South Down 1973-85

	DUP	V/UUUP	UUP	Oth U	Alliance	Oth	WP/RC	SDLP	IIP	SF
85ab			86.1%	13.9%
82a	19.2%**		31.1%**		6.2%		2.8%	34.9%***		5.7%
79w			50.0%		6.8%	0.4%	2.3%	37.3%	2.9%
75cc	6.2%	14.6%*	20.9%**		5.1%		2.8%	38.9%***
74wo			50.8%			0.2%	3.5%	45.4%
74wf			52.1%				5.1%	42.7%
73a	6.3%	7.8%*	6.0%*	0.9%	6.7%	8.9%	2.7%	29.7%***

See spreadsheets for 1973 Assembly, February 1974 Westminster, October 1974 Westminster, 1975 Convention, 1979 Westminster and 1982 Assembly.

Assembly by-election, 17 October 1985 (one seat)

Jeffrey Donaldson (UUP) 17,528 (86.1%)
Ethel Smyth (United Loyalist) 2,838 (13.9%)
Quota: 10,184
Electorate: 98,126; turnout 21.3%

The election was caused by the death of UUP Assembly member Raymond McCullough. It was the last held for the Assembly and the last election held on the boundaries first used for the 1973 Assembly elections.

Assembly election, 20 October 1982 (7 seats)

*Frank Feely (SDLP) 7,391
*Eddy McGrady (SDLP) 7,313
*Patrick O'Donoghue (SDLP) 5,916
Raymond McCullough (UUP) 5,802
William Brown (UUP) 5,220
George Graham (DUP) 4,075
William Coulter (UUP) 3,787
Jim Wells (DUP) 3,779
Patrick Forde (Alliance) 3,646
William Martin (UUP) 3,562
Ethel Smyth (DUP) 3,495
Cyril Toman (SF) 3,393
Thomas Moore (WP) 1,676

Votes by party:
SDLP 20,620 (34.9%) 3 seats (2.8 quotas) best result for SDLP in Northern Ireland
UUP 18,371 (31.1%) 2 seats (2.5 quotas)
DUP 11,349 (19.2%) 2 seats (1.5 quotas)
Alliance 3,646 (6.2%, 0.5 quotas)
SF 3,393 (5.7%, 0.5 quotas)
WP 1,676 (2.8%, 0,2 quotas)

Electorate 93,261
Votes cast: 61,192 (65.6%); spoilt votes: 2,137 (3.5%)
Valid votes: 59,055; quota 7,382

* Elected to the 1975 Constitutional Convention

An exceptionally good performance from the DUP, who effectively won two seats from a very low vote base in 1975. Alliance came surprisingly close to snatching the last seat from them, Patrick Forde finishing on 5102 to Jim Wells' 5936, though Wells' running mate George Graham had another 214 surplus votes which would have widened the gap. None of the Unionist candidates from 1975 stood again.

Westminster Election, 3 May 1979 (one seat)

* Enoch Powell (UUP) 32,254 (50.0%)
Eddy McGrady (SDLP) 24,033 (37.3%)
Patrick Forde (Alliance) 4,407 (6.8%)
John Markey (IIP) 1,853 (2.9%)
Dessie O'Hagan (Republican Clubs) 1,682 (2.6%)
Francis Rice (Independent) 216 (0.3%)
Peter Courtney (Reform) 31 (0.05%)

Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) majority: 8,221; Electorate:89,597; Turnout: 72.0%

* sitting MP

Constitutional Convention election, 1 May 1975 (seven seats)

*Frank Feely (SDLP) 9,730
*Cecil Harvey (VUP-UUUC) 8,843
*Eddy McGrady (SDLP) 7,257
*Patrick O'Donoghue (SDLP) 6,657
*Herbert Heslip (UUP-UUUC) 6,380
Peter Brush (UUP-UUUC) 6,293
*Brian Faulkner (UPNI) 6,035
David Herron (DUP-UUUC) 3,752
Anthony Williamson (Alliance) 1,612
Denys Rowan-Hamilton (Alliance) 1,509
Raymond Blaney (Rep Clubs) 1,002
*Ronald Broadhurst (UPNI) 994
Gerard O'Hanlon (Rep Clubs) 680

Vote by party:
[UUUC got 25,268 votes (41.6%) and won 3 seats (3.3 quotas)]
SDLP 23,644 (38.9%) 3 seats (3.1 quotas)
UUP-UUUC 12,673 (20.9%) 2 seats (1.7 quotas)
VUP-UUUC 8,843 (14.6%) 1 seat (1.2 quotas)
UPNI 7,029 (11.6%) 1 seat (0.9 quotas)
DUP 3,752 (6.2%, 0.5 quotas)
Alliance 3,121 (5.1%, 0.4 quotas)
Rep Clubs 1,682 (2.8%, 0.2 quotas)

Electorate: 89,912
Votes cast: 62,873 (69.9%); spoilt votes 2129 (3.4%)
Valid votes: 60,744; quota 7,594

* Member of the 1973 Assembly

Faulkner supporter Broadhurst lost the seat he had won in 1973 to Colonel Brush of the UUP. Herron of the DUP was the runner-up, a long way behind the UUP's Heslip who finished on 6,838 votes to Herron's 4,625. Faulkner had an Alliance-derived surplus of almost a thousand votes which would not have made much difference.

Westminster election, 10 October 1974 (one seat)

Enoch Powell (UUP-UUUC) 33,614 (50.8%)
Sean Hollywood (SDLP) 30,047 (45.4%)
Gerard O'Hanlon (Republican Clubs) 2,327 (3.5%)
David Vipond (Communist Party of Ireland) 152 (0.2%)

Ulster Unionist Party (UUP - UUUC) majority: 3,567; Electorate: 91,792; Turnout: 70.0%

A surprisingly poor performance in percentage terms for the UUP, and a very good one from the SDLP, no doubt caused by the controversial history of the new UUP candidate, a former Conservative cabinet minister whose disgraceful "Rivers of Blood" speech in April 1968 lent respectability to racism. His recruitment by the Ulster Unionists was seen by them as rather a coup, lending his heavyweight political clout to their parliamentary team, but in fact his devotion to the policy of integrating Northern Ireland with the rest of the UK caused considerable friction with those in the UUP who disagreed. He remains a much speculated about figure, with one ongoing internet saga recounting an alternate history where he became Prime Minister in the 1970's, and another in which he became Prime Minister in the early 1960's.

Westminster Election, 28 February 1974 (one seat)

Willie Orr (UUP - UUUC) 31,088 (52.1%)
Sean Hollywood (SDLP) 25,486 (42.7%)
Hugh Golding (Republican Clubs) 3,046 (5.1%)

Ulster Unionist Party (UUP - UUUC) majority: 3,567; Electorate: 91,792; Turnout: 70.0% Though this was Faulkner's own constituency, no pro-Faulkner candidate stood and he declined to advise his supporters how to vote.

Assembly election, 28 June 1973 (seven seats)

* Brian Faulkner (UUP, pro-White Paper) 16,287
Eddy McGrady (SDLP) 7,870
Frank Feely (SDLP) 6,857
Cecil Harvey (Vanguard) 5,006
Patrick O'Donoghue (SDLP) 4,322
David Herron (DUP) 4,016
Herbert Heslip (UUP, anti-White Paper) 3,838
Rory McShane (Ind) 2,785
* James O'Reilly (Ind Nat) 2,000
William Martin (UUP, pro-White Paper) 1,996
Ronald Broadhurst (UUP, pro-White Paper) 1,515
Anthony Williamson (Alliance) 1,489
Michael O'Shea (Alliance) 1,475
Denys Rowan-Hamilton (Alliance) 1,316
Arthur Doran (Ind) 653
Noel Collins (Rep Clubs) 648
Edward O'Hagan (Rep Clubs) 612
William Annett (National Front) 591
Samuel Dowling (Rep Clubs) 499
Barkley Farr (Liberal) 263

Votes by party:
[UUP total 23,636 (36.9%) 3 seats (3.0 quotas)]
UUP (pro) 19,798 (30.9%) 2 seats (2.5 quotas)
SDLP 19,049 (29.7%) 3 seats (2.4 quotas)
Vanguard 5,006 (7.8%) 1 seat (0.6 quotas)
Alliance 4,280 (6.7%, 0.5 quotas)
DUP 4,016 (6.3%, 0.5 quotas)
UUP (anti) 3,838 (6.0%) 1 seat (0.5 quotas)
Inds 3,438 (5.4%, 0.4 quotas)
Ind Nat 2,000 (3.1%, 0.2 quotas)
Rep Clubs 1,759 (2.7%, 0.2 quotas)
National Front 591 (0.9%, 0.1 quotas)
Liberal 263 (0.4%, 0.03 quotas)

Electorate: 89,234
Votes cast: 65,397 (73.2%); spoilt votes 1,359 (2.1%)
Valid votes 64,038; quota 8,005

* Member of the Northern Ireland House of Commons when it was dissolved.

Faulkner and O'Reilly were outgoing Stormont MPs, and both Faulkner's opponents in the 1969 election, Eddy McGrady and Denys Rowan-Hamilton, were candidates this time as well (both having changed party designation). The SDLP swept up enough votes from Republican Clubs and independent candidates to win three seats from only 2.4 quotas; there was enough spillover to give Alliance's Anthony Williamson the runner-up position, with 4955 votes to anti-White Paper Unionist Herbert Heslip's 7177 (though there was an undistrubuted Vanguard suplus of almost 1500 which would have made the gap even wider).

Faulkner, of course, became the Chief Executive of the power-sharing Executive. McGrady became Minister for Planning and Co-ordination but was not a member of the Executive.

See also:

Other sites based at ARK: ORB (Online Research Bank) | CAIN (Conflict Archive on the INternet) | Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey

Your comments, please! Send an email to me at nicholas.whyte@gmail.com.

Nicholas Whyte, 25 March 2003.

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