Joseph P. McGuinness was an Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

 politician who was elected as Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for South Longford

South Longford (UK Parliament constituency)

South Longford was a parliamentary constituency in Ireland, which returned one Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....

 at by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

 in 1917.

He was re-elected as MP for the new Longford constituency

Longford (UK Parliament constituency)

Longford was a parliamentary constituency in Ireland, which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885, and one MP from 1918–1922.- MPs 1801–1885 :- MPs 1918–1922 :...

 at the 1918 general election. McGuinness was serving a term in prison when he was elected to Westminster and among those who worked on his election campaign was Michael Collins

Michael Collins (Irish leader)

Michael "Mick" Collins was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance and Teachta Dála for Cork South in the First Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. Subsequently, he was both Chairman of the...

. The election slogan for McGuinness at the time was "Vote him in to get him out!"

In common with the other Sinn Féin MPs, he did not take his seat in the British House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

, sitting instead as a TD

Teachta Dála

A Teachta Dála , usually abbreviated as TD in English, is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas . It is the equivalent of terms such as "Member of Parliament" or "deputy" used in other states. The official translation of the term is "Deputy to the Dáil", though a more literal...

 in the revolutionary First Dáil

First Dáil

The First Dáil was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919–1921. In 1919 candidates who had been elected in the Westminster elections of 1918 refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled as a unicameral, revolutionary parliament called "Dáil Éireann"...

, where he was appointed as Director of Trade and Commerce on 27 October 1919.
He was re-elected unopposed at the 1921 general election in the new Longford–Westmeath constituency; he died before the 1922 general election

Irish general election, 1922

The Irish general election of 1922 took place in Southern Ireland on 16 June 1922, under the provisions of the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty to elect a constituent assembly paving the way for the formal establishment of the Irish Free State...

. He voted in favour of the Anglo-Irish Treaty

Anglo-Irish Treaty

The Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the secessionist Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of...

 in January 1922.

At a subsequent by-election, his seat was taken by his brother Francis McGuinness

Francis McGuinness

Francis McGuinness was an Irish politician. He was elected as a pro-Treaty Sinn Féin Teachta Dála to the 3rd Dáil at the 1922 general election for the Longford–Westmeath constituency. He stood as a Cumann na nGaedheal candidate at the 1923 general election but was not elected...

.

External links

• Joseph McGuiness's electoral history (ElectionsIreland.org)