Belfast Shankill (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 54°36′14″N 5°57′00″W / 54.604°N 5.950°W

Belfast Shankill
Former Borough Constituency for the Parliament of Northern Ireland
Belfast shown within Northern Ireland
Former constituency
Created	1929
Abolished	1972
Election method	First past the post

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

Boundaries

Belfast Shankill 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 Shankill 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 was strongly Unionist, but there was some labour movement strength. For the first twenty-four years of its existence, the seat was held by an independent Unionist.^[1]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1929	Tommy Henderson	Independent Unionist
	1937		Independent Unionist Association
	1940s		Independent Unionist
	1953	Henry Holmes	Ulster Unionist
	1960	Desmond Boal	Ulster Unionist
	1961		Independent Unionist
	1961		Ulster Unionist
	1970		Independent Unionist
	1971		Democratic Unionist
1973		constituency abolished

Election results

General Election 1929: Belfast Shankill[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Unionist	Tommy Henderson	6,525	51.1	N/A
	UUP	Samuel McGuffin	6,244	48.9	N/A
Majority			281	2.2	N/A
Turnout				74.8	N/A
	Independent Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1933: Belfast Shankill[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Unionist	Tommy Henderson	6,451	50.5	-0.6
	UUP	James Norman Fulton	6,335	49.5	+0.6
Majority			116	1.0	-1.2
Turnout				76.4	+1.6
	Independent Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1938: Belfast Shankill[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ind. Unionist Association	Tommy Henderson	7,518	51.4	+0.9
	UUP	James Norman Fulton	7,095	48.6	-0.9
Majority			423	2.8	+1.8
Turnout				83.6	+7.2
	Ind. Unionist Association gain from Independent Unionist		Swing

At the 1945 and 1949 general elections, Tommy Henderson was elected unopposed.^[2]

General Election 1953: Belfast Shankill[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Henry Holmes	5,485	47.3	N/A
	Independent Unionist	Tommy Henderson	3,215	27.7	N/A
	NI Labour	Norman Branagh Fullerton	2,897	25.0	N/A
Majority			2,270	19.6	N/A
Turnout				65.6	N/A
	UUP gain from Independent Unionist		Swing	N/A

General Election 1958: Belfast Shankill[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Henry Holmes	6,411	56.2	+8.9
	NI Labour	Samuel Cree	4,995	43.8	+18.0
Majority			1,416	12.4	-7.2
Turnout				61.5	-4.1
	UUP hold		Swing

Belfast Shankill by-election, 1960[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Desmond Boal	4,320	64.2	+8.0
	NI Labour	Samuel Cree	2,414	35.8	-8.0
Majority			1,906	28.4	+16.0
Turnout				28.4	-33.1
	UUP hold		Swing

At the Northern Ireland general election, 1962, Desmond Boal was elected unopposed.^[2]

General Election 1965: Belfast Shankill[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Desmond Boal	6,289	67.4	N/A
	NI Labour	David Overend	3,035	32.6	N/A
Majority			3,254	34.8	N/A
Turnout				50.5	N/A
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election 1969: Belfast Shankill[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Desmond Boal	6,384	49.4	-18.0
	Independent Unionist	Samuel Walsh	4,545	35.2	N/A
	NI Labour	David Overend	1,997	15.4	-17.2
Majority			1,839	14.2	-20.6
Turnout				71.1	+20.6
	UUP hold		Swing

References

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