Tom Mitchell

Tom Mitchell (born 1931) is an Irish republican.

Thomas J. Mitchell was born in Dublin in 1931. In the May 1955 UK general election, he was elected as Member of Parliament for the Mid-Ulster constituency on an abstentionist Sinn Féin ticket, winning 29,737 votes. The 1955 elections were historic for Sinn Féin as it was the first time that the party had contested all constituencies in Northern Ireland since 1921, and the first time since 1918 that any Sinn Féin candidates had been elected for Northern Ireland constituencies in the British House of Commons.

As Mitchell was in prison at the time of his election, on July 18, 1955 the British parliament voted 197 votes to 63 to nullify the result and to call a by-election. The by-election was held on August 11. Mitchell once again took the seat with an increased vote, but this was again declared null and void and his defeated opponent Charles Beattie was declared elected. The following year, Beattie was disqualified from sitting as he held an office of profit under the crown. The led to a second by-election in the constituency on 8 May, 1956, which saw Mitchell defeated by the Independent Unionist candidate, George Forrest.

Running under the Independent Republican banner, Mitchell unsuccessfully attempted to retake the seat at the three subsequent general elections in 1959, 1964 and 1966.

ee Also

List of United Kingdom MPs with the shortest service

References

*Rayment