# Belfast West (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

54°35′42″N 5°57′50″W﻿ / ﻿54.595°N 5.964°W﻿ / 54.595; -5.964
Belfast West was a borough constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland from 1921 to 1929. It returned four MPs, using proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.

## Boundaries

Belfast West was created by the Government of Ireland Act 1920 and contained the Court, Falls, St Anne's, St George's, Smithfield and Woodvale wards of the County Borough of Belfast. The House of Commons (Method of Voting and Redistribution of Seats) Act (Northern Ireland) 1929 divided the constituency into four constituencies elected under first past the post: Belfast Central, Belfast Falls, Belfast St Anne's and Belfast Woodvale.

## Second Dáil

In May 1921, Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the self-declared Irish Republic run by Sinn Féin, passed a resolution declaring that elections to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland would be used as the election for the Second Dáil. All those elected were on the roll of the Second Dáil, but as no Sinn Féin MP was elected for Belfast West, it was not represented there.

## Politics

Belfast West was a predominantly Unionist area with some pockets of Nationalist strength, electing three Unionists and one Nationalist in 1921 and one Unionist, one Independent Unionist, one Nationalist and one Labour Party member in 1925.

## Members of Parliament

| Election | MP (Party) | MP (Party) | MP (Party) | MP (Party) |
| 1921 | William J. Twaddell (UUP) | Robert John Lynn (UUP) | Thomas Henry Burn (UUP) | Joseph Devlin (Nationalist) |
| 1923 by | Philip James Woods Independent Unionist | Robert John Lynn (UUP) | Thomas Henry Burn (UUP) | Joseph Devlin (Nationalist) |
| 1925 | Philip James Woods Independent Unionist | Robert John Lynn (UUP) | Billy McMullen (Labour) | Joseph Devlin (Nationalist) |

## Election results

24 May 1921 General Election: Belfast West (4 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| | UUP | Thomas Henry Burn | 24.88 | 13,298 | | | |
| | Nationalist | Joseph Devlin | 19.87 | 10,621 | 10,628 | 10,629 | 10,632 |
| | UUP | William Twaddell | 19.30 | 10,316 | 10,558 | 11,509 | |
| | UUP | Robert John Lynn | 17.43 | 9,315 | 11,646 | | |
| | Sinn Féin | Denis McCullough | 11.73 | 6,270 | 6,272 | 6,274 | 6,274 |
| | Sinn Féin | Seán MacEntee | 5.53 | 2,954 | 2,954 | 2,955 | 2,955 |
| | Belfast Labour | John Hanna | 0.69 | 367 | 380 | 380 | 383 |
| | Nationalist | Richard Byrne | 0.58 | 311 | 323 | 323 | 323 |
| Electorate: 57,914 Valid: 53,452 Quota: 10,691 Turnout: 92.3% ||||||||
Devlin did not take his seat.
Twaddell was assassinated on 22 May 1922:
1923 Belfast West by-election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Ind. Unionist | Philip James Woods | 25,761 | 55.3 | New |
| | UUP | Joseph Davison | 19,360 | 41.6 | −20.0 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 7,859 | 13.7 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 46,597 | 69.3 | −23.0 |
| | Ind. Unionist gain from UUP | Ind. Unionist gain from UUP | Swing | | |
1925 General Election: Belfast West (4 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| | Nationalist | Joseph Devlin | 35.48 | 17,558 | | | | | |
| | Ind. Unionist | Philip James Woods | 19.40 | 9,599 | 11,071 | | | | |
| | UUP | Robert John Lynn | 16.92 | 8,371 | 8,507 | 8,599 | 10,437 | | |
| | UUP | Thomas Henry Burn | 9.80 | 4,808 | 4,878 | 4,921 | 5,989 | 6,509 | 6,515 |
| | Republican | J. McConville | 6.78 | 3,146 | 4,456 | 4,511 | 4,545 | 4,552 | |
| | UUP | R. Dickson | 6.33 | 3,133 | 3,438 | 3,623 | | | |
| | NI Labour | Billy McMullen | 5.80 | 2,869 | 7,237 | 7,795 | 8,002 | 8,015 | 10,345 |
| Electorate: 65,550 Valid: 49,484 Quota: 9,897 Turnout: 75.5% ||||||||||
Devlin did not take his seat.