David Wylie Bleakley

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(11 January 1925 26 June 2017) 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 ...

and peace campaigner in

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 the Strandtown district of

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, Bleakley worked as an

electrician An electrician is a tradesperson specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, transmission lines, stationary machines, and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance ...

in 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 ...

dockyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance ...

s while becoming increasingly active in his

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

. He studied economics at

Ruskin College Ruskin College, originally known as Ruskin Hall, Oxford, is an independent educational institution in Oxford, England. It is not a college of Oxford University. It is named after the essayist, art and social critic John Ruskin (1819–1900) an ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, where he struck up a friendship with

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...

about whom he later wrote a centenary memoir. He later attended

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 = ...

. A committed Christian, he was a lifelong Anglican – a member of the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

. Throughout his life, he was a

lay preacher Lay preacher is a preacher or a religious proclaimer who is not a formally ordained cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presidi ...

. Bleakley joined the

Northern Ireland Labour Party The Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) was a political party in Northern Ireland which operated from 1924 until 1987. Origins The roots of the NILP can be traced back to the formation of the Belfast Labour Party in 1892. William Walker stoo ...

(NILP) and contested the

Northern Ireland Parliament The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore ord ...

seat of Belfast Victoria in

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

and

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

before finally winning it in 1958. At Stormont, he was made the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, but he lost his seat in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

. Bleakley was head of the department of economics and political studies at

Methodist College Belfast God with us , established = 1865 , type = Voluntary grammar , religion = Interdenominational , principal = Jenny Lendrum , chair_label = Chairwoman , chair = Revd. Dr Janet Unsworth , founder ...

from 1969 to 1979. Bleakley ran for the Westminster seat of Belfast East in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

(gaining 41% of the vote), February

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

and October

for the Northern Ireland Labour Party each time, but never enough to win the Westminster seat from the UUP. In 1971,

Brian Faulkner Arthur Brian Deane Faulkner, Baron Faulkner of Downpatrick, (18 February 1921 – 3 March 1977), was the sixth and last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, from March 1971 until his resignation in March 1972. He was also the chief executive ...

appointed him as his

Minister for Community Relations The Minister for Community Relations was a member of the Cabinet in the Parliament of Northern Ireland which governed Northern Ireland from 1922 to 1972. The post was created in 1969 and lasted until 1972. It was vacant for a month in 1971, afte ...

at Stormont, but as Bleakley was not an MP, he could only hold this post for six months. He resigned five days before his term expired in order to highlight his disagreement with government policy, specifically the failure to widen the government to include non-Unionist parties, and the decision to introduce internment. Bleakley wrote a respectful biography of Faulkner and his own memoir of the period. After the Parliament was abolished, Bleakley stood for, and 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 ...

and its successor, 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. F ...

. He stood again for Belfast East in the

February February is the second month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The month has 28 days in common years or 29 in leap years, with the 29th day being called the ''leap day''. It is the first of five months not to have 31 days (th ...

and October UK general elections, but won only 14% of the vote each time. Bleakley was appointed to a position as a visiting professor in the

University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a Public university, public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be creat ...

's Department of Peace Studies by Professor

Adam Curle Charles Thomas William Curle (4 July 1916 – 28 September 2006), better known as Adam Curle, was a British academic, known for his work in social psychology, pedagogy, development studies and peace studies. After holding posts at the University ...

soon after the Department's founding in 1973. By the late 1970s, the NILP was in disarray, and did not stand a candidate for the 1979 European Assembly election. Bleakley instead stood as an " Independent Community Candidate", but took only 1.6% of the votes cast. During the 1980s, Bleakley sat as a non-partisan member of various

quangos A quango or QUANGO (less often QuANGO or QANGO) is an organisation to which a government has devolved power, but which is still partly controlled and/or financed by government bodies. The term was originally a shortening of "quasi-NGO", where NG ...

. From 1980 to 1992 he was general secretary of the

Irish Council of Churches The Irish Council of Churches (ICC) (founded 1922, reorganised under its present name 1966) is an ecumenical Christian body. It is a sister organisation of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. Member churches are currently: * The Antiochian ...

. In 1992, he joined 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, ...

and was an advisor to the group during the all-party talks. For the 1996

Northern Ireland Forum The Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The forum was elected, with five members being elected for each Westmin ...

election, he was a prominent member of the Democratic Partnership list and stood in Belfast East, but was not elected. In 1998, he joined the

Labour Party of Northern Ireland The Labour Party of Northern Ireland (LPNI) was the name of two distinct political parties in Northern Ireland, the first formed in 1985 by a group around Paddy Devlin, a former Social Democratic and Labour Party councillor and Northern Irelan ...

and stood in Belfast East in the Assembly elections, receiving 369 first preference votes. He died on 26 June 2017 at the age of 92.

Honours

In 1984 received an CBE for his work as chairman of the Northern Ireland Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights.

Publications

*''Faulkner – Conflict and Consent in Irish Politics'', A R Mowbray, London 1974. *''Peace in Ulster'', A R Mowbray, London, 1972. *''C. S. Lewis, at Home in Ireland'', Strandtown Press,

Bangor, Northern Ireland Bangor ( ; ) is a city and seaside resort in County Down, Northern Ireland, on the southern side of Belfast Lough. It is within the Belfast metropolitan area and is 13 miles (22 km) east of Belfast city centre, to which it is linked ...

, 1998. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bleakley, David 1925 births 2017 deaths 20th-century Anglicans 21st-century Anglicans Academics of the University of Bradford Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Alumni of Ruskin College Anglicans from Northern Ireland Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Members of the Fabian Society Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1958–1962 Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1962–1965 Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for Belfast constituencies Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly 1973–1974 Members of the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention Members of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland Northern Ireland Labour Party members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland Politicians from Belfast Alliance Party of Northern Ireland politicians British human rights activists