1922 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

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1922 United Kingdom general election (Northern Ireland)
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
  1918 15 November 1922 1923  

All 13 seats in Northern Ireland to the House of Commons
 First partySecond party
  James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon.jpg Joe Devlin.JPG
Leader James Craig Joe Devlin
Party UUP Nationalist
Alliance Conservative
Leader since7 June 192114 December 1918
Leader's seatDid not standDid not stand
Seats won11 [a] 2
Popular vote69,357 [b] 42,026 [b]
Percentage57.2%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.

Contents

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]
PartyCandidatesVotes
StoodElectedGainedUnseatedNet % of total %No.Net %
  UUP 1311 [a] N/AN/AN/A84.657.269,357+1.0
  Nationalist 22N/AN/AN/A15.434.742,026+23.6
  Independent 10N/AN/AN/A8.19,861+8.0
  Sinn Féin 00N/AN/AN/A-19.0
  Labour Unionist 00N/AN/AN/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

    ConstituencyPartyMP
    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:

    PartyMPs
    Unionist20
    Nationalist4
    Sinn Féin3
    Labour Unionist3

    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 ConstituencyPartyMP1922 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. 1 2 Includes 10 members elected unopposed.
    2. 1 2 Voting only took place in 3 of 13 seats.
      The other 10 MPs were unopposed.

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    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.