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IRELAND & THE WAR: DOWNLOAD TEXT - POST WAR ELECTIONS

Elections: Disillusionment with Redmond’s Irish Home Rule Party became clear in a number of by-elections which were held during the period of the Great War. In February 1917, the first of these elections occurred in north Roscommon owing to the death of Mr. J.J. O’Kelly, an old Member of Parliament for Roscommon. A candidate to stand against Redmond’s man was found in Count Plunkett (a Papal Count). His son, Joseph Mary Plunkett had been executed after the rebellion, he also had two other sons in English Gaols. He had suffered the indignity of being expelled from The Royal Dublin Society on account of his sons' political activities. Plunkett was not a member of Sinn Fein. When he did win the seat he did not attend Westminster.

A further electoral test occurred in South Longford. Here the candidate, Joe McGuinness, was chosen by Plunkett’s committee. McGuinness was serving a prison sentence of penal servitude in Lewes Gaol for his part in the Easter Rebellion. His name went before the electorate with the simple slogan, ‘Put him in to get him out.’ McGuinness did not want his name to go forward as he felt it would compromise the traditional republican attitude of contempt for parliamentary methods. Following a recount, McGuinness beat the Irish Party candidate by thirty eight votes.

On the 7th of June, Major Willie Redmond, the Irish M.P. for East Clare, died in a field hospital run by the Ulster Division on the Western Front near the Belgian village of Wytschaete. All his life he had been a committed Irish nationalist. His death prompted a by-election in the constituency of East Clare. One of the Easter Rising leaders and recently released Sinn Fein prisoner, Mr Eamon De Valera, stood against the Irish Party candidate in the by-election. De Valera won with a handsome majority. The choice Sinn Fein put before the people of East Clare was expressed in an election leaflet which stated, ‘Who will you follow? The men that fought for you in Dublin, or the men who would have you sent to meet German guns?’

The Great War in Europe ended on the 11th of November 1918 and the British Prime Minster, Lloyd George, called a General Election. The parties at Westminster agreed not to have an election during the war. The previous General Election was held back in December 1910. In Britain, Lloyd George, who was the leader of the Liberal Party, decided to continue the war time coalition with the Conservatives. This led to a spilt in the Liberal Party, with Herbert Asquith leading the opponents to this pact. This split weakened the Liberals and placed the Labour Party as the second largest single party in Britain. Lloyd George and his coalition won a massive majority (The Conservatives 338; The Lloyd George Liberals 136; The Asquith Liberals 18; The Labour Party 59). However, the Lloyd George Liberals were the minority party in Government. The Conservatives had enough votes to remove Lloyd George as Prime Minister. This insecurity effected his policies, especially towards Ireland between 1918 and his eventual fall from power in 1922. The Irish electorate in December 1918 was 1,931,588 compared with the previous register of 698,098. The difference was that approx. 800,000 of the new voters were reckoned to be women. In Ireland, the General Election was mainly a struggle between Unionists and Nationalist and between the brands of Nationalism. The result, based on the British ‘winner take all’ system was as follows:

Party			Before the election		After the election
Unionists			18				26
Sinn Fein			7				73
Irish National Party		78				6
(Home Rulers)

Votes cast for Sinn Fein candidates:    		485,105
Votes cast for Irish National Party: 		237,393
(Home Rulers)