Belfast Duncairn (UK Parliament constituency)

Belfast Duncairn
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1922
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Belfast North
Created from	Belfast North

Duncairn, 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.

Boundaries and boundary changes

This constituency comprised the eastern half of North Belfast, and contained the then Duncairn ward and the north-eastern part of the then Clifton ward 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 North constituency.

Politics

The constituency was a strongly unionist area. There was no real chance of a republican or nationalist candidate being elected. Carson was the Unionist leader in the House of Commons. His chief opponent was Major William Hamilton Davey, recently returned from France following the armistice. A barrister in civilian life, Major Davey stood for Home Rule and retained his deposit. During the course of the campaign Carson mistakenly referred to Major Davey as a 'Sinn Féiner' which led to damages being awarded to Major Davey in a his subsequent legal action for slander.

The First Dáil

Sinn Féin contested the general election of 1918 on the platform that instead of taking up any seats they won in the United Kingdom Parliament, they would establish a revolutionary assembly in Dublin. In republican theory every MP elected in Ireland was a potential Deputy to this assembly. In practice only the Sinn Féin members accepted the offer.

The revolutionary First Dáil assembled on 21 January 1919 and last met on 10 May 1921. The First Dáil, according to a resolution passed on 10 May 1921, was formally dissolved on the assembling of the Second Dáil. This took place on 16 August 1921.

In 1921, Sinn Féin decided to use the UK-authorised elections for the Northern Ireland House of Commons and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland as a poll for the Irish Republic's Second Dáil. Duncairn was, in republican theory, incorporated in a four-member Dáil constituency of Belfast North.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Rt. Hon. Sir Edward Henry Carson	Irish Unionist
	1921 (b)	Thomas Edward McConnell	Ulster Unionist
1922		constituency abolished

Elections

General Election 14 December 1918: Belfast Duncairn
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Irish Unionist	Rt Hon Sir Edward Henry Carson	11,637	81.05	N/A
	Irish Nationalist	William Hamilton Davey	2,449	17.06	N/A
	Sinn Féin	Dr Russell McNab	271	1.89	N/A
Majority			9,188	64.00	N/A
Turnout			19,085	75.23	N/A
	Irish Unionist gain from new seat		Swing	N/A

Carson appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and created Baron Carson

By-Election 23 June 1921: Belfast Duncairn
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	UUP	Thomas Edward McConnell	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

References

↑ Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918, Second Schedule, Part I

Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922, edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978)
Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume III 1919–1945, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (The Harvester Press 1979)
Information about boundaries of the constituency derived from the map of Northern Ireland Parliament constituencies (in force from 1921) and the wards included in the Belfast UK Parliament seats (in force 1922) for which see Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election Results 1921–1972, by Sydney Elliott (Political Reference Publications 1973) and Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885–1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1972) respective
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 4)

External links

Parliamentary constituencies in County Antrim and the city of Belfast

Parliament of Ireland
to 1800

Antrim Borough (1666–1800)
Antrim County (???–1800)
Belfast (1613–1800)
Carrickfergus (1326–1800)
Lisburn (???–1800)
Randalstown (???–1800)

Westminster 1801–present

Historic	Antrim (1801–85, 1922–50) Mid Antrim (1885–1922) Belfast (1801–85) Belfast Cromac (1918–22) Belfast Duncairn (1918–22) Belfast Falls (1918–22) Belfast Ormeau (1918–22) Belfast Pottinger (1918–22) Belfast Shankill (1918–22) Belfast St Anne's (1918–22) Belfast Victoria (1918–22) Belfast Woodvale (1918–22) Carrickfergus (1801–85) Lisburn (1801–85) Queen's University of Belfast (1918–50)

Current	East Antrim (1885–1922, 1983—) North Antrim (1885–1922, 1950—) South Antrim (1885–1922, 1950—) Belfast East (1885–1918, 1922—) Belfast North (1885–1918, 1922—) Belfast South (1885–1918, 1922—) Belfast West (1885–1918, 1922—) Lagan Valley 1983—

Dáil Éireann
Revolutionary era 1919–1922

First Dáil
1919–21

Seats taken	(none)

Seats not taken	East Antrim Mid Antrim North Antrim South Antrim Belfast Cromac Belfast Duncairn Belfast Falls Belfast Ormeau Belfast Pottinger Belfast St Anne's Belfast Shankill Belfast Victoria Belfast Woodvale Queen's University of Belfast

Second Dáil
1921–22

One or more seats taken	(none)

No seats taken	Antrim Belfast East Belfast North Belfast South Belfast West Queen's University of Belfast

Parliament of Northern Ireland
1921–72

1921–29	Antrim (1921–29) Belfast East (1921–29) Belfast North (1921–29) Belfast South (1921–29) West Belfast (1921–29) Queen's University of Belfast (1921–69)

1929–72	Bannside (1929–72) Belfast Ballynafeigh (1929–72) Belfast Bloomfield (1929–72) Belfast Central (1929–72) Belfast Clifton (1929–72) Belfast Cromac (1929–72) Belfast Dock (1929–72) Belfast Duncairn (1929–72) Belfast Falls (1929–72) Belfast Oldpark (1929–72) Belfast Pottinger (1929–72) Belfast Shankill (1929–72) Belfast St Annes (1929–72) Belfast Victoria (1929–72) Belfast Willowfield (1929–72) Belfast Windsor (1929–72) Belfast Woodvale (1929–72) Carrick (1929–72) Larkfield (1929–72) Larne (1929–72) Mid Antrim (1929–72) Newtownabbey (1969–72) North Antrim (1929–72) Queen's University of Belfast (1921–69) South Antrim (1929–72)

Northern Ireland Assemblies

Assembly 1973–74 Constitutional Convention 1975–76 Assembly 1982–86	North Antrim South Antrim Belfast East Belfast North Belfast South Belfast West

Northern Ireland Forum 1996–98 Assembly (1998–present)	East Antrim North Antrim South Antrim Belfast East Belfast North Belfast South Belfast West Lagan Valley

European Parliament
1979–present

Northern Ireland (1979—)

Constituencies in Ireland by county

Republic of Ireland	Carlow Cavan Clare Cork Donegal Dublin Galway Kerry Kildare Kilkenny Laois Leitrim Limerick Longford Louth Mayo Meath Monaghan Offaly Roscommon Sligo Tipperary Waterford Westmeath Wexford Wicklow

Northern Ireland	Antrim Armagh Down Fermanagh Londonderry Tyrone

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