# Belfast Duncairn (UK Parliament constituency)

Duncairn, a division of the parliamentary borough of Belfast, was a UK parliamentary constituency in Ireland. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1922, using the first past the post electoral system.

## History

Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the parliamentary borough of Belfast had been divided into four divisions: Belfast East, Belfast North, Belfast South and Belfast West. A Report of the Boundary Commission recommended extending the parliamentary borough to include the whole of the county borough as had been defined under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, with an increase to nine divisions.
For the division of Duncairn, it recommended a definition of:
This was adopted under the Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918. The area had previously been in the Belfast North constituency. It was in use at the 1918 general election only. Under the Government of Ireland Act 1920 its area was again part of the Belfast North constituency, with effect at the 1922 general election.

## Politics

The constituency was a strongly unionist area. Carson was the Unionist leader in the House of Commons. His chief opponent was Major William Hamilton Davey, recently returned from France following the armistice. A barrister in civilian life, Major Davey stood for Home Rule and retained his deposit. During the course of the campaign Carson mistakenly referred to Major Davey as a 'Sinn Féiner' which led to damages being awarded to Major Davey in his subsequent action for slander.

## First Dáil

After the 1918 election, Sinn Féin invited all those elected for constituencies in Ireland to sit as TDs in Dáil Éireann rather than in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. All those elected for Irish constituencies were included in the roll of the Dáil but only those elected for Sinn Féin sat in the First Dáil. In May 1921, the Dáil 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 and that the First Dáil would be dissolved on the assembly of the new body. The area of Belfast Duncairn would then have been represented in the Dáil by the four-seat constituency of Belfast North, which also returned no representatives for Sinn Féin.

## Members of Parliament

| Election | MP | Party | Party |
| 1918 | Rt. Hon. Sir Edward Carson | | Irish Unionist |
| 1921 (b) | Thomas McConnell | | UUP |
| 1922 | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished |

## Elections

General Election 14 December 1918: Belfast Duncairn :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Irish Unionist | Rt Hon Sir Edward Henry Carson | 11,637 | 81.05 | |
| | Irish Nationalist | William Hamilton Davey | 2,449 | 17.06 | |
| | Sinn Féin | Dr Russell McNab | 271 | 1.89 | |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 9,188 | 63.99 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 19,085 | 75.23 | |
| | Irish Unionist win (new seat) | Irish Unionist win (new seat) | Irish Unionist win (new seat) | Irish Unionist win (new seat) | Irish Unionist win (new seat) |
* Carson appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and created Baron Carson
By-Election 23 June 1921: Belfast Duncairn :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | UUP | Thomas McConnell | Unopposed | N/A | N/A |
| | UUP hold | UUP hold | UUP hold | UUP hold | UUP hold |