North Down was a constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland

Parliament of Northern Ireland

The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended...

.

Boundaries

North Down was a county constituency comprising part of northern County Down

County Down

-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...

, immediately south east of Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

. It was created when the House of Commons (Method of Voting and Redistribution of Seats) Act (Northern Ireland) 1929

House of Commons (Method of Voting and Redistribution of Seats) Act (Northern Ireland) 1929

The House of Commons Act 1929 was an Act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland; its major provision was to abolish proportional representation for all future elections in Northern Ireland....

 introduced first-past-the-post

First-past-the-post

First-past-the-post voting refers to an election won by the candidate with the most votes. The winning potato candidate does not necessarily receive an absolute majority of all votes cast.-Overview:...

 elections throughout Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

. North Down was created by the division of Down

Down (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

Down was a county constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland from 1921 - 1929. It returned eight MPs, using the single transferable vote method of proportional representation.-Boundaries:...

 into eight new constituencies. The constituency survived unchanged until 1969, when it gained part of Mid Down

Mid Down (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

Mid Down was a constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.-Boundaries:Mid Down was a county constituency comprising part of northern County Down, immediately south east of Belfast. It was created when the House of Commons Act 1929 introduced first-past-the-post elections throughout...

, but the eastern half of the seat was split away to form Bangor

Bangor (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

Bangor was a single-member county constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.-Boundaries and Boundary Changes:Bangor was created by the Electoral Law Act 1968 as a division of County Down. It was located to the east of Belfast...

. It returned one Member of Parliament until the Parliament of Northern Ireland was temporarily suspended

Northern Ireland (Temporary Provisions) Act 1972

The Northern Ireland Act 1972 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that introduced direct rule in Northern Ireland with effect from 30 March 1972....

 in 1972, and then formally abolished

Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973

The Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which received the Royal Assent on 18 July 1973...

 in 1973.

The original seat was centred on the town of Bangor

Bangor, County Down

Bangor is a large town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is a seaside resort on the southern side of Belfast Lough and within the Belfast Metropolitan Area. Bangor Marina is one of the largest in Ireland, and holds Blue Flag status...

 and urban district

Urban district

In the England, Wales and Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected Urban District Council , which shared local government responsibilities with a county council....

 of Holywood, and it also included parts of the rural districts of Castlereagh and Newtownards

Newtownards

Newtownards is a large town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. Newtownards is the largest town in the Borough of Ards. According to the 2001 Census, it has a population of 27,821 people in...

.

Politics

The seat had a substantial unionist majority and was always won by unionist candidates, all but one representing the Ulster Unionist Party

Ulster Unionist Party

The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...

. It was sometimes contested by Northern Ireland Labour Party

Northern Ireland Labour Party

The Northern Ireland Labour Party was an Irish political party which operated from 1924 until 1987.In 1913 the British Labour Party resolved to give the recently formed Irish Labour Party exclusive organising rights in Ireland...

, Ulster Liberal Party

Ulster Liberal Party

The Ulster Liberal Party was a liberal political party in Northern Ireland, supporting a unionist position and linked to the British Liberal Party....

 and independent Unionist

Independent Unionist

See also Independent .Independent Unionist has been a label sometimes used by candidates in elections in the United Kingdom, indicating a support for Unionism, retaining the unity of the British state....

 candidates, with only the independent Unionist receiving more than one third of the votes cast.

Members of Parliament

Elected	Party		Name
1929 Northern Ireland general election, 1929 -References:*...	James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, PC, PC , was a prominent Irish unionist politician, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland...
1941	Thomas Bailie Thomas Bailie Thomas Bailie was an Ulster Unionist Party Member of Parliament in the Parliament of Northern Ireland, based at Stormont, during which time he was Deputy Speaker....
1945
1953 Northern Ireland general election, 1953 -References:*...	Robert Samuel Nixon Robert Samuel Nixon Robert Samuel Nixon was a unionist politician in Northern Ireland.Bob Nixon studied at Mountjoy School in Dublin, then at Queen's University, Belfast, where he qualified as a doctor of medicine...
1969 Northern Ireland general election, 1969 -References:*...	Robert Babington Robert Babington Robert John Babington, DSC, QC was an Ulster Unionist Party politician, who served as the member of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for North Down from 1969 to 1972, and a county court judge...

Election results

At the 1929

Northern Ireland general election, 1929

-References:*...

, 1933

Northern Ireland general election, 1933

-References:*...

 and 1938 Northern Ireland general elections

Northern Ireland general election, 1938

-References:*...

, James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon

James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon

James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, PC, PC , was a prominent Irish unionist politician, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland...

 was elected unopposed.

At the Northern Ireland general election, 1945, Thomas Bailie

Thomas Bailie

Thomas Bailie was an Ulster Unionist Party Member of Parliament in the Parliament of Northern Ireland, based at Stormont, during which time he was Deputy Speaker....

 was elected unopposed.
At the Northern Ireland general election, 1958

Northern Ireland general election, 1958

-References:*-See also:*MPs elected in the Northern Ireland general election, 1958...

, Robert Samuel Nixon

Robert Samuel Nixon

Robert Samuel Nixon was a unionist politician in Northern Ireland.Bob Nixon studied at Mountjoy School in Dublin, then at Queen's University, Belfast, where he qualified as a doctor of medicine...

 was elected unopposed.