1922 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
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All 13 seats in Northern Ireland to the House of Commons | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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
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.
| Party | MPs | Uncontested | Votes[3] | Adjusted votes[a 1] | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor="Template:Ulster Unionist Party/meta/color" | | Ulster Unionist | 11 | 10 | 107,972 | 69,357 | 57.2% |
| bgcolor="Template:Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland)/meta/color" | | Nationalist | 2 | 0 | 90,053 | 42,026 | 34.7% |
| bgcolor="Template:Independent Nationalist/meta/color" | | Independent Nationalist | 0 | 0 | 9,861 | 9,861 | 8.1% |
| Total | 13 | 10 | 207,886 | 121,245 | 100 | |
- ^ Votes in constituencies using the bloc voting system are counted as 0.5 each, as each voter had one vote per seat.
MPs elected
Changes since 1918
At the previous general election, the seats won in the area which would become Northern Ireland were:
| Party | MPs | |
|---|---|---|
| bgcolor="Template:Irish Unionist Alliance/meta/color"| | Unionist | 20 |
| bgcolor="Template:Irish Parliamentary Party/meta/color"| | Nationalist | 4 |
| bgcolor="Template:Sinn Féin/meta/color"| | Sinn Féin | 3 |
| bgcolor="Template:Labour Unionist/meta/color"| | 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
style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | |
Ulster Unionist | Robert McCalmont | Resigned in 1919; succeeded by George Hanna, NI MP 1921–37 | |
| Antrim Mid
style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | |
Ulster Unionist | Hugh O'Neill | UK MP for Antrim | |
| Antrim North
style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | |
Ulster Unionist | Peter Kerr-Smiley | Retired | |
| Antrim South
style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | |
Ulster Unionist | Charles Curtis Craig | UK MP for Antrim | |
| Armagh Mid
style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | |
Ulster Unionist | James Lonsdale | Died in May 1921; succeeded by Henry Armstrong, NI Senator 1921–37 | |
| Armagh North
style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | |
Ulster Unionist | William Allen | UK MP for Armagh | |
| Armagh South
style="width: 2px; background-color: #32cd32;" data-sort-value="Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland)" | |
Nationalist | Patrick Donnelly | Did not contest, later unsuccessful in 1929 NI election | |
| Belfast Cromac
style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | |
Ulster Unionist | William Arthur Lindsay | Retired | |
| Belfast Duncairn
style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | |
Ulster Unionist | Edward Carson | Appointed as Law Lord in 1921; succeeded by Thomas McConnell, UK MP for Belfast North in 1922 | |
| Belfast Falls
style="width: 2px; background-color: #32cd32;" data-sort-value="Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland)" | |
Nationalist | Joseph Devlin | NI MP for Belfast West | |
| Belfast Ormeau
style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | |
Ulster Unionist | Thomas Moles | UK MP for Belfast South | |
| Belfast Pottinger
style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | |
Ulster Unionist | Herbert Dixon | UK MP for Belfast East | |
| Belfast St Anne's
style="width: 2px; background-color: #DDEEFF;" data-sort-value="Labour Unionist" | |
Labour Unionist | Thomas Henry Burn | NI MP for Belfast West (UUP) | |
| Belfast Shankill
style="width: 2px; background-color: #DDEEFF;" data-sort-value="Labour Unionist" | |
Labour Unionist | Samuel McGuffin | NI MP for Belfast North (UUP) | |
| Belfast Victoria
style="width: 2px; background-color: #DDEEFF;" data-sort-value="Labour Unionist" | |
Labour Unionist | Thompson Donald | NI MP for Belfast East (UUP) | |
| Belfast Woodvale
style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | |
Ulster Unionist | Robert Lynn | NI MP for Belfast West and UK MP for Belfast West | |
| Down East
style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | |
Ulster Unionist | David Reid | UK MP for Down | |
| Down Mid
style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | |
Ulster Unionist | James Craig | NI MP for Down and Prime Minister of Northern Ireland | |
| Down North
style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | |
Ulster Unionist | Thomas Watters Brown | Appointed judge of the High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland in 1922 | |
| Down South
style="width: 2px; background-color: #32cd32;" data-sort-value="Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland)" | |
Nationalist | Jeremiah McVeagh | Did not contest. Later unsuccessfully sought election. | |
| Down West
style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | |
Ulster Unionist | Daniel M. Wilson | Appointed Recorder of Belfast in 1921; succeeded by Thomas Browne Wallace | |
| Fermanagh North
style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | |
Ulster Unionist | Edward Archdale | NI MP for Fermanagh and Tyrone | |
| Fermanagh South
style="width: 2px; background-color: #326760;" data-sort-value="Sinn Féin" | |
Sinn Féin | Seán O'Mahony | NI MP for Fermanagh and Tyrone | |
| Londonderry City
style="width: 2px; background-color: #326760;" data-sort-value="Sinn Féin" | |
Sinn Féin | Eoin MacNeill | TD for National University of Ireland for Cumann na nGaedheal | |
| Londonderry North
style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | |
Ulster Unionist | Hugh Anderson | Resigned 1919; succeeded by Hugh T. Barrie, NI Senator in 1922 | |
| Londonderry South
style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | |
Ulster Unionist | Denis Henry | Appointed Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland in 1921 | |
| Tyrone North East
style="width: 2px; background-color: #32cd32;" data-sort-value="Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland)" | |
Nationalist | Thomas Harbison | UK MP for Fermanagh and Tyrone | |
| Tyrone North West
style="width: 2px; background-color: #326760;" data-sort-value="Sinn Féin" | |
Sinn Féin | Arthur Griffith | Died 12 August 1922 | |
| Tyrone South
style="width: 2px; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | |
Ulster Unionist | William Coote | NI MP for Fermanagh and Tyrone | |
References
- ^ Walker, Brian Mercer (1992). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1918–1992 (New History of Ireland). Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. p. 15. ISBN 0901714968.
- ^ "Elections to the United Kingdom Parliament held in Northern Ireland: General Election of 6 December 1922". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
- ^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (2006). British Electoral Facts. Ashgate. p. 23.