County Tipperary

CO. TIPPERARY – 91%, [119,706] c. 1,500,57 [c. 18,000 (post-1800)]
BOROUGH	TYPE	PATRON	ELECTORATE
Cashel	Corporation	Richard Pennefather	Mayor, 17 aldermen and 70–80 freemen (25 in 1829)
Clonmel	Corporation	Moore family	Mayor, 19 burgesses and 72 freemen
		(Mountcashell)	(c. 90 post-1800)
Fethard	Corporation	Cornelius O’Callaghan	13 burgesses and 900 freemen
		(Lismore) (1 seat)
		Mr William Barton (1 seat)

Co. Tipperary - Constituency

Co. Tipperary had been part of the great medieval palatinate of the Butlers, Earls and later Dukes of Ormonde, which had been abolished when the 2nd Duke was impeached in 1715 and his honours forfeited. Until 1715 the returns for the county would have been made with the Duke’s approval. His departure, however, does not appear to have affected the returns, and the same families continued throughout the century to represent the county, with occasional later exceptions, such as the Tolers and the Bagwells.

In the 1768 general election, when the poll closed at Clonmel, the county town, after an election of 11 days it stood thus: Sir Thomas Maude 696, Francis Mathew 621, Henry Prittie 596, John Bagwell (0073) 371 (gross poll 1,191). Maude and Francis Mathew were declared duly elected. Most of the voters had used both their votes.

In 1776 the numbers were: Henry Prittie 8?3, Francis Mathew 769, Daniel Toler 703. Mathew and Prittie were declared duly elected358 and the gross poll must have been very similar to that of 1768. In 1783 Toler was returned along with Prittie. Francis Mathew was created Lord Landaff in October 1783. In 1785 it was said that ‘The independent interest prevails. Lord Landaff, Lord Earlsfort (1891), the Provost and the Members have the chief interests.’ The members, Toler and Prittie, ‘are supported by the popular party’. The Provost was John Hely-Hutchinson (1001).

By 1790 another element – the Bagwells of Clonmel – had appeared. They had strong mercantile and non-conformist links, which did not make them popular with the old established interests in the county.

Bagwell fought at least one duel – with a Col. Lysaght – in the course of the election. The Bagwells represented the county for the rest of the decade and thereafter sat in the parliament of the United Kingdom. The author of the 1790 commentary obviously knew that some change was taking place, but was uncertain exactly what it was:

What operation this state of the County will have on the next election is not easily foreseen but we may be certain that Mr Prittie, one of its representatives, will be again elected to that station. Of large fortune, of great private worth, though no parliamentary declaimer and of unsuspected integrity, he long discharged it with honour and all parties appear united to fix him in it as long as he chooses. Mr D. Toler, the other Member, was chosen at the last general election with some appearance of support from an independent interest and had not the reality belied the appearance, he might be secure of his re-election, as his parliamentary conduct has in general, well merited the approbation of the spirited man. But as it is said that, whenever a dissolution of Parliament shall take place, the Hon. Mr Mathew, Lord Landaff’s eldest son, is to appear as a candidate against him, the powerful interest which the family has long possessed may, possibly, defeat the fairest hopes which he could form from the deserved attachment of his constituents.

In fact Prittie stood down and Mathew, who was just of age, did not stand. He was, however, returned in 1797 and sat with Bagwell in the United parliament. Tipperary had three parliamentary boroughs: Cashel, Clonmel and Fethard. Cashel and Clonmel survived the Union.

ID	County	Year	Type	Ref. No.	Name
1	Co. Tipperary	1692	Election	1387	Sir John Meade
2	Co. Tipperary	1692	Election	1473	Stephen Moore
3	Co. Tipperary	1695	Election	1387	Sir John Meade
4	Co. Tipperary	1695	Election	1473	Stephen Moore
5	Co. Tipperary	1703	Election	1387	Sir John Meade
6	Co. Tipperary	1703	Election	587	James Dawson
7	Co. Tipperary	1707	By Election	974	James Harrison
8	Co. Tipperary	1713	Election	1362	George Mathew
9	Co. Tipperary	1713	Election	587	James Dawson
10	Co. Tipperary	1715	Election	1412	Humphrey Minchin
11	Co. Tipperary	1715	Election	1651	Kingsmill Pennefather
12	Co. Tipperary	1727	Election	1362	(James Dawson (0587) n.d.e.) George Mathew
13	Co. Tipperary	1727	Election	1651	Kingsmill Pennefather
14	Co. Tipperary	1735	By Election	577	Joseph Damer
15	Co. Tipperary	1737	By Election	653	Nehemiah Donnellan
16	Co. Tipperary	1738	By Election	1476	Stephen Moore
17	Co. Tipperary	1761	Election	1741	Henry Prittie
18	Co. Tipperary	1761	Election	1368	(Thomas Mathew n.d.e.) Sir Thomas Maude
19	Co. Tipperary	1768	Election	1360	Francis Mathew
20	Co. Tipperary	1768	Election	1368	Sir Thomas Maude
21	Co. Tipperary	1776	Election	1360	Francis Mathew
22	Co. Tipperary	1776	Election	1742	Henry Prittie
23	Co. Tipperary	1783	Election	2080	Daniel Toler
24	Co. Tipperary	1783	Election	1742	Henry Prittie
25	Co. Tipperary	1790	Election	2080	Daniel Toler
26	Co. Tipperary	1790	Election	74	(Francis James Mathew (1361) n.d.e.) John Bagwell
27	Co. Tipperary	1796	By Election	1361	Francis James Mathew
28	Co. Tipperary	1797	Election	1361	Francis James Mathew
29	Co. Tipperary	1797	Election	74	John Bagwell
30	Co. Tipperary	1801	UK	1361	Francis James Mathew
31	Co. Tipperary	1801	EUK	74	John Bagwell
32	Co. Tipperary	1802	Election	1361	Francis James Mathew
33	Co. Tipperary	1802	Election	74	John Bagwell

Co. Tipperary - Boroughs

Cashel was a medieval foundation said to have been established in the year 1216 by Donat, Archbishop of Cashel, and incorporated under his successor, Marianus O’Brien, in 1233. It had various subsequent charters before it emerged in its modern form by a 1585 charter of 26 Eliz. I and a 1638 charter of Charles I. The latter states that Cashel was anciently a free borough and archepiscopal see, and ordains that ‘The City of Cashel’ be incorporated by the name of ‘the mayor, Aldermen, Bailiffs, citizens of the City of Cashel’. This was confirmed and certain regulations added by a further charter of 1640, 15 Chas I, and it is under this charter that the corporation operated. It consisted of a mayor, not more than 17 aldermen, of two bailiffs and an unrestricted commonalty.

In 1783 it was stated that Cashel town and corporation comprised a ‘Mayor, 17 Aldermen, 70 or 80 Freemen, partly non-resident. 2,000 inhabitants, 200 Protestants. Patron, Richard Pennefather (1655). An ancient city. Under the immediate control of the Patron.’ Exactly how and when the Pennefathers gained control of the corporation is unknown.

In the first part of the century there was a conflict between various families mainly represented in the Corporation; of these the most prominent were the Pennefathers and the Buckworths. At least one of the Pennefather family represented the borough from 1703 until after the Union. The by-election following the death of Matthew Pennefather (1653) in 1733 was contested by Stephen Moore. Richard Pennefather was returned, and Moore petitioned against the return. A fairly full report of the evidence before the committee was entered in the Commons jn. Ire.

Matthew Pennefather’s death had been expected, and the Moores and the archbishop, Theophilus Bolton (1730–44), both began to take an interest in the corporation. It was said that on 29 June 1727 30 freemen were admitted, but to what extent the formalities were observed is uncertain, as at that time there was no council room and it was the custom of the corporation to assemble in some public house in the town, do their corporate business and then dine together. On this occasion the names of the freemen were taken down before they dined, but ‘No entry of freemen was made then for they minded nothing after dinner but drinking.’

The archbishop was free of the corporation and a council man; and on one occasion he ordained 18–20 young men and they were admitted freemen. Apart from the nature and operation of the corporation, there was the question of how many freemen were married to Roman Catholics and therefore ineligible to vote. Also, the Mayor was entitled to make two freemen on his appointment and two on leaving office. The committee on hearing the evidence decided in favour of the petitioner, Richard Pennefather. The Pennefathers probably consolidated their interest in Cashel during the long parliament of George II, but certainly by the reign of George III. In 1790:

This place, whose constitution is by charter free, as the electors consist of the Freeholders, Burgesses, and an indefinite number of Freemen, is however the complete private property of Richard Pennefather, Esq. whose power is boundless in the creation of Burgesses and Freemen and they always decide the fate of the election. It is never exposed to sale, but two of the Pennefather family constantly represent it. Sometimes with integrity and honour and sometimes with a full measure of courtly complaisance. This mode of having themselves elected is an excellent scheme for the establishment of dominion as it seems to colour the electors with the attachment of friendship, the submissive obedience of real vassals.

Cashel survived the Union, returning one MP to the United parliament. It was a valuable possession and remained under the influence of the Pennefathers. Its most distinguished MP in the post-Union period was the young Robert Peel.

Clonmel was the county town of Co. Tipperary. It was a medieval town with charters going back to the reign of Edward I, but the governing charter was that of 1609, 6 James I. The corporation consists of a mayor, two bailiffs, 20 free burgesses and a commonalty. As part of the palatinate of Tipperary it was under the suzerainty of the Dukes of Ormonde, though this does not necessarily mean that it was tranquil, as in 1705 Sir Richard Cox wrote to Edward Southwell (1962) that ‘Your friend Hamerton and others stirred up a riot in Clonmell on the occasion of swearing in a new mayor.’ After the abolition of the palatinate the Moores, Lords Mountcashell, came to dominate the corporation.

There was a disputed election in 1727. The sitting MP (1713–27), Stephen Moore of Barne (1474), was declared not duly elected. The poll was as follows: Guy Moore (1458) 169, Stephen Moore 161, Robert Hamerton (0910) 166, Robert Marshall (1346) 131. Stephen Moore had used his position as mayor to establish his friends as freemen and Guy and Stephen Moore were originally returned, but Hamerton and Marshall successfully petitioned against the return.

Hamerton died in 1733 and Sir Thomas Prendergast (1725) succeeded him; Marshall was elevated to the bench in 1754 and Guy Moore stood unsuccessfully again. His return was successfully contested by William Bagwell (0076), who was sworn on 19 January 1756. This election was considered a triumph of the rising bourgeoisie of Clonmel, but Bagwell died about six months after he took his seat.

The Moores had been working on the borough and, in 1761, Guy Moore-Coote (1459), who had originally been returned in 1757, was again returned along with Richard Moore (1470), who died almost immediately; Colvill Moore (1455) was returned in his place. Both Guy Moore-Coote and Colvill Moore were returned again in 1768. In 1773 it was thought that while Guy Moore-Coote might have half the borough: ‘This borough is very open and if any person attended to it and resided in the town he would probably succeed.’ By then the unfortunate Colvill Moore was ‘disordered in his understanding’, and in 1776 Stephen Moore (1477) was returned along with Guy Moore-Coote.

In 1783 Clonmel was described as having a ‘Mayor, 19 Burgesses, 70 Freemen. Freemen non-residents, 500 Protestants, 1,500 Papists. Patrons, the Moore family. Proprietor, Mr Bagwell. A large and populous town.’ It was said that Lord Mountcashell (1478) owned half of the borough; in 1785 the other half was attributed to Stephen Moore (1479).

Whether Clonmel was ever secure is questionable: certainly in 1790 it was said that ‘This close Borough, whose electors are confined to the Burgesses only, is the private property of the Earl of Mountcashell whose recommendation ever fixes in their offices these confidential trustees of his political influence and whose pleasure consequently appoints its representatives.’

Clonmel survived the Union, and in 1800 its MP was William Bagwell (0077), whose father, John Bagwell (MP for Co. Tipperary), was the local entrepreneur. John Bagwell owned the town and had his mills nearby at Marlfield, where he carried on an extensive flour-milling and biscuit-making activity. This background told against him in society, as did nicknames such as ‘the miller’ and ‘Old Bags’ and (as colonel of the militia) ‘Marshal Sacks’. Curran (0560) is reputed to have described him at the head of the regiment as: ‘Marshal Saxe with the flour of Tipperary at his back’. Nevertheless, his property was said to be worth £18,000 p.a. in 1812.

Finally on 9 August 1800 John Bagwell bought from Lords Enniskillen (0444) and Desart, as trustees for the Earl of Ormonde (0333) ‘the lordship, manor or reputed manor of the town of Clonmel and all rights, royalties and franchises appertaining thereto’. The grant was also said to convey ‘all the messuages, houses, lands, waste and waste plots, within the walls of the said town of Clonmel and all the Burgagery [?burgage] land and a parcel entitled Duke’s Island in the barony of Upperthird and County of Waterford’. With the Manor of Clonmel, which retained a seat at the Union, he obtained the patronage previously enjoyed by the Moores.

At a meeting [of the Corporation on 31 Dec. 1800] for the purpose of electing five burgesses in the room of the Hon. William Moore (1485), the Hon and Rev Robert Moore, the Hon. John Moore, William Foulks Moore and John Robertson resigned. Ordered that Colonel John Bagwell of Marlfield Esq., Lieutenant Colonel William Bagwell, Richard Bagwell, Lieutenant Colonel John Bagwell, Benjamin Bousfield, John Keighly jun., Arthur Gething of Lorintoun, Charles Riall of Clonmel, Edward Crocker of Ballinaguard and William Pennefather of Darlinghill, Esq., be and are hereby admitted Freemen of this Corporation.

Canon Burke states that the group included John Bagwell, his three sons, his son-in-law, his cousin german, his wife’s brother-in-law, Croker, Croker’s cousin german, Pennefather, ‘together with Benjamin Bousfield and Arthur Gething – poor relations probably’.

Fethard was also a medieval borough, with charters dating from the reign of Edward III. The governing charter was one of 1608, 5 James I, which decreed that the corporation should consist of a sovereign, 12 chief burgesses, a portreeve and as many as were then free or inhabiting the said town or borough. It was another complicated borough. The Fethard estate originally belonged to the Everards (0709), who were a prominent Jacobite family and also politically connected with the Duke of Ormonde.

In 1742 Sir Redmond Everard died in exile considerably in debt, and in 1751 his residuary heir, James Long Everard, sold the estate to Thomas Barton for £30,500 to meet the debt. Meanwhile Cornelius O’Callaghan (1561), the elder, MP for Fethard 1761–8, had an estate in or near Fethard estimated at £6,000 p.a. He went to live in Bath and decided to settle the Fethard estate on his nephew, also Cornelius O’Callaghan (1562), who had married a daughter of John Ponsonby (1702).

The borough became a bone of contention between Barton, who owned the town, and O’Callaghan (1562), who had sat for the borough from 1768 to 1785, when he was created Lord Lismore. In 1783 Fethard had ‘above 900 Freemen, Sovereign, 12 Burgesses, almost all non-resident. 150 inhabitants, about 20 Protestants. Patrons, Mr O’Callaghan and Mr Barton. Soil, Mr Barton.’ The following outline of its recent political history was given in 1790:

This Borough is by constitution free, the electors consisting of Freeholders, Burgesses and Freemen and the latter having been so much increased by the contending families of Barton (0098) and O’Callaghan (now Lord Lismore) according as they had possession of the chief magistracy, that they exceeded in number the voters of many Counties, scarce a gentleman within twenty miles of Fethard not being one of that body. This naturally should have opened the Borough, but it has not produced that effect as these Freemen, whenever they attend, consider themselves rather as the trustees of the family that introduced them here, than as the independent constituents of the candidate of their choice. After various contests for appropriating the whole of the representation, ever violent and disgraceful in their progress and sometimes not very honourable in their issue, a fair partition of the property of the Borough has taken place, Mr Barton naming one of its representatives and Lord Lismore the other. The partition is rather singular, as the noble Lord possesses not a single foot of ground, either in the town or its vicinity.

The general elections of 1761 and 1768 illustrate what happened. In 1761 the voting was: Cornelius O’Callaghan (1561) 307, Stephen Moore (1477) 234, William Barton 156. Cornelius O’Callaghan and Stephen Moore were declared duly elected. In 1768 the voting was: Cornelius O’Callaghan (1562) 236, John Croker 183, William Barton 156, Lovelace Lowe 58. The majority for Mr O’Callaghan was 80 and for Mr Croker 27.

The steadiness of Barton’s vote is interesting and illustrates the divided nature of the constituency. In 1783 William Barton’s eldest son Thomas Barton (0098) was returned with Cornelius O’Callaghan, and he sat in successive parliaments until 1797. At the time of the Union both of the original protaganists were dead and their sons Cornelius, Lord Lismore (1562) and Thomas Barton each received £7,500 in compensation.

Constituencies and Elections

County Tipperary

Co. Tipperary - Constituency

Co. Tipperary - Boroughs