Parliamentary Elections (Ireland) Act 1829

The Parliamentary Elections (Ireland) Act 1829, also known as the Irish Franchise Act 1829,[1] was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1829. It restricted the franchise to elect knights of the shire (Members of Parliament) in county constituencies in Ireland to those who had a freehold of £ 10, disfranchising the forty-shilling freeholders. It received the royal assent on the same day as the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 permitted Catholics to sit in parliament.

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to amend certain Acts of the Parliament of Ireland relative to the Election of Members to serve in Parliament, and to regulate the Qualification of Persons entitled to vote at the Election of Knights of the Shire in Ireland.
Citation10 Geo. 4. c. 8
Dates
Royal assent13 April 1829
Text of statute as originally enacted

The impact of the legislation has been estimated as a drop in the electorate from 215,000 to 40,000.[2] The county franchise was increased again shortly after by the Representation of the People (Ireland) Act 1832, which increased the franchise to around 60,500.

Notes
  1. Farrell, Stephen (2009). "IV. Ireland". In Fisher, D. R. (ed.). The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1820-1832. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521193146. Archived from the original on 24 April 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  2. Johnston, Neil (1 March 2013). "The History of the Parliamentary Franchise (Research Paper 13-14)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 November 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2023.

Further reading
  • McElroy, M. (2007). "The Impact of the Parliamentary Elections (Ireland) Act (1829) on the Irish Electorate, c. 1829–32". In Blackstock, A.; Magennis, E. (eds.). Politics and Political Culture in Britain and Ireland, 1750–1850. pp. 24–40.


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