The 1860 Londonderry City by-election was held on 2 April following the 13 March 1860 death of the incumbent, the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

's Sir Robert Ferguson. Ferguson had held the seat since 1830 and had received significant support from the Catholic segment of the constituency. The Liberal Party's candidate

Samuel MacCurdy Greer Samuel MacCurdy Greer (1810–1880), was an Irish politician who, in Ulster championed Presbyterian representation and tenant rights. He was a founder member of the Ulster Tenant Right Association and of the all-Ireland Tenant Right League. In ...

had counted on this support transferring to him, however the

Irish Conservative Party The Irish Conservative Party, often called the Irish Tories, was one of the dominant Irish political parties in Ireland in the 19th century. It was affiliated with the Conservative Party in Great Britain. Throughout much of the century it and t ...

's candidate William McCormick, who employed a significant number of Catholic workers, managed to split the Catholic vote. The Liberal Party's Presbyterian support had also been adversely affected by their defeat to the Tories in Londonderry County in 1857, which led many to withdraw from politics. The election resulted in a narrow victory for McCormick, with a 19-vote majority. He held the seat until his retirement at the

1865 United Kingdom general election The 1865 United Kingdom general election was held 7 July 1865 to 24 July 1865 to elect 658 members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. It saw the Liberals, led by Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, Lord Palm ...

Background

Londonderry City, a one-seat

borough constituency In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by electoral districts called " constituen ...

, had been represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

of the British Parliament by

Sir Robert Ferguson, 2nd Baronet Sir Robert Alexander Ferguson, 2nd Baronet (26 December 1795 –13 March 1860) was a Whig (British political party), Whig and then Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician from Ireland. Ferguson was born in Derry in 1796 as son of Sir And ...

since the

1830 United Kingdom general election The 1830 United Kingdom general election was held on 29 July 1830 to 1 September 1830 in the wake of the death of King George IV, producing the first parliament of the reign of his successor, King William IV. The fractured Tories (British polit ...

. Ferguson, who represented first the Whig and then the

, died on 13 March 1860, triggering a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

. Ferguson had been unopposed in all five elections held in the constituency since 1841.

Candidates

The

's candidate was William McCormick, a Donegal-born engineering contractor. He arrived in Londonderry in 1840 as an entrepreneur during a land reclamation project on

Lough Swilly Lough Swilly () in Ireland is a glacial fjord or sea inlet lying between the western side of the Inishowen Peninsula and the Fanad Peninsula, in County Donegal. Along with Carlingford Lough and Killary Harbour it is one of three glacial fjords ...

. McCormick was popular as he had intervened to save local railway lines running to

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, No ...

and

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 14,086 at the 2011 censu ...

and employed hundreds of local people. There were two Liberal Party candidates

and George Skipton. Greer was born in

County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...

and represented the county constituency as a Radical between the

1857 Events January–March * January 1 – The biggest Estonian newspaper, '' Postimees'', is established by Johann Voldemar Jannsen. * January 7 – The partly French-owned London General Omnibus Company begins operating. * Ja ...

and 1859 general elections. Skipton was a resident of Beech Hill in Londonderry. All of the candidates were prominent in the municipal life of Londonderry.

Result

The electorate comprised freemen of the city, houseowners with property rated at a value in excess of £10 per year and occupiers of properties rated at £8 or more per year. Ferguson had been largely apolitical and had received the support of the Catholic population. However the majority of constituents were Protestants (around 37% Presbyterians and 22% Episcopalians) and, with a weakening of Liberal support in the city following Ferguson's death, from 1860 the Conservative Party entered a period of dominance. The Presbyterians had supported Greer at the 1857 by-election for Londonderry County but the victory of Tory landlord-nominee James Johnston Clark led to the withdrawal of many Presbyterians from politics. McCormick, many of whose employees were Catholic, campaigned heavily for support from this segment of the population. This was successful in splintering the Catholic vote, which Greer had thought he could count on. Skipton had hoped to attract support from across all groups in the city, but because of strong denominational ties in the constituency only received a handful of votes. McCormick won the election, held on 2 April, with 327 votes compared to 309 for Greer and 82 for Skipton. An

election petition An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

was made against the result but the House of Commons committee declared the result as valid on 8 June 1860. McCormick chose to serve only one term, retiring on 11 July 1865 with the dissolution of parliament ahead of the

References

{{reflist Londonderry City by-election Londonderry City by-election 19th century in Derry (city) Elections in Derry (city) By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in County Londonderry constituencies 1860 elections in Ireland