Mid Antrim (UK Parliament constituency)

Mid Antrim
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1885–1922
Replaced by	Antrim
Created from	Antrim

Mid Antrim was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland which returned one Member of Parliament from 1885 to 1922, using the first past the post electoral system.

This county constituency comprised the central part of County Antrim, specifically the baronies of Glenarm Lower, Toome Lower, part of the barony of Antrim Lower and parts of the parishes of Connor and Ahoghill. It was bounded to the north by Antrim North, to the west by Londonderry South, to the south by Antrim South and Antrim East and to the east by the sea.

Prior to the United Kingdom general election, 1885 and from the dissolution of Parliament in 1922 the area was part of the Antrim constituency.

In terms of the then local government areas the constituency in 1929 comprised parts of the Rural Districts of Ballymena, Ballymoney and Larne. The division also included the whole of the Urban District of Ballymena.

The constituency was a predominantly Unionist area. It was also a safe seat for the O'Neill family. All three of the MPs who represented the constituency were related. In 1918 the Unionists defeated Sinn Féin by about 4 to 1.

From 1886 to 1974 the Conservative and Unionist members of the United Kingdom House of Commons formed a single Parliamentary party.

Sinn Féin contested the general election of 1918 on the platform that instead of taking up any seats they won in the United Kingdom Parliament, they would establish a revolutionary assembly in Dublin. In republican theory every MP elected in Ireland was a potential Deputy to this assembly. In practice only the Sinn Féin members accepted the offer.

...
Wikipedia