Queen's University of Belfast (UK Parliament constituency) explained

Queen's University of Belfast (UK Parliament constituency) should not be confused with Queen's University of Belfast (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency).

Queen's University, Belfast
Parliament:	uk
Year:	1918
Abolished:	1950
Type:	university
Seats:	1
Region:	Northern Ireland

Queen's University of Belfast was a university constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Parliament from 1918 until 1950.

It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) elected by the first-past-the-post voting system.

Franchise

The MP was rather elected by the graduates of Queen's University Belfast.

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.^[1] 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.^[2] 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.^[3] The graduates of Queen's would then have been represented in the Dáil by the four-seat constituency of Queen's University of Belfast, which also returned no representatives for Sinn Féin.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	William Whitla	Ulster Unionist
	1923	Thomas Sinclair
	1940 by-election	Douglas Lloyd Savory
	1950	constituency abolished

Politics and History of the constituency

University constituencies had existed in the United Kingdom Parliament and its predecessors since 1603 and in 1918 Queen's was enfranchised as such. When the Parliament of Northern Ireland was established, the same franchise was preserved - see Queen's University of Belfast (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency).

As with most other Northern Ireland seats in this period, the electorate was heavily inclined towards the Ulster Unionists, with no contests for the Westminster seat taking place at all in the interwar years.

Under the Representation of the People Act 1948, university constituencies at Westminster were abolished with effect at the 1950 United Kingdom general election.

Election results

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Resignation of Sinclair

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Notes and References

1. Web site: The inaugural public meeting of Dáil Éireann. 22 February 2019. Dáil 100.
2. Web site: 3. AN ROLLA.. Houses of the Oireachtas . 21 January 1919. 22 February 2019.
3. Web site: Dáil Éireann debate - Tuesday, 10 May 1921 - PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT. - ELECTIONS.. Houses of the Oireachtas. 22 February 2019.
4. Book: Walker, Brian M. . Parliamentary election results in Ireland, 1801–1922 . 1978 . . Dublin . 0-901714-12-7.
5. Book: Craig , F. W. S. . F. W. S. Craig . British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 . 1969 . 3rd . 1983 . Parliamentary Research Services . Chichester . 0-900178-06-X . 675.
6. Book: Walker, Brian M. . Parliamentary election results in Ireland, 1918–1992 . 1992 . . Dublin . 0-901714-96-8 . 15.
7. Walker, Parliamentary election results in Ireland, 1918–1992, page 16
8. Walker, Parliamentary election results in Ireland, 1918–1992, page 17
9. Walker, Parliamentary election results in Ireland, 1918–1992, page 18
10. Walker, Parliamentary election results in Ireland, 1918–1992, page 19
11. Walker, Parliamentary election results in Ireland, 1918–1992, page 20