# 1922 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

The 1922 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 15 November 1922. There were ten constituencies, seven single-seat constituencies with elected by FPTP and three two-seat constituencies with MPs elected by bloc voting. Only two of the constituencies had contested elections.
It was the first election held after the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which had reduced the number of seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in the region designated as Northern Ireland from 30 to 13. It was also the first election held after the approval of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, whereby the Irish Free State separated from the United Kingdom with effect from 6 December 1922, a few weeks after the election was held.
The focus of politics in Northern Ireland had shifted to the Parliament of Northern Ireland, after the first general election to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland in May 1921. The party leaders of the three parties had been elected to seats in this parliament rather than at Westminster.

## Results

Voting only took place for 3 of 13 seats. The other 10 MPs (all Ulster Unionists) were unopposed.
1922 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland :
| Party | Party | Candidates | Candidates | Candidates | Candidates | Candidates | Candidates | Votes | Votes | Votes |
| Party | Party | Stood | Elected | Gained | Unseated | Net | % of total | % | No. | Net % |
| | UUP | 13 | 11 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 84.6 | 57.2 | 69,357 | +1.0 |
| | Nationalist | 2 | 2 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 15.4 | 34.7 | 42,026 | +23.6 |
| | Independent | 1 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | — | 8.1 | 9,861 | +8.0 |
| | Sinn Féin | 0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | — | — | — | -19.0 |
| | Labour Unionist | 0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | — | — | — | -7.6 |
Votes in constituencies using the bloc voting system are counted as 0.5 each, as each voter had one vote per seat.

## Analysis

The Ulster Unionist Party was dominant in this election, and won the most seats at every election in Northern Ireland until the 2005 general election. They took the Conservative Party whip in the House of Commons.
The Nationalist Party was a successor to the Irish Parliamentary Party which had suffered a large defeat in the previous election, now continuing in the area of Northern Ireland.
In the previous election, Sinn Féin had won three of the seats in this region. The Irish Free State had been in midst of the Irish Civil War from June 1922, which divided Sinn Féin into Pro-Treaty and Anti-Treaty factions (soon to become separate parties), and it did not contest this election to Westminster.
In the election as a whole, the Conservatives led by Bonar Law won an absolute majority of 344 of the 615 seats.

## MPs elected

| Constituency | Party | MP |
| Antrim | Ulster Unionist | Charles Craig |
| Antrim | Ulster Unionist | Hugh O'Neill |
| Armagh | Ulster Unionist | William Allen |
| Belfast East | Ulster Unionist | Herbert Dixon |
| Belfast North | Ulster Unionist | Thomas McConnell |
| Belfast South | Ulster Unionist | Thomas Moles |
| Belfast West | Ulster Unionist | Robert Lynn |
| Down | Ulster Unionist | David Reid |
| Down | Ulster Unionist | John Simms |
| Fermanagh and Tyrone | Nationalist Party | Thomas Harbison |
| Fermanagh and Tyrone | Nationalist Party | Cahir Healy |
| Londonderry | Ulster Unionist | Malcolm Macnaghten |
| Queen's University of Belfast | Ulster Unionist | Sir William Whitla |

## Changes since 1918

At the previous general election, the seats won in the area which would become Northern Ireland were:
| Party | MPs |
| Unionist | 20 |
| Nationalist | 4 |
| Sinn Féin | 3 |
| Labour Unionist | 3 |
The Sinn Féin members elected sat as TDs for the First Dáil, a revolutionary parliament for an Irish Republic.
The table below indicates the political career of each of those elected in 1918 after the 1922 general election:
| 1918 Constituency | Party | MP | 1922 career |
| Antrim East | UUP | Robert McCalmont | Resigned in 1919; succeeded by George Hanna, NI MP 1921–37 |
| Antrim Mid | UUP | Hugh O'Neill | UK MP for Antrim |
| Antrim North | UUP | Peter Kerr-Smiley | Retired |
| Antrim South | UUP | Charles Curtis Craig | UK MP for Antrim |
| Armagh Mid | UUP | James Lonsdale | Died in May 1921; succeeded by Henry Armstrong, NI Senator 1921–37 |
| Armagh North | UUP | William Allen | UK MP for Armagh |
| Armagh South | Nationalist | Patrick Donnelly | Did not contest, later unsuccessful in 1929 NI election |
| Belfast Cromac | UUP | William Arthur Lindsay | Retired |
| Belfast Duncairn | UUP | Edward Carson | Appointed as Law Lord in 1921; succeeded by Thomas McConnell, UK MP for Belfast North in 1922 |
| Belfast Falls | Nationalist | Joseph Devlin | NI MP for Belfast West |
| Belfast Ormeau | UUP | Thomas Moles | UK MP for Belfast South |
| Belfast Pottinger | UUP | Herbert Dixon | UK MP for Belfast East |
| Belfast St Anne's | Labour Unionist | Thomas Henry Burn | NI MP for Belfast West (UUP) |
| Belfast Shankill | Labour Unionist | Samuel McGuffin | NI MP for Belfast North (UUP) |
| Belfast Victoria | Labour Unionist | Thompson Donald | NI MP for Belfast East (UUP) |
| Belfast Woodvale | UUP | Robert Lynn | NI MP for Belfast West and UK MP for Belfast West |
| Down East | UUP | David Reid | UK MP for Down |
| Down Mid | UUP | James Craig | NI MP for Down and Prime Minister of Northern Ireland |
| Down North | UUP | Thomas Watters Brown | Appointed judge of the High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland in 1922 |
| Down South | Nationalist | Jeremiah McVeagh | Did not contest. Later unsuccessfully sought election. |
| Down West | UUP | Daniel M. Wilson | Appointed Recorder of Belfast in 1921; succeeded by Thomas Browne Wallace |
| Fermanagh North | UUP | Edward Archdale | NI MP for Fermanagh and Tyrone |
| Fermanagh South | Sinn Féin | Seán O'Mahony | NI MP for Fermanagh and Tyrone |
| Londonderry City | Sinn Féin | Eoin MacNeill | TD for National University of Ireland for Cumann na nGaedheal |
| Londonderry North | UUP | Hugh Anderson | Resigned 1919; succeeded by Hugh T. Barrie, NI Senator in 1922 |
| Londonderry South | UUP | Denis Henry | Appointed Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland in 1921 |
| Tyrone North East | Nationalist | Thomas Harbison | UK MP for Fermanagh and Tyrone |
| Tyrone North West | Sinn Féin | Arthur Griffith | Died 12 August 1922 |
| Tyrone South | UUP | William Coote | NI MP for Fermanagh and Tyrone |