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Belfast Pottinger (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 54°35′38″N 5°53′53″W / 54.594°N 5.898°W / 54.594; -5.898
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54°35′38″N 5°53′53″W / 54.594°N 5.898°W / 54.594; -5.898

Belfast Pottinger
Former Borough constituency
for the Parliament of Northern Ireland
Belfast Pottinger 1929-1969
Belfast Pottinger shown within Belfast and Belfast shown within Northern Ireland
Former constituency
Created1929
Abolished1973
Election methodFirst past the post

Belfast Pottinger was a constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.

Boundaries

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Belfast Pottinger was a borough constituency comprising part of eastern Belfast. It was created in 1929, 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.

Belfast Pottinger was created by the division of Belfast East into four new constituencies. It survived unchanged, returning one member of Parliament, until the Parliament of Northern Ireland was temporarily suspended in 1972, and then formally abolished in 1973.[1]

Politics

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The seat was a stronghold for the labour movement, although Unionist candidates always polled well and were occasionally able to win the seat.[1]

Members of Parliament

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Election Member Party
1929 Jack Beattie Northern Ireland Labour
1934 Independent Labour
1942 Northern Ireland Labour
1943 Independent Labour
1945 Federation of Labour
1949 Independent Labour
1949 Samuel Rodgers Ulster Unionist
1958 Tom Boyd Northern Ireland Labour
1969 Joshua Cardwell Ulster Unionist
1973 constituency abolished

Election results

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General Election 1929: Belfast Pottinger[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
NI Labour Jack Beattie 6,071 54.6
UUP James Augustine Duff 5,057 45.4
Majority 1,014 9.2
Turnout 11,128 76.0
NI Labour win (new seat)
General Election 1933: Belfast Pottinger[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
NI Labour Jack Beattie 5,753 53.6 −1.0
UUP Thomas Loftus Cole 4,978 46.4 +1.0
Majority 775 7.2 −2.0
Turnout 10,731 79.6 +3.6
NI Labour hold Swing
General Election 1938: Belfast Pottinger[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Labour Jack Beattie 5,480 52.2 −1.4
UUP Thomas Loftus Cole 5,011 47.8 +1.4
Majority 469 4.4 N/A
Turnout 10,491 80.9 +1.3
Independent Labour gain from NI Labour Swing
General Election 1945: Belfast Pottinger[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Labour Jack Beattie 5,952 52.5 +0.3
UUP Samuel Rodgers 4,474 47.5 −0.3
Majority 478 5.0 +0.6
Turnout 10,426 78.7 −2.2
Independent Labour hold Swing
General Election 1949: Belfast Pottinger[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
UUP Samuel Rodgers 6,262 62.9 +15.4
Independent Labour Jack Beattie 3,693 37.1 −15.4
Majority 2,569 25.8 N/A
Turnout 9,955 82.7 +4.0
UUP gain from Independent Labour Swing
General Election 1953: Belfast Pottinger[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
UUP Samuel Rodgers 3,680 45.1 −17.8
NI Labour Tom Boyd 3,324 40.8 New
Irish Labour Jack Beattie 1,151 14.1 −23.0
Majority 356 4.3 −21.5
Turnout 8,155 68.2 −14.5
UUP hold Swing
General Election 1958: Belfast Pottinger[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
NI Labour Tom Boyd 4,573 58.5 +17.7
UUP Samuel Rodgers 3,240 41.5 −3.6
Majority 1,333 17.0 N/A
Turnout 7,813 71.8 +3.6
NI Labour gain from UUP Swing
General Election 1962: Belfast Pottinger[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
NI Labour Tom Boyd 4,674 62.4 +3.9
UUP Herbert Walker 2,822 37.6 −3.9
Majority 1,852 24.8 +7.8
Turnout 7,496 72.0 +0.2
NI Labour hold Swing
General Election 1965: Belfast Pottinger[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
NI Labour Tom Boyd 3,208 57.9 −4.5
UUP John Bannister 2,334 42.1 +4.5
Majority 874 15.8 −9.0
Turnout 5,542 58.9 −13.1
NI Labour hold Swing
General Election 1969: Belfast Pottinger[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
UUP Joshua Cardwell 2,902 51.4 +9.3
NI Labour Martin McBirney 2,744 48.6 −9.3
Majority 158 2.8 N/A
Turnout 5,646 67.8 +8.9
UUP gain from NI Labour Swing

References

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