Co. Antrim

County

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Background Information

Number of voters:

about 8,000 in 1815

Elections

DateCandidate
1801JOHN STAPLES
 EDMOND ALEXANDER MACNAGHTEN
19 July 1802HON. JOHN BRUCE RICHARD O'NEILL
 EDMOND ALEXANDER MACNAGHTEN
24 Nov. 1806HON. JOHN BRUCE RICHARD O'NEILL
 EDMOND ALEXANDER MACNAGHTEN
18 May 1807HON. JOHN BRUCE RICHARD O'NEILL
 EDMOND ALEXANDER MACNAGHTEN
15 May 1811 O'NEILL re-elected after appointment to office
9 May 1812 O'NEILL re-elected after vacating his seat
21 Oct. 1812HON. JOHN BRUCE RICHARD O'NEILL
 FRANCIS CHARLES SEYMOUR CONWAY, Earl of Yarmouth
27 June 1818HON. JOHN BRUCE RICHARD O'NEILL
 HUGH HENRY JOHN SEYMOUR

Main Article

Antrim, one of the more prosperous Irish counties, had a predominantly protestant population. The county developed a reputation for political radicalism in the late 18th century, and through the sympathy and sometimes the support of major landowners this had an impact on parliamentary elections. The tradition was not, however, continued after the Union, when the removal to Westminster and an increasingly defensive outlook in the protestant camp encouraged the two leading landlords, Lords O’ Neill and Hertford, to establish a firm control over elections which eclipsed the weaker interests of the Donegall, Antrim and Langford families. O’ Neill’s income from the county was calculated to be £14,000 p.a., while Hertford possessed 64,000 fertile acres.1

The election of 1802 proved the most exciting in this period. The elderly Staples decided to retire, and during 1801 over 5,000 freeholders were registered in anticipation of a contest. In September 1801 the 1st Earl O’ Neill requested Castle support for his brother, and in November, MacNaghten, the sitting Member, who was standing again on the Marquess of Hertford’s interest, warned the chief secretary that the Hon. William Skeffington intended to offer himself as a candidate of the independent gentry and an opponent of the combination of O’ Neill and Hertford. MacNaghten believed that the independent interest was another term for the radical volunteer tradition, but was also probably a cover for the proprietary interest of the Marquess of Donegall, a known supporter of Skeffington. He therefore asked government support for himself and O’ Neill’s brother. The Castle, which had little direct influence in Antrim, did not rate Skeffington’s chances high. This proved right, for Skeffington withdrew before the poll, alleging that his freeholders had not been registered in time. MacNaghten chose to regard it as the débâcle of the volunteer movement.2

Subsequently the O’ Neill and Hertford interests reinforced their control by obtaining a division of government patronage between them. In 1807, a third man appeared in the person of Col. Edward Michael Pakenham of Langford Lodge, who was expected through kinship to have the Langford interest; but he withdrew at the last minute, complaining of the closed representation of the county and the consequent apathy enveloping its politics.3

In 1812 there were newspaper reports that Pakenham would try again, while another contender was Sir Henry Vane Tempest*, husband of the Countess of Antrim. As all four were counted supporters of government, the Home secretary Lord Sidmouth urged the Castle to persuade two of them to decline. The viceroy assured him that Pakenham and Vane Tempest would most probably retire of their own accord. This proved right and Hertford had no difficulty in bringing in his son Lord Yarmouth in place of MacNaghten, whom he compensated with an English borough.4 In 1818, when Yarmouth demurred for health reasons, Hertford brought in his nephew.5 O’ Neill held the other seat from 1802 until 1841.

Author: P. J. Jupp

Notes

  • 1. E. M. Johnston, Great Britain and Ireland 1760-1800, pp. 179-188; Wakefield, Account of Ireland, i. 246-7.
  • 2. PRO 30/9/1/3/4, O’Neill to Corry, 18 Sept., MacNaghten to Abbot, 26 Nov. 1801; PRO NI, D562/2803, 2804; Add. 35735, ff. 76-82; Saunders’s News Letter, 19, 22 July; Belfast News Letter, 26 July 1802.
  • 3. Belfast News Letter, 19 May 1807.
  • 4. NLI, Richmond mss 65/825; Add. 40185, f. 51; 40222, f. 48.
  • 5. Saunders’s News Letter, 25 June 1818.