South Antrim was a constituency of the

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 because of its inability to restore ord ...

. The

House of Commons (Method of Voting and Redistribution of Seats) Act (Northern Ireland) 1929 The House of Commons (Method of Voting and Redistribution of Seats) Act (Northern Ireland) 1929 was an Act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland at Stormont which changed the usual voting system used for the House of Commons of Northern Ireland f ...

introduced

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 ...

elections for 48 single-member constituencies (including ''Antrim South'').

Boundaries and boundary changes

This constituency was one of seven county divisions 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 ...

from 1929, and, after 1969, one of nine. The changes in the vicinity of

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

affected the boundaries of this division. It comprised (in terms of then local government units) part of the

rural district Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of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

Lisburn Lisburn (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with ...

and the whole of the

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...

of Lisburn. In 1969, the part of the rural district closest to Belfast became the new seat of Antrim, Larkfield. Antrim South returned one member of Parliament from 1929 until the

was temporarily suspended in 1972, and then formally abolished in 1973.

Politics

County Antrim (except for parts of Belfast) is a strongly unionist area. There was never the slightest chance of a republican or nationalist candidate being elected in a single-member Antrim

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 ...

. Antrim South was not an exception. From the Northern Ireland general election of 1929, the Antrim South division was an extremely safe Unionist seat for the rest of the existence of the Northern Ireland Parliament.

Members of Parliament

Elections

''The elections in this constituency took place 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.'' * ''Death of Barbour'' * ''Resignation of McConnell'' * ''Boundary change'' * ''Resignation of Ferguson'' * ''Parliament

prorogued A legislative session is the period of time in which a legislature, in both parliamentary and presidential systems, is convened for purpose of lawmaking, usually being one of two or more smaller divisions of the entire time between two elections ...

30 March 1972 and abolished 18 July 1973''

References

* ''Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election Results 1921-1972'', compiled and edited by Sydney Elliott (Political Reference Publications 1973) {{DEFAULTSORT:Antrim South Northern Ireland Parliament constituencies established in 1929 Constituencies of the Northern Ireland Parliament Historic constituencies in County Antrim Northern Ireland Parliament constituencies disestablished in 1973