Events during the year 1946 in Northern Ireland.

Incumbents

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Earl Granville Earl Granville is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of Great Britain and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It is now held by members of the Leveson-Gower family. First creation The first creation came in the Pee ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

- Basil Brooke

Events

*19 March – British Royal Navy aircraft carrier (laid down 1942) is launched at the

Harland and Wolff Harland & Wolff is a British shipbuilding company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It specialises in ship repair, shipbuilding and offshore construction. Harland & Wolff is famous for having built the majority of the ocean liners for the W ...

shipyard in Belfast. Work on HMS ''Powerful'' is suspended this year until she is recommenced in 1952 as . *6 June –

1946 Down by-election The 1946 Down by-election was held on 6 June 1946, following the death of James Little, the independent Unionist Member of Parliament for Down. The Down constituency elected two members. Since its re-creation in 1922, it had consistently elect ...

: The

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...

gain Down in a by-election. *1 December –

Nutts Corner Royal Air Force Nutts Corner or more simply RAF Nutts Corner is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Crumlin, County Antrim, Northern Ireland and north west of Belfast. It was originally a civil airfield, then it became a military ...

opens as Northern Ireland's principal civil airport, replacing

Belfast Harbour Belfast Harbour is a major maritime hub in Belfast, Northern Ireland, handling 67% of Northern Ireland's seaborne trade and about 25% of the maritime trade of the entire island of Ireland. It is a vital gateway for raw materials, exports and c ...

. *Homeless families from

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

begin to occupy the former

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

Springtown Camp.

Arts and literature

John Luke John Luke may refer to: * John A. Luke Jr., chief executive officer of MeadWestvaco * John Luke (artist) (1906–1975), Irish artist * John Luke (New Zealand politician) (1858–1931), New Zealand politician * John Luke (MP) (1563–1638), English p ...

holds his first one-man exhibition, at the

Belfast Museum and Art Gallery The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasures ...

, and paints ''Northern Rhythm''.

Births

January to June

*9 February –

Seán Neeson Seán Neeson (born 9 February 1946) is a politician in Northern Ireland who served as leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland between 1998 and 2001, and a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Antrim from 1998 to 201 ...

Alliance Party of Northern Ireland The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), or simply Alliance, is a liberal and centrist political party in Northern Ireland. As of the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, it is the third-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, ...

politician *26 March –

Carmel Hanna Carmel Hanna MLA (née McAleenan; 26 April 1946, in Warrenpoint, County Down, Northern Ireland) is an Irish politician. She is a member of the SDLP and was MLA for South Belfast from 1998 to 2010. Early life and nursing career Born as Carmel ...

SDLP The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Irelan ...

MLA. *30 April –

Fred Cobain Fred Cobain, MBE (born 30 April 1946) is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician from Northern Ireland. He was an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Belfast North from 1998 until 2011. Political c ...

MLA *4 May – John Watson, racing car driver. *22 May –

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A highly skilful dribbler, Best is regarded as one of the greatest pla ...

, footballer (died

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

). *25 May –

Norah Beare Norah Beare (born 25 May 1946, Banbridge, County Down) is a former Northern Irish unionist politician who served as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley from 2003 to 2007. She was elected as an Ulster Unionist Part ...

Ulster Unionist The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the I ...

, later

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by J ...

, politician. *21 June –

Kate Hoey Catharine Letitia Hoey, Baroness Hoey (born 21 June 1946), better known as Kate Hoey, is a Northern Irish politician and life peer who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Home Affairs from 1998 to 1999 and Minister for Sport from 1999 ...

, Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. *30 June – Allan Hunter, footballer.

July to December

*31 October –

Stephen Rea Stephen Rea ( ; born 31 October 1946) is an Irish film and stage actor. Rea has appeared in films such as ''V for Vendetta'', ''Michael Collins'', ''Interview with the Vampire'' and ''Breakfast on Pluto''. Rea was nominated for the Academy Award ...

, actor. *28 November –

Barry Devlin Barry Devlin (born 27 November 1946) is an Irish musician, screen writer and director. Early life Devlin is from Moortown in Ardboe, County Tyrone. He initially began to train as a Columban priest, but left to study English at University Col ...

, bass-player with

Horslips Horslips are an Irish Celtic rock band that compose, arrange and perform songs frequently inspired by traditional Irish airs, jigs and Reel (dance), reels. The group are regarded as 'founding fathers of Celtic rock' for their fusion of tradit ...

. *31 December –

Bryan Hamilton Bryan Hamilton (born 21 December 1946) is a Northern Irish former professional football player and manager. He gained 50 caps for Northern Ireland between 1969 and 1980, and later managed the national team for four years. He later became Techn ...

, footballer and football manager.

Full date unknown

Maurice Harron Maurice Harron (born 1946) is a sculptor from Derry, Northern Ireland. Harron was educated at St Columb's College. At the Ulster College of Art and Design in Belfast, he studied sculpture. Much of his work is public art sculpture and he has ...

, sculptor. *

Inez McCormack Inez McCormack (née Murphy; 28 September 1943 – 21 January 2013) was a Northern Irish trade union leader and human rights activist. She was the first female president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (1999 to 2001), representing the UNI ...

, trade union leader (died

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

). *

Tom McGurk Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in '' Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

, poet, journalist and broadcaster. *

Freddie Scappaticci Freddie Scappaticci (born c. 1946 Belfast) is a purported former high-level double agent in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), known by the codename " Stakeknife". Early life Scappaticci was born around 1946 and grew up in the Markets ...

, accused of being a high-level

double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...

in the

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reun ...

. *

Raymond Snoddy Matthew Raymond Snoddy OBE, born , commonly known as Raymond Snoddy, is a British news media journalist, television presenter, author and media commentator. From its inception in 2004, until January 2013, he was the original and sole presenter ...

, journalist and broadcaster.

References

{{Reflist 1946 in Europe 1946 by country