Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland)

Political party in Northern Ireland

Nationalist Party

Founded| 1918; 106 years ago (1918)
Dissolved| 1977; 47 years ago (1977)
Preceded by| Irish Parliamentary Party
Merged into| Irish Independence Party
Ideology| Irish nationalism
Colours| Green

* Politics of Northern Ireland
* Political parties
* Elections

The Nationalist Party (Irish: An Páirtí Náisiúnach)[1] was the continuation of the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), and was formed after the partition of Ireland, by the Northern Ireland-based members of the IPP.

## History

[edit]

Despite conventionally being referred to as a single organisation, the party long existed only as a loose network of small groups, generally operating in a single constituency. Its candidates for both Westminster and Stormont elections were selected by conventions organised on a constituency basis. These arrangements changed in 1966, when a single organisation covering the whole of Northern Ireland was established.[2]

The Nationalist Party did not enter the first House of Commons of Northern Ireland despite winning six seats in the 1921 general election. Leader Joe Devlin took his seat shortly after the 1925 general election and his colleagues followed gradually by October 1927.[3] Intermittently thereafter the party engaged in further periods of abstention, to protest against the "illegal" partition of Ireland. In 1965, it agreed to become the official opposition party in the House of Commons.[4][5]

This was one of the catalysts of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland. The party became involved in the Derry civil rights march in October 1968, which ended in violence amidst allegations of police brutality. As a result, the party withdrew from its role as official opposition on 15 October 1968, following the controversy of two weeks earlier.[5]

The party developed a reputation for being disorganised and being little more than a collection of elected members with their own local machines. Many calls were made for the party to develop an overall organisation but it fell apart in the late 1960s.[6] Earlier, many members had formed the National Democratic Party (NDP) after attempts at reform failed. The NDP merged into the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) at that party's foundation in 1970 and many remaining nationalists followed them. One of the Nationalist Party's last electoral contests was the 1973 election for the Assembly created as part of the Sunningdale Agreement. The lack of success in that election meant that the inevitable outcome was obvious, although a handful of councillors were elected to Omagh District Council and Derry City Council in 1973 and 1977. In October 1977,[7] the party merged with Unity to form the Irish Independence Party which also included non-aligned republicans. Although it was successful for a while in capturing the Republican vote, it faded from view due to the rise of Sinn Féin in the early 1980s.

## Leaders

[edit]

* Joseph Devlin 1918–1934
* Thomas Joseph Campbell 1934–1945
* James McSparran 1945–1958
* Joseph Francis Stewart 1958–1964
* Eddie McAteer 1964–1969
* Roderick O'Connor 1969–1972

Following the abolition of Stormont, Eddie McAteer became the effective party leader, while his son Fergus McAteer gradually assumed greater importance.

## Electoral performance

[edit]

See Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland) election results for results in the United Kingdom House of Commons

This chart shows the electoral performance of the Nationalist Party in elections to the Northern Ireland House of Commons

Election  | Seats won  | ±  | Position  | First Pref votes  | %  | Government  | Leader

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

1921 |

6 / 52

|  | 3rd  | 60,577  | 11.8%  | Abstention  | Joseph Devlin
1925 |

10 / 52

| 4  | 2nd  | 91,452  | 23.8%  | Opposition  | Joseph Devlin
1929 |

11 / 52

| 1  | 2nd  | 34,069  | 11.7%  | Opposition  | Joseph Devlin
1933 |

9 / 52

| 2  | 2nd  | 22,269  | 11.7%  | Opposition  | Joseph Devlin
1938 |

8 / 52

| 1  | 2nd  | 16,167  | 4.9%  | Opposition  | T. J. Campbell
1945 |

10 / 52

| 2  | 2nd  | 32,546  | 9.1%  | Opposition  | T. J. Campbell
1949 |

9 / 52

| 1  | 2nd  | 101,445  | 26.8%  | Opposition  | James McSparran
1953 |

7 / 52

| 2  | 2nd  | 27,796  | 10.8%  | Opposition  | James McSparran
1958 |

7 / 52

|  | 2nd  | 36,013  | 14.9%  | Opposition  | Joe Stewart
1962 |

9 / 52

| 2  | 2nd  | 45,860  | 15.1%  | Opposition  | Joe Stewart
1965 |

9 / 52

|  | 2nd  | 26,748  | 8.2%  | Opposition  | Eddie McAteer
1969 |

6 / 52

| 3  | 2nd  | 42,315  | 7.6%  | Opposition  | Eddie McAteer

## See also

[edit]

* List of Nationalist Party MPs (Ireland)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Diarmaid Ua Bruadair. "Caidrimh ag athrú" (PDF). St Mary’s University College. Belfast. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 December 2019.
2. ^ Craig, F. W. S. (1968). British Parliamentary Election Statistics 1918–1968. Glasgow: Political Reference Publications. p. x. ISBN 0900178000.
3. ^ Lynn, Brendan (21 March 2016). "The Irish Anti-Partition League and the political realities of partition, 1945–9". Irish Historical Studies. 34 (135): 321–332: 323. doi:10.1017/S0021121400004508. JSTOR 30008673. S2CID 156001157.
4. ^ Tonge, Jonathan (2013). Northern Ireland: Conflict and Change. London/New York: Routledge. pp. 26–27. ISBN 9781317875185. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
5. ^ a b "A Chronology of the Conflict – 1968". Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN). Archived from the original on 6 August 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2009.
6. ^ Lynn, Brendan. "CAIN: Politics: Lynn, B. (1997), Holding the Ground the Nationalist Party in Northern Ireland, 1945–1972". CAIN. Archived from the original on 11 March 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
7. ^ "CAIN: Abstracts of Organisations – 'I'". Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN). Archived from the original on 6 December 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2010.

* v
* t
* e

Defunct political parties of Northern Ireland

Unionist / Loyalist|

* Commonwealth Labour Party
* Independent Unionist Association
* NI21
* Northern Ireland Unionist Party
* Protestant Unionist Party
* UK Unionist Party
* Ulster Constitution Party
* Ulster Democratic Party
* Ulster Popular Unionist Party
* Ulster Progressive Unionist Association
* Ulster Unionist Coalition Party
* Ulster Unionist Labour Association
* Unionist Party of Northern Ireland
* United Ulster Unionist Council
* United Ulster Unionist Party
* United Unionist Coalition
* Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party
* Volunteer Political Party

Nationalist / Republican|

* All Ireland Anti-Partition League
* Federation of Labour
* Fianna Uladh
* Irish Anti-Partition League
* Irish Independence Party
* Irish Union Association
* National Democratic Party
* Nationalist Party
* National League of the North
* National Unity
* Northern Council for Unity
* Official Sinn Féin
* People's Democracy
* Red Republican Party
* Republican Socialist Collective
* Saor Éire
* Socialist Republican Party
* Unity

Left-wing1|

* Belfast Labour Party
* Communist Party of Ireland (Marxist–Leninist)
* Communist Party of Northern Ireland
* Democratic Left
* Dock Labour Party
* Independent Labour Group
* Independent Socialist Party
* Labour coalition
* Labour Party of Northern Ireland
* Labour and Trade Union Group
* League for a Workers' Republic
* Northern Ireland Labour Party
* Republican Labour Party
* Socialist Labour Alliance
* Socialist Party of Northern Ireland
* United Labour Party
* Workers League
* World Socialist Party

Ulster nationalist|

* British Ulster Dominion Party
* Ulster Independence Movement
* Ulster Independence Party
* Ulster Movement for Self-Determination
* Ulster Third Way

Others|

* Democratic Partnership
* Natural Law Party
* Newtownabbey Ratepayers' Association
* Northern Ireland Women's Coalition
* Ulster Liberal Party
* Unbought Tenants' Association

1 Excluding those left-wing parties avowedly nationalist / republican or unionist / loyalist.
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