Repeal Association
title: "Repeal Association" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["history-of-ireland-(1801–1923)", "political-parties-in-pre-partition-ireland", "defunct-political-parties-in-the-united-kingdom", "defunct-political-parties-in-ireland", "1830-establishments-in-the-united-kingdom", "1830-establishments-in-ireland", "1848-disestablishments-in-the-united-kingdom", "1848-disestablishments-in-ireland", "political-parties-established-in-1830", "political-parties-disestablished-in-1848"] topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repeal_Association" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox political party"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| country | Ireland |
| name | Repeal Association |
| colorcode | |
| leader | Daniel O'Connell |
| foundation | 1840 |
| dissolution | 1848 |
| predecessor | Catholic Association |
| ideology | Irish nationalism |
| Irish autonomy | |
| National liberalism | |
| Catholic emancipation | |
| position | Centre-left |
| elections_dab1 | List of United Kingdom general elections |
| :: |
|country = Ireland |name = Repeal Association |native_name = |colorcode = |logo = |leader = Daniel O'Connell |chairman = |foundation = 1840 |dissolution = 1848 |predecessor = Catholic Association |successor = |ideology = Irish nationalism Irish autonomy National liberalism Catholic emancipation |position = Centre-left |international = |european = |europarl = |colours = |headquarters = |website = |elections_dab1 = List of United Kingdom general elections ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Daniel_O'Connell2.jpg" caption="Acts of Union of 1800]] between Great Britain and Ireland.'''House of Commons and House of Lords.''' (n.d.). ''Repeal Association''. In ''Living Heritage: The evolution of Parliament – Parliament and Ireland – Overview – Repeal''. UK Parliament. Retrieved August 5, 2025.[https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/legislativescrutiny/parliamentandireland/overview/repeal/]"] ::
The Association sought to restore the Irish Parliament and achieve the level of legislative independence briefly attained in the 1780s under Henry Grattan and his patriots, with the addition of Catholic emancipation, made possible by the Act of Emancipation in 1829, and the expanded francise of the Irish Reform Act 1832, in addition to responsible government, making Ireland a separate kingdom in a personal union with Great Britain on equal footing. It advocated a peaceful and constitutional path to repeal while maintaining loyalty to the British Crown.
Although O’Connell began calling for repeal in the early 1830s, the formal Association was only established in 1840. Prior to this, candidates supporting repeal contested the 1832 United Kingdom general election and between 1835 and 1841, formed an electoral pact with the Whigs. Repealer candidates, unaffiliated with the Whigs also contested the 1841 and 1847 general elections.
Following the movement's decline in the late 1840s, nationalists, including members of the Young Ireland movement, emerged from its ranks.
Electoral statistics
The seats figure in brackets is the position after election petitions and by-elections consequent upon election petitions, had been decided. There were 105 Irish MPs in the period.
Votes in 1835 and 1837 are included in the Liberal totals in Rallings and Thrasher's tables.
Sources: Walker and Rallings & Thrasher.
::data[format=table]
| Election | Candidates | Unopposed | Votes | % Irish votes | MPs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1832 | 51 | 14 | 31,773 | 34.6 | 42 (39) |
| 1835 | 43 | 12 | ... | ... | 34 (32) |
| 1837 | 34 | 15 | ... | ... | 30 (31) |
| 1841 | 22 | 12 | 12,537 | 24.8 | 20 (18) |
| 1847 | 51 | 18 | 14,128 | 43.6 | 36 (35) |
| :: |
References
- British Electoral Facts 1832 - 1999, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher (Ashgate Publishing Ltd 2000)
- Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922, edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978)
References
- '''House of Commons and House of Lords.''' (n.d.). ''Repeal Association''. In ''Living Heritage: The evolution of Parliament – Parliament and Ireland – Overview – Repeal''. UK Parliament. Retrieved August 5, 2025.[https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/legislativescrutiny/parliamentandireland/overview/repeal/]
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::