North Down (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

North Down
Former County Constituency for the Parliament of Northern Ireland
Former constituency
Created	1929
Abolished	1972
Election method	First past the post

North Down was a constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.

Boundaries

North Down was a county constituency comprising part of northern County Down, immediately south east of Belfast. 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. North Down was created by the division of Down into eight new constituencies. The constituency survived unchanged until 1969, when it gained part of Mid Down, but the eastern half of the seat was split away to form Bangor. It returned one Member of Parliament until the Parliament of Northern Ireland was temporarily suspended in 1972, and then formally abolished in 1973.

The original seat was centred on the town of Bangor and urban district of Holywood, and it also included parts of the rural districts of Castlereagh and Newtownards.

Politics

The seat had a substantial unionist majority and was always won by unionist candidates, all but one representing the Ulster Unionist Party. It was sometimes contested by Northern Ireland Labour Party, Ulster Liberal Party and independent Unionist candidates, with only the independent Unionist receiving more than one third of the votes cast.

Members of Parliament

Elected	Party		Name
1929		UUP	James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon
1941		Independent Unionist	Thomas Bailie
1945		UUP
1953		UUP	Robert Samuel Nixon
1969		UUP	Robert Babington

Election results

At the 1929, 1933 and 1938 Northern Ireland general elections, James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon was elected unopposed.

North Down by-election, 1941

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Unionist	Thomas Bailie	6,268	55.0	N/A
	UUP	R. Workman	5,137	45.0	N/A
Majority			1,131	10.0	N/A
Turnout				58.4	N/A
	Independent Unionist gain from UUP		Swing	N/A

At the Northern Ireland general election, 1945, Thomas Bailie was elected unopposed.

General Election 1949: North Down

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Thomas Bailie	13,626	87.4	N/A
	NI Labour	Sam Napier	1,956	12.6	N/A
Majority			11,670	74.8	N/A
Turnout				69.4	N/A
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1953: North Down

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Robert Samuel Nixon	7,868	53.7	-33.7
	Independent Unionist	Thomas Bailie	6,771	46.3	N/A
Majority			1,097	7.4	-67.4
Turnout				59.1	-10.3
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

At the Northern Ireland general election, 1958, Robert Samuel Nixon was elected unopposed.

General Election 1962: North Down

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Robert Samuel Nixon	11,067	68.7	N/A
	Liberal	Arthur Burns	5,044	31.3	N/A
Majority			6,023	37.4	N/A
Turnout				58.0	N/A
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1965: North Down

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Robert Samuel Nixon	10,307	77.1	+8.4
	NI Labour	J. C. Marks	3,066	22.9	N/A
Majority			7,241	54.2	+16.8
Turnout				46.0	-12.0
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1969: North Down

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Robert Babington	9,013	85.2	+8.1
	Liberal	Sheelagh Murnaghan	1,567	14.8	N/A
Majority			7,446	70.4	+16.2
Turnout				57.5	+11.5
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A