South Tyrone (UK Parliament constituency)

South Tyrone
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1922
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Fermanagh and Tyrone
Created from	Dungannon and Tyrone

South Tyrone was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland which returned one Member of Parliament from 1885 to 1922, using the first past the post electoral system.

Boundaries and Boundary Changes

This county constituency comprised the southern part of County Tyrone.

Prior to the 1885 redistribution the area was part of the Tyrone constituency. From 1922 it formed part of the Fermanagh and Tyrone constituency.

Politics

The constituency was a majority unionist area. Sinn Féin and the Independent Nationalist candidate together polled about 2,500 votes less than the Unionist received in 1918.

The First Dáil

Sinn Féin contested the general election of 1918 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 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. 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's Second Dáil. This area, in republican theory, was incorporated in an eight-member Dáil constituency of Fermanagh and Tyrone of which Sinn Féin won three.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	William O'Brien	Nationalist
	1886	Thomas Wallace Russell	Liberal Unionist
	1902		Russellite Unionist
	1907		Liberal
	Jan 1910	Andrew Long Horner	Irish Unionist
	1916 (b)	William Coote	Irish Unionist
	May 1921	William Coote	Ulster Unionist
1922		constituency abolished

Elections

General Election 5 December 1885: Tyrone South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Nationalist	William O'Brien	3435	50.4
	Conservative	Capt. Somerset Henry Maxwell	3382	49.6
Majority			53	0.8
Turnout			7725	88.2
	Irish Nationalist gain from new seat		Swing

General Election 17 July 1886: Tyrone South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Thomas Wallace Russell	3481	50.7
	Irish Nationalist	William O'Brien	3382	49.3
Majority			99	1.4
Turnout			7725	88.8
	Liberal Unionist gain from Irish Nationalist		Swing

General Election 13 July 1892: Tyrone South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Thomas Wallace Russell	3468	52.8
	Liberal	Thomas Alexander Dickson	3096	47.2
Majority			372	5.6
Turnout			7070	92.8
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 24 July 1895: Tyrone South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Thomas Wallace Russell	3239	51.5
	Independent Nationalist	Thomas Shillington	3046	48.5
Majority			193	3.0
Turnout			6730	93.4
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 4 October 1900: Tyrone South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Thomas Wallace Russell	2499	48.0
	Independent Nationalist	Dr Edward Charles Thompson	2409	46.0
	Independent Unionist	Major Robert James Howard	303	5.8
Majority			90	2.0
Turnout			6220	83.8
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 25 January 1906: Tyrone South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Russellite Unionist	Thomas Wallace Russell	2954	52.5
	Irish Unionist	Andrew Long Horner KC	2671	47.5
Majority			283	5.0
Turnout			5982	94.0
	Russellite Unionist gain from Liberal Unionist		Swing

General Election 20 January 1910: Tyrone South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	Andrew Long Horner KC	3054	52.4
	Liberal	Rt. Hon. Thomas Wallace Russell	2770	47.6
Majority			284	4.8
Turnout			6059	96.1
	Irish Unionist gain from Russellite Unionist		Swing

General Election 8 December 1910: Tyrone South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	Andrew Long Horner KC	2962	52.7
	Liberal	Robert Nathaniel Boyd	2662	47.3
Majority			300	5.4
Turnout			6059	92.8
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing

By-election 28 February 1916: Tyrone South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	William Coote	unopposed
Turnout			6434
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 14 December 1918: South Tyrone
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	William Coote	10,616	56.9	N/A
	Sinn Féin	Denis McCullough	5,437	29.1	N/A
	Independent Nationalist	John Skeffington	2,602	13.9	N/A
Majority			5,179	27.8	N/A
Turnout			18,655	83.0	N/A
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

References

Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922, edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978)
Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume II 1886–1918, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (The Harvester Press 1978)
Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume III 1919–1945, edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (The Harvester Press 1979)
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "T" (part 2)