1922 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

Main article: 1922 United Kingdom general election

1922 United Kingdom general election (Northern Ireland)

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All 13 seats in Northern Ireland to the House of Commons
First party Second party   Leader James Craig Joe Devlin Party UUP Nationalist Alliance Conservative Leader since 7 June 1921 14 December 1918 Leader's seat Did not stand Did not stand Seats won 11 [a] 2 Popular vote 69,357 [b] 42,026 [b] Percentage 57.2% 34.7%

The 1922 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 15 November 1922. There were ten constituencies, seven single-seat constituencies with elected by FPTP and three two-seat constituencies with MPs elected by bloc voting. Only two of the constituencies had contested elections.

It was the first election held after the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which had reduced the number of seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in the region designated as Northern Ireland from 30 to 13. It was also the first election held after the approval of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, whereby the Irish Free State separated from the United Kingdom with effect from 6 December 1922, a few weeks after the election was held.

The focus of politics in Northern Ireland had shifted to the Parliament of Northern Ireland, after the first general election to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland in May 1921. The party leaders of the three parties had been elected to seats in this parliament rather than at Westminster.

Results

Voting only took place for 3 of 13 seats. The other 10 MPs (all Ulster Unionists) were unopposed.

1922 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland [1] [2]
Party		Candidates						Votes
		Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	UUP	13	11 [a]	N/A	N/A	N/A	84.6	57.2	69,357	+1.0
	Nationalist	2	2	N/A	N/A	N/A	15.4	34.7	42,026	+23.6
	Independent	1	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	—	8.1	9,861	+8.0
	Sinn Féin	0	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	—	—	—	-19.0
	Labour Unionist	0	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	—	—	—	-7.6

Votes in constituencies using the bloc voting system are counted as 0.5 each, as each voter had one vote per seat.

Analysis

The Ulster Unionist Party was dominant in this election, and won the most seats at every election in Northern Ireland until the 2005 general election. They took the Conservative Party whip in the House of Commons.

The Nationalist Party was a successor to the Irish Parliamentary Party which had suffered a large defeat in the previous election, now continuing in the area of Northern Ireland.

In the previous election, Sinn Féin had won three of the seats in this region. The Irish Free State had been in midst of the Irish Civil War from June 1922, which divided Sinn Féin into Pro-Treaty and Anti-Treaty factions (soon to become separate parties), and it did not contest this election to Westminster.

In the election as a whole, the Conservatives led by Bonar Law won an absolute majority of 344 of the 615 seats.

MPs elected

Constituency	Party		MP
Antrim		Ulster Unionist	Charles Craig
		Ulster Unionist	Hugh O'Neill
Armagh		Ulster Unionist	William Allen
Belfast East		Ulster Unionist	Herbert Dixon
Belfast North		Ulster Unionist	Thomas McConnell
Belfast South		Ulster Unionist	Thomas Moles
Belfast West		Ulster Unionist	Robert Lynn
Down		Ulster Unionist	David Reid
		Ulster Unionist	John Simms
Fermanagh and Tyrone		Nationalist Party	Thomas Harbison
		Nationalist Party	Cahir Healy
Londonderry		Ulster Unionist	Malcolm Macnaghten
Queen's University of Belfast		Ulster Unionist	Sir William Whitla

Changes since 1918

At the previous general election, the seats won in the area which would become Northern Ireland were:

Party		MPs
	Unionist	20
	Nationalist	4
	Sinn Féin	3
	Labour Unionist	3

The Sinn Féin members elected sat as TDs for the First Dáil, a revolutionary parliament for an Irish Republic.

The table below indicates the political career of each of those elected in 1918 after the 1922 general election:

1918 Constituency	Party		MP	1922 career
Antrim East		UUP	Robert McCalmont	Resigned in 1919; succeeded by George Hanna, NI MP 1921–37
Antrim Mid		UUP	Hugh O'Neill	UK MP for Antrim
Antrim North		UUP	Peter Kerr-Smiley	Retired
Antrim South		UUP	Charles Curtis Craig	UK MP for Antrim
Armagh Mid		UUP	James Lonsdale	Died in May 1921; succeeded by Henry Armstrong, NI Senator 1921–37
Armagh North		UUP	William Allen	UK MP for Armagh
Armagh South		Nationalist	Patrick Donnelly	Did not contest, later unsuccessful in 1929 NI election
Belfast Cromac		UUP	William Arthur Lindsay	Retired
Belfast Duncairn		UUP	Edward Carson	Appointed as Law Lord in 1921; succeeded by Thomas McConnell, UK MP for Belfast North in 1922
Belfast Falls		Nationalist	Joseph Devlin	NI MP for Belfast West
Belfast Ormeau		UUP	Thomas Moles	UK MP for Belfast South
Belfast Pottinger		UUP	Herbert Dixon	UK MP for Belfast East
Belfast St Anne's		Labour Unionist	Thomas Henry Burn	NI MP for Belfast West (UUP)
Belfast Shankill		Labour Unionist	Samuel McGuffin	NI MP for Belfast North (UUP)
Belfast Victoria		Labour Unionist	Thompson Donald	NI MP for Belfast East (UUP)
Belfast Woodvale		UUP	Robert Lynn	NI MP for Belfast West and UK MP for Belfast West
Down East		UUP	David Reid	UK MP for Down
Down Mid		UUP	James Craig	NI MP for Down and Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
Down North		UUP	Thomas Watters Brown	Appointed judge of the High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland in 1922
Down South		Nationalist	Jeremiah McVeagh	Did not contest. Later unsuccessfully sought election.
Down West		UUP	Daniel M. Wilson	Appointed Recorder of Belfast in 1921; succeeded by Thomas Browne Wallace
Fermanagh North		UUP	Edward Archdale	NI MP for Fermanagh and Tyrone
Fermanagh South		Sinn Féin	Seán O'Mahony	NI MP for Fermanagh and Tyrone
Londonderry City		Sinn Féin	Eoin MacNeill	TD for National University of Ireland for Cumann na nGaedheal
Londonderry North		UUP	Hugh Anderson	Resigned 1919; succeeded by Hugh T. Barrie, NI Senator in 1922
Londonderry South		UUP	Denis Henry	Appointed Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland in 1921
Tyrone North East		Nationalist	Thomas Harbison	UK MP for Fermanagh and Tyrone
Tyrone North West		Sinn Féin	Arthur Griffith	Died 12 August 1922
Tyrone South		UUP	William Coote	NI MP for Fermanagh and Tyrone

Notes

1. Includes 10 members elected unopposed.
2. Voting only took place in 3 of 13 seats.
   The other 10 MPs were unopposed.

References

1. Walker, Brian Mercer (1992). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1918–1992 (New History of Ireland). Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. p. 15. ISBN   0901714968.
2. "Elections to the United Kingdom Parliament held in Northern Ireland: General Election of 6 December 1922". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2018.