1828 Clare by-election
http://dbpedia.org/resource/1828_Clare_by-election an entity of type: Thing
The Clare by-election of 1828 was notable as this was the first time since the reformation that an openly Roman Catholic MP, Daniel O'Connell was elected. Clare was held by William Vesey Fitzgerald when he became the President of the Board of Trade. As this was seen to be an office of profit, Vesey-FitzGerald had to stand in a by-election. Daniel O'Connell decided to exploit a loophole in the Act of Union. It stated that Catholics could not sit in Westminster as a Member of Parliament (MP), but there was nothing about them standing for an election.
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1828 Clare by-election
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The Clare by-election of 1828 was notable as this was the first time since the reformation that an openly Roman Catholic MP, Daniel O'Connell was elected. Clare was held by William Vesey Fitzgerald when he became the President of the Board of Trade. As this was seen to be an office of profit, Vesey-FitzGerald had to stand in a by-election. It was not unusual for such ministerial by-elections to be uncontested. However the Catholic Association, a group campaigning for Catholic civil rights and the repeal of the Act of Union, had vowed to oppose every member of the current government, who had declined to allow for Catholic Emancipation. A number of candidates were approached but refused to stand, Vesey-FitzGerald was reasonably popular with Catholics in Clare. Daniel O'Connell decided to exploit a loophole in the Act of Union. It stated that Catholics could not sit in Westminster as a Member of Parliament (MP), but there was nothing about them standing for an election. Like all Parliamentary elections at the time, Clare was held as an open vote, which meant that all votes would be known. This meant that Protestant and pro-union landowners could influence their tenants, who were far more likely to be Catholic and anti-union.
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1828 Clare by-election
