Antrim (UK Parliament constituency)

Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox UK constituency

County Antrim is a former county constituency in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. It was a two-member constituency in Ireland from 1801 to 1885 and in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 1950.

History and boundaries

File:County Antrim Constituency 1801-1885.svg

The constituency of County Antrim (1801–1885) within Ireland.

County Antrim had been represented by two seats in the Irish House of Commons. From 1801, under the Acts of Union 1800, it was represented by a county constituency with two MPs in the United Kingdom House of Commons. It consisted of County Antrim, except the parts in the parliamentary borough constituencies of Belfast, Carrickfergus and Lisburn. The boroughs of Antrim and Randalstown were disfranchised in 1801.

In 1885, Carrickfergus and Lisburn were disfranchised and the borders of the parliamentary borough of Belfast were extended. The county was split between the divisions of East Antrim, Mid Antrim, North Antrim and South Antrim.^[1]

In 1922, following the establishment of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, the number of seats in Northern Ireland at Westminster was cut from 30 to 13 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The constituency of Antrim was recreated to elect two MPs, consisting of the administrative county of Antrim, that is the whole of County Antrim excluding the part in the city of Belfast.^[2] In 1950, the county was split between the divisions of Antrim North and Antrim South, under the Representation of the People Act 1948, which abolished all multi-member constituencies in the United Kingdom.^[3]

Members of Parliament

MPs 1801–1885

Election	MP			MP
1801	Rt Hon. John Staples	Template:Party name with color	Edmond Alexander MacNaghten	Template:Party name with color^[4]
1802	Hon. John O'Neill	Template:Party name with color^[5]
1806
1807
1811 b		O'Neill app. constable of Dublin Castle
1812 b		O'Neill disqualified
1812		Francis Seymour-Conway	Template:Party name with color
1818		Hugh Henry John Seymour	Template:Party name with color
1820		Hugh Henry John Seymour
1822 b		Richard Seymour-Conway	Template:Party name with color
1826		Edmond Alexander MacNaghten	Template:Party name with color^[4]
1830		George Chichester, Earl of Belfast	Template:Party name with color^[5]
1831			Template:Party name with color^[5]
1832
1835			Template:Party name with color^[5]
1837		John Irving	Template:Party name with color
1841 b	Nathaniel Alexander		Template:Party name with color	O'Neill succeeds as Viscount O'Neill
1841
1845 b		Sir Horace Seymour	Template:Party name with color	Death of Irving
1847		Sir Edmund Macnaghten, Bt	Template:Party name with color
1852	Edward William Pakenham	Template:Party name with color	George Macartney	Template:Party name with color
1854 b	Thomas Pakenham	Template:Party name with color		Death of Pakenham
1857
1859		George Upton	Template:Party name with color
1863 b		Hon. Edward O'Neill	Template:Party name with color	Upton succeeds as Viscount Templetown
1865	Henry Seymour		Template:Party name with color
1866 b			Seymour appointed Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty
1868
1869 b	Hugh Seymour		Template:Party name with color	Death of Seymour
1874	James Chaine		Template:Party name with color
1880	James Chaine	Edward MacNaghten	Template:Party name with color
1885 b	William Pirrie Sinclair	Edward MacNaghten	Template:Party name with color	Death of Chaine

Notes:

(1) Earl of Yarmouth (1800–1870) was known as Viscount Beauchamp until 17 June 1822.
(2) Earl of Yarmouth (1843–1912) was known as Hugh de Grey Seymour until 25 August 1870.

MPs 1922–1950

Election	MP			MP
1922	Rt Hon. Charles Craig	Template:Party name with color	Hugh O'Neill	Template:Party name with color
1923
1924
1929	Joseph McConnell	Template:Party name with color
1931
1935
1943 b	John Dermot Campbell	Template:Party name with color
1945	Samuel Gillmor Haughton	Template:Party name with color
1950	Constituency abolished. See North Antrim and South Antrim

Elections

In two-member elections the bloc voting 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.