John Carson (born 31 July 1933) is a former

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 ...

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 ...

politician.

Career

A draper who owned a shop in the

interface area Interface area is the name given in Northern Ireland to areas where segregated nationalist and unionist residential areas meet. They have been defined as "the intersection of segregated and polarised working class residential zones, in areas w ...

of the Duncairn Gardens in north

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 ...

, Carson 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 ...

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

. At the February 1974 general election, he was elected as a member of the

United Ulster Unionist Coalition The United Ulster Unionist Council (also known as the United Ulster Unionist Coalition) was a body that sought to bring together the Unionists opposed to the Sunningdale Agreement in Northern Ireland. Formation The UUUC was established in Januar ...

as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Belfast North. At the October 1974 general election, Carson was re-elected with a substantial increase in his majority. However, he was de-selected in 1979, after voting in favour of the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

government in the crucial

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 ...

, which they lost. In that year's general election, Belfast North was gained by

Johnny McQuade John McQuade (9 August 1911 – 19 November 1984) was a Northern Ireland politician. He was a professional boxer under the name of Jack Higgins. After serving with the British Army in Dunkirk and Burma, he was an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) ...

of the

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 ...

, with

Cecil Walker Sir Alfred Cecil Walker (17 December 1924 – 3 January 2007) was an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Belfast from 1983 to 2001. Walker was born in Belfast. His father was a police const ...

coming second for the UUP. Despite this, Carson retained his popularity, topping the local government poll in the electoral area 'H', which included over half of the parliamentary seat. He also topped the poll in North Belfast at the 1982 Assembly elections. Carson was

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 ...

from 1985 to 1986, and in his capacity as a councillor, was sometimes at odds with his party colleagues. For example, he attended a

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

lunch attended by the then Secretary of State Tom King, despite the Unionist policy of boycotting meetings with Government ministers in protest at the

Anglo-Irish Agreement The Anglo-Irish Agreement was a 1985 treaty between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland which aimed to help bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The treaty gave the Irish government an advisory role in Northern Irela ...

. For this, he was threatened with expulsion from the UUP, which never happened. He remained a member of Belfast City Council until

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, when he lost his seat after 24 consecutive years on the council.

Personal life

He married Martha in 1953 and had two daughters. They celebrated their

Diamond Anniversary A diamond jubilee celebrates the 60th anniversary of a significant event related to a person (e.g. accession to the throne or wedding, among others) or the 60th anniversary of an institution's founding. The term is also used for 75th anniver ...

in 2013.

References

Sources

*''The Times Guide to the House of Commons'',

Times Newspapers Ltd News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media conglomerate News Corp. It is the current publisher of ...

, October 1974 *

External links

* 1933 births Commanders of the Order of the British Empire High Sheriffs of Belfast Living people Lord Mayors of Belfast Ulster Unionist Party members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Members of Belfast City Council Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Belfast constituencies (since 1922) Northern Ireland MPAs 1982–1986 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 {{NorthernIreland-mayor-stub