1914 Belfast Corporation election

1914 Belfast Corporation election
← 1911 15 January 1914 1920 →
16 seats to Belfast Corporation
9 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader R. J. McMordie
Party Irish Unionist United Irish League
Seats won 14 2
Map showing the election results by ward.
Council control before election

Irish Unionist

 Council control after election

Irish Unionist

An election to Belfast Corporation took place in 1914 as part of that year's Irish local elections. This would be the last election before the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1919, which would replace the traditional FPTP based ward system with an STV system based on proportional representation. The election saw Unionists continuing their dominance of the council, winning a massive majority of the council's seats.[1]

Sixteen seats were up for election, with a total of forty-eight candidates nominated. Publican John Boston was nominated for every seat, in order to ensure that they would have a contest. The Falls and St Anne's wards had the most candidates, with seven each. Arthur Trew stood in both the Falls and Shankill wards.[2]

After the election Crawford McCullagh was elected by the new council as Lord Mayor of Belfast.

Council composition by party

[edit]
Party Seats ±
Irish Unionist 52
United Irish League 8
Totals 60

Results by party

[edit]
Party Seats ± Votes % ±%
Irish Unionist 14 12,944 71.88
United Irish League 2 2,316 12.86
Independent 0 1,282 7.12
John Boston 0 1,218 6.76
Ind. Unionist 0 247 1.37
Totals 16 18,007 100.00 —

Ward results

[edit]

Clifton Ward

[edit]
Clifton Ward[3]
Electorate: 6182
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Unionist Robert Dunlop
(incumbent Councillor) 		369
Independent John Boston 56
Majority 313
Turnout 425

Cromac Ward

[edit]
Cromac Ward[3]
Electorate: 5205
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Unionist Robert Thomson M.B.
(incumbent Councillor) 		549
Independent John Boston 75
Majority 474
Turnout 624

Court Ward

[edit]
Court Ward[3]
Electorate: 3450
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Unionist Joseph Davison
(incumbent Councillor) 		1138
Independent John Boston 48
Majority 1090
Turnout 1186

Dock Ward

[edit]
Dock Ward[3]
Electorate: 3,316
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Unionist Dr Samuel William Allworthy M.D.
(incumbent Councillor) 		484 89.13
Independent John Boston 59 10.87
Majority 425 78.27
Turnout 543 16.38

Duncairn Ward

[edit]
Duncairn Ward[3]
Electorate: 5,568
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Unionist Thomas Erskine Alexander
(incumbent Councillor) 		300
Independent John Boston 32
Majority 268
Turnout 332

Falls Ward

[edit]
Falls Ward[3]
(2 Councillors)
Electorate: 4,561
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Nationalist John Collins
(incumbent Councillor) 		1,555
Irish Nationalist James Leo McDonnell 761
Independent John Boston 91
Majority 268
Turnout 1,646

Ormeau Ward

[edit]
Ormeau Ward[3]
(1 Councillor)
Electorate: 6,893
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Unionist William Frederick Coates J.P.
(incumbent Councillor) 		1,129
Independent John Boston 168
Majority 268
Turnout 1,297

Pottinger Ward

[edit]
Pottinger Ward[3]
(1 Councillor)
Electorate: 7,111
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Unionist Arthur Stanley Atkinson 1,831
Independent John Boston 247
Majority 1,584
Turnout 2,078

St. Anne's Ward

[edit]
St. Anne's Ward[3]
(1 Councillor)
Electorate: 5,283
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Unionist Francis Curley J.P.
(incumbent Councillor) 		899
Independent George Park 644
Independent John Boston 53
Independent Walter Holdinrake 37
Majority 255
Turnout 1,633

Shankhill Ward

[edit]
Shankhill Ward[3]
Electorate: 5974
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Unionist William George Turner
(incumbent Councillor) 		2288
Independent John Boston 132
Majority 2156
Turnout 2420

St George's Ward

[edit]
St George's Ward[3]
(1 Councillor)
Electorate: 3,284
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Unionist Charles Hinds 1,500
Independent Joseph Tyney 601
Ind. Unionist James Mateer 247
Independent John Boston 11
Majority 899
Turnout 2,359

Smithfield

[edit]
Smithfield Ward[3]
Electorate: 2424
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Unionist Patrick Dempsey J.P.
(incumbent Councillor) 		634
Independent John Boston 39
Majority 595
Turnout 673

Victoria Ward

[edit]
Victoria Ward[3]
Electorate: 4593
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Unionist Frank Workman
(incumbent Councillor) 		207
Independent John Boston 53
Majority 154
Turnout 260

Windsor Ward

[edit]
Victoria Ward[3]
Electorate: 5387
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Unionist Henry Riddell
(incumbent Councillor) 		458
Independent John Boston 63
Majority 395
Turnout 521

Woodvale Ward

[edit]
Woodvale Ward[3]
Electorate: 4174
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Unionist James Alexander Laughlin
(incumbent Councillor) 		1158
Independent John Boston 91
Majority 1067
Turnout 1249

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Laffan, Michael (1999). The Resurrection of Ireland: The Sinn Féin Party, 1916–1923. Cambridge University Press. p. 327. ISBN 9781139426299.
  2. ^ "Municipal elections in the provinces", Irish Times, 10 January 1914
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Belfast News-Letter - Friday 16 January 1914
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