Politics
County Tyrone had five Stormont MPs from 1929 until 1972. The seats in the North and South of the county were Unionist, the constituency covering the East could be considered marginal, whilst those in the West and centre of the county were nationalist. Unionists contested the constituency three times with varying degrees of success. At the first attempt in 1949, the Nationalist outpolled them two to one; in 1958 on a relatively low turn-out they came through the middle to win the seat with 48.7% of the vote. Defending the seat in 1962, this fell back to 38.6% (although they overall unionist vote rose by 8), and the then Nationalist Tom Gormley was elected.
The remainder of contested elections involved candidates of different nationalist persuasions.
Read more about this topic: Mid Tyrone (Northern Ireland Parliament Constituency)
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