The

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

held in Mid Ulster on 11 August 1955 was called as a result of a vote in the British parliament on 18 July 1955 which voted 197 votes to 63 to nullify the result of the previous

1955 UK General Election The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election in 1951. It was a snap election: after Winston Churchill retired in April 1955, Anthony Eden took over and immediately ca ...

in the constituency. At that election,

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

candidate Tom Mitchell took the seat. In the by-election, Mitchell managed to retain the seat with an increase in the number of votes. In the aftermath of the election, the defeated Unionist candidate successfully lodged a petition to have Mitchell, a convicted felon, removed as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP). The seat was subsequently given to Charles Beattie. However, as Beattie was at the time of his appointment a member of an appeals tribunal, considered "offices of profit under the Crown", the British House of Commons ruled that this disqualified him from the office of MP. This led to the 1956 Mid Ulster by-election.

External links

A Vision of Britain Through Time
(Constituency elector numbers)

References

1955 elections in the United Kingdom 20th century in County Londonderry 20th century in County Tyrone August 1955 events in the United Kingdom By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in County Londonderry constituencies By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in County Tyrone constituencies 1955 elections in Northern Ireland {{Ireland-UK-Parl-by-election-stub