Blakely McCartney brought a petition against Vane-Tempest under the Parliamentary Elections Act 1868, which was tried in June by Francis Alexander FitzGerald and Charles Robert Barry.
The Poll Books for part of County Down, showing how each elector voted in the 1857 general election are available in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland under reference D/671/O/2/7-8.
The Poll Books for part of County Down, showing how each elector voted in the 1852 general election are available in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland under reference D/671/O/2/5-6.
At the by-election on 30 May 1812 following Francis Savage's acceptance of the Chiltern Hundreds, Robert Ward was returned unopposed.
"Castlereagh ... was not prepared to come in at that moment, and after an unsuccessful attempt to persuade Savage to reconsider his decision, he arranged for his old friend Colonel Ward to stand as a 'stopgap' until the general election".