County Down

CO. DOWN – 27%, [135,835] c. 6,000 [c. 13,000 (1811), c. 15,000 (1815)]
BOROUGH	TYPE	PATRON	ELECTORATE
Bangor	Corporation	Sir James Hamilton and	12 burgesses
		heiresses (2 seats)
		Lord Bangor (1 seat)
		Earl of Carrick (1 seat)
Downpatrick	Potwalloping	Lord de Clifford	250 electors (393 voted in 1818)
Hillsborough	Corporation	Earl of Hillsborough (Downshire)	13 burgesses

Killyleagh	Corporation	Stevenson family (pre-1769) (2 seats)	13 burgesses
		Sir John Blackwood (2 seats)
Newry	Potwalloping	William Needham (1 seat)	600–700 electors (c. 500 post-1800)
		Open (1 seat)
Newtown(ards)	Corporation	Colvill family (mid-1740s) (2 seats);	13 burgesses
		John Ponsonby (2 seats) – heir
		exchanged Banagher with Lord Caledon
		c. 1787

Co. Down constituency

Co. Down was a large and – except for the Mourne mountains in the south – fertile county and, as the century progressed, the linen trade added to its prosperity while its proximity to Belfast encouraged the investment in estates of wealthy merchants. Co. Down was not a plantation county, but it had long been infiltrated partly by English but largely by Scottish settlers, whose influence was particularly strong in the north of the county. Its large Presbyterian settlement gave it probably the largest electorate in Ireland in the eighteenth century.

For most of the century the dominant families were the Hills of Hillsborough, the Wards of Castle Ward and the Colvills and later the Stewarts of Newtown(ards). But there were many less prominent but substantial families; for example, the Savages of Portaferry, the Prices of Hollymount, the Fordes of Seaforde and the Rawdons of Moira. Robert Hawkins Magill was not able to exercise his influence fully, as he died leaving only a daughter, Theodosia, who married the spendthrift Sir John Meade (1388), later created Earl of Clanwilliam.

In 1793 Lady Clanwilliam sounded her Ward relatives with a view to having her son returned on the death of Lord Downshire but it did not come to anything, probably because the new Lord Downshire gave his support to Francis Savage. Another influence that did not fully exert itself in the eighteenth century was that of the Annesleys of Castlewellan. The great English grandees were the Conways, Earls and later Marquesses of Hertford, whose estates straddled Counties Antrim and Down, including the Co. Antrim town of Lisburn.

Elections were usually fought on unstable alliances between representatives of the dominant three or their nominee to which various minor interests attached themselves. This is reflected in the returns; for instance, Francis Savage, who was returned in 1794 and 1797, was the favoured candidate of the Marquess of Downshire (1016), who did not have a member of his immediate family of age.

The male line of this branch of the Hamiltons died out in the early eighteenth century and Sir James Hamilton’s two daughters, Anne Catherine and Margaret, were his residuary heirs. They married respectively Michael Ward (2180) and Thomas Butler, Viscount Ikerrin; Margaret’s son was created Earl of Carrick. Roger Hall had excellent credentials: he was married to Catherine Savage and was the father-in-law of William Brownlow (0265) and a cousin of both Lord Hillsborough and Lord Kildare (0734).

The Stewarts, who bought the Colvill estate in 1744, were considered upstarts – merchants and Presbyterians – and every effort was made to exclude them not only from Co. Down but even from national politics. Alexander Stewart (5026) was returned for Londonderry city in 1760 and then declared not duly elected. His son, Robert Stewart, was returned for Co. Down at the 1771 by-election following the elevation of Bernard Ward to the peerage as Lord Bangor, and he was again returned in 1776 when pro-American feeling was running high among the Presbyterians of Co. Down and Stewart had a reputation as a radical liberal Presbyterian.

Then in 1783 the Hills and the Wards combined to defeat him. Stewart challenged the return: the findings of the committee were published and are one of the few reports on a controverted election that have survived. The committee that heard the case was largely from the south, with the exception of the chairman, William John Skeffington (1936).

The poll, commencing on 14 August 1783 and ending on 5 September, lasted 22 days. It was held at Downpatrick, the county town of Co. Down. Stewart’s estate was the most distant and therefore the majority of his voters had the furthest to travel; they were mainly farmers and the harvest season was at its height. The Sheriff, Richard Annesley (0048), said that he would poll from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.: this was not to be altered except with the consent of the candidates and the Sheriff kept this ruling until 3 September, two days after Lord Kilwarlin, who was clearly ahead, gave his spare votes (i.e. directed his supporters who had not yet cast their votes) to Edward Ward, who had exhausted his voters.

It had been agreed that the poll would be carefully timed and polled in tallies of 10, which allowed candidates to arrange their voters, especially when they had to come from a distance. Moreover, ‘The poll was in the season of harvest and the weather was very bad. Mr Stewart instructed his agents to bring each day only sufficient to fulfill the tallies for the day.’

Then on 5 September, a wet and stormy day, the Sheriff suddenly declared that he would continue the poll beyond 4 p.m. and complete the election that day. Ward was then ahead by 114 votes, but Stewart still had 160 to poll. The committee found for the sitting members, and declared that the conduct of the Sheriff had been correct and finally that the petition of Robert Stewart and others, freeholders of the County of Down, was frivolous, vexatious and groundless and that they should pay the costs of trying the petition.

By the time of the next election in 1790 Robert Stewart was Lord Londonderry and therefore ineligible to stand again. His son and namesake was not quite of age: he was born on 18 June 1769 and polling began on 23 May 1790. However, the poll lasted three months and at its end he had achieved not only a seat but also his majority. The Wards and the Hills had fallen out and the young Robert Stewart was now allied with Edward Ward against Lord Kilwarlin (1016) since the recent elevation of his father, Lord Hillsborough, to the Marquessate of Downshire.

The election was probably one of the longest, hardest fought and most expensive in the history of the Irish parliament. The Belfast News Letter gave a poll-by-poll tally to its eager readers. The election was reputed – but the story lost nothing in the telling – to have cost the Marquess of Downshire £30,000 and Lord Londonderry double that amount. Lord Hillsborough and Robert Stewart were returned.

In 1794 Lord Hillsborough’s father died and he succeeded him in the marquessate; two years later the elevation of Lord Londonderry to an earldom made Robert Stewart Lord Castlereagh. Lord Downshire returned Francis Savage in his place. Savage and Castlereagh were both returned without contest in 1797, and both went into the united parliament in 1800.

Lord Downshire committed suicide in 1801 and although Lady Downshire (née Mary Sandys, the greatest heiress of her day) was very willing to carry on the fight with the Stewarts she was somewhat mollified by a British peerage with remainder to her younger sons, although she was not particularly pleased when her eldest son came of age in 1809 and arrived at a rapprochement with the Stewarts.

ID	County	Year	Type	Ref. No.	Name
1	Co. Down		Election	1887	Francis Savage
2	Co. Down	1692	Election	931	Sir James Hamilton
3	Co. Down	1692	Election	1765	Sir Arthur Rawdon
4	Co. Down	1695	Election	932	James Hamilton
5	Co. Down	1695	Election	1765	Sir Arthur Rawdon
6	Co. Down	1695	By Election	1737	Nicholas Price
7	Co. Down	1703	Election	1324	John (Hawkins) Magill
8	Co. Down	1703	Election	1737	Nicholas Price
9	Co. Down	1713	Election	2180	Michael Ward
10	Co. Down	1713	Election	1737	Nicholas Price
11	Co. Down	1715	Election	2180	Michael Ward
12	Co. Down	1715	Election	1021	Trevor Hill
13	Co. Down	1717	By Election	1767	Sir John Rawdon
14	Co. Down	1724	By Election	1327	Robert (Hawkins) Magill
15	Co. Down	1727	Election	1015	Arthur Hill(-Trevor)
16	Co. Down	1727	Election	1327	Robert (Hawkins) Magill
17	Co. Down	1745	By Election	2177	Bernard Ward
18	Co. Down	1761	Election	1015	Arthur Hill(-Trevor)
19	Co. Down	1761	Election	2177	Bernard Ward
20	Co. Down	1766	By Election	1897	Henry Seymour-Conway
21	Co. Down	1768	Election	908	Roger Hall
22	Co. Down	1768	Election	2177	Bernard Ward
23	Co. Down	1771	By Election	2008	Robert Stewart
24	Co. Down	1776	Election	1016	Arthur Hill (Lord Fairford)
25	Co. Down	1776	Election	2008	Robert Stewart
26	Co. Down	1783	Election	1016	Arthur Hill (Lord Fairford/Hillsborough)
27	Co. Down	1783	Election	2179	Edward Ward
28	Co. Down	1790	Election	1016	Arthur Hill (Lord Hillsborough)
29	Co. Down	1790	Election	2009	Robert Stewart (Lord Castlereagh)
30	Co. Down	1794	By Election	1887	Francis Savage
31	Co. Down	1797	Election	1887	Francis Savage
32	Co. Down	1797	Election	2009	Robert Stewart (Lord Castlereagh)
33	Co. Down	1801	UK	2009	Robert Stewart (Lord Castlereagh)
34	Co. Down	1801	UK	1887	Francis Savage
35	Co. Down	1802	Election	2009	Robert Stewart (Lord Castlereagh)
36	Co. Down	1802	By Election	1887	Francis Savage

Co. Down - Boroughs

Bangor was incorporated in 1613 by a charter of 10 James I. The charter had been lost by the end of the century but it was enrolled in Chancery. It was incorporated with a provost, 12 burgesses and an unlimited number of freemen, who either were not appointed or did not long survive. At the beginning of the century this borough was under the influence of Sir James Hamilton (0931), whose two daughters, Anne Catherine and Margaret, were his residuary heirs. They married respectively Michael Ward (2180) and Thomas Butler, Viscount Ikerrin; Margaret’s son was created Earl of Carrick. By the middle of the century the owner of the town was Bernard Ward, Lord Bangor (2177).

Lords Bangor and Carrick controlled the seats so completely that Lord Carrick could sell his seat and Lord Bangor arrange the return to suit his own convenience, increase his political consequence or oblige his friends; for instance, in 1790: ‘To answer some particular convenience Sir John Blackwood (0148) was returned for Bangor and Robert Ward (2184) for Sir John’s borough of Killyleagh.’ By the end of the century Nicholas (2181), Lord Bangor, was insane and his affairs were administered by his brothers, Edward (2179) and Robert (2184) and by Sir John Parnell (1633).

One of the seats for Bangor was sold in 1790 for £1,500 and Robert Ward acquired the money; this came to light only after their half-sister, Lady Clanwilliam, who had a claim on her late stepfather’s estate, began to ask questions; Robert was obliged to return it to the estate. At the Union the £15,000 compensation was divided equally between Lord Carrick and the Bangor trustee settlement.

Downpatrick was recognised as early as the reign of Henry IV, when letters of protection were granted to the inhabitants. No charter of incorporation is extant, but it returned two MPs to the 1586-7 parliament of Elizabeth I. It was a potwalloping borough with the franchise vested in the £5 householder of at least six months’ residence. It had 250 voters in 1784 and 393 in 1818. The returning officer was the seneschal of the manor of Down appointed by the lord of the manor, who in the eighteenth century was the Rt Hon. Edward Southwell (1962) and his descendants (1963, 1964), afterwards Lords de Clifford. They also controlled, at least partly, the borough of Kinsale in Co. Cork.

The Southwells, who were mainly absentees, were usually careful to return either one of their family or a local gentleman. The only challenge to them was that of the Prices, who lived near by at Hollymount. Nicholas Price (1737) had represented Downpatrick in 1692-3 and subsequently sat for Co. Down from 1695 to 1714, and Cromwell Price (1733) had sat for Downpatrick for the entire parliament of George II; his son Cromwell (1734) was persuaded by Lord Downshire to give up all his claims ‘whatsoever and forever’ in return for a seat for Kinsale at the 1783 general election. In 1790 Lord Downshire was also thought to have his eye on the borough, but boroughs such as this where the patron owned the town were usually secure and, unlike corporation boroughs, recoverable.

Despite the previous arrangement in 1791, Lord Downshire unsuccessfully attempted to set up Cromwell Price and Richard Annesley (0048), probably in the hope that their residence – for Co. Down voters tended to be very independent – would count against Lord de Clifford’s absenteeism. Lord Downshire even encouraged the repair of the ruined cathedral – the reputed burial place of St Patrick, St Columba and St Brigid – in the hope that this would encourage local esprit de corps, but to no avail. Downpatrick retained one seat at the Union, when the members were Clotworthy (1818) and Josias Rowley (1823) (who lost the Union ballot), relatives of the Southwells.

Hillsborough was a model village built by the Earl of Hillsborough and 1st Marquess of Downshire. It was incorporated in 1662 by a charter of Charles II granted to Arthur Hill. It was enfranchised as the Manor of Hillsborough and was to encompass 100 acres in the town and lands of Hillsborough, to be a free borough and corporation known as the borough and town of Hillsborough. By the charter the corporation consisted of a sovereign, 12 burgesses and freemen. Throughout its corporate existence as a parliamentary borough it appears to have been completely under the domination of the head of the Hill family, and at the Union the £15,000 compensation for its disfranchisement was awarded to the vehemently anti-Unionist Marquess of Downshire and received by his heir.

Killyleagh was enfranchised by a 1613 charter of 10 James I at the petition of the inhabitants of the town. It had a provost and 12 free burgesses elected by the inhabitants of the town. The borough of Killyleagh originally came under the influence of the Hamiltons; it then passed through a series of marriages to Dorcas, daughter and eventual heiress of James Stevenson (1997) of Killyleagh, who in 1751 married Sir John Blackwood, 2nd Bt (0148).

The Blackwoods sustained their interest in Killyleagh, which was a small fishing village on Strangford Lough, by such activities as in 1765 obtaining a parliamentary grant of £1,200 to build a pier. They had a Presbyterian background – Sir John was a graduate of Glasgow University – and they usually returned members of their family or friends, which probably helped to ensure their popularity. Killyleagh was completely under their control. Sir John was returned for Bangor in 1768 and again in 1790. On both occasions he may have been Provost of Killyleagh and therefore unable to return himself. Killyleagh was disfranchised at the Union and the £15,000 was paid to Sir James Blackwood (0147), who in 1808 succeeded his mother as Lord Dufferin.

Newry was incorporated in 1612/3 by a charter of 10 James I following the petition of ‘the inhabitants of the town of Newry in the county of Down’. It was to be a free borough with a provost and 12 free burgesses and the commonalty, with the power of sending two members to parliament. It developed into a potwalloping borough with a comparatively large electorate of 600-700 voters. The dominant interest was that of the Nedhams (Needhams) of Mourne Park. Robert Nedham (1518) sat for Newry from 1727 until his death in 1753. He was co-heir with Edward Bayly of the estates of Nicholas Bagenal, who appears to have possessed the manors of Newry, Mourne and Carlingford. Newry and Mourne came to Nedham.

After the opening of the canal joining Newry with Lough Neagh, the commercial prospects of the town improved and Nedham was anxious to build a Customs House on the Quay. Lord Hillsborough had a bleach yard near Mill Street and was also anxious to improve the economic prospects of the town. Nedham’s son and namesake (1519) succeeded him and sat for Newry from 1753 to 1760. He was a British MP and a brother-in-law of William Pitt; his interests were divided between the British and Irish parliaments.

His sons, George (1517) and William (1520), sat for Newry; George Nedham from 1761 until his death in 1767 and William Nedham consecutively from 1767 until 1776, but William was more involved in British than Irish politics. The Nedham interest then appears to have been neglected or at least subsidiary to their other interests, which included a plantation in Jamaica, until after the Union.

The vacuum was filled by local men, especially the Rosses of Rostrevor, whose estate stretched around Newry from Rostrevor to Rathfriland. The Ross family also had an interest in Dublin city politics, and Robert Ross (1814) was an alderman of Dublin. He was first returned for Killyleagh in 1715 and then for Newry in 1727, which he represented until his death in 1750. His son Robert (1815), who was Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1749, returned himself for nearby Carlingford from 1723 to 1768, so father and son sat in parliament together.

The third-generation Robert (1816) returned himself for Carlingford from 1768 to 1776, but in 1776 was returned for Newry, which he represented until his death in 1799. He was a colonel in the army and afterwards a Commissioner of the Revenue. He was unmarried, and in 1796 he sold his half-interest in Carlingford to the Marquess of Downshire (1016). There was always in the background the infiltrating influence of the Marquess of Downshire.

The vacuum caused by the de facto absence of the Nedham interest resulted in the rise of two local men. Robert Scott (1892) was first returned for Newry in 1751, at a by-election following the death of Robert Ross. He sat for Newry from 1751 to 1760 and again from 1768 until his death in 1773. It was said that ‘By living here and pleasing the people he established an interest for himself. He built a number of houses in the town. Trustee of the Linen Board’ – the last was important as Newry’s prosperity was linked to the linen manufacture. It was also noted that he: ‘brings himself into parliament. A merchant of Newry and Independent.’

He died in 1773 and another merchant, Edward Corry (0495), was returned at the expensive and fiercely contested double (the first election was declared void) by-election, in the course of which one man was killed. At the first election Sir Richard Johnston (1110) challenged the return; the final poll for the second election was Edward Corry 329 and John Bowes Benson 268. Edward Corry was declared duly elected.

In 1776 Edward Corry stood aside for his son, Isaac Corry (0497). Corry was agent to the Nedhams and could be said to have come in with their support. Robert Ross was returned with him, and they were both unsuccessfully challenged by Sir Richard Johnston and John Bowes Benson. Isaac Corry sat for Newry until the Union, when he lost the ballot to John Moore (1464), who had recently been returned, through the influence of Lord Downshire, at the by-election following the death of Robert Nedham in 1799. Corry was Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer, and his failure to win the ballot caused consternation in government circles.

In 1802 Lady Downshire, who declared that ‘These were not the steps by which my dearest lord and his father acquired their influence in the county of Down’, only withdrew her support for Moore after considerable pressure from the government, thus allowing Corry to be returned unopposed at the general election. Newry had major interests, but if they were neglected the comparatively large electorate could allow lesser interests, at least temporarily, to slide through the cracks.

Newtown(ards) was enfranchised by a 1613 charter of James I; its corporation included a provost, 12 free burgesses, freemen and two serjeants-at-mace. At the beginning of the century it had come into the hands of the Colvill family, who in the 1670s had bought the estates of Newtown(ards) and then of Comber from Hugh Montgomery, 2nd Earl of Mount Alexander. His son, Hugh Colvill (0451), died on 7 February 1700/1 leaving a daughter, Alice, and an infant son, Robert (0453). His widow then married Brabazon Ponsonby (1696), who thereby became Robert Colvill’s guardian and the manager of his estates and parliamentary interest.

In his majority Colvill proved a wild and unstable character, giving the Ponsonbys hope that their younger son, John (1702), might inherit his estate. However, Colvill had a mistress, Martha Lauders, whom he eventually married and she persuaded him to sell the estates to Alexander Stewart (5026). Stewart had just married the wealthy heiress Mary Cowan and part of her dowry was to be invested in land; this was choice property and near his friends and connections in liberal radical Presbyterian Belfast. The sale went through, but the question of the parliamentary borough then arose. It was said that an additional £500 would purchase the borough, which was by this time securely in the hands of Brabazon Ponsonby, now Lord Bessborough.

Alexander Stewart thought, prehaps naïvely, that as he owned the ground on which the borough stood he would automatically become its proprietor. However, Lord Abercorn owned the land of St Johnstown (Donegal) but the corporation, with its right to return MPs, had been captured by William Forward, while Lord Abercorn in 1790 became the patron of the corporation of Augher, in which he had no property at all.

The Newtown Act, 21 Geo. II, c. 10,142 confirmed and solidified a situation that already existed, namely the divorce for political purposes between the corporation and the town itself. It removed the potential of any future flexibility should the basis of the franchise, by which both Catholics and Dissenters were for most of the century excluded, change. Inevitably this bifurcation had a detrimental effect on the economic and social development of the town, although the Stewarts appear to have tried to reduce this as much as possible.

From about 1703 until the death of John Ponsonby in 1787 the Ponsonbys controlled Newtown(ards), and members of the family frequently represented it or used it to safeguard their return for another seat. Shortly after John Ponsonby’s death, George Ponsonby (1699) exchanged it with Lord Caledon (0029) for Banagher in King’s County; both received £15,000 for the disfranchisement of their respective boroughs at the Union.

In 1787 Mrs McTier wrote to her brother, Dr William Drennan, illustrating how such transfers took place: ‘We dined at Newtown and the same day Nabob Alexander was entertaining under the noses of the Stewarts his burgesses for the borough for which he paid £10,000 [?Banagher which he exchanged with George Ponsonby]. The two Alexanders of Belfast, one of Derry, Hammy McClure, his brother in law, Arthur Johnston etc. were appointed and J. Crawford made mayor.’

Constituencies and Elections

County Down

Co. Down constituency

Co. Down - Boroughs