[The following article, headed ‘REMINISCENCES OF THE LAST CENTURY. DOWNPATRICK ELECTION OF 1797’, appeared in the Downpatrick Recorder on 16 August 1862.]
The constituency of Downpatrick was raised to a £5 qualification in 1792, and in the year 1797 its first election was held under the £5 franchise, in the month of August, when it returned two members to the Irish parliament. Four candidates started for representation, namely Clotworthy Rowley, and Josias Rowley, Edward Southwell Trotter and John Bernard Trotter. The first two were in the De Clifford interest, the latter two in the Independent interest.