William Cogan

Who was William Cogan?

William Henry Ford Cogan PC was an Irish Whig politician. He was Member of Parliament for Kildare from 1852 to 1880, representing the county in the United Kingdom House of Commons.

Cogan was first elected to the Parliament at a by-election on 13 March 1852, when he was returned unopposed after the Conservative MP Lord Naas was appointed as Chief Secretary for Ireland. He was re-elected at the general election in July 1852, when Kildare's two Whig MPs secured a large majority over a lone Conservative challenger. He was then returned unopposed in four successive general elections, and held the seat in 1874 against a strong challenge from Home Rule League candidates, one of whom defeated his fellow Liberal MP Lord Otho FitzGerald. He did not contest the 1880 general election, when Home Rulers took both seats in Kildare.

Cogan was the last Whig or Liberal MP returned for County Kildare. After his retirement in 1880, all further MPs for the county were Irish nationalists of various parties, until and Sinn Féin from 1918 until Irish representation at Westminster ended in 1922 with the foundation of the Irish Free State.