Irish House of Commons

The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland, that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive franchise: in counties forty shilling freeholders were enfranchised whilst in most boroughs it was either only the members of self electing corporations or a highly restricted body of freemen that were able to vote for the borough's representatives. Most notably, Roman Catholics were disqualified from sitting in the Irish parliament from 1691, even though they comprised the vast majority of the Irish population. From 1728 until 1793 they were also disenfranchised. Most of the population of all religions had no vote.

The British appointed Irish executive, under the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, was not answerable to the House of Commons but to the British government. However, the Chief Secretary for Ireland was usually a member of the Irish parliament. In the Commons, business was presided over by the Speaker who, in the absence of a government chosen from and answerable to the Commons, was the dominant political figure in the parliament. The House of Commons was abolished when the Irish parliament merged with its British counterpart in 1801 under the Act of Union.

Famous members

*Henry Grattan — went on to serve as an Irish member of the United Kingdom House of Commons.
*Boyle Roche — the "father" of Irish bulls
*Hon. Arthur Wellesley — later became Duke of Wellington, defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, and served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He represented his family borough of Trim, County Meath from 1790-1796.
*William Conolly — a past Speaker, Conolly remains today one of the most widely known figures ever to be produced by the Irish parliament. He is famous not just for his role in parliament but also for his great wealth that allowed him to build one of Ireland's greatest Georgian houses, Castletown House.
*Nathaniel Clements , 1705-1777 Government and Treasury Official, Managed extensive financial functions from 1720 - 1777 on behalf of the Government, de facto Minister for Finance 1740 - 1777, extensive property owner and developer. major influence on the architecture of Georgian Dublin and the Irish Palladian Country house.
*John Philpot Curran — orator and wit, originator of the quotation "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

peakers (1689-1800)

*1557, 1560 & 1568: James Stanyhurst
*1661-????: Sir John Temple
*1689-1692: Sir Richard Nagle
*1692-1695: Sir Robert Levinge
*1695-1703: Robert Rochfort
*1703-1710: Alan Brodrick
*1710-1713: John Forster
*1713-1715: Alan Brodrick
*1715-1729: William Conolly
*1729-1733: Sir Ralph Gore
*1733-1756: Henry Boyle
*1756-1771: John Ponsonby
*1771-1785: Edmund Sexton Pery
*1785-1800: John Foster

Constituencies

The House was elected in the same way as the British House of Commons. By the time of the Union, the shape of the House had been fixed with two members elected for each of the 32 Counties of Ireland, two members for each of 117 Boroughs, and two members for Dublin University, a total of 300 members. The number of Boroughs invited to return members had originally been small (only 55 Boroughs existed in 1603) but was doubled by the Stuart monarchs.

"Members:"
* Sir Richard Bingham
* Sir Warham St. Ledger

=Parliaments of James I=

"Members:"
*Nicholas Barnewall, Catholic
*Patrick Barnewall,Trim
*John Bellew
*Sir Richard Blake, Galway
*Sir Piers Crosby
*Geoffrey Browne, Catholic
*Thomas Burke, Catholic, Mayo
*Oliver Cashell, Louth
*William Cole, Protestant, Fermanagh, d. 1653
*Simon Digby, Protestant
*Sir Maurice Eustace, Speaker, Protestant
*Richard Fitzgerald, Protestant, Strabane
*Sir Roebuck Lynch
*Donagh MacCarthy, Viscount Muskerry, Catholic
*Richard Bellings, Catholic
*Sir Phelim O'Neill, Catholic
*James Montgomery, Protestant
*Nicholas Plunkett, Catholic, Meath
*Edward Rowley, Protestant
*Hardress Waller, Protestant
*John Walsh, Catholic

=Parliament of Charles II=

"Members:"
*Richard Aldworth
*Francis Annesley( brother of Maurice)
*Maurice Annesley (brother of Francis)
*Thomas Beecher
*Henry Boyle
*Alan Brodrick
*St. John Brodrick
*Sir Francis Brewster, Chancellor of the Exchequer
*Randall Brice
*Alan Broderick (brother of Thomas)
*Thomas Broderick (brother of Alan)
*Joseph Coghlan
*Sir Richard Levinge, Speaker
*Stephen Ludlow
*Robert Molesworth
*Neave
*William Ponsonby
*Brigadier Rawdon
*John Reading
*Edward Richardson
*Rochfort (Speaker)
*Philip Savage
*Edward Singleton
*James Sloane
*Richard Warburton
*Brigadier William Wolsely

"Members:"
*Alan Brodrick, Whig, Speaker
*Richard Barry
*Michael Beecher
*Arthur Bernard
*Francis Bernard
*Sir John Perceval

Parliament of George I

"Members:"
*William Brabazon Ponsonby
*John Foster
*Sir John Freke
*John Hely Hutchinson
*John Lysaght
*Charles Lucas
*Edmund Sexton Pery
*Thomas Waite
*Andrews
*Beauchamp
*Bowes
*Henry Flood, Kilkenny
*Lucas
*Cosby Nesbitt, Cavan County
*Richard Townsend
*Sir Lucius O'Brien, Clare County

"Members:"
*Welbore Agar, Kilkenny
*Isaac Corry
*Thomas Coughlan, Carlingford
*Henry Flood
*Sir William Godfrey, Tralee
*Henry Grattan, Independent
*Robert Jephson, Granard
*Sir Richard Johnstone, Blessington
*John Hely Hutchinson
*Sir James May, Waterford
*James Carrique Ponsonby, Tralee
*Ponsoy
*Augustine Warren
*Nathaniel Warren (possibly a member of the 5th session)
*Sir Boyle Roche, Portarlington
*Benjamin Caldwell

"Members:"
*Denis Browne, Mayo County
*Peter Burrows
*Todd Jones
*John Beresford
*Sir Boyle Roche, Tralee

"Members:"
*Charles O'Hara
*Lucius O'Brien
*Edmond Sexton Pery
*Sir Boyle Roche, Old Leighlin

Resignation

Until 1793 members could not resign their seats. They could cease to be a member of the House only by one of four ways:
* death
* expulsion
* taking Holy Orders
* being awarded a peerage and so a seat in the Irish House of Lords.

In 1793 a methodology for resignation was created, equivalent to the Chiltern Hundreds in the British House of Commons. Irish members could now be appointed to either the Escheatorship of Munster, the Escheatorship of Leinster, the Escheatorship of Connaught or the Escheatorship of Ulster. Possession of one of these Crown offices, with entailed a 30/ (30 shilling) salary, automatically terminated one's membership of the House of Commons.

ee also

*History of Ireland
*Member of Parliament (pre-Union Ireland)

References

* Charles Ivar McGrath, "The making of the 18th century Irish Parliament 1692-1714", Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000, ISBN 1-85182-554-1
* Eoin Magennis, "The Irish Political System 1740-1765", Doublin: Four Courts Press, 2000, ISBN 1-85182-484-7
* Moody/Vaughan, "A new history of Ireland", Oxford, 1986, ISBN 0-19-821742-0 and ISBN 0-19-821739-0
* Mary Frances Cusack, "Illustrated History of Ireland", Project Gutenburg