Belfast Shankill (UK Parliament constituency)

Shankill, a division of the parliamentary borough of Belfast, was a UK parliamentary constituency in Northern Ireland. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1922, on the electoral system of first past the post.

Belfast Shankill
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
Borough	Belfast
1918–1922
Seats	1
Created from	Belfast North
Replaced by	Belfast North

History

Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the parliamentary borough of Belfast had been divided into four divisions: Belfast East, Belfast North, Belfast South and Belfast West. Under the Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918, it was increased to nine divisions.^[1] Shankill was created from Belfast North and was defined as:^[2]

the Shankill Municipal Ward of the Borough, and that part of Clifton Ward which is not included in the Duncairn Division.

At the 1918 general election, Sinn Féin issued an election manifesto in which it called for the "establishment of a constituent assembly comprising persons chosen by Irish constituencies". After the election, Sinn Féin invited all those elected for Irish constituencies to sit as members of Dáil Éireann, termed Teachta Dála (or TD, known in English as a Deputy). In practice, only those elected for Sinn Féin attended. The seat was won by Samuel McGuffin, a Labour Unionist associated with the Ulster Unionist Party.^[3] Therefore, no representative from Shankill attended the First Dáil.^[4]

The Government of Ireland Act 1920 established the Parliament of Northern Ireland, with a 52-member Northern Ireland House of Commons (NIHC). The representation of Northern Ireland at Westminster was reduced from 30 to 13. Under the revision of constituencies, the area was combined with the Duncairn Division to form Belfast North, a 4-seat constituency for the NIHC and a single-seat constituency at Westminster.^[5] At the 1921 election, Samuel McGuffin was elected as an Ulster Unionist MP to the 1st House of Commons of Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin treated this as part of an election to the Second Dáil.^[6] There was no representative from this constituency in the Second Dáil.

The 1922 United Kingdom general election took place on 15 November, with an overall reduction in seats from Northern Ireland.

Members of Parliament

Election	MP	Party
1918	Samuel McGuffin		Labour Unionist
1922	Constituency abolished

Election

1918 general election: Belfast Shankill

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Unionist	Samuel McGuffin	11,840	73.78
	Belfast Labour	Sam Kyle	3,674	22.89
	Sinn Féin	Michael Carolan	534	3.33
Majority			8,166	50.88
Turnout			16,048	69.86
	Labour Unionist win (new seat)

See also

• List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies in Ireland and Northern Ireland
• List of MPs elected in the 1918 United Kingdom general election
• Historic Dáil constituencies

References

1. "Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918". Retrieved 12 June 2023.
2. "Representation of the People Bill 1917: redistribution of seats: report". Enhanced British Parliamentary Papers on Ireland. Boundary Commission (Ireland). p. 31. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
3. Whye, Nicholas (25 March 2006). "The Irish Election of 1918". Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
4. "3. AN ROLLA". Houses of the Oireachtas. 21 January 1919. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
5. "Government of Ireland Act 1920 (10 & 11 Geo. 5, c. 67): Fifth Schedule". legislation.gov.uk. The National Archives. Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
6. "President's Statement. - Elections – Dáil Éireann (1st Dáil) – Vol. F No. 21". Houses of the Oireachtas. 10 May 1921. Archived from the original on 5 August 2020. Retrieved 16 October 2022.

Sources

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 3)
• Walker, Brian M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. p. 384. ISBN 0901714127.
• Stenton, M.; Lees, S., eds. (1979). 'Who's Who of British members of parliament: Volume III 1919–1945. The Harvester Press.
• Information about boundaries of the constituency derived from the map of Northern Ireland Parliament constituencies (in force from 1921) and the wards included in the Belfast UK Parliament seats (in force 1922) for which see respectively
  • Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1972). Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885–1972. Political Reference Publications.
  • Elliott, Sydney, ed. (1973). Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election Results 1921–1972. Political Reference Publications.