Coleraine (UK Parliament constituency)

Coleraine is a former United Kingdom Parliament constituency, in Ireland, returning one MP. It was an original constituency represented in Parliament when the Union of Great Britain and Ireland took effect on 1 January 1801.

Coleraine
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	County Londonderry
Borough	Coleraine
1801–1885
Seats	1
Created from	Coleraine
Replaced by	North Londonderry

Boundaries

This constituency was the parliamentary borough of Coleraine in County Londonderry.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Note
	1 January 1801	Walter Jones	Tory	1801: Co-opted
	13 November 1806	Sir George Hill, Bt	Tory	Also returned by and elected to sit for Londonderry City
	4 February 1807	Walter Jones	Tory	Resigned
	26 June 1809	John Beresford	Tory
	17 October 1812	Lord George Beresford	Tory	Resigned
	10 June 1814	Sir John Beresford, Bt	Tory	Resigned
	22 February 1823	Sir John Brydges	Tory[1]	Unseated on petition 4 August 1831
	4 August 1831	William Taylor Copeland	Whig[1]	Declared duly elected on petition
	13 December 1832	Sir John Beresford, Bt	Tory[1]	Unseated on petition 27 May 1833
	27 May 1833	William Taylor Copeland	Whig[1]	Declared duly elected on petition
	4 August 1837	Edward Litton	Conservative	Appointed Master of Chancery in Ireland
	18 February 1843	John Boyd	Conservative
	5 August 1847		Peelite[2][3]	Resigned
	22 March 1852	Rt Hon. Richard Bourke	Conservative
	30 March 1857	John Boyd	Conservative	Died 2 January 1862
	31 January 1862	Sir Henry Bruce, Bt	Conservative
	6 February 1874	Daniel Taylor	Liberal
	3 April 1880	Sir Henry Bruce, Bt	Conservative	Last MP for the constituency
1885		Constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1830: Coleraine ^[2][1][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	John Brydges (MP)	24	61.5
	Whig	John Thomas Thorp	15	38.5
Majority			9	23.0
Turnout			39	c. 18.3
Registered electors			c. 36
	Tory hold

• Inhabitants were allowed to "tender" votes, with 2 being granted to Brydges and 15 for Thorp. However, just 22 votes of the corporation were accepted. Petitions and counter-petitions over whether the franchise extended to freemen were lodged, but both lapsed ahead of the 1831 election.^[4]

General election 1831: Coleraine ^[2][1][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Tory	John Brydges (MP)	17	80.5	+19.0
	Whig	William Taylor Copeland	70	19.5	−19.0
Majority			53	61.0	+38.0
Turnout			87	24.7	c. +6.4
Registered electors			36
	Tory hold		Swing

• Again, inhabitants were allowed to tender votes, with 1 being cast for Brydges and 70 for Copeland, but these were rejected, and just 16 from the corporation in favour of Brydges were accepted. A petition was again lodged and, after lengthy committee proceedings in the House of Commons, it was agreed that 23 of the 70 tendered votes from those who had been admitted as freeman in 1797 were accepted. Copeland was then declared elected.^[4]

General election 1832: Coleraine ^[2][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Tory	John Beresford	98	50.3	+30.8
	Whig	William Taylor Copeland	97	49.7	−30.8
Majority			1	0.6	−60.4
Turnout			195	94.2	+69.5
Registered electors			207
	Tory hold		Swing	+30.8

• The candidates initially had 97 votes apiece, but the mayor cast a deciding vote in favour of Beresford. A petition was again lodged and a Commons committee again ruled in favour of the freemen and seated Copeland on 27 May 1833.^[1][4][2]

General election 1835: Coleraine ^[2][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	William Taylor Copeland	95	51.4	+1.7
	Conservative	Henry Richardson	90	48.6	−1.7
Majority			5	2.8	N/A
Turnout			185	57.8	−36.4
Registered electors			320
	Whig gain from Conservative		Swing	+1.7

General election 1837: Coleraine ^[2][1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Litton	129	62.6	+14.0
	Whig	Leslie Alexander	77	37.4	−14.0
Majority			52	25.2	N/A
Turnout			206	49.0	−8.8
Registered electors			420
	Conservative gain from Whig		Swing	+14.0

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1841: Coleraine ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Litton	Unopposed
Registered electors			368
	Conservative hold

Litton resigned after being appointed Master of Chancery in Ireland, causing a by-election.

By-election, 18 February 1843: Coleraine ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Boyd	106	55.8	N/A
	Conservative	Henry Bruce	84	44.2	N/A
Majority			22	11.6	N/A
Turnout			190	51.6	N/A
Registered electors			368
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1847: Coleraine ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Peelite	John Boyd	116	65.9	N/A
	Conservative	Henry Bruce	60	34.1	N/A
Majority			56	31.8	N/A
Turnout			176	19.8	N/A
Registered electors			891
	Peelite gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1850s

Boyd resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, causing a by-election.

By-election, 22 March 1852: Coleraine ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Bourke	Unopposed
	Conservative gain from Peelite

General election 1852: Coleraine ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Bourke	Unopposed
Registered electors			222
	Conservative gain from Peelite

General election 1857: Coleraine ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Boyd	Unopposed
Registered electors			261
	Conservative hold

General election 1859: Coleraine ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Boyd	Unopposed
Registered electors			274
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1860s

Boyd's death caused a by-election.

By-election, 31 Jan 1862: Coleraine ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Bruce	Unopposed
Registered electors			271
	Conservative hold

General election 1865: Coleraine ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Bruce	Unopposed
Registered electors			259
	Conservative hold

General election 1868: Coleraine ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Bruce	Unopposed
Registered electors			346
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1870s

General election 1874: Coleraine ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Daniel Taylor	227	58.7	New
	Conservative	Henry Bruce	160	41.3	N/A
Majority			67	17.4	N/A
Turnout			387	88.0	N/A
Registered electors			440
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: Coleraine ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Bruce	222	53.5	+12.2
	Liberal	Daniel Taylor	193	46.5	−12.2
Majority			29	7.0	N/A
Turnout			415	87.9	−0.1
Registered electors			472
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+12.2