Sinn Féin victorious in Longford by-election
Longford, 10 May 1917 - The South-Longford by-election has resulted in a narrow victory for Sinn Féin.
The Sinn Féin candidate, Joe McGuinness, who is currently in jail in England, defeated the Irish Parliamentary Party’s Patrick McKenna by 1,498 votes to 1,461.
The campaign was unprecedented in terms of its bitterness and the rival groups of nationalists fought for every vote.
The Sinn Féiners’ polling day campaign saw a ‘bewildering array of motor cars’ traverse the county, emblazoned with slogans such as ‘Free Joe McGuinness and Ireland’. Voters were ‘whisked away in sumptuous motorcars to record their votes’.
Younger men, school teachers and clergymen were also notably involved in lobbying voters to support McGuinness.
Prof Michael Laffan, UCD, explains how the Easter Rising gave the Sinn Féin party the momentum to become the biggest party in the country by 1918.
Significant political change
Following the result there have been celebrations and some violent
incidents. Across Longford, republican flags flew at the head of
processions and at bonfires. In Ballaghaderreen,
In Memoriam cards displayed bearing the words
‘Sacred to the memory of the deceased Irish Party’.
As news of the Sinn Féin success filtered around the country, there were celebrations in places as far flung as Kerry, Dublin and Sligo.
Newspaper reaction in Ireland and beyond has acknowledged that this is a triumph with meaning far beyond the mere election of an MP. There is a general sense that Irish politics has changed significantly now and that this change represents rise of radical nationalism.
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
