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LORD ACTON'S IRISH ELECTIONS*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2008

COLIN BARR
COLIN BARR*
Affiliation:
Ave Maria University
*
Department of History, Ave Maria University, 5050 Ave Maria Blvd, Ave Maria, FL34142, USAcolin.barr@avemaria.edu
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Abstract

From the age of twenty-three until his death at the age of sixty-eight, Lord Acton was or sought to be a member of the United Kingdom parliament. Although Acton remains a subject of scholarly interest, his political career has received relatively little attention. This article examines Acton's search for an Irish parliamentary seat, a search which was twice unsuccessful in 1857, but which resulted in May 1859 in Acton's return as the member for Carlow borough. Although Acton was pushed towards parliament by his family – and particularly his stepfather, Lord Granville – a close examination of Acton's campaigns reveals more dedication to a political career than has previously been accepted.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 51 , Issue 1 , March 2008 , pp. 87 - 114
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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Footnotes

*

I am grateful to a number of friends and colleagues for their assistance, including P. Baxa, J. J. Lee, C. McGregor, G. Martin, D. Quinn, C. L. Romens, and A. Shields. The Warden and Fellows of Robinson College, Cambridge, kindly hosted me as a visiting scholar during much of the research for the present article, and I am grateful for their hospitality.

References

1 Auchmuty, James J., ‘Acton's election as an Irish member of parliament’, English Historical Review, 61 (1946), pp. 394–405CrossRefGoogle Scholar; ‘Acton as a member of the House of Commons’, Bulletin Faculty of Arts, Farouk I University, 5 (1950); ‘Acton: the youthful parliamentarian’, Historical Studies: Australia & New Zealand, 9 (1960), pp. 131–9. The last is more an anti-Acton polemic than a considered piece of scholarship.

2 Roland Hill, Lord Acton (New Haven, CT, 2000).

3 Ibid., p. 86. Hill is not alone. John Kenyon, for example, makes a muddle of Acton's early political career by confusing one ‘Johnny’ with another: Lord John Russell. See Kenyon, The history men (London, 1983), p. 127.

4 Josef L. Altholz, Damian McElrath, and James C. Holland, eds., The correspondence of Lord Acton and Richard Simpson (3 vols., Cambridge, 1971–5).

5 A stark example of the failure to do this may be found in D. T. Horgan's otherwise extremely useful prosopographical study ‘The Irish Catholic Whigs in parliament, 1847–1874’ (Ph.D. thesis, Minnesota, 1975). Horgan limited his study only to those Catholic Whig MPs actually born in Ireland – a definition that excludes Acton and artificially divides Irish and English Whigs.

6 Hill, Lord Acton, p. 81.

7 Memorandum ‘Monday July [1851]’, Cambridge University Library (CUL), Acton papers, MS Add. 8122(3)/1. This peculiar document – in Acton's hand – takes the form of a dialogue between Acton and Döllinger about the former's future.

8 Granville to Acton, 5 Feb. 1852, The National Archives (TNA), Granville papers, PRO 30/29/18/9/2. Granville succeeded Lord Aberdeen as foreign secretary in late 1851.

9 Memorandum ‘Monday July [1851]’.

10 Granville to Charles Canning, 10 Mar. 1857, TNA, Granville papers, PRO 30/29/21/2/6.

11 Russell was never forgiven for comparing Catholic worship to ‘mummeries of superstition’. Although older, E. R. Norman's Anti-Catholicism in Victorian England (London, 1968) remains an excellent account of the ‘papal aggression’.

12 Acton to Gladstone, 1 Jan. 1867, British Library, Gladstone papers, Add. 44093, fo. 55.

13 Acton to Granville, ‘Tuesday’ 1857 [probably 3 Mar.], CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8121(7)/1103.

14 The shifting political alliances and their effect on the political parties in the period are treated in depth in Angus Hawkins, Parliament, party and the art of politics in Britain, 1855–1859 (Stanford, CA, 1987).

15 See Horgan, ‘The Irish Catholic Whigs in parliament’, for a detailed account. The only Catholic MP for a British seat was Lord Edward Howard, in his brother's pocket borough of Arundel.

16 Auchmuty, ‘Acton's election as an Irish member of parliament’, p. 395.

17 Acton to Granville, ‘Tuesday’ 1857 [probably 3 Mar.].

18 Granville to Canning, 10 Mar. 1857.

19 Ibid.

20 Granville to Acton, [?6] Mar. 1857, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8121(6)/73. For Fitzgerald, see K. Theodore Hoppen, Elections, politics, and society in Ireland, 1832–1885 (Oxford, 1984), p. 280.

21 For Carlisle, see Diana Davids Olien, Morpeth: a Victorian public career (Washington, DC, 1983). Carlisle was better known by his courtesy title, Lord Morpeth.

22 Peter Mandler, Aristocratic government in the age of reform (Oxford, 1990), p. 53.

23 There is a useful genealogy of the four families in Mandler, Aristocratic government, p. 47.

24 Sixth duke of Devonshire to Carlisle, 7 Mar. 1857, from the Castle Howard Archives (CHA), J19/1/71/31. With the kind permission of the Hon. Simon Howard. There is a copy in TNA: Granville papers, PRO 30/29/23/10.

25 Bessborough to Carlisle, 7 Mar. 1857, CHA, J19/1/71/42.

26 New Ross was a small borough in county Wexford. Formerly the seat of Charles Gavan Duffy, the leader of the Independent Irish party, the constituency fell into Conservative hands in an 1856 by-election occasioned by Duffy's resignation. It remained Tory until 1868.

27 Granville to Carlisle, 8 Mar. 1857, CHA, J19/1/71/36.

28 Carlisle to Granville, 12 Mar. 1857, TNA, Granville papers, PRO 30/29/23/10.

29 Diary of the seventh earl of Carlisle, 12 Mar. 1857, CHA, J19/8/35.

30 Butt had previously been a Protectionist, but, according to Edward Horsman, he had ‘submitted his [election] address to [Viscount] Monck & me & gives his unqualified adhesion to Lord Palmerston – so we have agreed not to oppose him’. Horsman to Carlisle, 10 Mar. 1857, CHA, J19/1/71/52. For Devonshire's support, see Granville to Carlisle, 8 Mar. 1857.

31 Horsman to Carlisle, 9 Mar. [1857], CHA, J19/1/71/43.

32 Horsman to Carlisle, 10 Mar. 1857.

33 See Lindsay J. Proudfoot, Urban patronage and social authority: the management of the duke of Devonshire's towns in Ireland, 1764–1891 (Washington, DC, 1995), p. 2.

34 Proudfoot describes Humble as a Liberal-Conservative (Urban patronage and social authority, p. 292), while Hoppen refers to him as a ‘Protestant Conservative landlord’ (Hoppen, K. Theodore, ‘Tories, Catholics, and the general election of 1859’, Historical Journal, 13 (1970), pp. 48–67CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at p. 55).

35 See Lord Eglinton to Lord Naas, 31 Mar. 1852, National Library of Ireland (NLI), Mayo papers, MS 11,031(1); Humble to Lord Donoughmore [copy], 9 Apr. 1859, NLI, Mayo papers, MS 11,036(5). For Humble and the Devonshire interest in 1857, see NLI, Lismore Estate papers, MS 7188.

36 Acton to Granville, 16 Mar. [1857], CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8121(7)/1104.

37 Granville to Acton, 17 Mar. 1857, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8121(6)/74.

38 Acton to Granville, ‘Sunday’ [probably 22 Mar.] 1857, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8121(7)/1105.

39 The Liberals made a net gain of three seats in Ireland.

40 Acton to Granville, ‘Sunday’ [probably 22 Mar.] 1857.

41 This was Francis Calcutt, and he was barely able to raise the money in 1857, and unable to in 1859 when he lost the seat. See Hoppen, ‘Tories, Catholics, and the general election of 1859’, p. 59.

42 Acton to Granville, ‘Sunday’ [probably 22 Mar.] 1857.

43 Granville to Carlisle, 17 Mar. 1857, CHA, J19/1/71/81.

44 Acton to Anna Arco-Valley, 2 Apr. [1857], quoted in translation from the French in Hill, Lord Acton, p. 82.

45 Acton to Cullen, 23 Nov. 1857, Dublin diocesan archives (DDA), Cullen papers, 339/8/i/58. In 1869, Bernal Osborne was elected MP for Waterford city after sitting for five separate English constituencies.

46 Bessborough to Granville, 23 Apr. 1857, TNA, Granville papers, PRO 30/29/19/8/11.

47 Carlisle to Palmerston, 28 Apr. 1857, TNA, Granville papers, PRO 30/29/19/8/15. For the full scope of Carlisle's opposition to Bernal Osborne, see Olien, Morpeth, pp. 427–9.

48 For Cullen's political views see Steele, E. D., ‘Cardinal Cullen and Irish nationality’, Irish Historical Studies, 19 (1974–5), pp. 234Google Scholar–60.

49 Benjamin Disraeli to Montagu Corry, 16 Oct. 1866, W. F. Monypenny and G. E. Buckle, The life of Benjamin Disraeli, earl of Beaconsfield (6 vols., London, 1910–20), iv, p. 483. Corry was Disraeli's private secretary.

50 Acton to Cullen, 18 Nov. 1857, DDA, Cullen papers, 339/8/i/56.

51 Charles Acton (1803–47) was John Acton's paternal uncle. He was created cardinal in 1839.

52 Moore lacks a modern biography, but M. G. Moore, An Irish gentleman: George Henry Moore: his travel, his racing, his politics (London, n.d.), is useful for the correspondence its publishes. For the relationship between Moore and MacHale, and MacHale and Cullen, see Emmet Larkin, The making of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, 1850–1860 (Chapel Hill, NC, 1980), esp. pp. 380–9 for the 1857 election.

53 They fell out in 1859 over Maguire's support of the Derby government. See J. H. Whyte, The Independent Irish party, 1850–1859 (Oxford, 1958), pp. 129, 153.

54 Cullen to Acton, 21 Nov. 1857, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8119(2)/c326. Cullen was probably correct: in Moore, An Irish gentleman, there is no mention of Dungarvan or any other constituency except Mayo in 1857.

55 Since at least 1856, Acton had been helping Russell with the latter's life of the famous linguist, Cardinal Mezzofanti: Russell to Acton, 29 Apr. 1856, Shropshire Archives, Acton of Aldenham papers, 1093/481. For Russell, see Ambrose Macaulay, Dr Russell of Maynooth (London, 1983).

56 Russell to Acton, 20 Nov. 1857, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8119(5)/r165. Acton's letters to Russell do not survive.

57 Mooney to Russell, 23 Nov. 1857, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8119(5)/r167a. Mooney even sent Acton a detailed draft. See CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8119(5)/r168a.

58 Mooney to Russell, 30 Nov. 1857, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8119(5)/r168a.

59 Mooney to Russell, 23 Nov. 1857.

60 Mooney to Russell, 30 Nov. 1857.

61 Ibid.

62 Auditor was a position roughly equivalent to chief financial officer of the Devonshire estate. Currey's cousin Francis Curry was the duke's Irish agent, resident at Lismore Castle. Although the duke might from time to time deal with Curry directly, most estate business passed through Currey.

63 Granville to Acton, 23 Nov. 1857, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8121(6)/75.

64 Acton to Cullen, 23 Nov. 1857.

65 John Henry Newman to Acton, 25 Nov. 1857, C. S. Dessain et al., eds., The letters and diaries of John Henry Newman (32 vols., London and Oxford, 1962 –), xviii, p. 184. For Acton and Newman, see Owen Chadwick, Acton and history (Cambridge, 1998), ch. 5.

66 For the Newman–Cullen relationship, see Colin Barr, Paul Cullen, John Henry Newman and the Catholic University of Ireland, 1845–1865 (Notre Dame, IN, 2003).

67 See, for example, Wiseman to Lady Leveson, 18 Nov. 1840, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8119(8)/534. In this letter, Wiseman advises on a tutor for the young Acton.

68 Acton to Wiseman, 23 Nov. 1857, Westminster diocesan archives, Wiseman papers, w/3/52/57.

69 Wiseman to Acton, 27 Nov. 1857, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8119(6)/w280. Emphasis in original.

70 Wiseman to Acton, 27 Nov. 1857, John Neville Figgis and Reginald Vere Laurence, eds., Selections from the correspondence of the first Lord Acton (London, 1917), pp. 29–30.

71 Granville to Canning, 24 Oct. 1857, Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, The life of Granville George Leveson Gower, second Earl Granville K. G., 1815–1891 (2 vols., London, 1905), i, p. 262.

72 The definitive treatment is Josef Altholz, The liberal Catholic movement in England: the ‘Rambler’ and its contributors, 1848–1864 (London, 1962).

73 Acton to Simpson, 16 Feb. 1858, Altholz, McElrath, and Holland, eds., Acton–Simpson correspondence, i, p. 8. Another condition was that he would not write anything of which Döllinger disapproved.

74 Acton's journal, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 5528. The journal takes the form of notes in a blank book. Most of the entries are undated, although some towards the rear of the volume are dated Sept. 1859. Most seem to be substantially earlier. In most instances, both sides of the page are written on, but there is only one handwritten page number that appears in the lower right-hand corner recto.

75 Ibid., p. 44v.

76 Ibid., p. 45.

77 Ibid., p. 48.

78 Ibid., p. 48v.

79 Acton to Simpson, 19 Jan. 1859, Altholz, McElrath, and Holland, eds., Acton–Simpson correspondence, i, p. 137. Bishop Grant, for example, thought that if Acton disbelieved in a proposition (such as might be contained in the parliamentary oath), he could not swear that he personally accepted it. Grant to Acton, 13 Jan. 1859, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8119(2)/g131.

80 It was not an exile: Acton enjoyed Munich, had family there, and was in many ways more at home in Germany.

81 Granville to Acton, 22 Jan. 1859, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8121(6)/76.

82 This is the same Frederick Cavendish who was murdered by Irish republicans in 1882.

83 Proudfoot, Urban patronage and social authority, p. 293.

84 Entry for 12 Apr. 1859, diaries of the seventh duke of Devonshire, Devonshire MSS, Chatsworth. By permission of the duke of Devonshire.

85 William Currey to Francis Curry, 6 Apr. 1859, NLI, Lismore Castle papers. The Lismore Castle papers (as distinct from the Lismore Estate papers) are in the process of being catalogued and have not yet been assigned a manuscript number by the Library. I am grateful to Dr Stephen Ball for facilitating my access to these papers.

86 The letter (dated 7 Apr. 1859) is preserved in the NLI, Lismore Castle papers.

87 Currey to Curry, 7 Apr. 1859, NLI, Lismore Castle papers.

88 Seventh duke of Devonshire to Curry, 12 Apr. 1859, NLI, Lismore Castle papers.

89 Curry to Currey, 9 Apr. 1859, NLI, Lismore Estate papers, MS 7190.

90 Proudfoot, Urban patronage and social authority, p. 292.

91 Hoppen, ‘Tories, Catholics, and the general election of 1859’, p. 55.

92 Curry to Currey, 10 Apr. 1857, NLI, Lismore Estate papers, MS 7188.

93 Curry to Currey, 4 Apr. 1857, quoted in Proudfoot, Urban patronage and social authority, p. 293.

94 Proudfoot, Urban patronage and social authority, pp. 258–9.

95 Curry to Currey, 10 Apr. 1859, NLI, Lismore Estate papers, MS 7190.

96 Chatsworth, Devonshire MSS, diaries of the seventh duke of Devonshire.

97 Acton to Simpson, 4 Apr. 1859, Altholz, McElrath, and Holland, eds., Acton–Simpson correspondence, i, p. 166.

98 Ibid.

99 Acton to Minny Throckmorton, 3 Feb. 1859, Warwickshire Record Office, Throckmorton papers, CR1998/Tribune/Chest of Drawers/folder 36.

100 Very little is known about Lynch. By 1862, he appears to have become a Catholic schools inspector. Henry J. Lynch to Acton, 23 May 1862, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8119(1)/l211.

101 Lynch to Acton, 21 Apr. 1859, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8119(1)/l210.

102 See Curry to Currey, 10 Apr. 1859.

103 Russell to Acton, 29 May [1858], CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8119(5)/r191. Emphasis in original.

104 See Curry to Humble [copy], 17 Apr. 1859, NLI, Lismore Castle papers.

105 Curry to Currey, 10 Apr. 1859.

106 James Galwey to Francis Curry, 10 Apr. 1859, NLI, Lismore Castle papers.

107 See Curry to Currey, 10 Apr. 1859.

108 Galwey to Curry, 10 Apr. 1859.

109 Acton to Anna Arco-Valley, 13 Apr. 1859, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8121(7)/701.

110 William Gladstone to Catherine Gladstone, 9 Apr. 1859, Flintshire Record Office, Gladstone–Glynne papers, gg/774.

111 Ibid.

112 Acton to Arco-Valley, 13 Apr. 1859.

113 Ibid.

114 Acton to Simpson, 12 Apr. 1859, Altholz, McElrath, and Holland, eds., Acton–Simpson correspondence, i, p. 170.

115 Ibid.

116 Russell to Dominic O'Brien, 9 Apr. 1859, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8119(5)/r176.

117 Russell and Wiseman had been close since the 1830s, and Russell officiated at the cardinal's funeral in 1865. Macaulay, Dr Russell, p. 30.

118 R. V. Comerford, The Fenians in context: Irish politics & society, 1848–1882 (Dublin, 1998), p. 46.

119 This was plausible not because the Tories were in favour of the pope's temporal power, but because their foreign policy was pro-Austrian and thus anti-revolutionary.

120 For example, see Disraeli to Naas, 12 May 1859, M. G. Wiebe et al., eds., Benjamin Disraeli letters, (7 vols., Toronto, 1981 –), vii, pp. 376–8.

121 Lord Roden. See Acton to Simpson, 19 Apr. 1859, Altholz, McElrath, and Holland, eds., Acton–Simpson correspondence, i, p. 173.

122 Wiseman to T. F. Strange, 13 Apr. 1859, quoted in Hoppen, ‘Catholics, Tories, and the general election of 1859’, p. 56. The successful candidate, John Blake, secured the second seat behind the Protestant Conservative M. D. Hassard. Wiseman's letter was published in the Tablet, which was supporting the Tories in 1859. For the strategy and tactics of Wiseman's interventions, see Dermot Quinn, Patronage and piety: the politics of English Roman Catholicism, 1850–1900 (Stanford, CA, 1993), pp. 42–3.

123 John O'Brien to Acton, 16 Apr. 1859, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8119(4)/9. Emphasis in original.

124 Acton to Simpson, 19 Apr. 1859.

125 He was correct: N. M. Power did not stand in 1859.

126 O'Brien to Acton, 16 Apr. 1859.

127 Galwey to Curry, 10 Apr. 1859.

128 Currey to Curry, 13 Apr. 1859, NLI, Lismore Castle papers. Granville also wrote directly to the duke: seventh duke of Devonshire to Curry, 13 Apr. 1859, NLI, Lismore Castle papers.

129 Currey to Curry, 13 Apr. 1859.

130 Devonshire to Curry, 13 Apr. 1859.

131 Curry to Devonshire, 17 Apr. 1859, NLI, Lismore Estate papers, MS 7190. Emphasis in original.

132 See Hoppen, ‘Tories, Catholics, and the general election of 1859’, p. 55.

133 Russell to Acton, 29 May [1858].

134 Mooney to Russell, 10 Apr. 1859, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8119(5)/r177. According to Mooney, Maguire's problems came from local anger at his refusal to support a popular public works project, not his support of Derby.

135 Curry to Devonshire, 17 Apr. 1859.

136 Devonshire to Curry, 19 Apr. 1859, NLI, Lismore Castle papers.

137 Acton to Marie Louise Dalberg Leveson Gower, Lady Granville [his mother], 17 Apr. 1859, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8121(7)/586. In French.

138 Granville to Acton, 11 Apr. 1859, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8121(6)/77.

139 Acton to Anna Margareta Arco-Valley, [17 Apr.] 1859, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8121(7)/702. In French.

140 Acton to Simpson, 16 Apr. 1859, Altholz, McElrath, and Holland, eds., Acton–Simpson correspondence, i, p. 173.

141 Acton to Arco-Valley, [17 Apr.] 1859.

142 Russell to James Walshe, 18 Apr. 1859, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8119(5)/r178.

143 See Lynch to Acton, 21 Apr. 1859, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8119(1)/l210.

144 The total electorate in 1862 was 10,847. See B. M. Walker, Parliamentary election results in Ireland, 1801–1922 (Dublin, 1978), p. 271.

145 In the elections of 1852, 1857, and 1859, both Dublin city seats went to Conservatives. A Conservative headed the poll in every election from 1841 to 1868.

146 Diary of the seventh earl of Carlisle, 19, 20 Mar. 1857, CHA, j19/8/35.

147 Acton to Arco-Valley, [17 Apr.] 1859.

148 Acton to Lady Granville, 17 Apr. 1859.

149 Acton to Arco-Valley, [17 Apr.] 1859.

150 Granville to Acton, [Apr.] 1859, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8121(6)/78. The date on the letter is written as 1 April, but that cannot be correct. The letter clearly dates from the period 19 April to about 2 May. The most likely date is somewhere between 20 and 25 April.

151 Acton to Arco-Valley, 13 Apr. 1859, and Acton to Simpson, 24 Apr. 1859, Altholz, McElrath, and Holland, eds., Acton–Simpson correspondence, i, p. 177.

152 Granville to Acton, 23 Apr. 1859, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8121(6)/80.

153 Vincent Scully, QC. Stood unsuccessfully for Cork county in 1857, came second in the poll, 1859.

154 Granville to Acton, 29 Apr. 1859, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8121(6)/81.

155 Granville to Acton, 20 Apr. 1859, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8121(6)/79.

156 Times, 25 Mar. 1859. The context was a debate over the Conservative reform bill, and the subject electoral corruption in small boroughs.

157 Auchmuty, ‘Acton's election as an Irish member of parliament’, p. 397.

158 Anthony Trollope, Phineas Finn, the Irish member (Oxford, 1999), p. 7.

159 Granville to Acton, 20 Apr. 1850. Granville's calculations give a total electorate of 231; the Carlow Post of 14 May 1859 gave 232; 220 actually voted: see Walker, Parliamentary election results in Ireland, p. 255.

160 In 1839, the election of the Conservative Francis Bruen was overturned on grounds of corruption.

161 For Sadleir, see James O'Shea, Prince of swindlers: John Sadleir, M. P., 1813–1856 (Dublin, 1999).

162 Carlow Sentinel, 30 Apr. 1857.

163 James Walshe to Cullen, 3 Apr. 1857, Cullen papers, DDA, 339/5/i/47.

164 Maher was the brother of Cullen's mother. Cullen's half-nephew, Patrick Francis Moran (eventually cardinal archbishop of Sydney) wrote a quasi-biography: The letters of Rev. James Maher, D. D., late P. P. of Carlow-Graigue, on religious subjects: with a memoir (Dublin, 1873).

165 There is no mention of Carlow borough in Lord Naas's election correspondence in the National Library of Ireland (MS 11,036(5)), whereas other at-risk seats such as Newry and Louth received substantial attention. When Acton's victory was announced, the Conservative chief whip, T. E. Taylor, thought it ‘unexpected quite’. Taylor to Donoughmore, n.d. [but May 1859], Trinity College Archives Department, H/19/1/1598. I am grateful to Dr Andrew Shields for this reference.

166 Granville to Acton, 20 Apr. 1859.

167 For Cullen and Maher, the very real objections to the Whig-Liberals, and especially their leaders, were outweighed by the ultra-Protestant character of Irish conservatism.

168 Auchmuty, ‘Acton's election as an Irish member of parliament’, p. 399.

169 Carlow Sentinel, 23 Apr. 1859.

170 Auchmuty, ‘Acton's election as an Irish member of parliament’, p. 398, quoting from the conservative Saunders Newsletter.

171 J. D. Fitzgerald to Granville, 26 Apr. [1859], CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8121(6)/39. Emphasis in original. Although the date on the letter is clearly written as ‘1856’, from the context there can be no doubt that that is a slip of the pen and the letter dates from 1859.

172 Acton to Simpson, 2 May 1859, Altholz, McElrath, and Holland, eds., Acton–Simpson correspondence, i, pp. 177–8.

173 See Gordon L. Herries-Davies' entry on Ball in the Oxford dictionary of national biography.

174 Ball to Acton, 1 May 1859, CUL, Acton papers, MS. Add. 8119(1)/b26.

175 Acton to Simpson, 2 May 1859.

176 Carlow Sentinel, 30 Apr. 1859.

177 Auchmuty, ‘Acton's election as an Irish member of parliament’, p. 399.

178 Carlow Sentinel, 30 Apr. 1859.

179 For both Gavazzi's Irish tour and an excellent account of the impact of Italy on the 1859 election, see O'Brien, Jennifer, ‘Irish public opinion and the Risorgimento, 1859–1860’, Irish Historical Studies, 34 (2005), esp. pp. 294–7.Google Scholar

180 Carlow Post, 7 May 1859.

181 Ibid.

182 Ibid.

183 Acton to the electors of the borough of Carlow, Carlow Post, 7 May 1857.

184 Acton to Simpson, 8 May 1857, Altholz, McElrath, and Holland, eds., Acton–Simpson correspondence, i, p. 178.

185 Carlow Sentinel, 7 May 1857. Allegedly, a number of pro-Alexander Catholic voters were seized by the Liberals to prevent them voting.

186 Maher to the editor of the Carlow Post, Carlow Post, 7 May 1857.

187 Carlow Post, 7 May 1857.

188 Granville to Acton, 9 May 1859, CUL, Acton papers, MS Add. 8121(6)/82. Granville had just met with Norton.

189 Carlow Post, 7 May 1857.

190 Granville to Acton, 9 May.

191 ‘Money paid’, 1859, NLI, Mayo papers, MS 11,036(1). This is a constituency-by-constituency list of Conservative expenditure in Ireland.

192 Carlow Post, 7 May 1857.

193 Hoppen, ‘Tories, Catholics, and the general election of 1859’, p. 64.

194 Auchmuty, ‘Acton's election as an Irish member of parliament’, p. 401.

195 For more on the influence of Italy on Irish politics, see Colin Barr, ‘Giuseppe Mazzini and Irish nationalism’, in C. A. Bayly and E. F. Biagini, eds., Giuseppe Mazzini and globalization of democratic nationalism, 1805–2005, Proceedings of the British Academy (London, forthcoming).

196 David Cresap Moore, The politics of deference: a study of the mid-nineteenth-century English political system (Hassocks, Sussex, 1976).

197 Clare, Cashel, New Ross, Dungarvan, Youghal, Waterford city, Waterford county, Kinsale, Queen's county, Limerick, Dublin city, Cork county, Carlow.

198 Acton to Granville, ‘Tuesday’ 1857 [probably 3 Mar.].