The Armagh by-election was held on 5 March 1948, following the death of

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule m ...

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 ...

William Allen William Allen may refer to: Politicians United States *William Allen (congressman) (1827–1881), United States Representative from Ohio *William Allen (governor) (1803–1879), U.S. Representative, Senator, and 31st Governor of Ohio *William ...

. Allen had held the seat of Armagh since its recreation for the 1922 UK general election. He had often been elected without a contest; the last election at which he had faced an opponent was in 1935, where he had taken 67.6% of the vote against Charles McGleenan, an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Irish republican candidate.

Candidates

The Ulster Unionists selected

James Harden James Edward Harden Jr. (born August 26, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Harden is regarded as one of the greatest scorers and shooting guards in NBA ...

, a former major in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

who had acted as senior liaison officer to Montgomery from early 1944. In 1947, he had left the Army to manage his family estate in

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

.Obituary: Major Richard Harden
, ''

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'', 27 October 2000 The

Northern Ireland Labour Party The Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) was a political party in Northern Ireland which operated from 1924 until 1987. Origins The roots of the NILP can be traced back to the formation of the Belfast Labour Party in 1892. William Walker stoo ...

had achieved some strong results in recent years, but had never stood in Armagh, and decided not to put forward a candidate for the by-election. McGleenan was a founder member of the

Irish Anti-Partition League The Irish Anti-Partition League (APL) was a political organisation based in Northern Ireland which campaigned for a united Ireland from 1945 to 1958. Foundation Prior to the establishment of the League, there had been no rank-and-file organis ...

, and the organisation decided to make Armagh its first contest. It stood James O'Reilly, a farmer and a Nationalist Party member of Kilkeel

Rural District Council Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the a ...

.Brendan Lynn, ''Holding the Ground: The Nationalist Party in Northern Ireland, 1945 - 72'' (1997),

Result

Harden won the by-election, taking 59.7% of the votes cast. O'Reilly took 40.3%, the best result for any opposition candidate in the constituency.

Geoffrey Bing Geoffrey Henry Cecil Bing CMG QC (24 July 1909 – 24 April 1977) was a British barrister and politician who served as the Labour Member of Parliament for Hornchurch from 1945 to 1955. He was also Attorney General of Ghana. Education and car ...

stated in Parliament that impersonation took place at one

polling station A polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. The phrase polling station is also used in American English and British English, although polling place is the building

on "a really large scale", and that two election agents who arrived to investigate were attacked by a mob of two hundred people. Harden, in response, noted that O'Reilly had agreed with him that, despite some incidents at the close of polling, the election was fair, and that he had seconded his vote of thanks to the

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.CLAUSE 16.—(Returning officers.)
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'', 20 April 1948 Harden held the seat without facing a further contest. He inherited a further estate in Pwllheli in 1954 and stood down as an MP, leading to the 1954 Armagh by-election.

References

{{By-elections to the 38th UK Parliament Armagh by-election By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in County Armagh constituencies 20th century in County Armagh Armagh by-election Armagh by-election