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1959 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

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Main article: 1959 United Kingdom general election

1959 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
← 1955 8 October 1959 1964 →
12 seats in Northern Ireland of the 630 seats in the House of Commons
  First party Second party
 
Leader Sir Basil Brooke, Bt Paddy McLogan
Party UUP Sinn Féin
Leader since 1943 1954
Leader's seat Did not stand[fn 1] Did not stand
Seats won 12 0
Seat change Increase 2 Decrease 2

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.

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.

style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #326760;" data-sort-value="Sinn Féin" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #DC241f;" data-sort-value="Northern Ireland Labour Party" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #FFBBBB;" data-sort-value="Independent Labour" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #DAA520;" data-sort-value="Ulster Liberal Party" |
Results[1][2]
Party MPs Votes
No. Change No. % Change
UUP 12 Increase 2 445,013 77.2% Increase 8.5
Sinn Féin 0 Decrease 2 63,415 11.0% Decrease 12.6
NI Labour 0 Steady 44,370 7.7% Increase 2.2
Independent Labour 0 Steady 20,062 3.5% Increase 3.5
Ulster Liberal 0 Steady 3,253 0.6% Increase 0.6
Total 12 Steady 576,113 100% Steady

MPs elected

Constituency Party MP
Antrim North

style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" |

UUP Henry Clark
Antrim South

style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" |

UUP Knox Cunningham
Armagh

style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" |

UUP John Maginnis
Belfast East

style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" |

UUP Stanley McMaster
Belfast North

style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" |

UUP Stratton Mills
Belfast South

style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" |

UUP David Campbell
Belfast West

style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" |

UUP Patricia McLaughlin
Down North

style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" |

UUP George Currie
Down South

style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" |

UUP Lawrence Orr
Fermanagh and South Tyrone

style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" |

UUP Robert Grosvenor
Londonderry

style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" |

UUP Robin Chichester-Clark
Mid Ulster

style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" |

UUP George Forrest

Footnotes

  1. ^ Brooke sat as the MP for Lisnaskea in the Northern Ireland Parliament.

References

  1. ^ "Elections to the United Kingdom Parliament held in Northern Ireland: General Election 1959". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  2. ^ "The 1959 Westminster Elections in Northern Ireland". ARK: Northern Ireland Elections. Retrieved 19 January 2019.


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