was entitled to cast two votes. The four election candidates were Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont and Lord Newtownbutler (later Brinsley Butler, 2nd Earl of Lanesborough), both of whom were then elected Member of Parliament for Cavan County. The losing candidates were George Montgomery (MP) of Ballyconnell and Barry Maxwell, 1st Earl of Farnham. Absence from the poll book either meant a resident did not vote or, more likely, was not a freeholder entitled to vote, which would mean most of the inhabitants of Ballyconnell. Another well-known family in the town were the Benisons of Mount Pleasant and Slieve Russell who owned a flax mill in Ballyconnell. Miss Josephine Benison, a daughter of James Benison, married (9 January 1890) Tom Arnold who was brother of the famous English poet Matthew Arnold; son of Dr. Thomas Arnold, the headmaster of Rugby Public School who appears as head master in the book Tom Brown's Schooldays and grandfather of Aldous Huxley. An account of this and Josephine's photo (Page 118, probably the earliest known photo of a Ballyconnell resident) can be seen online. Josephine's headstone in St.Brigid's R.C. graveyard in Ballyconnell reads- In loving memory of Josephine M. Arnold widow of Thomas Arnold M.A. F.R.I., died 16 January 1919, aged 87 years. Correspondence from the Benisons to Lord Belmore about the weather and farming in Ballyconnell and Fermanagh around 1900 is viewable on the PRONI website. An 1835 statistical report on Ballyconnell and Tomregan by Lieutenant Greatorex on behalf of the Ordnance Survey is in the PRONI. Griffith's Valuation of 1857 lists about 90 landlords and tenants for Doon and Ballyconnell. Further information and a detailed map showing the location of each holding can be seen online. After the Partition of Ireland in 1920–22, Ballyconnell found itself cut off from its hinterland with County Fermanagh, which was now behind the new border with Northern Ireland. The town also during the Irish Civil War of 1922-23 when it was raided repeatedly by both sides. After an incident in which two civilians were shot dead in Ballyconnell by the anti-Treaty IRA in February 1923, a large Irish Free State column was sent to the area to suppress the republican guerrillas operating in the nearby Arigna Mountains, leading to further loss of life and disruption until the ceasefire of May 1923. Geography and climate The town lies astride the Woodford River (Irish: Sruth Gráinne, meaning