Armagh (UK Parliament constituency)
Encyclopedia
Armagh or County Armagh was a Parliamentary Constituency in the House of Commons. It was replaced in boundary changes in 1983.
The Act of Union 1800
provided for the Parliament of Ireland to be merged with the Parliament of Great Britain
, to form the Parliament of the United Kingdom
. The 300 seats in the Irish House of Commons
were reduced to 100 Irish members in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The thirty-two Irish counties retained two seats in Parliament.
, as the House of Commons was composed of members elected to the previous Parliaments of Ireland and Great Britain. The constituencies consisted of the whole of County Armagh
, excluding the part in the Parliamentary borough constituency of Armagh City.
Catholics were excluded from taking Irish seats in Parliament from 1691 until 1829. See Catholic emancipation
for further details.
Catholics, who were otherwise qualified to vote, had to take various oaths before doing so; under Acts of 1691 and 1703. An Act of 1727 prohibited "papists" from voting at all. They were not again permitted to qualify to vote until 1793.
Before 1885 there was a restrictive property based franchise. In 1829 the traditional county 40 shilling freehold landowning qualification was changed to a £10 qualification (which was an increase to five times the previous level). It was not until the householder franchise was introduced for county elections, in the electoral reforms which took effect in 1885, that most (but not all) adult males became voters.
In these circumstances most Members of Parliament came from a limited number of Protestant aristocratic and gentry families. There were few contested elections.
In the first half century or so after the union this constituency was fairly evenly balanced between Whig/Liberal and Tory/Conservative parties. Thereafter the area became more Conservative.
The constituency was represented by two MPs from 1801 until 1885, and by one MP from 1922 until 1983. In 1885, it was split into Mid Armagh
, North Armagh
and South Armagh
.
A new seat was created in 1922 when as part of the establishment of the devolved Stormont Parliament for Northern Ireland, the number of MPs in the Westminster Parliament was drastically cut. The seat consisted of the entirety of County Armagh. In 1983 most of it became part of the Newry and Armagh constituency
, with part going to Upper Bann
.
From its inception Armagh had a unionist majority, though by the 1970s the nationalist vote was in the mid 30s%.
In 1951, it was one of the last four seats to be uncontested in a UK general election, and in 1954 it saw the last uncontested by-election in the UK.
In 1974 the Ulster Unionist Party repudiated the Sunningdale Agreement
and so did not reselect the pro Sunningdale MP, John Maginnis
. Instead they ran Harold McCusker
, who held the seat until 1983
. He was then elected for Upper Bann
, which contained part of Armagh.
For the history of the area post 1983, please see Newry and Armagh
and Upper Bann
.
system was used. Voters could cast a vote for one or two candidates, as they chose. The two candidates with the largest number of votes were elected.
In by-elections, to fill a single seat, the first past the post system applied.
There was no election in 1801. The representatives of the county in the former Parliament of Ireland
became members of the 1st Parliament of the United Kingdom
.
After 1832, when registration of voters was introduced, a turnout figure is given for contested elections. In two-member elections, when the exact number of participating voters is unknown, this is calculated by dividing the number of votes by two. To the extent that voters did not use both their votes this will be an underestimate of turnout. If the electorate figure is unknown the last known electorate figure is used to provide an estimate of turnout.
Where a party had more than one candidate in one or both of a pair of successive elections change is calculated for each individual candidate, otherwise change is based on the party vote.
The Act of Union 1800
Act of Union 1800
The Acts of Union 1800 describe two complementary Acts, namely:* the Union with Ireland Act 1800 , an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, and...
provided for the Parliament of Ireland to be merged with the Parliament of Great Britain
Parliament of Great Britain
The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland...
, to form the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
. The 300 seats in the Irish House of Commons
Irish House of Commons
The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland, that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords...
were reduced to 100 Irish members in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The thirty-two Irish counties retained two seats in Parliament.
Members of Parliament
| From | To | Name (Party) | Born | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1801 | 1807 | Hon. Archibald Acheson Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford GCB , styled The Honourable Archibald Acheson from 1790 to 1806 and Lord Acheson from 1806 to 1807, was a British politician who served as Lieutenant-Governor of Lower Canada and Governor General of British North America in the 19th century.-Background:Born at... (NP,T) |
1 August 1776 | 27 March 1849 |
| 1801 | 1802 | Robert Camden Cope (NP) | c. 1771 | 5 December 1818 |
| 1802 | 1807 | Hon. Henry Caulfeild (W) | 29 July 1779 | 4 March 1862 |
| 1807 | 1815 | William Brownlow (T) | 1 September 1755 | 10 July 1815 |
| 1807 | 1820 | William Richardson (T) | c. 1749 | c. 1820 |
| 1815 | 1818 | Hon. Henry Caulfeild (W) | 29 July 1779 | 4 March 1862 |
| 1818 | 1832 | Charles Brownlow Charles Brownlow, 1st Baron Lurgan Charles Brownlow, 1st Baron Lurgan PC was an Irish politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1818 to 1832 and was raised to the peerage in 1839.... (T,W) |
17 April 1795 | 30 April 1847 |
| 1820 | 1830 | Hon. Henry Caulfeild (W) | 29 July 1779 | 4 March 1862 |
| 1830 | 1847 | Viscount Acheson Archibald Acheson, 3rd Earl of Gosford Archibald Acheson, 3rd Earl of Gosford KP , styled Viscount Acheson between 1807 and 1849, was a British peer... (W,L) |
20 August 1806 | 15 June 1864 |
| 1832 | 1868 | Sir William Verner Sir William Verner, 1st Baronet Sir William Verner, 1st Baronet , was a British soldier and politician.Verner was the son of Colonel James Verner and of Jane Clarke. He married Harriet Wingfield, daughter of Colonel the Hon... , 1st Bt (C) |
25 October 1782 | 20 January 1871 |
| 1847 | 1857 | James Molyneux Caulfeild James Caulfeild, 3rd Earl of Charlemont Sir James Molyneux Caulfeild, 3rd Earl of Charlemont KP was an Irish politician and peer.He was the son of Hon. Henry Caulfeild and Elizabeth Margaret Browne. Lord Charlemont married on two occasions;* Hon... (L) |
6 October 1820 | 12 January 1892 |
| 1857 | 1864 | Maxwell Charles Close Maxwell Charles Close Maxwell Charles Close was an Irish Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1857 and 1885.... (C) |
1827 | 1903 |
| 1864 | 1874 | Sir James Matthew Stronge Sir James Stronge, 3rd Baronet Sir James Matthew Stronge, 3rd Baronet DL, JP Sir James Matthew Stronge, 3rd Baronet DL, JP Sir James Matthew Stronge, 3rd Baronet DL, JP (25 November 1811 – 11 March 1885, succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his 78 year old father, Sir James Stronge 2nd baronet, on 2 December 1864. He... , Bt (C) |
25 November 1811 | 11 March 1885 |
| 1868 | 1873 | Sir William Verner Sir William Verner, 2nd Baronet Sir William Verner, 2nd Baronet , was a British soldier and politician.Verner was the son of the first Baronet and of Harriet Wingfield. He married Mary Pakenham, daughter of Lieutenant-General the Hon. Sir Hercules Robert Pakenham, on 6 August 1850. After serving in the Coldstream Guards he was... , 2nd Bt (C) |
4 April 1822 | 10 January 1873 |
| 1873 | 1880 | Edward Wingfield Verner (C) | 1 October 1830 | 21 June 1899 |
| 1874 | 1885 | Maxwell Charles Close Maxwell Charles Close Maxwell Charles Close was an Irish Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1857 and 1885.... (C) |
1827 | 1903 |
| 1880 | 1885 | James Nicholson Richardson James Nicholson Richardson James Nicholson Richardson was an Irish Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1880 to 1885.... (L) |
1846 |
- 1922United Kingdom general election, 1922The United Kingdom general election of 1922 was held on 15 November 1922. It was the first election held after most of the Irish counties left the United Kingdom to form the Irish Free State, and was won by Andrew Bonar Law's Conservatives, who gained an overall majority over Labour, led by John...
- 1947 (death) Sir W.J. Allen Ulster Unionist PartyUlster Unionist PartyThe Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland... - 1948 by-electionArmagh by-election, 1948The Armagh by-election was held on 5 March 1948, following the death of Ulster Unionist Party Member of Parliament William Allen.Allen had held the seat of Armagh since its recreation for the 1922 UK general election...
- 1954 James Richard Edwards Harden - 1954 by-electionArmagh by-election, 1954The Armagh by-election was held on 20 November 1954, following the resignation of Ulster Unionist Party Member of Parliament James Harden.Harden had held the seat of Armagh since a by-election in 1948, and had not faced a contest since then...
- 1959 C W Armstrong Ulster Unionist PartyUlster Unionist PartyThe Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland... - 1959United Kingdom general election, 1959This United Kingdom general election was held on 8 October 1959. It marked a third successive victory for the ruling Conservative Party, led by Harold Macmillan...
- 1974United Kingdom general election, February 1974The United Kingdom's general election of February 1974 was held on the 28th of that month. It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, and the first election since the Second World War not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the winning party,...
John MaginnisJohn MaginnisJohn Edward Maginnis was a Northern Irish politician. He was Ulster Unionist Member of Parliament for Armagh from 1959 until he stood down at the February 1974 general election.-References:...
Ulster Unionist PartyUlster Unionist PartyThe Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland... - 1974United Kingdom general election, February 1974The United Kingdom's general election of February 1974 was held on the 28th of that month. It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, and the first election since the Second World War not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the winning party,...
- 1983United Kingdom general election, 1983The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...
Harold McCuskerHarold McCuskerJames Harold McCusker was a Northern Ireland Ulster Unionist Party politician who served as his party's deputy leader....
Ulster Unionist PartyUlster Unionist PartyThe Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...
Politics and history of the constituency
The union took effect on 1 January 1801. There was no new election for the members of the 1st Parliament of the United KingdomParliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
, as the House of Commons was composed of members elected to the previous Parliaments of Ireland and Great Britain. The constituencies consisted of the whole of County Armagh
County Armagh
-History:Ancient Armagh was the territory of the Ulaid before the fourth century AD. It was ruled by the Red Branch, whose capital was Emain Macha near Armagh. The site, and subsequently the city, were named after the goddess Macha...
, excluding the part in the Parliamentary borough constituency of Armagh City.
Catholics were excluded from taking Irish seats in Parliament from 1691 until 1829. See Catholic emancipation
Catholic Emancipation
Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in Great Britain and Ireland in the late 18th century and early 19th century which involved reducing and removing many of the restrictions on Roman Catholics which had been introduced by the Act of Uniformity, the Test Acts and the penal laws...
for further details.
Catholics, who were otherwise qualified to vote, had to take various oaths before doing so; under Acts of 1691 and 1703. An Act of 1727 prohibited "papists" from voting at all. They were not again permitted to qualify to vote until 1793.
Before 1885 there was a restrictive property based franchise. In 1829 the traditional county 40 shilling freehold landowning qualification was changed to a £10 qualification (which was an increase to five times the previous level). It was not until the householder franchise was introduced for county elections, in the electoral reforms which took effect in 1885, that most (but not all) adult males became voters.
In these circumstances most Members of Parliament came from a limited number of Protestant aristocratic and gentry families. There were few contested elections.
In the first half century or so after the union this constituency was fairly evenly balanced between Whig/Liberal and Tory/Conservative parties. Thereafter the area became more Conservative.
The constituency was represented by two MPs from 1801 until 1885, and by one MP from 1922 until 1983. In 1885, it was split into Mid Armagh
Mid Armagh (UK Parliament constituency)
Mid Armagh was a constituency in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act for the 1885 general election and returned one Member of Parliament until it was abolished with effect from the 1922 general election....
, North Armagh
North Armagh (UK Parliament constituency)
North Armagh was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland.-Boundaries and boundary changes:This constituency comprised the northern part of County Armagh....
and South Armagh
South Armagh (UK Parliament constituency)
South Armagh was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland.-Boundaries and boundary changes:This constituency comprised the southern part of County Armagh....
.
A new seat was created in 1922 when as part of the establishment of the devolved Stormont Parliament for Northern Ireland, the number of MPs in the Westminster Parliament was drastically cut. The seat consisted of the entirety of County Armagh. In 1983 most of it became part of the Newry and Armagh constituency
Newry and Armagh (UK Parliament constituency)
Newry and Armagh is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.-Boundaries:The seat was created in boundary changes in 1983, as part of an expansion of Northern Ireland's constituencies from 12 to 17, and was predominantly made up from the old Armagh constituency with the...
, with part going to Upper Bann
Upper Bann (UK Parliament constituency)
Upper Bann is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current Member of Parliament for Upper Bann is David Simpson.-Boundaries:...
.
From its inception Armagh had a unionist majority, though by the 1970s the nationalist vote was in the mid 30s%.
In 1951, it was one of the last four seats to be uncontested in a UK general election, and in 1954 it saw the last uncontested by-election in the UK.
In 1974 the Ulster Unionist Party repudiated the Sunningdale Agreement
Sunningdale Agreement
The Sunningdale Agreement was an attempt to establish a power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive and a cross-border Council of Ireland. The Agreement was signed at the Civil Service College in Sunningdale Park located in Sunningdale, Berkshire, on 9 December 1973.Unionist opposition, violence and...
and so did not reselect the pro Sunningdale MP, John Maginnis
John Maginnis
John Edward Maginnis was a Northern Irish politician. He was Ulster Unionist Member of Parliament for Armagh from 1959 until he stood down at the February 1974 general election.-References:...
. Instead they ran Harold McCusker
Harold McCusker
James Harold McCusker was a Northern Ireland Ulster Unionist Party politician who served as his party's deputy leader....
, who held the seat until 1983
United Kingdom general election, 1983
The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...
. He was then elected for Upper Bann
Upper Bann (UK Parliament constituency)
Upper Bann is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current Member of Parliament for Upper Bann is David Simpson.-Boundaries:...
, which contained part of Armagh.
For the history of the area post 1983, please see Newry and Armagh
Newry and Armagh (UK Parliament constituency)
Newry and Armagh is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.-Boundaries:The seat was created in boundary changes in 1983, as part of an expansion of Northern Ireland's constituencies from 12 to 17, and was predominantly made up from the old Armagh constituency with the...
and Upper Bann
Upper Bann (UK Parliament constituency)
Upper Bann is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current Member of Parliament for Upper Bann is David Simpson.-Boundaries:...
.
Elections
In two-member elections the bloc votingPlurality-at-large voting
Plurality-at-large voting is a non-proportional voting system for electing several representatives from a single multimember electoral district using a series of check boxes and tallying votes similar to a plurality election...
system was used. Voters could cast a vote for one or two candidates, as they chose. The two candidates with the largest number of votes were elected.
In by-elections, to fill a single seat, the first past the post system applied.
There was no election in 1801. The representatives of the county in the former Parliament of Ireland
Parliament of Ireland
The Parliament of Ireland was a legislature that existed in Dublin from 1297 until 1800. In its early mediaeval period during the Lordship of Ireland it consisted of either two or three chambers: the House of Commons, elected by a very restricted suffrage, the House of Lords in which the lords...
became members of the 1st Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
.
After 1832, when registration of voters was introduced, a turnout figure is given for contested elections. In two-member elections, when the exact number of participating voters is unknown, this is calculated by dividing the number of votes by two. To the extent that voters did not use both their votes this will be an underestimate of turnout. If the electorate figure is unknown the last known electorate figure is used to provide an estimate of turnout.
Where a party had more than one candidate in one or both of a pair of successive elections change is calculated for each individual candidate, otherwise change is based on the party vote.
Elections in the 1970s
Elections in the 1960s
Elections in the 1950s
- At the Armagh by-election, 1954Armagh by-election, 1954The Armagh by-election was held on 20 November 1954, following the resignation of Ulster Unionist Party Member of Parliament James Harden.Harden had held the seat of Armagh since a by-election in 1948, and had not faced a contest since then...
, C. W. ArmstrongC. W. ArmstrongColonel Christopher Wyborne Armstrong was a politician from Northern Ireland. He was Ulster Unionist Member of Parliament for Armagh from a by-election in 1954 until he stood down at the 1959 general election....
was elected unopposed. This was the last unopposed Parliamentary election anywhere in the UK.
- At the 1950 and 1951 UK general elections, James HardenJames Harden (politician)Major James Richard Edwards Harden DSO MC , known as Richard Harden, was a Northern Irish politician...
was elected unopposed.
Elections in the 1940s
- At the 1945 UK general election, William AllenWilliam Allen (UK politician)Sir William James Allen was a Northern Irish unionist politician.He was elected to the British House of Commons at a by-election in 1917, as an Irish Unionist Party Member of Parliament for North Armagh, and retained his seat at the 1918 general election...
was elected unopposed.
Elections in the 1930s
- At the 1931 UK general election, William AllenWilliam Allen (UK politician)Sir William James Allen was a Northern Irish unionist politician.He was elected to the British House of Commons at a by-election in 1917, as an Irish Unionist Party Member of Parliament for North Armagh, and retained his seat at the 1918 general election...
was elected unopposed.
Elections in the 1920s
- At the 1922 and 1923 UK general elections, William AllenWilliam Allen (UK politician)Sir William James Allen was a Northern Irish unionist politician.He was elected to the British House of Commons at a by-election in 1917, as an Irish Unionist Party Member of Parliament for North Armagh, and retained his seat at the 1918 general election...
was elected unopposed.
Elections in the 1880s
Elections in the 1870s
- At the Armagh by-election, 1873, Edward Wingfield Verner was elected unopposed.
Elections in the 1860s
- At the 1868 UK general election, James Matthew StrongeSir James Stronge, 3rd BaronetSir James Matthew Stronge, 3rd Baronet DL, JP Sir James Matthew Stronge, 3rd Baronet DL, JP Sir James Matthew Stronge, 3rd Baronet DL, JP (25 November 1811 – 11 March 1885, succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his 78 year old father, Sir James Stronge 2nd baronet, on 2 December 1864. He...
and William VernerSir William Verner, 2nd BaronetSir William Verner, 2nd Baronet , was a British soldier and politician.Verner was the son of the first Baronet and of Harriet Wingfield. He married Mary Pakenham, daughter of Lieutenant-General the Hon. Sir Hercules Robert Pakenham, on 6 August 1850. After serving in the Coldstream Guards he was...
were elected unopposed.
- At the 1865 UK general election, Stronge and a different William VernerSir William Verner, 1st BaronetSir William Verner, 1st Baronet , was a British soldier and politician.Verner was the son of Colonel James Verner and of Jane Clarke. He married Harriet Wingfield, daughter of Colonel the Hon...
were elected unopposed.
- At the Armagh by-election, 1864, Stronge was elected unopposed.
Elections in the 1850s
- At the 1859 UK general election, Maxwell Charles CloseMaxwell Charles CloseMaxwell Charles Close was an Irish Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1857 and 1885....
and Verner were elected unopposed.
- At the 1852 UK general election, Verner and James Molyneux Caulfeild were elected unopposed.
Elections in the 1840s
- At the 1847 UK general election, Verner and Caulfeild were elected unopposed.
- At the 1841 UK general election, Verner and Viscount AchesonArchibald Acheson, 3rd Earl of GosfordArchibald Acheson, 3rd Earl of Gosford KP , styled Viscount Acheson between 1807 and 1849, was a British peer...
were elected unopposed.
Elections in the 1830s
- At the 1832, 1835 and 1837 UK general elections, Verner and Acheson were elected unopposed.
- At the 1830 and 1831 UK general elections, Acheson and Charles BrownlowCharles Brownlow, 1st Baron LurganCharles Brownlow, 1st Baron Lurgan PC was an Irish politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1818 to 1832 and was raised to the peerage in 1839....
were elected unopposed.
Elections in the 1820s
- At the 1820 UK general election, Charles BrownlowCharles Brownlow, 1st Baron LurganCharles Brownlow, 1st Baron Lurgan PC was an Irish politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1818 to 1832 and was raised to the peerage in 1839....
and Henry Caulfeild were elected unopposed.
Elections in the 1810s
- At the Armagh by-election, 1815, Henry Caulfeild was elected unopposed.
- At the 1812 UK general election, Richardson and William Brownlow were elected unopposed.
Elections in the 19th century
- At the 1807 UK general election, Richardson and Brownlow were elected unopposed.
- At the Armagh by-election, 1807, Brownlow was elected unopposed.
- At the 1802 and 1806 UK general elections, Archibald AchesonArchibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of GosfordArchibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford GCB , styled The Honourable Archibald Acheson from 1790 to 1806 and Lord Acheson from 1806 to 1807, was a British politician who served as Lieutenant-Governor of Lower Canada and Governor General of British North America in the 19th century.-Background:Born at...
and Henry Caulfeild were elected unopposed.
- Archibald AchesonArchibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of GosfordArchibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford GCB , styled The Honourable Archibald Acheson from 1790 to 1806 and Lord Acheson from 1806 to 1807, was a British politician who served as Lieutenant-Governor of Lower Canada and Governor General of British North America in the 19th century.-Background:Born at...
and Robert Camden Cope were co-opted as non-partisans in 1801.
External links
- http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0
- http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/en.toc.dail.html
- http://acts.oireachtas.ie/zza12y1923.1.html
- For the exact definition of Northern Ireland Parliament constituency boundaries see http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/boundaries.html