Mid Tyrone (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 54°36′04″N 7°17′28″W / 54.601°N 7.291°W

Mid Tyrone
Former County constituency
for the Parliament of Northern Ireland

Mid Tyrone shown within Northern Ireland
Former constituency
Created 1929
Abolished 1972
Election method First past the post

Mid Tyrone was a constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.

Boundaries

Mid Tyrone was a county constituency comprising the central part of County Tyrone. 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. East Tyrone was created by the division of Fermanagh and Tyrone into eight new constituencies, of which five were in County Tyrone. 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 was made up from parts of the rural districts of Cookstown, Omagh, Clogher and Strabane.[1]

Politics

County Tyrone had five Stormont MPs from 1929 until 1972. The seats in the North and South of the county were Unionist, the constituency covering the East could be considered marginal, whilst those in the West and centre of the county were nationalist. Unionists contested the constituency three times with varying degrees of success. At the first attempt in 1949, the Nationalist outpolled them two to one; in 1958 on a relatively low turn-out they came through the middle to win the seat with 48.7% of the vote. Defending the seat in 1962, this fell back to 38.6% (although they overall unionist vote rose by 8), and the then Nationalist Tom Gormley was elected.[2]

The remainder of contested elections involved candidates of different nationalist persuasions.

Members of Parliament

YearMemberParty
1929 Hugh McAleer Nationalist
1941 Michael McGurk Independent Nationalist
1948 Edward McCullagh Nationalist
1953 Liam Kelly Anti-Partition
1958 Alexander Blevins Ulster Unionist
1962 Tom Gormley Nationalist
1969 Independent Nationalist
1972 Alliance Party of Northern Ireland

Election results

Northern Ireland 1921–72
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At the 1929, 1933 and 1938 general elections, Hugh McAleer was elected unopposed. McAleer died in 1941.

At the 1941 by-election and 1945 general election, Michael McGurk was elected unopposed. McGurk died in 1948.

At the 1948 by-election, Edward McCullagh was elected unopposed.

General Election 1949:Mid Tyrone
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Nationalist Edward McCullagh 8,113 66.9 N/A
UUP F. G. Patterson 4,018 33.1 N/A
Majority 4,095 33.8 N/A
Turnout 12,131 83.9 N/A
Nationalist hold Swing N/A
General Election 1953: Mid Tyrone
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Anti-Partition Liam Kelly 4,178 55.3 N/A
Nationalist Edward McCullagh 3,376 44.7 '-22.2
Majority 802 10.6 N/A
Turnout 7,554 55.1 -28.8
Anti-Partition gain from Nationalist Swing N/A
General Election 1958: Mid Tyrone
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
UUP Alexander Blevins 3,949 48.7 N/A
Independent Tom Gormley 3,013 37.1 N/A
Nationalist F. McConnell 1,149 14.2 -30.5
Majority 802 10.6 N/A
Turnout 8,111 63.3 +8.2
UUP gain from Anti-Partition Swing N/A
General Election 1962: Mid Tyrone
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Nationalist Tom Gormley 6,297 61.4 +47.2
UUP Alexander Blevins 3,957 37.1 -10.1
Majority 2,340 22.8 N/A
Turnout 10,254 81.9 +18.6
Nationalist gain from UUP Swing N/A

At the 1965 general election Tom Gormley was elected unopposed.

General Election 1969: Mid Tyrone
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Nationalist Tom Gormley 5,149 63.2 +1.8
People's Progressive Party P. J. McDonald 2,992 36.8 N/A
Majority 2,157 26.4 +3.6
Turnout 8,141 69.1 -12.8
Nationalist hold Swing N/A

References

  1. ↑ Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election results: Constituency Boundaries
  2. ↑ Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election Results: Counties: Tyrone