Belfast Oldpark (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 54°36′58″N 5°57′11″W / 54.616°N 5.953°W

Belfast Oldpark
Former Borough Constituency for the Parliament of Northern Ireland
Belfast shown within Northern Ireland
Former constituency
Created	1929
Abolished	1973
Election method	First past the post

Belfast Oldpark was a constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.

Boundaries

Belfast Oldpark was a borough constituency comprising part of northern Belfast. It was created in 1929 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.

Belfast Oldpark was created by the division of Belfast North into four new constituencies. It survived unchanged, returning one member of Parliament, until the Parliament of Northern Ireland was temporarily suspended in 1972, and then formally abolished in 1973.^[1]

Politics

In common with other seats in North Belfast, the seat had little nationalist presence. The seat alternated between Unionist and labour movement representatives, and was often closely contested.^[1]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1929	Wilson Hungerford	Ulster Unionist
	1945	Robert Getgood	Labour (NI)
	1949	William James Morgan	Ulster Unionist
	1958	Vivian Simpson	Labour (NI)
1973		constituency abolished

Election results

General Election 1929: Belfast Oldpark[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Wilson Hungerford	6,122	50.8	N/A
	NI Labour	Sam Kyle	5,933	49.2	N/A
Majority			189	1.6	N/A
Turnout				77.0	N/A
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1933: Belfast Oldpark[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Sir Wilson Hungerford	5,427	56.6	+ 5.8
	Independent Unionist	William McConnell Wilton	5,933	49.2	N/A
Majority			1,272	13.2	+ 11.6
Turnout				61.9	- 15.1
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1938: Belfast Oldpark[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Sir Wilson Hungerford	7,310	50.5	- 6.1
	NI Labour	Jack MacGougan	5,900	40.8	N/A
	Progressive Unionist	Robert Bradford	1,253	8.7	N/A
Majority			1,410	9.7	- 3.5
Turnout				74.9	+ 13.0
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1945: Belfast Oldpark[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	NI Labour	Robert Getgood	8,829	56.2	+ 15.4
	UUP	Sir Wilson Hungerford	6,390	40.7	- 9.8
	Socialist Republican	David Wylie	481	3.1	N/A
Majority			2,439	15.5	+ 5.8
Turnout				74.7	- 0.2
	NI Labour gain from UUP		Swing

General Election 1949: Belfast Oldpark[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	William James Morgan	9,599	59.0	+ 18.3
	NI Labour	Robert Getgood	6,661	41.0	- 15.2
Majority			2,938	18.0	+ 2.5
Turnout				78.6	+ 3.9
	UUP gain from NI Labour		Swing

General Election 1953: Belfast Oldpark[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	William James Morgan	6,984	50.2	- 8.8
	NI Labour	Billy Blease	4,183	30.0	- 11.0
	Irish Labour	Cronan Francis Hughes	2,752	19.8	N/A
Majority			2,801	20.2	- 2.2
Turnout				64.7	- 13.9
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election 1958: Belfast Oldpark[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	NI Labour	Vivian Simpson	6,307	50.6	+ 20.6
	UUP	William James Morgan	6,152	49.4	- 0.8
Majority			155	1.2	- 19.0
Turnout				61.5	- 3.2
	NI Labour gain from UUP		Swing

General Election 1962: Belfast Oldpark[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	NI Labour	Vivian Simpson	8,486	62.5	+ 11.9
	UUP	William Henry Cushley	5,082	37.5	- 11.9
Majority			3,404	25.0	+ 23.8
Turnout				69.7	+ 8.2
	NI Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1965: Belfast Oldpark[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	NI Labour	Vivian Simpson	6,210	59.5	- 3.0
	UUP	John Ferguson	4,221	40.5	+ 3.0
Majority			1,989	19.0	- 6.0
Turnout				55.1	- 14.6
	NI Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1969: Belfast Oldpark[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	NI Labour	Vivian Simpson	6,779	56.5	- 3.0
	UUP	Joseph Foster Cairns	5,224	43.5	+ 3.0
Majority			1,555	13.0	- 6.0
Turnout				67.4	+ 12.3
	NI Labour hold		Swing

References

1. The Northern Ireland House of Commons, 1921-1972, Northern Ireland Elections
2. Northern Ireland Parliamentary Elections Results: Boroughs: Belfast