Basil Glass (21 April 1926 – 30 September 2005) was a

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. Born in

County Leitrim County Leitrim ( ; gle, Contae Liatroma) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the ...

, Glass studied at

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

; he qualified as a

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

in 1950 and became a prominent lawyer. He was elected joint treasurer of the

New Ulster Movement The New Ulster Movement (NUM) was a political pressure group in Northern Ireland which aimed to promote moderate and non-sectarian policies and to help candidates who supported Terence O'Neill, the Northern Ireland Prime Minister, in the electio ...

, with fellow solicitor

Oliver Napier Sir Oliver Napier (11 July 1935 – 2 July 2011) was the first leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. In 1974 he served as the first and only Legal Minister and head of the Office of Legal Reform in the Northern Ireland power-shar ...

, in 1969. The following year, he became the first Chairman of the

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, ...

. In 1973, Glass became the President of the Alliance Party, and he was elected to the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral , hou ...

for South Belfast, acting as the party's

chief whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...

in the Assembly. At the October 1974 general election he stood for the Westminster seat of South Belfast, taking second position and almost one quarter of the vote. Glass was again elected to represent South Belfast on the

Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention (NICC) was an elected body set up in 1975 by the United Kingdom Labour government of Harold Wilson as an attempt to deal with constitutional issues surrounding the status of Northern Ireland. For ...

in 1975. In 1976, he became the Alliance Party's deputy leader. In

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

he was elected to

Belfast City Council Belfast City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach Bhéal Feirste) is the local authority with responsibility for part of the city of Belfast, the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. The Council serves an estimated population of (), the l ...

, a post he held for four years. At the 1979 general election, he slightly improved his performance for the Westminster seat. Glass narrowly failed to be elected to the

Northern Ireland Assembly, 1982 The Northern Ireland Assembly established in 1982 represented an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to restore the devolution to Northern Ireland which had been suspended 10 years previously. The Assembly was abolished in 1986. Origins The Assem ...

, and thereafter scaled back his political activities. In 1987, he was appointed to the post of High Court Bankruptcy Master in Northern Ireland. He was described by John Wilson QC, Clerk of the Crown for Northern Ireland, as "a gentleman and a scholar."Law Soc. N.I., newsletter Nov/Dec 2005

References

Bibliography

Queens University Belfast: Obituaries

Alliance Founder Basil Glass Dies
,

Belfast Telegraph The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media. Its editor is Eoin Brannigan. Reflecting its unionist tradition, the paper has historically been "favoured by the Protestant po ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glass, Basil 1926 births 2005 deaths Alliance Party of Northern Ireland politicians Members of Belfast City Council Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly 1973–1974 Members of the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Politicians from County Leitrim Alliance Party of Northern Ireland councillors Alliance Party parliamentary candidates