James Delahunty

Vanity Fair caricature of Delahunty by James Tissot

James Delahunty (24 July 1808 – 15 June 1885) was an Irish Liberal Party politician from Waterford.

Born in Waterford, and educated at St. John's College, Waterford, Delahunty was chairman of the Waterford and Central Ireland Railway Company, and director of the Kilkenny Junction Railway Company.

Involved in local politics for some decades, he was elected at the 1868 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Waterford City. He later lost his seat in the 1874 general election, when both the city's seats were won by candidates of the Home Rule Party.

He returned to the House of Commons three years later, when he was elected at a by-election in January 1877 as MP for County Waterford following the death of Sir John Esmonde, Bt. This time Delahunty was himself a Home Rule candidate, and he defeated his Liberal opponent by a margin of more than 3:1.

Delahunty

Delahunty "was laughed at because of the dullness of his oratory", and in 1878 caused some amusement in the Commons by spreading on his bench sundry personal items taken from his bag in a search for the notes for his speech on the Money Laws (Ireland) Bill. An 1879 description described Delhunty as "a genial, warm-hearted Irishman who is generally liked in the House". He died in 1885, aged 76.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Robert Henry Mair, ed. (1872). Debrett's House of Commons, and the Judicial Bench. London: Dean & Son. p. 66.
  2. ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 1)
  3. 1 2 Walker, Brian M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland 1801–1922. A New History of Ireland. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. p. 318. ISBN 0901714127. ISSN 0332-0286.
  4. ↑ "No. 24409". The London Gazette. 26 January 1877. p. 369.
  5. ↑ Walker, op. cit. page 319
  6. ↑ Power, Patrick C. (1990). History of Waterford: City and County. Mercier Press. p. 177. ISBN 9780853429456.
  7. ↑ Lucy, H. W. (July 1897). "The Queen's Parliaments". North American Review. 165 (488): 99–111: 104–5. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017.
  8. ↑ "[BILL 56] SECOND READING". HC Deb. Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 20 March 1878. pp. vol 238 cc1699–706. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  9. ↑ "Our Home Correspondence". Adelaide Observer. 9 August 1879. p. 17 – via Trove (National Library of Australia). Mr. Delahunty [...], the member for Waterford is a genial, warm-hearted Irishman who is generally liked in the House, and a few friends [...] support [his bill] just out of good fellowship for its promoter