North Fermanagh

The constituency was a marginal one compared to many other seats in what became Northern Ireland. The Unionist candidate won in 1918, but Sinn Féin only polled 532 fewer votes.

From 1801 to 1885, County Fermanagh returned two MPs to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom sitting at the Palace of Westminster, with separate representation for the parliamentary borough of Enniskillen. Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the parliamentary county was divided into the divisions of North Fermanagh and South Fermanagh. Enniskillen ceased to exist as a parliamentary borough.^[1]

North Fermanagh was defined as:^[2]

In County Fermanagh, the baronies of Lurg, Magheraboy, and Tirkennedy.

It was not affected by the Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918.^[3] At the 1918 general election, Sinn Féin contested on an election manifesto with an abstentionist pledge that instead of taking its seats at Westminster, it would establish an assembly in Dublin. All MPs elected to Irish seats were invited to participate in the First Dáil convened in January 1919, but no members outside of Sinn Féin did so.^[4]

The Government of Ireland Act 1920 established the Parliament of Northern Ireland, which came into operation in 1921. The representation of Northern Ireland at Westminster was reduced from 30 MPs to 13 MPs, taking effect at the 1922 United Kingdom general election. At Westminster, North Fermanagh, South Fermanagh, North-East Tyrone, North-West Tyrone and South Tyrone were combined to form the two-member county constituency of Fermanagh and Tyrone.^[5] An eight-seat constituency of Fermanagh and Tyrone was created for the House of Commons of Northern Ireland, which formed the basis in republican theory for representation in the Second Dáil.^[6][7]

• Walker, Brian M., ed. (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. ISBN 0901714127.
• Debrett's Guide to the House of Commons and Judicial Bench. 1918. p. 220.
• Stenton, M.; Lees, S., eds. (1978). Who's Who of British members of parliament: Volume II 1886–1918. The Harvester Press.
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "F"