John McQuade (9 August 1911 – 19 November 1984) was a Northern Irish unionist politician. He was a professional boxer under the name of Jack Higgins.

Career

After serving with the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, he was an

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 ...

(UUP) member of Belfast City Council from 1955 to 1972. He was a UUP Member of the

House of Commons of Northern Ireland The House of Commons of Northern Ireland was the lower house of the Parliament of Northern Ireland created under the ''Government of Ireland Act 1920''. The upper house in the bicameral parliament was called the Senate. It was abolished wit ...

for Belfast Woodvale (

Greater Shankill The Shankill Road () is one of the main roads leading through West Belfast, in Northern Ireland. It runs through the working-class, predominantly loyalist, area known as the Shankill. The road stretches westwards for about from central Belfast an ...

) from

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 ...

to October 1971, when he resigned from the UUP and joined 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 ...

. On 28 March 1972 (the last day the Parliament sat), he resigned his parliamentary seat in protest at the prorogation of the Parliament. In February 1972, in response to the escalating violence in Northern Ireland, he called for the British security forces to take over the town of Newry and for the border with the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

to be closed, stating his belief that the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

controlled the

government of the Republic of Ireland The Government of Ireland ( ga, Rialtas na hÉireann) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland. The Constitution of Ireland vests executive authority in a government which is headed by the , the head of government. The governm ...

. He contested 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 1974 Westminster elections unsuccessfully for Belfast West. He was elected 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 in 1979, aged 67, and served until 1983, when he retired. He died on 19 November 1984, aged 73.

References

Bibliography

*''Times Guide to the House of Commons'', 1979 *

External links

* 1911 births 1984 deaths Democratic Unionist Party MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Belfast constituencies (since 1922) UK MPs 1979–1983 Ulster Unionist Party members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland Democratic Unionist Party members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for Belfast constituencies Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1965–1969 Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1969–1973 Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly 1973–1974 Ulster Protestant Action members British Army personnel of World War II {{Parliament-of-Northern-Ireland-member-stub