County Kildare

CO. KILDARE – 92%, [49,968] [?] c. 300–1,500, [c. 2,000 (1815)]
BOROUGH	TYPE	PATRON	ELECTORATE
Athy	Corporation	Duke of Leinster	‘A few’ burgesses and freemen
Harristown	Corporation	Duke of Leinster; sold 2 seats 1793	13 burgesses – uninhabited
		(£14,000–16,000) to John La Touche
Kildare	Corporation	Duke of Leinster	13 burgesses plus ‘a few’ freemen
Naas	Corporation	John Bourke (Earl of Mayo)	‘A few’ burgesses and freemen

Co. Kildare - Constituency

There were four Irish counties where a major interest, either active or dormant, was present: the FitzGerald interest in Kildare, the Butler interest in Kilkenny, the Fitzwilliam interest in Wicklow and the fragmented Boyle interest in Cork. Of these the most active was the FitzGerald interest in Kildare, where the Earls of Kildare, later the Dukes of Leinster (0734, 0745), owned about a fifth of the county and possibly more at the beginning of the century. In the 1690s the county was represented by George FitzGerald and his father Robert FitzGerald, the son of the 16th Earl of Kildare.

In the middle of the century there was a dearth of available direct members of the FitzGerald family, but this was remedied by the very large family of the 1st Duke and Duchess of Leinster, although their sons were not qualified until the 1770s. At the end of the century the Duke, who came from a large family and had a large family, was financially embarrassed and the wealthy La Touche banking family bought estates in the county. Co. Kildare’s proximity to Dublin gave it many of the social characteristics of Co. Dublin, and it was dominated by the social pre-eminence of the Duke, whose principal residence, Carton, was near Maynooth. In a society intensely concerned with hierarchy, this was an important element.

In 1785 the county was said to be ‘totally under the Duke of Leinster’s influence’, and had he been more intelligent he would undoubtedly have been politically very powerful. It was said that

With all his estate and all his rank, and all his good nature, his mind is so weak and his conduct has been for more than twenty years so absurd, that he is very little formidable. But this small trait proves that if anything like a consistent opposition arises his weight will be thrown in to the scale.

The electorate was small: it was said that in the 1790s, despite his vast estates, the Duke did not have more than a hundred registered freeholders, and between 1790 and 1797 it was said to have declined from 1,500 to 300; even in 1815 the number of voters was thought to be about 2,000. The status quo was also maintained by the fact that both the Duke and the La Touches, with whom he shared the county interest in the early nineteenth century, were supporters of the Catholic interest.

Co. Kildare had four parliamentary boroughs – Athy, Harristown, Kildare and Naas – all of which were disfranchised at the Union.

ID	County	Year	Type	Ref. No.	Name
1	Co. Kildare	1692	Election	732	George FitzGerald
2	Co. Kildare	1692	Election	741	Robert FitzGerald
3	Co. Kildare	1695	Election	732	George FitzGerald
4	Co. Kildare	1695	Election	741	Robert FitzGerald
5	Co. Kildare	1698	By Election	446	Henry Colley
6	Co. Kildare	1703	Election	290	Sir Kildare Burrows
7	Co. Kildare	1703	Election	1137	Thomas Keightley
8	Co. Kildare	1710	By Election	36	Joshua Allen
9	Co. Kildare	1713	Election	36	Joshua Allen
10	Co. Kildare	1713	Election	1137	Thomas Keightley
11	Co. Kildare	1715	Election	36	Joshua Allen
12	Co. Kildare	1715	Election	1696	Brabazon Ponsonby
13	Co. Kildare	1725	By Election	32	Francis Allen
14	Co. Kildare	1727	Election	37	Richard Allen
15	Co. Kildare	1727	Election	1133	Maurice Keating
16	Co. Kildare	1745	By Election	187	Sir Kildare Dixon Borrowes
17	Co. Kildare	1761	Election	187	Sir Kildare Dixon Borrowes
18	Co. Kildare	1761	Election	1693	Arthur Pomeroy
19	Co. Kildare	1768	Election	187	Sir Kildare Dixon Borrowes
20	Co. Kildare	1768	Election	1693	Arthur Pomeroy
21	Co. Kildare	1776	Election	728	(Lord) Charles James FitzGerald
22	Co. Kildare	1776	Election	1693	Arthur Pomeroy
23	Co. Kildare	1783	Election	728	(Lord) Charles James FitzGerald
24	Co. Kildare	1783	Election	2244	John Wolfe
25	Co. Kildare	1790	Election	1135	Maurice Bagenal St Leger Keating
26	Co. Kildare	1790	Election	730	(Lord) Edward FitzGerald
27	Co. Kildare	1797	Election	1135	Maurice Bagenal St Leger Keating
28	Co. Kildare	1797	Election	1205	John La Touche
29	Co. Kildare	1801	UK	1135	Maurice Bagenal St Leger Keating
30	Co. Kildare	1801	UK	1205	John La Touche
31	Co. Kildare	1802	Election		Lord Robert Stephen FitzGerald
32	Co. Kildare	1802	Election		Robert La Touche

Co. Kildare - Boroughs

Athy was incorporated by a 1613 charter, 11 James I. The corporation comprised a sovereign, 12 burgesses, a recorder, three serjeants-at-mace, a town clerk and billet master, a treasurer, a bellman, a weighmaster and an inspector of coals and culm. Athy appears to have been politically more lively in the early eighteenth century than it became later. In 1727 there was a disputed election after which Marcus Anthony Morgan (1487) successfully challenged Warner Westenra (2220).

At the 1741 by-election following the death of Sir Walter Dixon Borrowes (0188) on 12 June 1741, Lord Ophaly (later 1st Duke of Leinster) (0734) was returned. In the course of the election there was a duel between William Paul Warren and Jack Hardy, which led to Hardy’s right hand and arm being shattered and it was thought that it would have to be amputated. Marcus Anthony Morgan died on 3 October 1752 and Robert Sandford (1871) was returned and sworn on 24 October 1753, in time for the division on the Money Bill on 17 December, when every vote counted. It was a delicate moment, and the Primate subsequently declared that there had been a misunderstanding between him and Lord Kildare over the vacancy.198

In 1783 Athy was a town of about 900 inhabitants, and in 1790 it was said that ‘The voters for this borough, who consist only of twelve Burgesses are from ancient and personal regard devoted to the interests of his Grace the Duke of Leinster whose recommendation indeed, both constitutes the members of the Corporation and determines the fate of its representatives’, one of whom, at this time, was Lord Edward FitzGerald (0730).

On 15 March 1799 John Beresford (0115) wrote to William Eden, Lord Auckland (0681), saying that the Duke of Leinster would not refuse compensation for his two remaining boroughs (Athy and Kildare) and, indeed, he could not afford to refuse it. Apart from his inherently weak financial position, Co. Kildare, where most of his estates lay, had been devastated by the 1798 Rebellion. The sum of £15,000 minus £1,200 that was paid to Lord Ennismore, who had purchased both seats, was paid to the trusts of his marriage settlement.

Harristown was incorporated by a 1684 charter of 33 Chas II. The borough returned two members to parliament. It had a corporation and kept a minute book, although ‘There was not one house and but one tree inhabiting.’ In 1727 it even had a disputed election at which Edward Stratford (2023) polled 179 votes, John Graydon (0897) 178, Christopher Usher 117 and Chettwood Eustace 24. About 1793 the financially embarrassed Duke of Leinster sold the corporation for £14,000 to John La Touche, who had purchased the estate around it. La Touche received the £15,000 compensation for its disfranchisement at the Union. One contemporary commentator pointed out that the corporation system made the difference between the thriving town of Belfast and Harristown’s tree negligible.

Kildare was possibly incorporated by a Tudor charter: certainly there was a partly destroyed earlier charter than that of James II under which the corporation consisted of a sovereign, two portreeves, 20 burgesses, freemen, a recorder, a town clerk, and two serjeants-at-mace, or town bailiffs. The borough was completely controlled by the Duke of Leinster and the £15,000 for its disfranchisement at the Union was paid to the trusts of his marriage settlement.

Naas. There is a reference to a 1570 charter of Elizabeth I. Naas is a very ancient borough, and originally the seat of the Kings of Leinster. It may be inferred that it was a corporation by prescription. It comprised a sovereign, two provosts, burgesses and freemen without limits. The inferior officers were a serjeant-at-mace, a town serjeant,a billet master and three weighmasters. John Bourke (0192), later 1st Earl of Mayo, gradually gained control of the borough during the century.

There appears to have been a definite attempt to take over the corporation in the 1720s, when there was an election for sovereign in 1726 – the first since 1706 – and Thomas Burgh was elected by 185 to Charles Eustace’s 91 votes. The Eustaces and the Graydons appear to have combined against the Bourkes and the Burghs. In 1730 one of the Graydons (or Gradons) (0890) managed to get himself irregularly elected sovereign, and Bourke had some difficulty in getting him ejected.

The 1768 election was contested, with the result that John Bourke Sr received 36 votes, John Bourke Jr (0193) 31, Walter Hussey (1059) of Dunore 15, William Burgh (0286) of Birt 2. The Bourkes were declared duly elected. Thus there was an element of uncertainty as late as 1768.

Bourke Sr became a Commissioner, and eventually First Commissioner of the Revenue; as such he controlled considerable patronage and he appears to have consolidated his position by making judicious alliances. He was created Lord Naas in 1776 and Earl of Mayo in 1785. In 1775 Thomas Burgh wrote to Chief Baron Anthony Foster (0804) that he had succeeded in his application to Mr J. Bourke who promised that when the borough of Naas was in his possession Thomas Burgh would always command one seat in it.

This arrangement was honoured, and as late as 1791 it was said that Mr Burgh of Old Town had one seat for Naas during Lord Mayo’s life. By 1800 the borough was the property of the 3rd Earl of Mayo, who was also Archbishop of Tuam, and he received the £15,000 compensation for its disfranchisement.

Constituencies and Elections

County Kildare

Co. Kildare - Constituency

Co. Kildare - Boroughs