James Godfrey MacManaway, MBE (22 April 1898 – 3 November 1951) was a British Unionist politician and Church of Ireland cleric, notable for being disqualified as a Member of Parliament, owing to his status as a priest.

[6] In September 1945, Chaplain to the Forces 3rd Class (equivalent to major) MacManaway was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) "in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Italy".

[7] In the June 1947 by-election caused by the resignation of William Lowry, MacManaway was elected to the Parliament of Northern Ireland, as Ulster Unionist Party member for the City of Londonderry.

He won the election, defeating the sitting Irish Labour Party MP Jack Beattie by 3,378 votes.

The Home Secretary, James Chuter Ede, instead referred the matter to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Modern scholars have questioned the rationale of this decision but, nonetheless, the House of Commons resolved on 19 October 1950 that MacManaway was disqualified from sitting.

The House did, however, indemnify him (by the Reverend J. G. MacManaway's Indemnity Act 1951) from the £500-a-time fines that he had incurred for voting in parliamentary divisions while ineligible.

MacManaway bitterly protested at what he perceived as an unjust anachronism bringing his career to an abrupt end, but did not contest the ensuing by-election, which was held for the Unionists by Thomas Teevan.

On 22 October 1951, MacManaway suffered a head injury during a fall,[4] having drunkenly fallen down the stairs at the Ulster Club in Belfast.

However, while acknowledging the anomalous and anachronistic nature of the ancient legislation, and taking soundings from various Christian denominations, the Committee recommended no specific change to the law.

There the matter lay for almost 50 years, until David Cairns was selected to fight the safe Labour seat of Greenock and Inverclyde.