54°35′53″N 5°52′19″W / 54.598°N 5.872°W / 54.598; -5.872

Belfast Victoria
Former Borough constituency
for the Parliament of Northern Ireland
Belfast Victoria 1929-1969
Belfast Victoria shown within Belfast and Belfast shown within Northern Ireland
Former constituency
Created1929
Abolished1973
Election methodFirst past the post

Belfast Victoria was a constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.

Boundaries

Belfast Victoria was a borough constituency comprising part of eastern Belfast. It was created in 1929, when the House of Commons (Method of Voting and Redistribution of Seats) Act (Northern Ireland) 1929 introduced first-past-the-post elections throughout Northern Ireland.

Belfast Victoria was created by the division of Belfast East into four new constituencies. It survived unchanged, returning one member of Parliament, until the Parliament of Northern Ireland was temporarily suspended in 1972, and then formally abolished in 1973.[1]

The seat contained the eastern parts of the former Victoria ward.[2] It covered an area equivalent to the current wards of Sydenham, Belmont and Ballyhackamore together with parts of the Island and Stormont wards.

Politics

The seat was held in the early years by Ulster Unionist Party candidates. However, there was always strong support for labour movement candidates, with David Bleakley holding the seat for seven years.[1]

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberParty
1929 Sir Dawson Bates Ulster Unionist Party
1933
1938
1945 Robert Alexander
1949
1953 Bill Henderson
1958 David Bleakley Northern Ireland Labour Party
1962
1965 Roy Bradford Ulster Unionist Party†
1969
1973 Constituency abolished
†Bradford was elected in 1969 as an "O'Neill Unionist" supporting the reform proposals of the then Prime Minister.

Election results

General Election 22 May 1929: Belfast Victoria[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Dawson Bates 6,046 61.0
Local Option James Price 3,858 39.0
Majority 2,180 22.0
Turnout 14,251 69.5
Ulster Unionist win (new seat)
General Election 30 November 1933: Belfast Victoria[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Dawson Bates Unopposed N/A N/A
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
General Election 9 February 1938: Belfast Victoria[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Dawson Bates 8,309 59.3 N/A
Progressive Unionist Joseph McMaster 3,434 24.5 New
NI Labour Tom Boyd 2,268 16.2 New
Majority 4,875 34.8 N/A
Turnout 17,921 78.2 N/A
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
General Election 22 October 1945: Belfast Victoria[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Robert Alexander (Northern Ireland politician) 7,618 54.1 +0.8
NI Labour George Matthews 4,342 30.8 +14.6
Commonwealth Labour Norman Black 2,133 15.1 New
Majority 3,276 23.3 -11.5
Turnout 18,525 76.1 -2.1
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
General Election 10 February 1949: Belfast Victoria[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Robert Alexander (Northern Ireland politician) 11,330 82.4 +28.3
NI Labour David Bleakley 2,423 17.6 -13.2
Majority 8,907 64.8 +41.5
Turnout 18,404 74.7 -1.4
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
General Election 14 June 1953: Belfast Victoria[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Bill Henderson 7,198 56.5 -25.9
NI Labour David Bleakley 5,536 43.5 +25.9
Majority 1,662 13.0 -51.8
Turnout 20,041 63.5 -1.2
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
General Election 20 March 1958: Belfast Victoria[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
NI Labour David Bleakley 7,487 50.5 +7.0
Ulster Unionist Bill Henderson 7,340 49.5 -7.0
Majority 147 1.0 N/A
Turnout 19,652 75.4 +11.9
NI Labour gain from Ulster Unionist Swing
General Election 31 May 1962: Belfast Victoria[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
NI Labour David Bleakley 7,882 54.2 +3.7
Ulster Unionist Leslie Stewart 6,668 45.8 -3.7
Majority 1,214 8.4 +7.4
Turnout 20,053 72.6 -2.8
NI Labour hold Swing
General Election 25 November 1965: Belfast Victoria[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Roy Bradford 6,892 51.6 +5.8
NI Labour David Bleakley 6,469 48.4 -5.8
Majority 423 3.2 N/A
Turnout 20,370 65.6 -7.0
Ulster Unionist gain from NI Labour Swing
General Election 24 February 1969: Belfast Victoria[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Roy Bradford 9,249 62.9 +11.3
NI Labour John Coulthard 2,972 20.2 -28.2
Protestant Unionist Ronald Bunting 2,489 16.9 New
Majority 6,277 42.7 +39.5
Turnout 19,504 75.4 +9.8
Ulster Unionist hold Swing

References

  1. 1 2 The Northern Ireland House of Commons, 1921-1972, Northern Ireland Elections
  2. ↑ "Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election results: Constituency Boundaries". Archived from the original on 25 December 2005. Retrieved 25 September 2007.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Northern Ireland Parliamentary Elections Results: Boroughs: Belfast
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