Edward Sheil

Who was Edward Sheil?

Edward Sheil was Irish nationalist politician. He was a Member of Parliament for Athlone from 1874 to 1880, for Meath from 1882 to 1885, and for South Meath from 1885 to 1892, taking his seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Sheil was the son of General Sir Justin Sheil and nephew of Richard Lalor Sheil, a political ally of Daniel O’Connell. His mother was Mary Leonora, daughter of the Rt Hon. Stephen Woulfe, an MP and afterwards Chief Baron of the Exchequer, Ireland. He was educated at Dr Newman’s Oratory School, and Christ Church, Oxford.

At the 1874 general election, when the franchise was still very restricted, he stood as a Home Rule League candidate and unseated Athlone's sitting Liberal MP, Sir John James Ennis. The poll was initially tied, each candidate scoring 140 votes, but Sheil was declared elected and on petition the result was amended to 153 votes for Shiel and 148 for Ennis. In 1880, Ennis won the seat back by a one-vote majority of 163 to 162. Sheil was returned unopposed for Meath County in a by-election in April 1882, and when the Meath constituency was divided under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, he was returned unopposed at the 1885 general election as Irish Parliamentary Party MP for the newly created Southern Division of Meath, where he was re-elected unopposed in 1886.