Mourne (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

Mourne was a constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.

Mourne
Former County Constituency
for the Parliament of Northern Ireland
Former constituency
Created1929
Abolished1972
Election methodFirst past the post

Boundaries

Mourne was a county constituency comprising part of southern County Down, including the Mountains of Mourne. It was created 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. Mourne was created by the division of Down into eight new constituencies. The constituency survived unchanged, returning one Member of Parliament until the Parliament of Northern Ireland was temporarily suspended in 1972, and then formally abolished in 1973.

The seat included the town of Newcastle, the town of Kilkeel (which became an urban district in 1936)[1] and also certain district electoral divisions of the rural districts of Banbridge, Downpatrick, Kilkeel and Newry No. 1.[2][3]

Politics

The seat had a small nationalist majority, with Nationalist Party candidates defeating unionists at every election, excepting 1938, when no nationalist stood.[4]

Members of Parliament

Elected Party Name[4]
1929 Nationalist Patrick O'Neill
1938 UUP George Panter
1945 Nationalist James McSparran
1958 Nationalist James O'Reilly

Election results

General Election 1929: Mourne[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Nationalist Patrick O'Neill 6,575 55.1 N/A
UUP J. M. Boyle 5,352 44.9 N/A
Majority 1,223 10.2 N/A
Turnout 80.5 N/A
Nationalist hold Swing N/A
General Election 1933: Mourne[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Nationalist Patrick O'Neill 6,674 54.1 -1.0
UUP John Maynard Sinclair 5,667 45.9 +1.0
Majority 1,007 8.2 -2.0
Turnout 82.3 +1.8
Nationalist hold Swing N/A

At the 1938 Northern Ireland general election, Unionist George Panter was elected unopposed.[4]

General Election 1945: Mourne[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Nationalist James McSparran 7,784 58.4 N/A
Independent Unionist James Brown 5,544 41.6 N/A
Majority 2,240 16.8 N/A
Turnout 85.2 N/A
Nationalist hold Swing N/A
General Election 1949: Mourne[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Nationalist James McSparran 7,462 55.3 -3.1
UUP N. F. Gordon 6,020 44.7 +3.1
Majority 1,442 10.6 -6.2
Turnout 83.2 -2.0
Nationalist hold Swing N/A
General Election 1953: Mourne[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Nationalist James McSparran 7,532 55.2 -0.1
UUP Joseph Fisher 6,113 44.8 +0.1
Majority 1,419 10.4 -0.2
Turnout 82.6 -0.6
Nationalist hold Swing N/A
General Election 1958: Mourne[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Nationalist James O'Reilly 7,139 52.3 -2.9
UUP Eileen Calvert 6,506 47.7 +2.9
Majority 633 4.6 -5.8
Turnout 84.7 +1.5
Nationalist hold Swing N/A

References

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