1959 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

Last updated

1959 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
Ulster Banner.svg
  1955 8 October 1959 1964  

12 seats in Northern Ireland of the
630 seats in the House of Commons
 First partySecond party
  Sir Basil Brooke, 10 February 1941.png
SF
Leader Sir Basil Brooke, Bt Paddy McLogan
Party UUP Sinn Féin
Alliance Conservative
Leader since19431954
Leader's seatSat in Stormont Did not stand
Seats won120
Seat changeIncrease2.svg2Decrease2.svg2
Popular vote445,01363,415
Percentage77.2%11.0%
SwingIncrease2.svg8.5%Decrease2.svg12.6%

The 1959 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 8 October with 12 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post as part of the wider general election in the United Kingdom.

Contents

The election took place towards the end of the IRA border campaign, which had seen the IRA launch a series of attacks and bombings against Northern Irish police and infrastructure. The launch of the campaign had in part been encouraged by the results of the last UK general election in Northern Ireland, which had seen Sinn Féin gain 2 seats, and receive nearly a quarter of the vote.

Results

The Ulster Unionists won all the seats in region. This was a net gain from the result at the previous election, although they held all seats in the region before the 1959 election was called: in Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Philip Clarke was unseated by petition and Robert Grosvenor was declared elected to the seat; in Mid Ulster, George Forrest had been elected in a by-election as an Independent Unionist, but subsequently joined the Ulster Unionists.

In the election as a whole, the Conservative Party, which included the Ulster Unionists, led by Harold Macmillan as Prime Minister, continued in a majority government.

1959 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland [1] [2]
PartyCandidatesVotes
StoodElectedGainedUnseatedNet % of total %No.Net %
  UUP 121220+2100.077.2445,013+8.5
  Sinn Féin 1200220.011.063,41512.6
  NI Labour 300000.07.744,370+2.2
  Independent Labour 100000.03.520,062+3.5
  Ulster Liberal 100000.00.73,253+0.6
All parties shown.

MPs elected

ConstituencyPartyMP
Antrim North UUP Henry Clark
Antrim South UUP Knox Cunningham
Armagh UUP John Maginnis
Belfast East UUP Stanley McMaster
Belfast North UUP Stratton Mills
Belfast South UUP David Campbell
Belfast West UUP Patricia McLaughlin
Down North UUP George Currie
Down South UUP Lawrence Orr
Fermanagh and South Tyrone UUP Robert Grosvenor
Londonderry UUP Robin Chichester-Clark
Mid Ulster UUP George Forrest

Footnotes

    Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election</span>

    The 1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election took place on Thursday, 25 June 1998. This was the first election to the new devolved Northern Ireland Assembly. Six members from each of Northern Ireland's eighteen Westminster Parliamentary constituencies were elected by single transferable vote, giving a total of 108 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).

    The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), or simply Alliance, is a liberal and centrist political party in Northern Ireland. Following the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, it was the third-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, holding seventeen seats, and broke through by achieving third place in first preference votes in the 2019 European Parliament election and polling third-highest regionally at the 2019 UK general election. The party won one of the three Northern Ireland seats in the European Parliament, and one seat, North Down, in the House of Commons, the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">1955 United Kingdom general election</span>

    The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election in 1951. It was a snap election: after Winston Churchill retired in April 1955, Anthony Eden took over and immediately called the election in order to gain a mandate for his government. It resulted in a majority of 60 seats for the government; the result remains the largest party share of the vote at a post-war general election. This was the first general election to be held during the reign of Elizabeth II. She had succeeded her father George VI the year after the previous election.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">1959 United Kingdom general election</span> 8 October 1959

    The 1959 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 8 October 1959. It marked a third consecutive victory for the ruling Conservative Party, now led by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. For the second time in a row, the Conservatives increased their overall majority in Parliament, this time to a landslide majority of 100 seats, having gained 20 seats for a return of 365. The Labour Party, led by Hugh Gaitskell, lost 19 seats and returned 258. The Liberal Party, led by Jo Grimond, again returned only six MPs to the House of Commons, but managed to increase its overall share of the vote to 5.9%, compared to just 2.7% four years earlier.

    The Northern Ireland peace process includes the events leading up to the 1994 Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) ceasefire, the end of most of the violence of the Troubles, the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, and subsequent political developments.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Mid Ulster (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1950 onwards

    Mid Ulster is a parliamentary constituency in the UK House of Commons. The current MP is Cathal Mallaghan, of Sinn Féin, who was first elected at the 2024 election.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">South Antrim (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1950 onwards

    South Antrim is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Robin Swann of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), first elected in the 2024 general election.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">North Down (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1950 onwards

    North Down is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Alex Easton, elected at the 2024 United Kingdom general election.

    The by-election held in Fermanagh and South Tyrone on 9 April 1981 is considered by many to be the most significant by-election held in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. It saw the first electoral victory for militant Irish republicanism, which the following year entered electoral politics in full force as Sinn Féin. The successful candidate was the IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands, who died twenty-six days later.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2005 United Kingdom general election</span>

    The 2005 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 5 May 2005, to elect 646 members to the House of Commons. The governing Labour Party led by Prime Minister Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, with Blair becoming the second Labour leader after Harold Wilson to form three majority governments. However, its majority fell to 66 seats; the majority it won four years earlier had been of 167 seats. The UK media interpreted the results as an indicator of a breakdown in trust in the government, and especially in Blair.

    Thomas James Mitchell was an Irish republican. He was active in the Irish Republican Army and took part in a raid on Omagh barracks in 1954, being captured and imprisoned. While in jail he was twice elected as a Member of the United Kingdom Parliament, but was disqualified and his elections overturned.

    The Northern Ireland Conservatives is a section of the United Kingdom's Conservative Party that operates in Northern Ireland. The Conservatives are the only major British party to field candidates within Northern Ireland and typically contests only a fraction of seats in elections. The party won 0.03% of the vote in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election and 0.1% of the vote in the 2024 United Kingdom General election in Northern Ireland.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">1924 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland</span>

    The 1924 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 29 October as part of the wider general election in the United Kingdom. There were ten constituencies, seven single-seat constituencies with elected by FPTP and three two-seat constituencies with MPs elected by bloc voting.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">1951 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland</span>

    The 1951 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 25 October as part of the wider general election with 12 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post.

    The 1955 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 26 May as part of the wider general election with 12 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">1964 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland</span> 1964 UK general election in Northern Ireland

    The 1964 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 15 October with 12 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post as part of the wider general election in the United Kingdom.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">February 1974 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland</span>

    The February 1974 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 28 February with 12 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post as part of the wider general election in the United Kingdom.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">October 1974 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland</span>

    The October 1974 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 10 October with 12 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post as part of the wider general election in the United Kingdom.

    The 1979 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 3 May with 12 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post as part of the wider general election in the United Kingdom.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">1983 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland</span>

    The 1983 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 9 June with 17 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post as part of the wider general election in the United Kingdom. This was an increase of five seats, after the House of Commons Act 1979 had come into effect to account for the reduced representation after direct rule had been imposed since 1972. New constituencies were drawn up in 1982.

    References

    1. "Elections to the United Kingdom Parliament held in Northern Ireland: General Election 1959". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
    2. "The 1959 Westminster Elections in Northern Ireland". ARK: Northern Ireland Elections. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2019.