Mid Armagh (UK Parliament constituency)

Mid Armagh
Mid Armagh
Former county constituency; for the House of Commons
1885–1922
Seats	1
Created from	Armagh and Armagh City
Replaced by	Armagh

Mid Armagh was a constituency in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act and first used at the 1885 general election. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) until it was abolished with effect from the 1922 general election.

Boundaries and Boundary Changes

This county constituency comprised the central part of County Armagh. To the north was North Armagh, to the west were South Tyrone and North Monaghan, to the south were South Monaghan and South Armagh and to the east was West Down.

1885–1922: The baronies of Armagh and Tiranny, that part of the barony of Oneilland West not contained within the constituency of North Armagh, that part of the barony of Fews Lower contained within the parishes of Kildarton and Mullaghbrack, the parish of Lisnadill excluding the townlands of Ballymacnab, Cashel, Foley and Seagahan, and the townlands of Corhammock and Edenykennedy in the parish of Kilclooney, that part of the barony of Orior Lower consisting of that part of the parish of Kilmore not contained within the constituency of North Armagh and the townlands of Aughlish, Ballymore, Ballysheil Beg, Ballysheil More, Cargans, Clare, Cloghoge, Coolyhill, Derryallen, Drumnaleg, Druminure, Drumnaglontagh, Lisbane, Lisnakea, Mavemacullen, Monclone, Moodoge, Mullantur, Mullaghglass, Terryhoogan, Tullyhugh and Tullymacann in the parish of Ballymore, and that part of the barony of Fews Upper consisting of the townland of Lisnadill.

Prior to the 1885 United Kingdom general election and from the dissolution of Parliament in 1922 the area was part of the Armagh constituency.

Politics

The constituency was a predominantly Conservative then Unionist area, although not as strongly so as some other parts of Northern Ireland. There were few contested elections and no instance of the same two parties contending against each other more than once.

In 1918 the Unionists defeated Sinn Féin by a solid margin. This was the first contested election for the seat since a 1900 by-election.

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. Armagh Mid, in republican theory, was incorporated in a four-member Dáil constituency of Armagh.

Members of Parliament

Constituency created (1885)

	Member	Party
1885	John McKane	Conservative
February 1886 (by)	Sir James Corry, Bt.	Conservative
1891	Sir Dunbar Barton	Irish Unionist
1900 (by)	John Lonsdale	Irish Unionist
1918 (by)	James Rolston Lonsdale	Irish Unionist
1921	Henry Armstrong	Ulster Unionist

Constituency abolished (1922)

Elections

1920s

By-Election, 23 June 1921: Mid Armagh
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Henry Bruce Armstrong	Unopposed
	UUP hold

1910s

1918 general election: Mid Armagh
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	James Rolston Lonsdale	8,431	59.7	*N/A*
	Sinn Féin	Liam O'Brien	5,688	40.3	New
Majority			2,743	19.4	N/A
Turnout			14,119	81.4	N/A
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

By-Election, 23 January 1918: Mid Armagh
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	James Rolston Lonsdale	Unopposed
	Irish Unionist hold

December 1910 general election: Mid Armagh
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	John Lonsdale	Unopposed
	Irish Unionist hold

January 1910 general election: Mid Armagh
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	John Lonsdale	Unopposed
	Irish Unionist hold

1900s

1906 general election: Mid Armagh^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	John Lonsdale	Unopposed
	Irish Unionist hold

1900 general election: Mid Armagh^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	John Lonsdale	Unopposed
	Irish Unionist hold

By-Election 1900: Mid Armagh^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	John Lonsdale	3,212	64.0	*N/A*
	Liberal Unionist	John Gordon	1,811	36.0	New
Majority			1,401	28.0	N/A
Turnout			5,023	68.2	N/A
Registered electors			7,363
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

1890s

By-Election 1898: Mid Armagh^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	Dunbar Barton	Unopposed
	Irish Unionist hold

1895 general election: Mid Armagh^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	Dunbar Barton	Unopposed
	Irish Unionist hold

1892 general election: Mid Armagh^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	Dunbar Barton	Unopposed
	Irish Unionist hold

By-Election 1891: Mid Armagh^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	Dunbar Barton	Unopposed
	Irish Unionist hold

1880s

1886 general election: Mid Armagh^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Conservative	James Corry	4,160	62.3	+1.3
	Irish Parliamentary	Robert Riddall Gardner	2,522	37.7	−1.3
Majority			1,638	24.6	+2.6
Turnout			6,682	81.8	−2.0
Registered electors			8,169
	Irish Conservative hold		Swing	+1.3

By-Election 1 Feb 1886: Mid Armagh^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Corry	3,930	56.9	−4.1
	Liberal	Thomas Alexander Dickson	2,974	43.1	New
Majority			956	13.8	−8.2
Turnout			6,904	84.5	+0.7
Registered electors			8,169
	Irish Conservative hold		Swing

Caused by McKane's death.

1885 general election: Mid Armagh^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Irish Conservative	John McKane	4,178	61.0
	Irish Parliamentary	Edmund Leamy	2,667	39.0
Majority			1,511	22.0
Turnout			6,845	83.8
Registered electors			8,169
	Irish Conservative win (new seat)

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. pp. 327–328, 383. ISBN 0901714127.

Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. ISBN 0901714127.
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 "A" (part 2)

External links

[walker-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Walker, B.M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. pp. 327–328, 383. ISBN 0901714127.

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