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Women have been eligible to stand for election to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom since 1918, when the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act provided that "a woman shall not be disqualified by sex or marriage". Between 1918 and 2017, a total of 489 women were elected as Members of Parliament (MPs). [1] The first of Northern Ireland's ten woman MPs was elected in 1953.

History

The first woman elected to the Commons was from then unpartitioned Ireland: Constance Markievicz, returned for Dublin St Patrick's at the 1918 general election. [2] As a Sinn Féin member, she followed her party's policy of abstentionism, and did not take her seat in Westminster. [3]

In 1918, Ireland had 105 seats in the UK House of Commons, thirty of them in the six counties ( Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone) which in 1921 became Northern Ireland. After the creation in 1921 of the devolved Parliament of Northern Ireland, Northern Irish representation at Westminster was reduced to thirteen MPs at the 1922 general election. [4] This number was reduced to twelve at the 1950 general election, [4] and — after the imposition of direct rule in 1972 — increased to seventeen from the 1983 general election. [4]

No woman stood for election to Westminster in any Northern Irish constituency until the 1945 general election, when Noreen Cooper was one of the two unsuccessful Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) candidates in the 2-seat Fermanagh and Tyrone constituency. [5] By 1950, six women had been elected to the 52-member House of Commons of Northern Ireland, but Northern Ireland had sent no women to Westminster.

The next woman to stand was a unionist who became Northern Ireland's first woman MP. [6] [7] Patricia Ford was the daughter of Sir W. D. Smiles, the UUP MP for North Down, great-grand-daughter of the parliamentary reform campaigner Samuel Smiles, [8] and later grandmother of the explorer Bear Grylls. [9] [10] Her father died in January 1953 when the ferry MV Princess Victoria sank, [11] and Ford was selected to stand in the resulting by-election. [12] She was elected unopposed. [13] [14] [6]

Ford had a difficult start at Westminster. In her first week, she had described in the Sunday Express two other women MPs snoring in a rest-room during a late-night sitting, and was had to apologise to the Commons for this breach of parliamentary privilege. [15] Thereafter she focused on women's interests, campaigning on pensions for police widows, and working with other women MPs to present a petition on equal pay. [8]

At the 1955 general election, Ford retired from Parliament, [16] [17] but Patricia McLaughlin became the first woman to win a contested Westminster election in Northern Ireland.

List

Party Name Constituency Year elected Year left Reason
UUP Patricia Ford North Down 1953 1955 Retired
UUP Patricia McLaughlin Belfast West 1955 1964 Retired
Unity Bernadette Devlin Mid Ulster 1969 Elected in 1969 & 1970 as a Unity candidate. Sat as an independent socialist from October 1970
Independent Socialist October 1970 1974 Defeated
Sinn Féin Michelle Gildernew [fn 1] Fermanagh and South Tyrone 2001 2015 Defeated
2017 Incumbent
UUP Sylvia Hermon [fn 2] North Down 2001 Resigned from UUP in 2010, re-elected as an Independent unionist
Independent unionist 2010 Incumbent
DUP Iris Robinson [fn 3] Strangford 2001 2010 Resigned her seat 13 January 2010, after being expelled from DUP on 9 January 2010
Alliance Naomi Long [fn 4] Belfast East 2010 2015 Defeated
SDLP Margaret Ritchie [fn 5] South Down 2010 2017 Defeated
DUP Emma Little-Pengelly Belfast South 2017 Incumbent
Sinn Féin Elisha McCallion Foyle 2017 Incumbent

Timeline

Elisha McCallion Emma Little-Pengelly Margaret Ritchie Naomi Long Iris Robinson Sylvia Hermon Michelle Gildernew BernadetteDevlin Patricia McLaughlin Patricia Ford (politician)

See also

Notes

  1. ^ From 1998–2012, Michelle Gildernew served as the Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.
  2. ^ Wife of Sir John Hermon.
  3. ^ Wife of fellow MP Peter Robinson. Served at the same time as the Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Strangford (1998–2010).
  4. ^ From 2003–2010, Naomi Long served as the Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast East.
  5. ^ From 2003–2012, Margaret Ritchie served as the Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for South Down.

References

  1. ^ Apostolova, Vyara; Cracknell, Richard (December 2017). "Briefing Paper Number SN01250: Women in Parliament and Government" (PDF). House of Commons Library. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  2. ^ Walker 1992, p. 6.
  3. ^ McNamara & Mooney 2000, p. 73.
  4. ^ a b c Whyte 2004.
  5. ^ Walker 1992, p. 20.
  6. ^ a b "News in Brief". The Times. London. 16 April 1953. p. 4. Retrieved 29 January 2018 – via Times Digital Archive. {{ cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) ( help)
  7. ^ McNamara & Mooney 2000, pp. 244–5.
  8. ^ a b Froggatt, Richard. "Patricia Ford (1921–1995): Politician and charity worker". Dictionary of Ulster Biography. Ulster History Circle. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  9. ^ "Bear Grylls: I'm a survivor of mum's dodgy cooking while growing up in Northern Ireland". Belfast Telegraph. 2 May 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  10. ^ Donaghy, Gerard (2 May 2016). "Ten people you (probably) didn't know were born on the island of Ireland". Irish Post. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  11. ^ "Death Of Sir W. Smiles Presumed". The Times. London. 28 February 1953. p. 3. Retrieved 29 January 2018 – via Times Digital Archive. {{ cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) ( help)
  12. ^ "Daughter of drowned MP as candidate". The Times. London. 30 March 1953. Retrieved 29 January 2018 – via Times Digital Archive. {{ cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) ( help)
  13. ^ Walker 1992, p. 23.
  14. ^ "News in Brief". The Times. London. 14 April 1953. p. 3. Retrieved 29 January 2018 – via Times Digital Archive. {{ cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) ( help)
  15. ^ "Privilege Case Ruling". The Times. London. 14 May 1953. p. 3. Retrieved 29 January 2018 – via Times Digital Archive. {{ cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) ( help)
  16. ^ "General election: MPs retiring from the fray". The Times. London. 7 May 1955. p. 5. Retrieved 29 January 2018 – via Times Digital Archive. {{ cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) ( help)
  17. ^ McNamara & Mooney 2000, p. 245.

Bibliography

*List +Women Category:Lists of female political office-holders in Ireland

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