A few years later he travelled to Ireland, and studied law at Trinity College, Dublin.[1] He was called to the Irish bar in 1888, and took part in the defence of activists during the Land War of the later 1880s.[5] In 1892 he married Frances Delaney of Dublin.
He was elected unopposed to represent West Donegal at a by-election in May 1890, taking his seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. When the Irish Parliamentary Party split in December 1890 over the leadership of Charles Stewart Parnell, he supported Parnell. In this he must have been influenced to some extent by his family relationship with John and Willie Redmond, both of whom were leading Parnellites. In the general election of 1892 he contested South Meath as a Parnellite, obtaining 2,199 votes to the 2,212 of the Anti-Parnellite candidate Patrick Fullam, a losing margin of only 13 votes. He contested the result through a successful petition to the courts, alleging improper interference by the Catholic clergy.[6] A new writ was issued, but in the ensuing by-election in February 1893, Dalton again lost narrowly, obtaining 2,638 votes while the new Anti-Parnellite candidate Jeremiah Jordan had 2,707. The course and outcome of Dalton's challenge to the clergy in 1892 were almost identical to those experienced by his Parnellite colleague Pierce MahonyatNorth Meath.
Bew, Paul; John Redmond (1996). Dundalk. Dundalgan Press for the Historical Association of Ireland.
Kenneth Ferguson (2005). King's Inns Barristers, 1868-2004. Dublin: Honorable Society of King’s Inns in association with the Irish Legal History Society.
Brian M. Walker, ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy.
