Belfast West (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

For other constituencies of the same name, see Belfast West (disambiguation).

Belfast West
Former Borough Constituency for the Parliament of Northern Ireland
Belfast West shown within Northern Ireland
Former constituency
Created	1921
Abolished	1929
Election method	Single transferable vote

Belfast West was a borough constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland from 1921 to 1929. It returned four MPs, using the single transferable vote method of proportional representation.

Boundaries

Belfast West included the Court, Falls, St Anne's, St George's, Smithfield and Woodvale wards of the County Borough of Belfast. In 1929, the constituency was divided into the Belfast Central, Belfast Falls, Belfast St Anne's and Belfast Woodvale constituencies.

Politics

Belfast West was a predominantly Unionist area with some pockets of Nationalist strength, electing three Unionists and one Nationalist in 1921 and one Unionists, one Independent Unionist, one Nationalist and one Labour Party member in 1925.

Election results

24 May 1921 General Election: Belfast West (4 seats)
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4
	UUP	Thomas Henry Burn	24.88	13,298
	UUP	Robert John Lynn	17.43	9,315	11,646
	UUP	William Twaddell	19.30	10,316	10,558	11,509
	Nationalist	Joseph Devlin	19.87	10,621	10,628	10,629	10,632
	Sinn Féin	Denis McCullough	11.73	6,270	6,272	6,274	6,274
	Sinn Féin	Seán MacEntee	5.53	2,954	2,954	2,955	2,955
	Belfast Labour	John Hanna	0.69	367	380	380	383
	Nationalist	Richard Byrne	0.58	311	323	323	323
Electorate: 57,914   Valid: 53,452   Quota: 10,691   Turnout: 92.3%

Devlin did not take his seat.

Twaddell was assassinated on 22 May 1922:

Belfast West by-election, 1923

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Unionist	Philip James Woods	25,761	55.3
	UUP	Joseph Davison	19,360	41.6
Majority			7,859
Turnout			46,597	69.3	-23.0
	Independent Unionist gain from UUP		Swing

1925 General Election: Belfast West (4 seats)
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5
	Nationalist	Joseph Devlin	35.48	17,558
	Independent Unionist	Philip James Woods	19.40	9,599	11,071
	UUP	Robert John Lynn	16.92	8,371	8,507	8,599	10,437
	NI Labour	Billy McMullen	5.80	2,869	7,237	7,795	8,002	8,015	10,345
	UUP	Thomas Henry Burn	9.80	4,808	4,878	4,921	5,989	6,509	6,515
	Republican	J. McConville	6.78	3,146	4,456	4,511	4,545	4,552	eliminated
	UUP	R. Dickson	6.33	3,133	3,438	3,623	eliminated
Electorate: 65,550   Valid: 49,484   Quota: 9,897   Turnout: 75.5%

Devlin did not take his seat.

External links

• http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0
• http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/en.toc.dail.html