Edward Henry Cooper

The Liberals had rarely contested Sligo County, and had not fielded a candidate since the defeat in 1857 of their only winner, the one-term MP Richard Swift.[14] Apart from Swift, Sligo's two seats had been held continuously by Conservatives, usually drawn from the county's major landlords.

There had been Liberal moves to contest the 1865 election, and the Freeman's Journal had confidently predicted that it would happen,[19] but no contest took place. However, at the 1868 general election, the Liberals decided to contest the seat. On 9 July, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Elphin Dr Laurence Gillooly (whose diocese includes part of County Sligo) chaired a meeting which adopted Denis Maurice O'Conor as the Liberal candidate.[20] The second son of the O'Conor Don, O'Conor was a barrister educated at Downside and the University of London, and had been High Sheriff of Roscommon in 1865.[21] His older brother Charles had been an MP for the neighbouring County Roscommon since 1860.[21]

On the same day, Owen Wynne of Hazelwood chaired a meeting of the County Registration Society to organise the campaign for the re-election of Cooper and Gore Booth.[20] With three candidates for the two seats, Sligo County had its first contested election in over a decade.[14] Gore-Booth, the owner of Lissadell House in the north of the county, had been a Sligo MP since 1850[14] and his return was considered almost certain.[22] The Liberal target was Cooper,[23] making the election effectively a two-way race between him and O'Connor, who had been canvassing since at least August.[22]

The courthouse in Sligo, pictured in about 1888, where the nominations were held for the 1868 elections for County Sligo

The nomination took place at the courthouse in Sligo on 26 November, when both O'Connor and Gore-Booth were given a hearing, but Cooper's address was delivered in what The Times of London described as "great uproar".[24] After explaining that unpopular conditions which he had sought to impose on his tenants had been withdrawn when they met objections, he was forced to abandon his speech.[23]

Cooper had been nominated by his predecessor Charles William O'Hara, who had been heard respectfully. However, his seconder Wynne was denied a hearing.[23] Hecklers had told O'Hara that he would have been a popular candidate, and when O'Hara asked why Cooper was unpopular the reply was "he's a Tory".[23]

The Rev J. Conway, a parish priest who seconded O'Conor's nomination, said that sitting MPs were being opposed because they "systematically opposed the wishes of the majority of their constituents". He said that the Conservatives were elected as result of coercion by the landlords rather than by the fair votes of the people.[23] A show of hands favoured Gore-Booth and O'Connor, but Cooper demanded a vote,[24] making Sligo County the last constituency in Ireland to complete its election.[23]

After the violence which accompanied the election in Sligo Borough two weeks beforehand, The Times of London reported that "the passions of the peasantry have been inflamed by incessant appeals, and a bitter feeling of hostility against the landlords has been aroused".[23] The Freeman's Journal reported a different picture, asserting that "a reign of landlord terrorism appears to have been inaugurated in the county".[25] It noted that the plan to flood the county with military "to protect Catholic voters" did not have happy precedents, citing the Dungarvan massacre[25] during the December 1866 by-election when lancers charged a crowd, killing one person and injuring 19.[26]

The deployment proceeded: 300 men were added to the local police force, and the British Army arrived. General Arthur Borton commanded detachments of infantry (the 17th Foot) and cavalry (the Carabiniers) who were distributed around the county.[23]

The county poll was largely free of the public violence which marred the election in Sligo Borough two weeks beforehand,[24] although one man was reported to have had his finger shot off at a voting station.[27] Priests had stood at polling places instructing Catholics to vote Liberal, while the landlords brought in their tenants under close supervision.[28] O'Hara claimed that isolated houses had been visited at night by mobs, and their occupants forced to swear not to vote for the landlords.[23] O'Connor contended that the issue at stake was of freedom of election versus what he called the "monstrous doctrine" that votes belonged to the landlord. He said that he did not support any acts of violence, but that it was unsurprising that people had sought to counter one injustice with another injustice.[23]

Polling took place over 3 days, and was completed on 2 December.[28] O'Connor had topped the poll with 1671 votes, Gore-Booth had 1208 votes, and Cooper with 1129 votes lost his seat.[14] A fourth candidate, Cornelius Keogh, had put himself forward at the hustings as a Liberal,[23] but received only 2 votes.[14]

Two petitions were lodged against the result.[29] A petition claiming that Cooper should be seated in the place of O'Conor was lodged by Henry Griffith, a deputy lieutenant of Sligo.[29][30][31] Griffith alleged that O'Conor had benefited from bribery, intimidation, and many forms of corruption.[29] Another petition, signed by John Hannon and James Casey, asked that the return of Gore Booth be voided on grounds of bribery, treating and intimidation.[29][30]

Cooper's defeat marked the beginning of the end of Sligo County's representation by Conservative landlords. The introduction of the secret ballot in the 1872 Act ended landlord's control over their tenants' votes, and at the 1874 general election O'Connor was returned as a Home Rule League candidate alongside Gore-Booth, without a contest. On Gore-Booth's death in 1877, the Home Ruler Edward King-Harman was returned unopposed in his place, and the county never again elected a Conservative MP.[14]