West Down was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland which returned one

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 of ...

from 1885 to 1922, using the

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

electoral system.

Boundaries and Boundary Changes

This

county constituency In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by electoral districts called " constitue ...

was first created in 1885 from the western part of Down. There was a boundary change altering this division in 1918, when the new Mid Down constituency was created, and West Down was redefined. 1885–1918: The baronies of Lower

Iveagh Iveagh ( ; ) is the name of several historical territorial divisions in what is now County Down, Northern Ireland. Originally it was a Gaelic Irish territory, ruled by the ''Uí Echach Cobo'' and part of the overkingdom of Ulaid. From the 12th ...

, Lower Half, and Lower Iveagh, Upper Half, and that part of the barony of

Upper, Upper Half lying within the parishes of Aghaderg, Annaclone and Seapatrick.'. 1918–1922: The rural district of Moira; the part of the rural district of

Banbridge Banbridge ( , ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road and is named after a bridge built over the River Bann in 1712. It is situated in the civil parish of Seapatrick and the historic barony of Iv ...

which is not included in the East Down constituency; and the urban districts of Banbridge and Dromore.'.Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act, 1918, (Ch 65) Fourth Schedule, Maps showing the component units of the constituency can be see
here
Prior to the 1885 United Kingdom general election and after the dissolution of Parliament in 1922 the area was part of the Down constituency.

Politics

The constituency was strongly unionist in 1918, when

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 ...

only polled 1,725 votes. Two subsequent by-elections produced unopposed returns for the Unionist candidates.

The First Dáil

contested the general election of 1918 on the platform that instead of taking up any seats they won in the

United Kingdom Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremac ...

, 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 The First Dáil ( ga, An Chéad Dáil) was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919 to 1921. It was the first meeting of the unicameral parliament of the revolutionary Irish Republic. In the December 1918 election to the Parliament of the United ...

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 The Second Dáil () was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 16 August 1921 until 8 June 1922. From 1919 to 1922, Dáil Éireann was the revolutionary parliament of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic. The Second Dáil consisted of members elect ...

. 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 The House of Commons of Northern Ireland was the lower house of the Parliament of Northern Ireland created under the ''Government of Ireland Act 1920''. The upper house in the bicameral parliament was called the Senate. It was abolished wit ...

and the

House of Commons of Southern Ireland The Parliament of Southern Ireland was a Home Rule legislature established by the British Government during the Irish War of Independence under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. It was designed to legislate for Southern Ireland,"Order in Coun ...

as a poll for the

Irish Republic The Irish Republic ( ga, Poblacht na hÉireann or ) was an unrecognised revolutionary state that declared its independence from the United Kingdom in January 1919. The Republic claimed jurisdiction over the whole island of Ireland, but by ...

. This area, in republican theory, was incorporated in an eight-member Dáil constituency of Down.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 1880s

Hill was re-appointed Comptroller of the Household, requiring a by-election.

Elections in the 1890s

* Hill resigned.

Elections in the 1900s

* Hill resigns. * Liddell resigns. * Hill resigns.

Elections in the 1910s

*''Wilson appointed as Recorder of Belfast'' *''Wallace appointed Chief Clerk to the

High Court of Northern Ireland The courts of Northern Ireland are the civil and criminal courts responsible for the administration of justice in Northern Ireland: they are constituted and governed by the law of Northern Ireland. Prior to the partition of Ireland, Northern Ir ...

References

* * * *

External links

* https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/ * https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Down West Westminster constituencies in County Down (historic) Dáil constituencies in Northern Ireland (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1885 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1922