County Tyrone was a parliamentary constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885. It returned two Members of Parliament (MPs).

Boundaries This constituency comprised the whole of County Tyrone, except the parliamentary borough of Dungannon.

It returned two MPs from 1801 to 1885. It was an original constituency represented in Parliament when the Union of Great Britain and Ireland was created on 1 January 1801.

In the redistribution, which took effect in 1885, County Tyrone was divided into four single-member constituencies: East Tyrone, Mid Tyrone, North Tyrone and South Tyrone.

Politics The constituency electorate was predominantly Tory/Conservative during most of this period.

Catholics were excluded from taking seats in Parliament until 1829 and there was a restrictive property based franchise. It was not until the electoral reforms which took effect in 1885 that most adult males became voters. See Catholic emancipation for further details.

In these circumstances most MPs came from a limited number of Protestant aristocratic and gentry families. There were few contested elections.

It was only in 1880, at the end of the period when this constituency existed, that the Liberals first won a seat in the county.

Members of Parliament Election First MP Second MP Name Born Died Name Born Died 1801 co-option   Somerset Corry (Tory)Somerset Lowry-Corry, 2nd Earl of Belmore, ThePeerage.com 11 July 1774 18 April 1841 James Stewart(affiliation uncertain) 1742 18 January 1821 1802 by-election   Rt Hon John Stewart (Tory)Was Attorney-General for Ireland under Tory Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger and architect of the Act of Union 1800 ca 1758 22 June 1825 1806   Hon Thomas Knox (Ind), Cracroft's Peerage 5 August 1754 26 April 1840 1812   Rt Hon John Stewart, Bt (Tory) ca 1758 22 June 1825   Hon Thomas Knox (Tory)Earl of Ranfurly, Cracroft's Peerage 19 April 1786 21 March 1858 1818   William Stewart (Whig) 1780 ca October 1850 1825 by-election   Rt Hon Henry Lowry-Corry(Tory, Con, Peelite) 9 March 1803 6 March 1873 1830   Sir Hugh Stewart, Bt (Tory) 14 May 1792 19 November 1854 1835     Lord Claud Hamilton (Con) 27 July 1813 3 June 1884 1837   James Alexander (Con) 27 July 1812 30 June 1855 1839 by-election   Rt Hon Lord Claud Hamilton(Con, Peelite) 27 July 1813 3 June 1884 1847     1852 by-election     1873 by-election   Hon Henry Lowry-Corry (Con) 30 June 1845 6 May 1927 1874   John Ellison-Macartney (Con) 1818 13 February 1904 1880   Edward Falconer Litton (Lib) 1827 27 November 1890 1881 by-election   Thomas Alexander Dickson (Lib) 1833 17 June 1909 1885 Constituency partitioned into East, Mid, North and South parts by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.

Notes: Stooks Smith does not specify any party allegiances for this constituency before 1818. This does not necessarily mean that the MPs were not associated with a Party in Parliament. From 1832 Lowry-Corry and Stewart are classified as Conservatives. In 1847 Lowry-Corry and Hamilton contested the general election as Peelite Liberal Conservatives, but were again Conservatives by 1852.

Elections The single-member elections in this constituency took place using the first past the post electoral system. Multi-member elections used the Plurality-at-large voting system.

There was no election in 1801. The representatives of the county in the former Parliament of Ireland became members of the 1st Parliament of the United Kingdom.

After 1832, when registration of voters was introduced, a turnout figure is given for contested elections. In two-member elections this is calculated by dividing the number of votes by two. To the extent that voters did not use both their votes this will be an underestimate of turnout. If the electorate figure is unknown the last known electorate figure is used to provide an estimate of turnout.

Where a party had more than one candidate in one or both of a pair of successive elections change is calculated for each individual candidate, otherwise change is based on the party vote.

Elections in the 1800s

Corry succeeded as 2nd Earl Belmore

Elections in the 1810s

Elections in the 1820s

Death of John Stewart

Elections in the 1830s

Alexander succeeded as 3rd Earl of Caledon

Elections in the 1840s

Appointment of Lowry Corry as Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty

Elections in the 1850s Appointment of Hamilton as Treasurer of the Household

Appointment of Hamilton as Treasurer of the Household

Elections in the 1860s

Appointment of Lowry-Corry as Vice-President of the Committee of the Council for Education

Appointment of Hamilton as Vice-Chamberlain of the Household

Appointment of Lowry-Corry as First Lord of the Admiralty

Elections in the 1870s Death of Lowry Corry

Elections in the 1880s

Litton appointed Land Commissioner

References

Sources The Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844–50), 2nd edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973)

See also List of UK Parliamentary constituencies in Ireland and Northern Ireland