The by-election was held due to the resignation of the incumbent Irish Parliamentary MP, Charles Dolan in order to re-fight the constituency on behalf of Sinn Féin.
The party for which he ran, Sinn Féin, was just over two years old and lacked any real financial power.
Dolan lost to the Irish Parliamentary candidate Francis Meehan.
[1] Sinn Féin ran their campaign from their office on Castle Street in Manorhamilton.
Their Director of Elections was Seán Mac Diarmada of Corranmore, Kiltyclogher, who was later a signatory of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and was executed as one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising.