North-West Tyrone (UK Parliament constituency)

North West Tyrone was a UK parliamentary constituency

United Kingdom constituencies

In the United Kingdom , each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly.Within the United Kingdom there are now five bodies with members elected by constituencies:...

in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. It returned one Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

(MP) to the British House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

1918–1922.

Boundaries and boundary changes

This county constituency comprised the north-western part of County Tyrone

County Tyrone

Historically Tyrone stretched as far north as Lough Foyle, and comprised part of modern day County Londonderry east of the River Foyle. The majority of County Londonderry was carved out of Tyrone between 1610-1620 when that land went to the Guilds of London to set up profit making schemes based on...

.

Prior to the United Kingdom general election, 1918

United Kingdom general election, 1918

The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was the first to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918, which meant it was the first United Kingdom general election in which nearly all adult men and some women could vote. Polling was held on 14 December 1918, although the count did...

the area was the North Tyrone

North Tyrone (UK Parliament constituency)

North Tyrone was a UK parliamentary constituency in Ireland. It returned one Member of Parliament to the British House of Commons 1885–1918.Prior to the United Kingdom general election, 1885 the area was part of the Tyrone constituency...

and part of the Mid Tyrone

Mid Tyrone (UK Parliament constituency)

Mid Tyrone was a UK parliamentary constituency in Ireland. It returned one Member of Parliament to the British House of Commons 1885–1918.Before the 1885 general election the area was part of the Tyrone constituency...

constituencies. From the dissolution of Parliament in 1922 North West Tyrone became part of the Fermanagh and Tyrone

Fermanagh and Tyrone (UK Parliament constituency)

Fermanagh and Tyrone was a Parliamentary Constituency in Northern Ireland which was represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

seat.

Politics

The constituency was a predominantly Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

area in 1918. The Unionists had significant but minority support.

Arthur Griffith

Arthur Griffith

Arthur Griffith was the founder and third leader of Sinn Féin. He served as President of Dáil Éireann from January to August 1922, and was head of the Irish delegation at the negotiations in London that produced the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921.-Early life:...

was also elected for East Cavan

East Cavan (UK Parliament constituency)

East Cavan was a parliamentary constituency in Ireland, which from 1885 to 1922 returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.Prior to 1885 the area was part of the Cavan constituency...

, but as he did not take his seat in the United Kingdom House of Commons he could not choose which area he would represent and trigger a by-election in the other.

Griffith died on 12 August 1922. Sinn Féin MPs were not prepared to attend the House of Commons, to apply for the writ for a by-election, so this seat was vacant at the dissolution of Parliament on 26 October 1922.

The First Dáil

Sinn Féin

contested the general election of 1918

Irish (UK) general election, 1918

The Irish general election of 1918 was that part of the 1918 United Kingdom general election that took place in Ireland. It is seen as a key moment in modern Irish history...

on the platform that instead of taking up any seats they won in the United Kingdom Parliament, they would establish a revolutionary assembly in Dublin. In republican theory every MP elected in Ireland was a potential Deputy to this assembly. In practice only the Sinn Féin members accepted the offer.

The revolutionary First Dáil

First Dáil

The First Dáil was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919–1921. In 1919 candidates who had been elected in the Westminster elections of 1918 refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled as a unicameral, revolutionary parliament called "Dáil Éireann"...

assembled on 21 January 1919 and last met on 10 May 1921. The First Dáil, according to a resolution passed on 10 May 1921, was formally dissolved on the assembling of the Second Dáil

Second Dáil

The Second Dáil was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 16 August 1921 until 8 June 1922. From 1919–1922 Dáil Éireann was the revolutionary parliament of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic. The Second Dáil consisted of members elected in 1921...

. This took place on 16 August 1921.

In 1921 Sinn Féin decided to use the UK authorised elections for the Northern Ireland House of Commons and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland as a poll for the Irish Republic

Irish Republic

The Irish Republic was a revolutionary state that declared its independence from Great Britain in January 1919. It established a legislature , a government , a court system and a police force...

's Second Dáil

Second Dáil

. Tyrone North West, in republican theory, was incorporated in an eight-member Dáil constituency of Fermanagh and Tyrone

Fermanagh and Tyrone (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

Fermanagh and Tyrone was a county constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland from 1921 - 1929. It returned eight MPs, using the single transferable vote method of proportional representation.-Boundaries:...

Member of Parliament 1918–1922

Key to party: SF Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

.

From	To	Name (Party)	Born	Died
1918	1922	Arthur Griffith Arthur Griffith Arthur Griffith was the founder and third leader of Sinn Féin. He served as President of Dáil Éireann from January to August 1922, and was head of the Irish delegation at the negotiations in London that produced the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921.-Early life:... (SF)	31 March 1872	12 August 1922

Election

The election in this constituency took place using the first past the post electoral system.

External links

http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0
http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/en.toc.dail.html