Belfast Clifton (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

Constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland

54°36′40″N 5°56′06″W / 54.611°N 5.935°W / 54.611; -5.935

Belfast Clifton
Former Borough constituency for the Parliament of Northern Ireland
Belfast shown within Northern Ireland
Former constituency
Created	1929
Abolished	1973
Election method	First past the post

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

Boundaries

Belfast Clifton was a borough constituency comprising part of northern 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 Clifton was created by the division of Belfast North 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.

Politics

In common with other seats in North Belfast, the seat had little nationalist presence. The seat was usually held by the Ulster Unionist Party, but a variety of independent Unionists contested it and occasionally won, and some labour movement candidates achieved strong results.

Members of Parliament

	Member	Party
1929	Samuel Hall-Thompson	Ulster Unionist Party
1953	Norman Porter	Independent Unionist
1958	Robin Kinahan	Ulster Unionist Party
1959(b)	William James Morgan	Ulster Unionist Party
1969	Lloyd Hall-Thompson	Independent Unionist
1973	Constituency abolished

Election results

Politics of Northern Ireland
(1921–72)

Government Governor Privy Council Ministries Prime Minister Craigavon ministry Andrews ministry Brookeborough ministry O'Neill ministry Chichester-Clark ministry Faulkner ministry Northern Ireland Civil Service Departments
Parliament Acts Statutory rules and orders Senate Speaker of the Senate Leader of the Senate House of Commons Speaker Leader of the Opposition Members 1921, 1925, 1929, 1933 1938, 1945, 1949, 1953 1958, 1962, 1965, 1969 Senate
Elections Elections in Northern Ireland 1921, 1925, 1929, 1933 1938, 1945, 1949, 1953 1958, 1962, 1965, 1969 By-elections Constituencies Political parties
See also Fourth Home Rule Bill Constitution Act 1973
Other countries
v t e

At the 1929 and 1933 Northern Ireland general elections, Samuel Hall-Thompson was elected unopposed.

General Election 1938: Belfast Clifton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Samuel Hall-Thompson	6,683	54.4	*N/A*
	Ind. Unionist Party	William McConnell Wilton	5,600	45.6	New
Majority			1,083	8.8	N/A
Turnout			12,283	72.1	N/A
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1945: Belfast Clifton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Samuel Hall-Thompson	7,272	62.0	+7.6
	NI Labour	Andrew Carlin	4,458	38.0	New
Majority			2,814	24.0	+15.2
Turnout			11,730	67.2	−4.9
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election 1949: Belfast Clifton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Samuel Hall-Thompson	10,715	83.6	+21.6
	Independent Labour	Owen J. Keane	2,107	16.4	New
Majority			8,608	67.2	+43.2
Turnout			12,822	73.0	+5.8
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election 1953: Belfast Clifton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ind. Unionist	Norman Porter	4,747	51.9	*New*
	UUP	Samuel Hall-Thompson	4,402	48.1	−35.5
Majority			345	3.8	N/A
Turnout			9,149	50.9	−22.1
	Ind. Unionist gain from UUP		Swing

General Election 1958: Belfast Clifton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Robin Kinahan	5,755	50.2	+2.1
	Ind. Unionist	Norman Porter	5,710	49.8	−2.1
Majority			45	0.4	N/A
Turnout			11,465	67.5	+16.6
	UUP gain from Ind. Unionist		Swing

Belfast Clifton by-election, 1959
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	William James Morgan	5,212	50.2	0.0
	Ind. Unionist	Norman Porter	3,978	38.4	−11.4
	NI Labour	Victoria Dunlop	1,185	11.4	New
Majority			1,234	11.8	+11.4
Turnout			10,375	61.1	−6.4
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election 1962: Belfast Clifton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	William James Morgan	6,474	58.6	+8.4
	NI Labour	Norman Thompson	4,571	41.4	N/A
Majority			1,903	17.2	+16.8
Turnout			11,045	66.9	−0.6
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election 1965: Belfast Clifton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	William James Morgan	6,083	65.2	+6.6
	NI Labour	Norman Thompson	3,247	34.8	−6.6
Majority			2,836	30.4	+13.2
Turnout			9,330	57.5	−9.4
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election 1969: Belfast Clifton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unofficial Unionist	Lloyd Hall-Thompson	6,066	50.4	*New*
	UUP	William James Morgan	3,215	26.7	−38.5
	NI Labour	Norman Thompson	1,681	13.9	−20.9
	National Democratic	Michael McKeown	1,079	9.0	New
Majority			2,851	23.7	N/A
Turnout			12,041	74.3	+15.8
	Unofficial Unionist gain from UUP		Swing

References

^ The Northern Ireland House of Commons, 1921-1972, Northern Ireland Elections
^ "Northern Ireland Parliamentary Elections Results: Boroughs: Belfast". Archived from the original on 22 July 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2008.

v t e Parliament of Northern Ireland constituencies
1921–1929	1929–1973
Antrim	Antrim Borough Bannside Carrick Larkfield (from 1969) Larne Mid Antrim Newtownabbey (from 1969) North Antrim South Antrim
Armagh	Central Armagh Mid Armagh North Armagh South Armagh
Belfast East	Belfast Bloomfield Belfast Dock Belfast Pottinger Belfast Victoria
Belfast North	Belfast Clifton Belfast Duncairn Belfast Oldpark Belfast Shankill
Belfast South	Belfast Ballynafeigh Belfast Cromac Belfast Willowfield Belfast Windsor
Belfast West	Belfast Central Belfast Falls Belfast St Anne's Belfast Woodvale
Down	Ards Bangor (from 1969) East Down Iveagh Lagan Valley (from 1969) Mid Down Mourne North Down South Down West Down
Fermanagh and Tyrone	East Tyrone Enniskillen Lisnaskea Mid Tyrone North Tyrone South Fermanagh South Tyrone West Tyrone
Londonderry	City of Londonderry Foyle Mid Londonderry North Londonderry South Londonderry
Queen's University	Queen's University (to 1969)

Parliamentary constituencies in County Antrim and the city of Belfast

Parliament of Ireland
to 1800

County Antrim (???–1800)
Antrim (1666–1800)
Belfast (1613–1800)
Carrickfergus (1326–1800)
Lisburn (1661–1800)
Randalstown (???–1800)

Westminster 1801–present

Historic

Antrim (1801–85, 1922–50)
Mid Antrim (1885–1922)
Belfast (1801–85)
Belfast Cromac (1918–22)
Belfast Duncairn (1918–22)
Belfast Falls (1918–22)
Belfast Ormeau (1918–22)
Belfast Pottinger (1918–22)
Belfast Shankill (1918–22)
Belfast South (1885–1918, 1922–2024)
Belfast St Anne's (1918–22)
Belfast Victoria (1918–22)
Belfast Woodvale (1918–22)
Carrickfergus (1801–85)
Lisburn (1801–85)
Queen's University of Belfast (1918–50)

Current

East Antrim (1885–1922, 1983—)
North Antrim (1885–1922, 1950—)
South Antrim (1885–1922, 1950—)
Belfast East (1885–1918, 1922—)
Belfast North (1885–1918, 1922—)
Belfast South and Mid Down (2024—)
Belfast West (1885–1918, 1922—)
Lagan Valley 1983—

Dáil Éireann
Revolutionary era 1919–1922

First Dáil
1919–21

Seats taken	(none)
No seats taken	East Antrim Mid Antrim North Antrim South Antrim Belfast Cromac Belfast Duncairn Belfast Falls Belfast Ormeau Belfast Pottinger Belfast St Anne's Belfast Shankill Belfast Victoria Belfast Woodvale Queen's University of Belfast

Second Dáil
1921–22

Seats taken	(none)
No seats taken	Antrim Belfast East Belfast North Belfast South Belfast West Queen's University of Belfast

Parliament of Northern Ireland
1921–72

1921–29

Antrim (1921–29)
Belfast East (1921–29)
Belfast North (1921–29)
Belfast South (1921–29)
West Belfast (1921–29)
Queen's University of Belfast (1921–69)

1929–72

Bannside (1929–72)
Belfast Ballynafeigh (1929–72)
Belfast Bloomfield (1929–72)
Belfast Central (1929–72)
Belfast Clifton (1929–72)
Belfast Cromac (1929–72)
Belfast Dock (1929–72)
Belfast Duncairn (1929–72)
Belfast Falls (1929–72)
Belfast Oldpark (1929–72)
Belfast Pottinger (1929–72)
Belfast Shankill (1929–72)
Belfast St Anne's (1929–72)
Belfast Victoria (1929–72)
Belfast Willowfield (1929–72)
Belfast Windsor (1929–72)
Belfast Woodvale (1929–72)
Carrick (1929–72)
Larkfield (1969–72)
Larne (1929–72)
Mid Antrim (1929–72)
Newtownabbey (1969–72)
North Antrim (1929–72)
Queen's University of Belfast (1921–69)
South Antrim (1929–72)

Northern Ireland Assemblies

Assembly 1973–74 Constitutional Convention 1975–76 Assembly 1982–86	North Antrim South Antrim Belfast East Belfast North Belfast South Belfast West
Northern Ireland Forum 1996–98 Assembly (1998–present)	East Antrim North Antrim South Antrim Belfast East Belfast North Belfast South Belfast West Lagan Valley

European Parliament
1979–2020

Northern Ireland

Constituencies in Ireland by county
Republic of Ireland	Carlow Cavan Clare Cork Donegal Dublin Galway Kerry Kildare Kilkenny Laois Leitrim Limerick Longford Louth Mayo Meath Monaghan Offaly Roscommon Sligo Tipperary Waterford Westmeath Wexford Wicklow
Northern Ireland	Antrim Armagh Down Fermanagh Londonderry Tyrone

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