1938 Northern Ireland general election

The 1938 Northern Ireland general election was held on 9 February 1938. Like all previous elections to the Parliament of Northern Ireland, it produced a large majority for the Ulster Unionist Party, who won three-quarters of the seats.

1938 Northern Ireland general election

← 1933 9 February 1938 1945 →
← outgoing members MPs elected →
All 52 seats to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 27 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader James Craig Thomas Campbell Party UUP Nationalist Leader since 7 June 1921 18 January 1934 Leader's seat North Down Belfast Central Last election 36 seats, 43.5% 9 seats, 13.2% Seats won 39[a] 8[b] Seat change 3 1 Popular vote 187,684[c] 16,167[c] Percentage 56.8% 4.9% Swing 13.3% 8.3%   Third party Fourth party   Leader William Wilton Harry Midgley Party Ind. Unionist Party NI Labour Leader since 1937 1933 Leader's seat Belfast Oldpark (Defeated) Belfast Dock (Defeated) Last election Did not stand 2 seats, 8.5% Seats won 1 1[d] Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 28,459[c] 18,775[c] Percentage 8.6% 5.7% Swing New party 2.8%
Election results by constituency
Prime Minister before election James Craig UUP Prime Minister after election James Craig UUP

The newly formed Ulster Progressive Unionist Association came second in vote share, but won no seats. 21 MPs were elected unopposed (40%), the vast majority of whom were Ulster Unionists.

Results

↓

39	8	2	3
UUP	Nationalist	IU	Oth

1938 Northern Ireland general election
Party		Candidates						Votes
		Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	UUP	43	39[a]	3	0	+3	75.0	56.8	187,684	+13.3
	Progressive Unionist	10	0	0	0	0	—	12.4	41,028	N/A
	Ind. Unionist Party	6	1	1	0	+1	1.9	8.6	28,459	N/A
	Ind. Unionist	5	2	1	2	-1	3.8	6.8	22,354	-14.5
	NI Labour	7	1[d]	1	2	-1	1.9	5.7	18,775	-2.8
	Nationalist	9	8[b]	0	1	-1	15.4	4.9	16,167	-8.3
	Independent	3	0	0	0	0	—	2.2	7,482	+2.0
	Independent Labour	1	1	1	0	+1	1.9	1.7	5,480	N/A
	Ind. Progressive Unionist	1	0	0	0	0	—	0.9	2,926	N/A

Electorate: 825,101 (464,860 in contested seats); Turnout: 71.1% (330,355).

Seat changes

Constituency	From		To
Belfast Dock		NI Labour		UUP
Belfast Pottinger		NI Labour		Independent Labour
Belfast Shankill		Ind. Unionist		Ind. Unionist Party
Mourne		Nationalist		UUP
Queen's University of Belfast		Ind. Unionist		UUP
South Armagh		Ind. Nationalist		NI Labour
South Down		Fianna Fáil		Ind. Unionist

Votes summary

Popular vote Ulster Unionist   56.81% Progressive Unionist   12.42% Ind. Unionist Association   8.61% Ind. Unionist   6.77% Labour   5.68% Nationalist Party   4.89% Independent   2.26% Independent Labour   1.66% Ind. Progressive Unionist   0.89%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats Ulster Unionist   75.00% Nationalist Party   15.38% Ind. Unionist   3.85% Labour   1.92% Ind. Unionist Association   1.92% Independent Labour   1.92%

Contested seats

Only 31 of the 52 seats (60%) were actually contested.

1938 Northern Ireland general election (contested seats)
Party		Popular vote		Candidates
		Votes	%	Stood	Elected	%
	Ulster Unionist	187,684	56.8	29	25	80.6
	Progressive Unionist	41,028	12.4	10	0	—
	Ind. Unionist Party	28,459	8.6	6	1	3.2
	Ind. Unionist	22,354	6.8	5	2	6.5
	Labour	18,775	5.7	6	0	—
	Nationalist	16,167	4.9	3	2	6.5
	Independent	7,482	2.2	3	0	—
	Ind. Labour	5,480	1.7	1	1	3.2
	Ind. Progressive Unionist	2,926	0.9	1	0	—
Total		330,355	71.1	64	31	—

Uncontested seats

In 21 of the 52 seats (40%), only one candidate stood and they were elected unopposed without any votes cast. The vast majority of the MPs elected without a contest were Ulster Unionists.

1938 Northern Ireland general election (uncontested seats)
Party		Popular vote		Candidates
		Votes	%	Stood	Elected	%
	Ulster Unionist	Unopposed		14	14	66.7
	Nationalist	Unopposed		6	6	28.6
	Labour	Unopposed		1	1	4.8
Total				21	21	100

References

• Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election Results Archived 16 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine

Notes

1. Includes 14 members elected unopposed.
2. Includes 6 members elected unopposed.
3. Voting only took place in 31 of 52 seats.
   The other 21 MPs were unopposed.
4. The only Labour MP was elected unopposed.