Co. Kilkenny

County

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Background Information

Number of voters:

1,052 in 1784 rising to about 2,300 in 1815

Elections

DateCandidate
1801WILLIAM BRABAZON PONSONBY
 HON. JAMES WANDESFORD BUTLER
19 July 1802HON. JAMES WANDESFORD BUTLER
 WILLIAM BRABAZON PONSONBY
12 Apr. 1806 HON. GEORGE PONSONBY vice Ponsonby, become a peer of Ireland
21 Nov. 1806HON. JAMES WANDESFORD BUTLER
 HON. FREDERICK CAVENDISH PONSONBY
19 May 1807HON. JAMES WANDESFORD BUTLER
 HON. FREDERICK CAVENDISH PONSONBY
24 Oct. 1812HON. JAMES WANDESFORD BUTLER
 HON. FREDERICK CAVENDISH PONSONBY
3 July 1818HON. JAMES WANDESFORD BUTLER
 HON. FREDERICK CAVENDISH PONSONBY

Main Article

The representation of this largely Catholic and relatively impoverished county was controlled throughout this period by two of its three largest landowners, the Earl of Ormonde (Butler) and the Earl of Bessborough (Ponsonby). As Lord Clifden, the other major landowner, remarked to the chief secretary in the winter of 1801: ‘I think there is no possibility of a contest in the county of Kilkenny at the next election, as I doubt anybody’s being able to raise an effectual one except myself, and I have no such intention’.1 Clifden, together with the ten or so other Kilkenny landlords of note, lay low for the remainder of this period, with the result that Bessborough and Ormonde returned a member of their families at each of the elections.

As there was no contest it is difficult to provide more than a sketch of the character and content of the two leading interests. Ormonde enjoyed a rent roll of some £30,000, but his influence also derived from the fact that his had been one of the most influential aristocratic families in Ireland since the reign of Henry II. The Ponsonbys, on the other hand, could claim only a 17th century connexion with Ireland, and as they were committed to the Whigs in this period and therefore generally beyond the pale of the Castle and its fund of local patronage, were in a rather more vulnerable position than the Butlers. Thus at the election of 1806, Lord Bessborough’s son Duncannon declined to be returned for the county, informing his mother:

the first and principal objection that I have to it is, that tho’ I am convinced that I could without much trouble come in at present yet, unless I was determined to pay attention to the people and to live among them a good deal and at all events to attend the assizes, I should injure my father’s interest there very much, and perhaps make it very difficult for him to carry the election at a future time; as it is not reasonable to suppose that the people of Kilkenny would be much pleased at having a Member the son of an entire absentee, and who himself was very nearly so. Every Irish person that you may speak to will, I am sure, confirm this.2

In 1812 Lady Bessborough made a point of being in Kilkenny for the election because of rumblings of local discontent at Frederick Ponsonby’s absenteeism. She was comforted to find that ‘we have registered [voters] without ceasing and can command the votes of above a third of the county, let alone friends ... of which I flatter myself we have plenty’.3

Yet there was no serious opposition to either family in this period. It is true that in 1811 and 1813, Lord Desart* made a bid for more influence in county affairs, taking advantage of the government’s resentment at the doubtful politics of James Wandesford Butler and the infirmity of Lord Ormonde. If the Ormonde interest waned, he was prepared to take over and sponsor the candidature of Lord Clifden’s son for the county. Ormonde was mortified, but asserted his claims to preference and by 1815 made his peace with government.4 The Morning Herald was therefore not far from the truth when it commented, 17 June 1818, that the representation of Kilkenny was almost the ‘property’ of the Butlers and Ponsonbys.

Author: P. J. Jupp

Notes

  • 1. Wakefield, Account of Ireland, i. 264; PRO 30/9/1/2, pt. 2, Clifden to Abbot, 14 Dec. 1801.
  • 2. Lady Bessborough and her Family Circle, 151.
  • 3. PRO 30/29/6/8, f. 1440.
  • 4. NLI, Richmond mss 60/303, 64/720, 67/988, 994, 1009; Add. 40186, ff. 7, 15, 17, 19, 21, 25, 29, 31, 201; 40216, ff. 248, 251, 263; 40226, f. 157; 40280, f. 156; 40289, ff. 38, 207.