Belfast South by-election, 1952

The Belfast South by-election, 1952 was held following the resignation of Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of Parliament, Hugh Gage.^[1]

History

Belfast South had consistently elected UUP members since its recreation in 1922, and no Irish nationalist had even stood in the seat in that period. The opposition came from the labour movement. Gage had first won the seat at the 1945 general election, but he faced opponents from both the Commonwealth Labour Party (CWLP) and the Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP), who, between them, had taken 48% of the vote. The CWLP had merged with the UUP in 1947, so by the 1950 general election, Gage was able to take three-quarters of the vote, the rest going to a NILP opponent. The vote shares barely changed at the 1951 general election.^[1]

Candidates

The UUP selected David Campbell, while the NILP opted to stand their party secretary, Sam Napier. Napier had stood for the Northern Ireland House of Commons twice, for North Down in 1949 and for the Queen's University of Belfast in 1953.^[1]

Result

The by-election was held on 4 November 1952. Campbell easily won the seat, taking more than three-quarters of the votes, in a near repeat of the result of the two previous general elections. He held the seat until his death in 1963.^[1]

Belfast South by-election, 1952^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	UUP	David Campbell	23,067	75.1	-0.7
	NI Labour	Samuel Napier	7,655	24.9	+0.7
Majority			15,412	50.2	-1.4
Turnout			30,722	46.4	-27.4
	UUP hold		Swing

References

1 2 3 4 South Belfast 1950-1970, Northern Ireland Elections
↑ "1952 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 2012-02-25. Retrieved 2015-08-13.

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1952	February: Bournemouth East and Christchurch Southport Leeds South East July: Dundee East October: Cleveland Antrim North November: Belfast South Wycombe Birmingham Small Heath Farnworth
1953	February: Canterbury March: Isle of Thanet Barnsley Stoke-on-Trent North April: Hayes and Harlington Down North Sunderland South June: Abingdon July: Birmingham Edgbaston September: Broxtowe November: Crosby Ormskirk Holborn and St Pancras South December: Paddington North
1954	February: Ilford North Haltemprice Harwich Bournemouth West March: Arundel and Shoreham Harrogate April: Edinburgh East Motherwell September: Croydon East October: Shoreditch and Finsbury Wakefield Aberdare Aldershot November: Morpeth Sutton and Cheam Liverpool West Derby Armagh December: Inverness
1955	January: South Norfolk Orpington Twickenham Edinburgh North February: Stockport South March: Wrexham
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