election 1 December 1885: Donegal West^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	Patrick O'Hea	Unopposed
Registered electors			7,377
	Irish Parliamentary win (new seat)

General election 6 July 1886: Donegal West^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	Patrick O'Hea	Unopposed
Registered electors			7,377
	Irish Parliamentary hold

Elections in the 1890s

By-election 30 May 1890: Donegal West^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	J. J. Dalton	Unopposed
Registered electors			5,536
	Irish Parliamentary hold

General election 11 July 1892: Donegal West^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish National Federation	Timothy Daniel Sullivan	Unopposed
Registered electors			5,279
	Irish National Federation gain from Irish Parliamentary

General election 18 July 1895: Donegal West^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish National Federation	Timothy Daniel Sullivan	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,254
	Irish National Federation hold

Elections in the 1900s

General election 3 October 1900: Donegal West^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	James Boyle	Unopposed
Registered electors			9,475
	Irish Parliamentary hold

By-election 25 April 1902: Donegal West^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	Hugh Law	Unopposed
Registered electors			7,303
	Irish Parliamentary hold

General election 20 January 1906: Donegal West^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	Hugh Law	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,958
	Irish Parliamentary hold

Elections in the 1910s

General election 22 January 1910: Donegal West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	Hugh Law	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,642
	Irish Parliamentary hold

General election 10 December 1910: Donegal West^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Parliamentary	Hugh Law	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,642
	Irish Parliamentary hold

General Election 14 December 1918: Donegal West^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Joseph Sweeney	6,712	62.0	New
	Irish Parliamentary	Daniel McMenamin	4,116	38.0	N/A
Majority			2,596	24.0	N/A
Turnout			10,828	56.1	N/A
Registered electors			19,296
	Sinn Féin hold		Swing	N/A

References

1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 2)
2. Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. pp. 340, 387. ISBN 0901714127.

Sources

• Walker, Brian M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. ISBN 0901714127.