1918 United Kingdom general election in Ireland

none July 2021 January 2020 1918 United Kingdom general election in Ireland United Kingdom parliamentary no December 1910 United Kingdom general election in Ireland 1910 List of MPs elected in the December 1910 United Kingdom general election in Ireland 1922 (NI) →1921 (SI) 105 of the 707 seats to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom 14 December 1918 Members of the First Dáil De Valera LCCN2016822004 (headshot).jpg 130 113 150 0 0 Éamon de Valera 25 October 1917 Sinn Féin East Clare andEast Mayo n/a 6 73SF Includes 25 members elected unopposed. 73 497,107Contest Voting took place in 80 of 105 seats.The other 25 MPs were unopposed. 46.9% New party Sir Edward Carson, bw photo portrait seated.jpg 180 113 150 0 20 Sir Edward Carson 1910 Irish Unionist Alliance Belfast Duncairn 17 seats, 28.6% 17 22 5 257,314Contest 25.3% 3.3% John Dillon, circa 1915.jpg 120 113 150 0 0 John Dillon March 1918 Irish Parliamentary Party East Mayo (defeated) 74 seats, 43.6% 67 6 68 220,837Contest 21.7% 21.9% President of Dáil Éireann after election Cathal Brugha Sinn Féin 1918 United Kingdom general election (Ireland) map - winning party vote share by constituency.svg 270px Results of the 1918 election in Ireland by MPs elected. Sinn Féin MPs refused to sit in the House of Commons and instead formed Dáil Éireann. The Irish Parliamentary Party, Irish Unionist Alliance, Labour Unionist Party and an independent Unionist MP remained in Westminster. The Irish component of the 1918 United Kingdom general election took place on 14 December 1918. It was the final United Kingdom general election to be held throughout Ireland, as the next election would happen following Irish independence. It is a key moment in modern Irish history, seeing the overwhelming defeat of the moderate nationalist Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), which had dominated the Irish political landscape since the 1880s, and a landslide victory for the radical Sinn Féin party. Sinn Féin had never previously stood in a general election, but had won six seats in by-elections in 1917–1918. The party had vowed in its manifesto to establish an independent Irish Republic. In Ulster, however, the Unionist Party was the most successful party. In the aftermath of the elections, Sinn Féin's elected members refused to attend the British Parliament in Westminster (London), and instead formed a parliament in Dublin, Dáil Éireann ("Assembly of Ireland"), which declared Irish independence as a republic. The Irish War of Independence was conducted under this revolutionary government which sought international recognition, and set about the process of state-building. The other parties elected in the election were invited by Sinn Féin to join in creating the Dáil Éireann, but declined and took up their seats at Westminster. In 1918 a system called plural voting was in place in both Britain and Ireland. Plural voting was a practice whereby one person might be able to vote multiple times in an election. Property and business owners could vote both in the constituency where their property lay and that in which they lived, if the two were different. This system often resulted in one person being able to cast multiple votes. In the newly formed Irish Free State this system was ended by the Electoral Act 1923 and was abolished in the UK by the Representation of the People Act 1948. Plural voting remained in effect in Northern Ireland until 1969.https://www.legislation.gov.uk/apni/1968/20/data.pdf Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1968 28 November 1968 legislation.gov.uk The National Archives 20 July 2023 The 1918 election was held in the aftermath of World War I, the Easter Rising and the Conscription Crisis. It was the first general election to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918. It was thus the first election in which women over the age of 30, and all men over the age of 21, could vote. Previously, all women and most working-class men had been excluded from voting. Background July 2023 In 1918 the whole of Ireland was a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and was represented in the British Parliament by 105 Members of Parliament (MPs). Whereas in Great Britain most elected politicians were members of either the Liberal Party or the Conservative Party, from the early 1880s most Irish MPs were Irish nationalists, who sat together in the British House of Commons as the Irish Parliamentary Party. The IPP strove for Home Rule, that is, limited self-government for Ireland within the United Kingdom, and had been supported by most Irish people, especially the Catholic majority. Home Rule was opposed by most Protestants in Ireland, who formed a majority of the population in parts of the northern province of Ulster but a minority in the rest of Ireland, and favoured maintenance of the Union with Great Britain (and were therefore called Unionists). The Unionists were supported by the Conservative Party, whereas from 1885 the Liberal Party was committed to enacting some form of Home Rule. Unionists eventually formed their own representation, first the Irish Unionist Party then the Ulster Unionist Party. Home Rule appeared to have been finally achieved with the passing of the Home Rule Act 1914. However, the implementation of the Act was temporarily postponed with the outbreak of World War I due to determined Ulster Unionists' resistance to the Act. As the war prolonged and with the failure to make any progress on the issue, the more radical Sinn Féin began to grow in strength. Rise of Sinn Féin Sinn Féin was founded by Arthur Griffith in 1905. He believed that Irish nationalists should emulate the de Ausgleich of Hungarian nationalists who, in the 19th century under Ferenc Deák, had chosen to boycott the imperial parliament in Vienna and unilaterally established their own legislature in Budapest. David G. Haglund Korkut Umut 2015 Going Against the Flow: Sinn Féin's Unusual Hungarian 'Roots'. The International History Review 37 1 Routledge 41-58 24703148 Griffith had favoured a peaceful solution based on 'dual monarchy' with Britain, that is two separate states with a single head of state and a limited central government to control matters of common concern only. However, by 1918, under its new leader Éamon de Valera, Sinn Féin had come to favour achieving separation from Britain by means of an armed uprising if necessary and the establishment of an independent republic. In the aftermath of the 1916 Easter Rising the party's ranks were swelled by participants and supporters of the rebellion as they were freed from British prisons and internment camps, and at its 1917 Ard Fheis (annual conference) de Valera was elected leader and the new, more radical policy adopted. Prior to 1916, Sinn Féin had been a fringe movement having a limited cooperative alliance with William O'Brien's All-for-Ireland League and enjoyed little electoral success. However, between the Easter Rising of that year and the 1918 general election, the party's popularity increased dramatically. This was due to the failure to have the Home Rule Bill implemented when the IPP resisted the partition of Ireland demanded by Ulster Unionists in 1914, 1916 and 1917, but also popular antagonism towards the British authorities created by the execution of most of the leaders of the 1916 rebels and by their botched attempt to introduce Home Rule on the conclusion of the Irish Convention linked with military conscription in Ireland (see Conscription Crisis of 1918). Sinn Féin demonstrated its new electoral capability in four by-election successes in 1917 in which Count Plunkett, Joseph McGuinness, de Valera and W. T. Cosgrave were each elected, although it lost three by-elections in early 1918 before winning two more with Patrick McCartan and Arthur Griffith. In one case there were unproven allegations of electoral fraud.On one occasion the 'victory' of a Sinn Féin candidate in the Longford by-election is said to have been achieved through putting a gun to the head of a returning officer and telling him to "think again" when he was about to announce an IPP victory. On doing a 'recheck' the official 'found' new uncounted ballot papers in which votes were cast for the Sinn Féin candidate. Tim Pat Coogan, Michael Collins: A Biography (Hutchinson, 1990) p.67. The party had benefitted from a number of factors in the 1918 elections, including demographic changes and political factors. Changes in the electorate The Irish electorate in 1918, as with the entire electorate throughout the United Kingdom, had changed in two major ways since the preceding general election. Firstly, there was a "generational" change because of the First World War, which meant that the British general election due in 1915 had not taken place. No election being held between 1910 and 1918 represented the longest gap in modern British and Irish constitutional history until then (it was superseded in Britain in 1935–1945). Thus the 1918 election saw, in particular: All voters between the age of 21 and 29 were first time general election voters. They had no history of past voter loyalty to the IPP to fall back on, and had begun their political awareness in the period of 8 years that had seen a bitter world war, the home rule controversy and the Easter Rising and its aftermath. A generation of older voters, most of them IPP supporters, had died in that eight-year period. Emigration (except to Britain) had been almost impossible during the war because of the dangerous sea lanes, which meant that tens of thousands of young people were in Ireland who in normal times would have been abroad. As Ireland had not had conscription, Unionists and moderate Nationalists had predominantly made up the volunteers for the duration of the war. Consequently, there was a large loss in the age range of young Unionists and moderate Nationalists, which did not occur amongst Republicans who had not volunteered. Secondly, the franchise had been greatly extended by the Representation of the People Act 1918. This granted voting rights to women (albeit only those over 30) for the first time, and gave all men over 21 and military servicemen over 19 a vote in parliamentary elections without property qualifications. The Irish electorate increased from around 700,000 to about two million.Alvin Jackson (historian) Alvin Jackson Ireland 1798–1998: War, Peace and Beyond John Wiley & Sons 2010 210 978-1444324150 Overall, a new generation of young voters, and the sudden influx of women over thirty, meant that vast numbers of new voters of unknown voter affiliation existed, changing dramatically the composition of the Irish electorate. Political factors Since the previous general election in December 1910, the formerly-dominant Irish Parliamentary Party, unchallenged for nearly a decade, was largely of an older generation. Its local organisation had atrophied, making defence of its seats difficult. The party's votes in parliament had been decisive in passing the 1914 Home Rule Act but, due to the outbreak of the War, it was never put into effect. The party's policy was to achieve All-Ireland self-government constitutionally, within the framework of the United Kingdom, as opposed to using separatist physical force. The electorate had become enamoured with Sinn Féin, particularly due to the harsh response of the authorities to the Easter Rising. Sinn Féin had been falsely blamed for the Rising even though it had taken no part in it. The party also took most of the credit for the successful campaign to prevent the introduction of conscription in 1918. Whereas the IPP had conceded a temporary form of partition in 1914 and 1916, as a measure to pacify Ulster loyalist.Gallagher Frank 1957 The Indivisible Island London Victor Gollancz Ltd. 139 Sinn Féin felt that that would worsen and prolong any differences between north and south. In contrast to the IPP, Sinn Féin were seen as a young and radical force. Its leaders, such as Michael Collins (28) and de Valera (36), were young militant politicians, like most of the new voters and their imprisoned republican candidates. IPP leaders such as John Dillon, who had been in public office since the 1880s, were largely older, moderate politicians, and had campaigned for All-Ireland Home Rule since the time of Charles Stewart Parnell, and continued to press for the implementation of the 1914 Act, and a constitutional solution to have Ulster included in the jurisdiction of a Dublin parliament. On the other hand, Sinn Féin promoted a radical new policy of achieving Irish self-government outside of the UK, and many of its volunteer wing were ready to defend a republic with physical force. By 1918, Sinn Féin followers had come to see the gradual acquisition of All-Ireland Home Rule as an idea whose time had come and gone. The Irish population had been radicalised during World War I. In addition to the heavy losses suffered by Irish regiments, the conscription threat and British military measures, there was rapid inflation that sparked off a wave of strikes and industrial disputes. The 1918 election also occurred at a time of revolution across Europe. Unionist fear of Home Rule, or worse, separation, solidified after the Rising, and the Unionist vote was enhanced in Ulster by the increased electorate. It was the first election since the Ulster Covenant, the formation of the Ulster Volunteers (UVF), and the Battle of the Somme. Sinn Féin's policy was outlined in its election manifesto, which aimed for Irish representation at any post-war peace conference. By contrast, IPP policy was to leave negotiation to the British government. Nearly a year earlier, in January 1918, Woodrow Wilson had issued his Fourteen Points policy, which seemed to promise that self-government and self-determination would become the norm in international relations. The Ulster Unionists' resistance to All-Ireland self-government remained unresolved, and little account was taken of Unionist reservations about what they contended would be Catholic rule from Dublin. Retiring incumbents Forty-four outgoing members of the 30th Parliament did not seek re-election: Constituency Departing MP Party First elected Belfast East Robert Sharman-Crawford Irish Unionist Alliance 1914 Belfast North Robert Thompson Irish Unionist Alliance 1910 Cavan West Vincent Kennedy Irish Parliamentary Party 1904 Cork City Maurice Healy All-for-Ireland League 1885 William O'Brien All-for-Ireland League 1883 Cork East John Muldoon Irish Parliamentary Party 1905 Cork North John Guiney All-for-Ireland League 1913 Cork North East Timothy Healy All-for-Ireland League 1880 Cork South John P. Walsh All-for-Ireland League 1910 Cork South East Eugene Crean All-for-Ireland League 1892 Cork West Daniel O'Leary Irish Parliamentary Party 1916 County Carlow Michael Molloy Irish Parliamentary Party 1910 Donegal South J. G. Swift MacNeill Irish Parliamentary Party 1887 Donegal West Hugh Law Irish Parliamentary Party 1902 Down West William MacCaw Irish Unionist Alliance 1908 Dublin County South Michael Hearn Irish Parliamentary Party 1917 Galway East James Cosgrave Irish Parliamentary Party 1914 Kerry East Timothy O'Sullivan Irish Parliamentary Party 1910 Kerry North Michael Joseph Flavin Irish Parliamentary Party 1896 Kerry South John Pius Boland Irish Parliamentary Party 1900 Kerry West Thomas O'Donnell Irish Parliamentary Party 1900 Kilkenny North Michael Meagher Irish Parliamentary Party 1906 King's County Birr Michael Reddy Irish Parliamentary Party 1900 Leitrim North Francis Meehan Irish Parliamentary Party 1908 Leitrim South Thomas Francis Smyth Irish Parliamentary Party 1906 Limerick City Michael Joyce Irish Parliamentary Party 1900 Limerick West Patrick O'Shaughnessy Irish Parliamentary Party 1900 Londonderry City Sir James Dougherty Liberal Party (UK) 1914 Londonderry North Hugh T. Barrie Irish Unionist Alliance 1906 Louth North Patrick Whitty Irish Parliamentary Party 1916 Louth South Joseph Nolan Irish Parliamentary Party 1885 Mayo South John Fitzgibbon Irish Parliamentary Party 1910 Meath North Patrick White Irish Parliamentary Party 1900 Meath South David Sheehy Irish Parliamentary Party 1885 Monaghan North James Lardner Irish Parliamentary Party 1907 Monaghan South John McKean Independent Nationalist 1902 Newry John Mooney Irish Parliamentary Party 1900 Queen's County Ossory John Fitzpatrick Irish Parliamentary Party 1916 Tipperary Mid John Hackett Irish Parliamentary Party 1910 Tipperary North John Esmonde Irish Parliamentary Party 1915 Tyrone Mid Richard McGhee Irish Parliamentary Party 1896 Tyrone North Thomas Russell Liberal Party (UK) 1886 Waterford East Martin Joseph Murphy Irish Parliamentary Party 1913 Wicklow East Anthony Donelan Irish Parliamentary Party 1892 MPs standing under a different political affiliation Six MPs stood under a different political affiliation from the December 1910 general election. Outgoing MPDec. 1910 partyDec. 1910 constituency1918 party1918 constituencyArthur Alfred Lynch Irish Parliamentary PartyClare West Labour Party (UK)Battersea South (England)Laurence Ginnell Independent NationalistWestmeath North Sinn FéinWestmeathStephen Gwynn Irish Parliamentary PartyGalway Borough Independent NationalistDublin UniversityWilliam Mitchell-Thomson Irish Unionist AllianceDown North Unionist Party (Scotland)Glasgow Maryhill (Scotland)Sir Walter Nugent Irish Parliamentary PartyWestmeath South Independent NationalistWestmeathD. D. Sheehan All-for-Ireland LeagueCork Mid Labour Party (UK)Stepney Limehouse (England) One MP stood under a different political affiliation from their by-election victory. Outgoing MPBy-election party1918 party Constituency (by-election)George Noble Plunkett Independent Nationalist Sinn Féin Roscommon North (1917) The election thumb|right|Election campaigning on a busy Irish street, 1918 Voting in most Irish constituencies occurred on Saturday, 14 December 1918. While the rest of the United Kingdom fought the 'Khaki election' on other issues involving the British parties, in Ireland four major political parties had national appeal. These were the IPP, Sinn Féin, the Irish Unionist Party and the Irish Labour Party. The Labour Party, however, decided not to participate in the election, fearing that it would be caught in the political crossfire between the IPP and Sinn Féin; it thought it better to let the people make up their minds on the issue of Home Rule versus a Republic by having a clear two-way choice between the two nationalist parties. The Unionist Party favoured continuance of the union with Britain (along with its subordinate, the Ulster Unionist Labour Association, who fought as Labour Unionists). A number of other small nationalist parties also took part. Ireland had 105 seats elected from 103 constituencies. Ninety-nine seats were elected from single-seat geographical constituencies under the first-past-the-post voting system. There were two two-seat constituencies: Dublin University (Trinity College) elected two MPs under the single transferable vote and Cork City elected two MPs under the bloc voting system. In addition to ordinary geographical constituencies there were three university constituencies: the Queen's University of Belfast (which returned a Unionist), Dublin University (which returned two Unionists) and the National University (which returned a member of Sinn Féin). Of the 105 seats, 25 were uncontested, with a Sinn Féin candidate winning unopposed. Seventeen of these seats were in Munster. In some cases it was because there was a certain winner in Sinn Féin.February 2026 Results Voting summary yes ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center;" colspan="13"|Summary of 14 December 1918 Dáil Éireann and House of Commons (Irish seats) election results |- ! style="background-color:white;" colspan=13| center|360px |- style="text-align:left;" ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center;" colspan=2 | Party ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center;" | Leader ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center;" | Votes ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center;" | % Votes ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center;" | Swing% ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center;" | TDs/MPs ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center;" | Change(since Dec. 1910) ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center;" | % ofseats |- | Sinn Féin | style="text-align:left;" |Éamon de Valera | 476,087 | 46.9Not counting constituencies where Sinn Féin candidates were elected unopposed. | 46.9 | 73 | 73 | 69.5 |- | Irish Unionist Alliance | style="text-align:left;" |Edward Carson | 257,314 | 25.3 | 3.3 | 22 | 5 | 20.9 |- | Irish Parliamentary Party | style="text-align:left;" |John Dillon | 220,837 | 21.7 | 21.9 | 6 | 67 | 5.7 |- ! style="background-color: Irish Unionist Alliance" | | style="text-align:left;" |Labour Unionist | style="text-align:left;" |None | 30,304 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3 | 3 | 2.8 |- | Belfast Labour Party | style="text-align:left;" |None | 12,164 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |- | Independent Unionist | style="text-align:left;" |—Elected independent unionist candidate was Robert Henry Woods. | 9,531 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 1 | 1 | 0.95 |- | Independent Nationalist | style="text-align:left;" |— | 8,183 | 0.8 | N/A | 0 | 2 | 0 |- | Independent Labour | style="text-align:left;" |— | 659 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |- | Independent politician (Ireland) | style="text-align:left;" |— | 436 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |- class="unsortable" ! colspan=3 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" | Total ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" | 1,015,515 ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" | 100 ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" | ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" | 105 ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" | ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" | Popular vote #ddd 600px 350px Sinn Féin Sinn Féin 46.88 Irish Unionist Irish Unionist Alliance 25.33 Irish Parliamentary Irish Parliamentary Party 21.75 Labour Unionist Ulster Unionist Labour Association 2.98 Belfast Labour Belfast Labour Party 1.20 Independent Unionist Independent Unionist 0.94 Independent Nationalist Independent Nationalist 0.81 Others #777777 0.11 Seats summary Parliamentary seats #ddd 600px 350px Sinn Féin Sinn Féin 69.52 Irish Unionist Irish Unionist Alliance 20.95 Irish Parliamentary Irish Parliamentary Party 5.71 Labour Unionist Ulster Unionist Labour Association 2.86 Independent Unionist Independent Unionist 0.95 MPs who lost their seats Party Seats lostNameConstituencyYear electedIrish Parliamentary Party 28Daniel BoyleMayo North1910P. J. BradyDublin St Stephen's Green1910Alfie ByrneDublin Harbour1915J. J. ClancyDublin County North1885Thomas Joseph CondonTipperary East1885Patrick CrumleyFermanagh South1910John CullinanTipperary South1900John DillonMayo East1880Dillon was first elected to the Tipperary constituency in 1880. He resigned in 1883 but was re-elected in 1885.John DonovanWicklow WestDonovan contested the Donegal South constituency in 1918.1914William DorisMayo West1910William DuffyGalway South1900Sir Thomas EsmondeWexford North1885Esmonde was first elected to the Dublin South constituency in 1885.James Patrick FarrellLongford NorthFarrell contested the Longford constituency in 1918.1895Farrell was first elected to the Cavan West constituency in 1895.Peter FfrenchWexford South1893William FieldDublin St Patrick's1892John Patrick HaydenRoscommon South1897Richard HazletonGalway NorthHazleton contested the Louth constituency in 1918.1906Matthew KeatingKilkenny South1909Denis KilbrideKildare South1887Kilbride was first elected to the Kerry South constituency in 1887. He retired in 1900 but was re-elected in 1903.Thomas LundonLimerick East1909Patrick Joseph MeehanQueen's County LeixMeehan contested the Queen's County constituency in 1918.1913John NugentDublin College GreenNugent contested the Dublin St Michan's constituency in 1918.1915John O'ConnorKildare North1885O'Connor was first elected to the Tipperary constituency in 1885. He lost his seat in 1892 but regained it in 1905.Philip O'DohertyDonegal North1906John O'DowdSligo South1900O'Dowd was first elected to the Sligo North constituency in 1900.William O'MalleyGalway Connemara1895J. J. O'SheeWaterford WestO'Shee contested the Waterford County constituency in 1918.1895Thomas ScanlanSligo North1909Labour Party (UK) 2Arthur Alfred LynchClare WestLynch contested the Battersea South constituency in 1918.1901Lynch was first elected to the Galway Borough constituency in 1901. He lost his seat in 1903 following his conviction but was re-elected in 1909.D. D. SheehanCork MidSheehan contested the Stepney Limehouse constituency in 1918.1901Independent Nationalist 2Stephen GwynnGalway BoroughGwynn contested the Dublin University constituency in 1918.1906Sir Walter NugentWestmeath SouthSheehan contested the Westmeath constituency in 1918.1907 First time MPs In this election, 75 candidates who had never previously been elected to Parliament were elected. Party No. of first time MPsNameConstituencySinn Féin 62Robert BartonWicklow WestPiaras BéaslaíKerry EastErnest BlytheMonaghan NorthHarry BolandRoscommon SouthCathal BrughaWaterford CountyDomhnall Ua BuachallaKildare NorthSéamus BurkeTipperary MidJ. J. ClancySligo NorthMichael ColivetLimerick CityCon CollinsLimerick WestMichael CollinsCork SouthJames CrowleyKerry NorthJohn CrowleyMayo NorthBryan CusackGalway NorthJames DolanLeitrimEamonn DugganMeath SouthSeán EtchinghamWicklow EastFrank FahyGalway SouthDesmond FitzGeraldDublin PembrokePaul GalliganCavan WestGeorge Gavan DuffyDublin SouthRichard HayesLimerick EastSeán HayesCork WestThomas HunterCork North EastThomas KellyDublin St Stephen's GreenDavid KentCork EastFrank LawlessDublin NorthJames LennonCounty CarlowDiarmuid LynchCork South EastFionán LynchKerry SouthJoseph MacBrideMayo WestJoseph MacDonaghTipperary NorthSeán MacEnteeMonaghan SouthEoin MacNeillLondonderry CityNational UniversityTerence MacSwineyCork MidConstance MarkieviczDublin St Patrick'sAlexander McCabeSligo SouthPierce McCanTipperary EastJoseph McGrathDublin St James'sLiam MellowsGalway EastMeath NorthP. J. MoloneyTipperary SouthRichard MulcahyDublin ClontarfPádraic Ó MáilleGalway ConnemaraArt O'ConnorKildare SouthJoseph O'DohertyDonegal NorthBrian O'HigginsClare WestKevin O'HigginsQueen's CountyPatrick O'KeeffeCork NorthJohn J. O'KellyLouthSeán T. O'KellyDublin College GreenSeán O'MahonyFermanagh SouthJames O'MaraKilkenny SouthLiam de RóisteCork CityJames RyanWexford SouthWilliam SearsMayo SouthPhilip ShanahanDublin HarbourAustin StackKerry WestMichael StainesDublin St Michan'sJoseph SweeneyDonegal WestRoger SweetmanWexford NorthJ. J. WalshCork CityPeter WardDonegal SouthIrish Unionist Alliance 9Hugh AndersonLondonderry NorthThomas Watters BrownDown NorthHerbert DixonBelfast PottingerMaurice DockrellDublin RathminesRobert LynnBelfast WoodvaleThomas MolesBelfast OrmeauDavid ReidDown EastWilliam WhitlaQueen's University of BelfastDaniel M. WilsonDown WestUlster Unionist Labour Association 3Thomas Henry BurnBelfast St Anne'sThompson DonaldBelfast VictoriaSamuel McGuffinBelfast Shankill Independent Unionist 1Robert WoodsDublin University Analysis thumb|Sinn Féin vote share by constituency. Sinn Féin candidates won 73 seats out of 105, but four party candidates (Arthur Griffith, Éamon de Valera, Eoin MacNeill and Liam Mellows) were elected for two constituencies and so the total number of individual Sinn Féin MPs elected was 69. Despite the isolated allegations of intimidation and electoral fraud on the part of both republicans and unionists, the election was seen as a landslide victory for Sinn Féin. Sinn Féin received 46.9% of votes island-wide, and 65% of votes in the area that became the Irish Free State.Knirck Jason K. Imagining Ireland's Independence: The Debates Over the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 Rowman & Littlefield 2006 45 However, the 46.9% is not the total result of the overall success of Sinn Féin. That figure only accounts for 48 seats that they won because in 25 of the other constituencies the other parties did not contest them, and Sinn Féin won them unopposed. Most of these constituencies were Sinn Féin strongholds. It has been estimated that, had the 25 seats been contested, Sinn Féin would have received at least 53% of the vote island-wide.Nicholas Whyte https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/h1918.htm The Irish Election of 1918 https://web.archive.org/web/20060824020254/http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/h1918.htm 24 August 2006 ARK 25 March 2006 30 December 2013 However, this is a conservative estimate and the percentage would likely have been higher. Sinn Féin also did not contest four seats due to a deal with the IPP (see below). Labour, who had pulled out in the south under instructions to 'wait', polled better in Belfast than Sinn Féin.The Resurrection of Ireland: The Sinn Féin Party, 1916–1923, Michael Laffan Within the 26 counties that became the Irish Free State, Sinn Féin achieved 400,269 votes in the contested seats out of 606,117 total votes cast which amounted to a huge landslide of 66.0% in the vote and winning 70 out of the 75 constituencies. The Irish Unionist Party won 22 seats and 25.3% of the vote island-wide (29.2% when Labour Unionist candidates are included), becoming the second-largest party in terms of MPs. The success of the unionists, who won 26 seats overall,The Resurrection of Ireland: The Sinn Féin Party, 1916–1923, Michael Laffan p. 164 was largely limited to Ulster. Otherwise, southern unionists were elected only in the constituencies of Rathmines and Dublin University which returned two. In the 26 counties that later became the Irish Free State and then the Republic of Ireland, the Irish Unionist Alliance polled 37,218 votes from 101,839 total votes cast for other parties in the constituencies that they stood a candidate. However, if all of the total votes in the contested seats where the Irish Unionist Alliance did not stand are included there was a total of 606,117 votes cast, which converts the Irish Unionist Alliance share of the vote in the 26 counties to just 6.1%. With the one Independent Unionist being elected for Dublin University adding 0.1% in total with 793 votes to give 6.2% across the 26 counties and only 3 seats won by the Unionists. The IPP suffered a catastrophic defeat including the loss of its leader, John Dillon. It won only six seats in Ireland, its losses exaggerated by the "first-past-the-post" system which gave it a share of seats far short of its much larger share of the vote (21.7%) and the number of seats it would have won under a "proportional representation" ballot system. All but one of its seats were in Ulster. The exception was Waterford City, the seat previously held by John Redmond, who had died earlier in the year, and retained by his son Captain William Redmond. Four of their Ulster seats were part of the deal to avoid unionist victories which saved some for the party but may have cost it the support of Protestant voters elsewhere. The IPP came close to winning other seats in County Louth and Wexford South, and in general their support held up better in the north and east of the island. The party was represented in Westminster by seven MPs because T. P. O'Connor won the Liverpool Scotland seat he had held since the 1885 election due to Irish emigrant votes. The remnants of the IPP in time became the Nationalist Party of Northern Ireland under the leadership of Joseph Devlin. In the 26 counties that became the Irish Free State, the Irish Parliamentary Party won 181,320 votes out of 606,117 total votes cast in the contested seats, amounting to a 26.0% vote share. If the Independent Home Rule Nationalists are included there were 11,162 votes which comes to 1.8% and a vote share of 27.8% for the Nationalists. The Irish Parliamentary Party held on to just 2 seats in the 26 counties that became Southern Ireland and then the Irish Free State. Ulster In Ulster (nine counties), Unionists won 23 out of the 38 seats with Sinn Féin gaining ten and the Irish Parliamentary Party five. There was a limited electoral pact brokered by Roman Catholic Cardinal Michael Logue in December between Sinn Féin and the Nationalist IPP in eight seats. However, it only concluded after nominations closed. Sinn Féin instructed its supporters to vote IPP in Armagh South, despite no Unionist candidate (79 SF votes), Down South (33 SF votes for Éamon de Valera), Tyrone North-East (56 SF votes) and Donegal East (46 SF votes). The IPP instructed its supporters to vote Sinn Féin in Fermanagh South (132 IPP votes) which had no Unionist candidate, Londonderry City (120 IPP votes) where Eoin MacNeill narrowly beat the Unionist, and Tyrone North-West also against a Unionist but where no IPP candidate was nominated. The discipline of voters, when faced with two rival nationalist candidates and with only a post-nomination pact, was impressive. The pact only broke down in Down East where a Unionist won as the IPP candidate refused to participate, thus splitting the Catholic nationalist vote. There was no pact in Belfast Falls which Joe Devlin (IPP) won with 8,488 votes against 3,245 for Éamon de Valera (SF) although no Unionist stood. The only other Belfast seat contested by both nationalist parties was Duncairn against Edward Carson; otherwise, Sinn Féin stood alone in seven seats reaching double figures in two. Monaghan North was won by Sinn Féin's Ernest Blythe in a three-cornered fight against both IPP and Unionist candidates. In the Monaghan South, and Donegal North, South and West seats, despite no Unionist standing, Sinn Féin won all four against IPP candidates. Sinn Féin took the two (uncontested) Cavan seats with Arthur Griffith taking his second in Cavan East as well as that of Tyrone North West. In six contested seats no Unionist stood. Unionists won a clear majority of the 38 Ulster seats including eight of the nine in Belfast. In the six Ulster counties which formed the future Northern Ireland, Unionists won 23 of the 30 seats. The vote totals were: Results in (prospective) Northern Ireland, 1918 |- style="text-align:left;" ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center;" colspan=2 | Party ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center;" colspan=1 | Votes ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center;" | % Votes ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center;" colspan=1 | Seats ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center;" | % Seats |- | Irish Unionist Alliance | 225,082 | 56.2 | 20 | 69.0 |- | Sinn Féin | 76,100 | 19.0 | 3 | 6.9 |- | Irish Parliamentary Party | 44,238 | 11.1 | 4 | 13.8 |- ! style="background-color: Ulster Unionist Labour Association" | | style="text-align:left;" |Labour Unionist | 30,304 | 7.6 | 3 | 10.3 |- | Belfast Labour Party | 12,164 | 3.0 | 0 | — |- | Independent Unionist | 8,738 | 2.2 | 0 | — |- | Independent Nationalist | 2,602 | 0.6 | 0 | — |- | Independent Labour | 659 | 0.2 | 0 | — |- | Independent politician (Ireland) | 436 | 0.1 | 0 | — |- class="unsortable" ! colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" | Total ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" | 400,323 ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" | ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" | 30 ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" | Aftermath and legacy thumb|Constance Markievicz was the first woman ever to be elected to the British House of Commons. She did not take her seat, instead sitting in the First Dáil. In 1919 she was appointed Minister for Labour, the first female minister in a democratic government cabinet. On 21 January 1919, 27 (out of 101 elected) members representing thirty constituencies answered the roll of Dáil Éireann—the Irish for "Assembly of Ireland". Invitations to attend the Dáil had been sent to all 100 men and one woman who had been elected on 14 December 1918. Eoin MacNeill had been elected for both Londonderry City and the National University of Ireland. Thirty-three republicans were unable to attend as they were in prison, most of them without trial since 17 May 1918. Pierce McCan (of East Tipperary), who died in prison, would have brought the total to thirty-four. Of the 69 republicans elected, most had fought in the Easter Rising.Comerford 1969 11 In accordance with the Sinn Féin manifesto, their elected members refused to attend Westminster, having instead formed their own parliament. Dáil Éireann was, according to John Patrick McCarthy, the revolutionary government under which the Irish War of Independence was fought and which sought international recognition.McCarthy John Patrick Ireland: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present Infobase Publishing 2006 236 978-0-8160-5378-0 Maryann Gialanella Valiulis says that having justified its existence, the Dáil provided itself with a theoretical framework and set about the process of state-building.Valiulis Maryann Gialanella Portrait of a revolutionary: General Richard Mulcahy and the founding of the Irish Free State University Press of Kentucky 1992 36 978-0-8131-1791-1 After having dominated Irish politics for four decades, the IPP was so decimated by its massive defeat that it dissolved soon after the election. As mentioned above, its remains became the Northern Ireland-based Nationalist Party, which survived in Northern Ireland until 1969. The British administration and unionists refused to recognise the Dáil. At its first meeting attended by 27 deputies (others were still imprisoned or impaired) on 21 January 1919 the Dáil issued a Declaration of Independence and proclaimed itself the parliament of a new state, the Irish Republic. On the same day, in unconnected circumstances, two members of the Royal Irish Constabulary guarding gelignite were killed in the Soloheadbeg Ambush by members of the Irish Volunteers. Although it had not ordered this incident, the course of events soon drove the Dáil to recognise the Volunteers as the army of the Irish Republic and the ambush as an act of war against Great Britain. The Volunteers therefore changed their name, in August, to the Irish Republican Army. The train of events set in motion by the elections would eventually bring about the creation of the Irish Free State as a British dominion in 1922. That state became the first internationally recognised independent Irish state in 1931, when the Statute of Westminster removed virtually all of the UK Parliament's remaining authority over the Free State and the other dominions. The Free State eventually evolved into the modern Republic of Ireland. The leaders of the Sinn Féin candidates elected in 1918, such as de Valera, Michael Collins and W. T. Cosgrave, came to dominate Irish politics. De Valera, for example, would hold some form of elected office from his first election as an MP in a by-election in 1917 until 1973. The two major parties in the Republic of Ireland today, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, are both descendants of Sinn Féin, which first enjoyed substantial electoral success in 1918. See also History of Ireland (1801–1923) 1918 United Kingdom general election in England 1918 United Kingdom general election in Scotland 1918 United Kingdom general election in Wales Footnotes Notes Election results nb References Tim Pat Coogan Tim Pat Coogan Michael Collins John Patrick McCarthy Ireland: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present Maryann Gialanella Valiulis Portrait of a revolutionary: General Richard Mulcahy and the founding of the Irish Free State Michael Laffan The Resurrection of Ireland: The Sinn Féin Party, 1916–1923 Comerford Maire The First Dáil Joe Clarke 1969 Dorothy Macardle Dorothy Macardle The Irish Republic 1918 #Ireland Category:Home rule in Ireland 1918 Category:1st Dáil Category:December 1918 in the United Kingdom Category:1918 elections in Ireland