Londonderry (UK Parliament constituency)

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Not to be confused with Londonderry City (UK Parliament constituency) .

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

Londonderry
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
1801 (1801)–1885 (1885)
Replaced by	North Londonderry and South Londonderry
1922 (1922)–1983 (1983)
Replaced by	East Londonderry and Foyle
Created from	Londonderry City, North Londonderry and South Londonderry

Londonderry was a Parliamentary Constituency in the House of Commons and also a constituency in elections to various regional bodies. It was replaced in boundary changes in 1983. It returned two MPs 1801–1885 and one 1922–1983.

Boundaries

The constituency consisted, in 1801–1885, of the whole of County Londonderry, except for the Parliamentary boroughs of Coleraine and Londonderry City.

The seat was re-created in 1922. As part of the consequences of the devolved Stormont Parliament for Northern Ireland, the number of MPs in the Westminster Parliament was drastically cut. The seat was focused on County Londonderry. It comprised the Administrative county of Londonderry and the County Borough of Londonderry.

In 1951, it was one of the last four seats to be uncontested in a United Kingdom general election.

In 1983 the number of seats for Northern Ireland was increased from 12 to 17 and Londonderry was split in two, forming Foyle and East Londonderry.

Members of Parliament

1801–1885

Election	First member	First party	Second member	Second party
1801	Hon. Charles William Stewart^[1]		Vacant
1801 by-election			Sir George Hill, 2nd Bt
1802			Lord George Thomas Beresford	Conservative
1812			Hon. William Ponsonby	Conservative
1814 by-election	Alexander Stewart		Hon. William Ponsonby	Conservative
1815 by-election	Alexander Stewart		George Robert Dawson
1818	Alexander Robert Stewart		George Robert Dawson
1830	Theobald Jones	Conservative	Sir Robert Bateson, 1st Bt	Conservative
1842 by-election			Robert Bateson	Conservative
1844 by-election			Thomas Bateson	Conservative
1857			James Johnston Clark	Conservative
1857 by-election	Samuel Macurdy Greer	Liberal	James Johnston Clark	Conservative
1859	Robert Peel Dawson	Conservative	Sir Frederick Heygate, 2nd Bt	Conservative
1874	Richard Smyth	Liberal	Hugh Law	Liberal
1878 by-election	Sir Thomas McClure, 1st Bt	Liberal	Hugh Law	Liberal
1881 by-election			Andrew Marshall Porter	Liberal
1884 by-election			Samuel Walker	Liberal
1885	constituency abolished: see North Londonderry & South Londonderry

1922–1983

Election		Member	Party
	1922	Sir Malcolm Macnaghten	Ulster Unionist
	1929 by-election	Sir Ronald Ross	Ulster Unionist
	1951 by-election	William Wellwood	Ulster Unionist
	1955	Robin Chichester-Clark	Ulster Unionist
	February 1974	William Ross	Ulster Unionist
1983		constituency abolished: see Foyle & East Londonderry

Notes

↑ known as Sir Charles Stewart from 1813

Westminster elections

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Londonderry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	William Ross	31,592	49.7
	SDLP	Hugh Logue	19,185	30.2
	Alliance	Arthur Barr	5,830	9.2
	Irish Independence	Fergus McAteer	5,489	8.6
	Republican Clubs	Eamonn Melaugh	888	1.4
	Independent Labour	William Webster	639	1.0
Majority			12,407	19.5
Turnout			63,623	67.1
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Londonderry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	William Ross	35,138	54.4
	SDLP	John Hume	26,118	40.4
	Republican Clubs	Michael Montgomery	2,530	3.9
	Independent	Richard Foster	846	1.3
Majority			9,020	14.0
Turnout			64,632	69.3
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Londonderry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	William Ross	33,060	52.7
	SDLP	Hugh Logue	23,670	37.7
	Republican Clubs	Michael Montgomery	4,889	7.8
	Independent	Richard Foster	1,162	1.9
Majority			9,390	15.0
Turnout			62,781	68.1
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election 1970: Londonderry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Robin Chichester-Clark	39,141	53.1
	Unity	Eddie McAteer	27,006	36.6
	Derry Labour	Eamonn McCann	7,565	10.3
Majority			12,135	16.5
Turnout			73,712	81.6
	UUP hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Londonderry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Robin Chichester-Clark	34,729	58.1
	Nationalist	Paddy Gormley	22,167	37.1
	Independent Republican	Neil Gillespie	2,860	4.8
Majority			12,562	21.0
Turnout			59,756	76.4
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election 1964: Londonderry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Robin Chichester-Clark	37,700	64.1
	Independent Republican	Hugh McAteer	21,123	35.9
Majority			16,577	28.1
Turnout			58,823	76.5
	UUP hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Londonderry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Robin Chichester-Clark	37,529	73.0
	Sinn Féin	Manus Canning	13,872	27.0
Majority			23,657	46.0
Turnout			51,401	70.2
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Londonderry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Robin Chichester-Clark	35,673	64.5
	Sinn Féin	Manus Canning	19,640	35.5
Majority			16,033	29.0
Turnout			55,313	77.6
	UUP hold		Swing

In the Londonderry by-election, 1951 and the United Kingdom general election, 1951, William Wellwood was elected unopposed.

General Election 1950: Londonderry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Ronald Deane Ross	36,602	62.6
	Independent Republican	Hugh McAteer	21,880	37.4
Majority			14,722	25.2
Turnout			58,482	80.7
	UUP hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Londonderry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Ronald Deane Ross	40,214	50.8	N/A
	Nationalist	Denis Cavanagh	37,561	47.4	N/A
	Labour	Mitchell Gordon	1,471	1.9	N/A
Majority			2,653	3.4	N/A
Turnout			79,246	88.1	N/A
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1930s

In the 1931 and 1935 general elections, Ronald Deane Ross was elected unopposed.

Elections in the 1920s

In the Londonderry by-election, 1929 and the United Kingdom general election, 1929, Ronald Deane Ross was elected unopposed.

General Election 1924: Londonderry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Malcolm Macnaghten	30,875	82.9	N/A
	Sinn Féin	Charles MacWhinney	5,869	15.8	N/A
	Independent Unionist	William Galt	517	1.4	N/A
Majority			25,006	67.1	N/A
Turnout			37,261	59.1	N/A
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

In the United Kingdom general election, 1923, Malcolm Macnaghten was elected unopposed.

General Election 1922: Londonderry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Malcolm Macnaghten	30,743	75.7	N/A
	Independent Unionist	Edmund Macnaughten	9,861	24.3	N/A
Majority			20,882	51.4	N/A
Turnout			40,604	63.9	N/A
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

Politics and history of the constituency

From its inception Londonderry had a unionist majority, though by the 1970s the nationalist vote was approaching 40% in some elections.

In 1974 the Ulster Unionist Party repudiated the Sunningdale Agreement and so did not reselect Robin Chichester-Clark, who had been a Minister in the government of Edward Heath. Instead they ran William Ross, who held the seat until 1983. He was then elected for the new East Londonderry.

For the history of the area post 1983, please see Foyle (UK Parliament constituency) and East Londonderry.

References

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 4)

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