David Somerville Cook (25 January 194419 September 2020) was an English-born
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 ...
and
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 ...
. He was a founding member of the non-sectarian, liberal-centre
Alliance Party 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 ...
. He served on
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 ...
from 1973 to 1986, and in 1978 he became the first non-
Unionist Lord Mayor of Belfast
The Lord Mayor of Belfast is the leader and chairperson of Belfast City Council, elected annually from and by the City's 60 councillors. The Lord Mayor also serves as the representative of the city of Belfast, welcoming guests from across the Un ...
since 1898.
He was elected as a member of the
Northern Ireland Assembly of 1982 and served on that body until its abolishment in 1986. He was appointed Chair of the Police Authority of Northern Ireland in 1994 and held that position until his resignation from the role in 1996.
Early life
Cook was born on 25 January 1944, to Francis John Granville Cook and Jocelyn McKay ( Stewart) in
Leicester, England
Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the Nati ...
. As a child, he moved to Northern Ireland with his parents and sisters after his father was appointed headmaster of
Campbell College
Campbell College located in Belfast, Northern Ireland and founded in 1894 comprises a preparatory school department (junior age) and a senior Northern Ireland 'Voluntary Grammar' school, the latter meaning, in terms of provision of education, a ...
in 1954.
Political career
Cook worked as a solicitor, eventually becoming a senior partner at Sheldon and Stewart Solicitors.
In 1970, Cook was a founder member 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, ...
(APNI), a
non-sectarian
Nonsectarian institutions are secular institutions or other organizations not affiliated with or restricted to a particular religious group.
Academic sphere
Examples of US universities that identify themselves as being nonsectarian include Adelp ...
party, while he was elected to the party's Central Executive in 1971.
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 ...
in 1973, a position he held until 1985. In 1978, he became the first non-Unionist
Lord Mayor of Belfast
The Lord Mayor of Belfast is the leader and chairperson of Belfast City Council, elected annually from and by the City's 60 councillors. The Lord Mayor also serves as the representative of the city of Belfast, welcoming guests from across the Un ...
since
William James Pirrie
William James Pirrie, 1st Viscount Pirrie, KP, PC, PC (Ire) (31 May 1847 – 7 June 1924) was a leading British shipbuilder and businessman. He was chairman of Harland and Wolff, shipbuilders, between 1895 and 1924, and also served as Lor ...
, a
Home Rule Liberal, in 1896–1898.
He stood for APNI in
Belfast South in the
February 1974 general election, taking just under 10% of the vote.
He was able to improve to 27% of the vote at the
1982 Belfast South by-election. Following this, he won a seat on 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 ...
representing
Belfast South.
In the
1983 general election,
1986 by-election
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal ente ...
and
1987 general election, he consistently won over 20% of the votes cast in Belfast South. He also stood for Alliance in the
1984 European Parliament election, but took only 4% of the vote.
From 1980 to 1984, Cook served as the Deputy Leader of APNI.
In 1994, Cook became the Chairman of the
Police Authority of Northern Ireland, but he was sacked from this role in 1996 after losing a
vote of confidence
A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...
. After a critical account of his role in an internal row in that authority appeared in newspapers in 1998, he undertook a lengthy
libel
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
case which was ultimately settled out of court. He subsequently sat on the Craigavon Health and Social Services Trust.
Death
On 20 September 2020, it was announced that Cook had died after being diagnosed with
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
during the
COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland
The COVID-19 pandemic reached Northern Ireland in February 2020. The Department of Health reports 3,445 deaths overall among people who had recently tested positive. The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency reports 5,029 where the ...
. According to his family, he died on 19 September 2020, at
Craigavon Area Hospital
Craigavon Area Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal Cheantar Craigavon) is a teaching hospital in Portadown, Craigavon, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It serves an estimated 241,000 people from the boroughs/districts of Craigavon, Banbridge, Armagh and ...
.
He had suffered a stroke two years before. He was survived by his wife Fionnuala, his sisters Alison and Nora, his daughter Barbary, his sons John, Patrick, Julius, and Dominic, and his granddaughters Romy and Imogen.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, David
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland politicians
Members of Belfast City Council
Lord Mayors of Belfast
Northern Ireland MPAs 1982–1986
Solicitors from Northern Ireland
1944 births
2020 deaths
Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland councillors
Politicians from Leicester
Alliance Party parliamentary candidates