Belfast Cromac (UK Parliament constituency)

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Belfast Cromac
Former borough constituency
for the House of Commons
19181922
Seats1
Created from Belfast South
Replaced by Belfast South

Cromac, a division of Belfast, was a UK parliamentary constituency in Ireland. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1922, using the first past the post electoral system.

Contents

Boundaries and boundary changes

The constituency was created by the Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918 and comprised the western half of South Belfast, and contained the Cromac and Windsor wards of Belfast Corporation. [1]

Prior to the 1918 general election and after the dissolution of Parliament in 1922 the area was part of the Belfast South constituency.[ citation needed ]

Politics

The constituency was a predominantly Unionist area, with some Labour support. In the 1918 election Sinn Féin came third.

First Dáil

After the 1918 election, Sinn Féin invited all those elected for constituencies in Ireland to sit as TDs in Dáil Éireann rather than in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. [2] All those elected for Irish constituencies were included in the roll of the Dáil but only those elected for Sinn Féin sat in the First Dáil. [3] In May 1921, the Dáil passed a resolution declaring that elections to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland would be used as the election for the Second Dáil and that the First Dáil would be dissolved on the assembly of the new body. [4] The area of Belfast Cromac was then represented in the Dáil by the four-seat constituency of Belfast South, which also returned no representatives for Sinn Féin.

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberParty
1918 William Arthur Lindsay Irish Unionist
May 1921 Ulster Unionist
1922 constituency abolished

Election

General Election 14 December 1918: Belfast Cromac
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Irish Unionist William Arthur Lindsay 11,459 76.58
Belfast Labour James Freeland2,50816.76
Sinn Féin Archibald Savage9976.66
Majority 8,95159.82
Turnout 21,67369.04
Irish Unionist win (new seat)

References

  1. Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918, Second Schedule, Part I
  2. "The inaugural public meeting of Dáil Éireann". Dáil 100. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  3. "3. AN ROLLA". Houses of the Oireachtas. 21 January 1919. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  4. "Dáil Éireann debate - Tuesday, 10 May 1921 - PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT. - ELECTIONS". Houses of the Oireachtas. Retrieved 22 February 2019.

See also