Compiled by EveryElectionResult.com's data team · Last updated 2026-08-30
Wicklow elected 2 MPs at the 1880 general election: William Joseph Corbet (Irish Parliamentary Party) and James Carlisle McCoan (Irish Parliamentary Party). This page covers every general election in Wicklow from 1832 to 1880.
This constituency elected more than one MP at once in some years. Before the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (and in a shrinking number of boroughs through 1948), most UK constituencies elected two or more MPs together by "multi-member plurality" (block vote): each elector could cast one vote per available seat, and the top vote-getters overall were all elected. In those elections below, "Elected" lists every MP returned, "Votes" is the count that secured the last seat, and "Majority" is the gap between that seat and the first candidate who missed out.
Full Election History, 1832–1880
Election
Elected
Votes
Vote Share
Runner-up
Majority
Turnout
1832
James Grattan (Liberal); Ralph Howard (Liberal)
710
32.3% (top seat)
William Acton (Conservative)
49 (2.2 pts)
70.9%
1835
James Grattan (Liberal); Ralph Howard (Liberal)
Elected unopposed — no other candidate stood, no vote count on record
0.0%
1837
James Grattan (Liberal); Ralph Howard (Liberal)
696
34.5% (top seat)
William Acton (Conservative)
73 (3.6 pts)
53.2%
1841
William Acton (Conservative); Ralph Howard (Liberal)
603
36.2% (top seat)
James Grattan (Liberal)
40 (2.2 pts)
59.8%
1847
William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-FitzWilliam (Liberal); William Acton (Conservative)
Elected unopposed — no other candidate stood, no vote count on record
0.0%
1852
William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-FitzWilliam (Liberal); William Wentworth FitzWilliam Hume (Conservative)
Elected unopposed — no other candidate stood, no vote count on record
0.0%
1857
William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-FitzWilliam (Liberal); William Wentworth FitzWilliam Hume (Conservative)
1,610
42.7% (top seat)
Richard Monck (Liberal)
580 (12.6 pts)
68.6%
1859
Granville Leveson Proby (Liberal); William Wentworth FitzWilliam Hume (Conservative)
Elected unopposed — no other candidate stood, no vote count on record
0.0%
1865
Granville Leveson Proby (Liberal); William Wentworth FitzWilliam Dick (Conservative)
Elected unopposed — no other candidate stood, no vote count on record
0.0%
1868
William Henry Wentworth-FitzWilliam (Liberal); William Wentworth FitzWilliam Dick (Conservative)
Elected unopposed — no other candidate stood, no vote count on record
0.0%
1874
William Richard O'Byrne (Irish Parliamentary Party); William Wentworth FitzWilliam Dick (Conservative)
1,141
36.6% (top seat)
William Henry Wentworth-FitzWilliam (Liberal)
214 (5.2 pts)
57.7%
1880
William Joseph Corbet (Irish Parliamentary Party); James Carlisle McCoan (Irish Parliamentary Party)
1,240
30.3% (top seat)
William Wentworth FitzWilliam Dick (Conservative)
7 (0.1 pts)
71.3%
Full Result Breakdown by Election
1832 (2 seats)
Candidate
Party
Votes
Share
Elected
James Grattan
Liberal
717
32.3%
Yes
Ralph Howard
Liberal
710
32.0%
Yes
William Acton
Conservative
661
29.8%
No
John Humphreys
Conservative
132
5.9%
No
1835 (2 seats)
Candidate
Party
Votes
Share
Elected
James Grattan
Liberal
Unopposed
Yes
Ralph Howard
Liberal
Unopposed
Yes
1837 (2 seats)
Candidate
Party
Votes
Share
Elected
James Grattan
Liberal
697
34.5%
Yes
Ralph Howard
Liberal
696
34.4%
Yes
William Acton
Conservative
623
30.8%
No
John Humphreys
Conservative
6
0.3%
No
1841 (2 seats)
Candidate
Party
Votes
Share
Elected
William Acton
Conservative
663
36.2%
Yes
Ralph Howard
Liberal
603
33.0%
Yes
James Grattan
Liberal
563
30.8%
No
1847 (2 seats)
Candidate
Party
Votes
Share
Elected
William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-FitzWilliam
Liberal
Unopposed
Yes
William Acton
Conservative
Unopposed
Yes
1852 (2 seats)
Candidate
Party
Votes
Share
Elected
William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-FitzWilliam
Liberal
Unopposed
Yes
William Wentworth FitzWilliam Hume
Conservative
Unopposed
Yes
1857 (2 seats)
Candidate
Party
Votes
Share
Elected
William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-FitzWilliam
Liberal
1,970
42.7%
Yes
William Wentworth FitzWilliam Hume
Conservative
1,610
34.9%
Yes
Richard Monck
Liberal
1,030
22.3%
No
1859 (2 seats)
Candidate
Party
Votes
Share
Elected
Granville Leveson Proby
Liberal
Unopposed
Yes
William Wentworth FitzWilliam Hume
Conservative
Unopposed
Yes
1865 (2 seats)
Candidate
Party
Votes
Share
Elected
Granville Leveson Proby
Liberal
Unopposed
Yes
William Wentworth FitzWilliam Dick
Conservative
Unopposed
Yes
1868 (2 seats)
Candidate
Party
Votes
Share
Elected
William Henry Wentworth-FitzWilliam
Liberal
Unopposed
Yes
William Wentworth FitzWilliam Dick
Conservative
Unopposed
Yes
1874 (2 seats)
Candidate
Party
Votes
Share
Elected
William Richard O'Byrne
Irish Parliamentary Party
1,511
36.6%
Yes
William Wentworth FitzWilliam Dick
Conservative
1,141
27.6%
Yes
William Henry Wentworth-FitzWilliam
Liberal
927
22.4%
No
John Howard Parnell
Irish Parliamentary Party
553
13.4%
No
1880 (2 seats)
Candidate
Party
Votes
Share
Elected
William Joseph Corbet
Irish Parliamentary Party
1,433
30.3%
Yes
James Carlisle McCoan
Irish Parliamentary Party
1,240
26.3%
Yes
William Wentworth FitzWilliam Dick
Conservative
1,233
26.1%
No
Robert Cornwallis Gun-Cunninghame
Conservative
451
9.5%
No
David Mahony
Liberal
366
7.7%
No
Margin Over Time
Winning margin (percentage points) at each election, coloured by the winning party.
Trend
Wicklow has been contested at 12 general elections on record since 1832. Parties that have won a seat here over that span: Liberal, Conservative, Irish Parliamentary Party.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won Wicklow in the 1880 general election?
William Joseph Corbet (Irish Parliamentary Party), James Carlisle McCoan (Irish Parliamentary Party) won Wicklow in 1880.
Which parties have won Wicklow since 1832?
Since 1832, Wicklow has been won by: Conservative, Irish Parliamentary Party, Liberal.
What was the closest result in Wicklow?
The closest result on record for Wicklow was 1880, when Irish Parliamentary Party beat Conservative by just 7 votes (0.1 percentage points).
Did Wicklow ever elect more than one MP at a time?
Yes -- like most UK constituencies before the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, Wicklow elected multiple MPs at once in some elections on this page (a system called multi-member plurality, or 'block vote'), each voter casting one vote per available seat.