Mid Tyrone (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

54°36′04″N 7°17′28″W / 54.601°N 7.291°W / 54.601; -7.291

Mid Tyrone
Former County constituency for the Parliament of Northern Ireland
Mid Tyrone shown within Northern Ireland
Former constituency
Created	1929
Abolished	1972
Election method	First past the post

Mid Tyrone was a constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.

Boundaries

Mid Tyrone was a county constituency comprising the central part of County Tyrone. It was created 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. East Tyrone was created by the division of Fermanagh and Tyrone into eight new constituencies, of which five were in County Tyrone. The constituency survived unchanged, returning one member of Parliament until the Parliament of Northern Ireland was temporarily suspended in 1972, and then formally abolished in 1973.

The seat was made up from parts of the rural districts of Cookstown, Omagh, Clogher and Strabane.^[1]

Politics

County Tyrone had five Stormont MPs from 1929 until 1972. The seats in the North and South of the county were Unionist, the constituency covering the East could be considered marginal, whilst those in the West and centre of the county were nationalist. Unionists contested the constituency three times with varying degrees of success. At the first attempt in 1949, the Nationalist outpolled them two to one; in 1958 on a relatively low turn-out they came through the middle to win the seat with 48.7% of the vote. Defending the seat in 1962, this fell back to 38.6% (although they overall unionist vote rose by 8), and the then Nationalist Tom Gormley was elected.^[2]

The remainder of contested elections involved candidates of different nationalist persuasions.

Members of Parliament

Year		Member	Party
	1929	Hugh McAleer	Nationalist
	1941	Michael McGurk	Independent Nationalist
	1948	Edward McCullagh	Nationalist
	1953	Liam Kelly	Anti-Partition
	1958	Alexander Blevins	Ulster Unionist
	1962	Tom Gormley	Nationalist
	1969		Independent Nationalist
	1972		Alliance Party of Northern Ireland

Election results

At the 1929, 1933 and 1938 general elections, Hugh McAleer was elected unopposed. McAleer died in 1941.

At the 1941 by-election and 1945 general election, Michael McGurk was elected unopposed. McGurk died in 1948.

At the 1948 by-election, Edward McCullagh was elected unopposed.

General Election 1949:Mid Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Nationalist	Edward McCullagh	8,113	66.9	N/A
	UUP	F. G. Patterson	4,018	33.1	New
Majority			4,095	33.8	N/A
Turnout			12,131	83.9	N/A
	Nationalist hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1953: Mid Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Anti-Partition	Liam Kelly	4,178	55.3	New
	Nationalist	Edward McCullagh	3,376	44.7	-22.2
Majority			802	10.6	N/A
Turnout			7,554	55.1	-28.8
	Anti-Partition gain from Nationalist		Swing	N/A

General Election 1958: Mid Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Alexander Blevins	3,949	48.7	New
	Independent	Tom Gormley	3,013	37.1	New
	Nationalist	F. McConnell	1,149	14.2	-30.5
Majority			802	10.6	N/A
Turnout			8,111	63.3	+8.2
	UUP gain from Anti-Partition		Swing	N/A

General Election 1962: Mid Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Nationalist	Tom Gormley	6,297	61.4	+47.2
	UUP	Alexander Blevins	3,957	37.1	-11.6
Majority			2,340	22.7	N/A
Turnout			10,254	81.9	+18.6
	Nationalist gain from UUP		Swing	N/A

At the 1965 general election Tom Gormley was elected unopposed.

General Election 1969: Mid Tyrone

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Nationalist	Tom Gormley	5,149	63.2	N/A
	People's Progressive Party	P. J. McDonald	2,992	36.8	New
Majority			2,157	26.4	N/A
Turnout			8,141	69.1	N/A
	Nationalist hold		Swing	N/A

References

1. Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election results: Constituency Boundaries
2. Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election Results: Counties: Tyrone