Belfast Central (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

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Belfast Central Parliament of Northern Ireland Borough constituency


Belfast Central shown within Belfast and Belfast shown within Northern Ireland
Created:	1929
Abolished:	1973
Election Method:	First past the post

Belfast Central was a constituency of the Northern Ireland Parliament.

1 Boundaries
2 Politics
3 Members of Parliament
4 Election results
5 References

[edit] Boundaries

Belfast Central was a borough constituency comprising part of western Belfast. It was created in 1929 when the House of Commons (Method of Voting and Redistribution of Seats) Act (Northern Ireland) 1929 introduced first past the post elections throughout Northern Ireland.

Belfast Central was created by the division of Belfast West into four new constituencies. It survived unchanged, returning one member of Parliament, until the Northern Ireland Parliament was prorogued in 1972 and formally abolished in 1973.^[1]

The constituency consisted of inner city areas of Belfast equivalent to the modern areas of Unity, Brown Square, John Street and Lancaster Street. Residential redevelopment caused the electorate to fall sharply from 20,399 in 1929 to 6,384 in 1969. By the time of the dissolution of the Stormont Parliament, it had just over 2,500 voters.

The constituency is now part of Belfast North and Belfast West with most of the former seat now part of the New Lodge ward.

[edit] Politics

The constituency was one of the most staunchly nationalist in Belfast. It was initially held by Nationalist Party members, then later by a variety of labour movement activists and members of smaller nationalist parties.^[1] In 1953 a split between three Labour candidates led to the Unionist candidate finishing just 576 votes behind the victor.

[edit] Members of Parliament

Year	Name
1929	Joseph Devlin	Nationalist (NI)
1934	Thomas Joseph Campbell	Nationalist (NI)
1946	Frank Hanna	Labour (NI)
1949		Independent Labour
1949		Irish Labour
1949		Independent Labour
1958		Ind. Labour Group
1965	John Joseph Brennan	National Democrats
1969	Paddy Kennedy	Republican Labour

[edit] Election results

Government
Northern Ireland 1921-72
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Northern Ireland 1921-72

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See also
Government of Ireland Act 1920 Elections in Northern Ireland Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973
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General Election 22 May 1929: Belfast Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Nationalist (NI)	Joseph Devlin	10,624	71.8	N/A
	Ulster Unionist	D. C. Lindsay	4,163	28.2	N/A
Majority			6,461	43.6	N/A
Turnout				72.5	N/A
	Nationalist (NI) hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 30 November 1933: Belfast Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Nationalist (NI)	Joseph Devlin	7,411	61.4	-10.4
	Irish Republican	P. J. Thornbury	4,650	38.6	N/A
Majority			2,761	22.8	-20.8
Turnout				63.6	-7.9
	Nationalist (NI) hold		Swing	N/A

Belfast Central by-election, 1934^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Nationalist (NI)	Thomas Joseph Campbell	4,948	47.3	-14.1
	Labour (NI)	William McMullen	3,784	36.2	N/A
	Anti-Partition	Harry Diamond	1,518	14.5	N/A
	Ulster Democratic	W. McKeaveney	214	2.0	N/A
Majority			1,164	11.1	-11.7
Turnout				55.7	N/A
	Nationalist (NI) hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 9 February 1938: Belfast Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Nationalist (NI)	Thomas Joseph Campbell	unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Nationalist (NI) hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 14 June 1945: Belfast Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Nationalist (NI)	Thomas Joseph Campbell	unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Nationalist (NI) hold		Swing	N/A

Belfast Central by-election, 1946^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour (NI)	Frank Hanna	5,566	66.7	N/A
	Socialist Republican	Victor Halley	2,783	33.3	N/A
Majority			2,783	33.3	N/A
Turnout				52.4	N/A
	Labour (NI) gain from Nationalist (NI)		Swing	N/A

General Election 10 February 1949: Belfast Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Labour	Frank Hanna	unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Independent Labour gain from Nationalist (NI)		Swing	N/A

General Election 22 October 1953: Belfast Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Labour	Frank Hanna	3,902	35.3	N/A
	Ulster Unionist	J. F. Cairns	3,326	30.0	N/A
	Independent Irish Labour	T. J. O'Sullivan	2,437	22.0	N/A
	Irish Labour	Jack Beattie	1,406	12.7	N/A
Majority			576	5.3	N/A
Turnout				69.9	N/A
	Independent Labour hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 20 March 1958: Belfast Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ind. Labour Group	Frank Hanna	4,683	46.8	-31.4
	Ulster Unionist	William Craig	3,228	32.2	+2.2
	Irish Labour	D. P. Marrinan	2,105	56.9	+8.3
Majority			1,455	14.6	N/A
Turnout				71.6	+1.7
	Ind. Labour Group gain from Independent Labour		Swing

General Election 31 May 1962: Belfast Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ind. Labour Group	Frank Hanna	unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Ind. Labour Group hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 25 November 1965: Belfast Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Democrats	John Joseph Brennan	unopposed	N/A	N/A
	National Democrats gain from Ind. Labour Group		Swing	N/A

General Election 24 February 1969: Belfast Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican Labour	Paddy Kennedy	2,032	56.9	N/A
	National Democrats	John Joseph Brennan	1,538	43.1	N/A
Majority			494	13.8	N/A
Turnout			3,570	58.3	N/A
	Social Democratic and Labour gain from Republican Labour		Swing	N/A

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b The Northern Ireland House of Commons, 1921-1972, Northern Ireland Elections
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Northern Ireland Parliamentary Elections Results: Boroughs: Belfast

v • d • e Parliament of Northern Ireland constituencies

1921–1929	1929–1972

Antrim	Antrim Borough · Bannside · Carrick · Larkfield · Larne · Mid Antrim · Newtownabbey · North Antrim · South Antrim

Armagh	Central Armagh · Mid Armagh · North Armagh · South Armagh

Belfast East	Belfast Bloomfield · Belfast Dock · Belfast Pottinger · Belfast Victoria

Belfast North	Belfast Clifton · Belfast Duncairn · Belfast Oldpark · Belfast Shankill

Belfast South	Belfast Ballynafeigh · Belfast Cromac · Belfast Willowfield · Belfast Windsor

Belfast West	Belfast Central · Belfast Falls · Belfast St Anne's · Belfast Woodvale

Down	Ards · Bangor · East Down · Iveagh · Lagan Valley · Mid Down · Mourne · North Down · South Down · West Down

Fermanagh and Tyrone	East Tyrone · Enniskillen · Lisnaskea · Mid Tyrone · North Tyrone · South Fermanagh · South Tyrone · West Tyrone

Londonderry	City of Londonderry · Foyle · Mid Londonderry · North Londonderry · South Londonderry

Queen's University	Queen's University (to 1969)