Sir Samuel Knox Cunningham, 1st Baronet, QC (3 April 1909 – 29 July 1976), was a

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

barrister, businessman and politician. As an

Ulster Unionist The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, 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 I ...

politician at a time when the Unionists were part of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, he was also a significant figure in

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

politics as

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as "Supermac", he ...

. His nephew was Sir Josias Cunningham.

Early career

Cunningham was from an

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

family. His father was

Samuel Cunningham Samuel Cunningham PC (Ire) (14 October 1862 – 23 August 1946) was a businessman, stockbroker and politician from Northern Ireland. Cunningham was born at Fernhill House, Glencairn, Belfast, and educated at Belfast Academy and at Merchisto ...

, and his mother was Janet Muir Knox (nee McCosh) of Dalry, Ayrshire. His elder brothers were Colonel

James Glencairn Cunningham James Glencairn Cunningham OBE (1903–1996) was a unionist politician in Northern Ireland. Cunningham was from an Ulster family; his father was Samuel Cunningham, and his brothers were Josias Cunningham, stockbroker, Dunlop McCosh Cunningham, ...

Josias Cunningham Sir Josias Cunningham, DL (20 January 1934 – 9 August 2000) was a Northern Irish stock broker, farmer and politician. Early life Josias Cunningham, known as "Joe", the grandson of Samuel Cunningham, was born into a family of stock brokers, the ...

stockbroker,

Dunlop McCosh Cunningham Dunlop McCosh Cunningham, (1901–1983) was an Irish rugby player and businessman. Early life Cunningham was born in 1901 to his father Samuel Cunningham Senator in the First Stormont Senate, and mother Janet Knox. He was educated at Fettes Co ...

owner of Murrays tobacco works, Belfast. He was sent to the

Royal Belfast Academical Institution The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today is ...

, and then to

Fettes College Fettes College () is a co-educational independent boarding and day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, with over two-thirds of its pupils in residence on campus. The school was originally a boarding school for boys only and became co-ed in 1983. In ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. He then won a place at

Clare College Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

- where he was heavy-weight boxing champion. The Cunningham family still remain prominent landowners around the Parkgate area of South Antrim with relatives including great nephews Joe, Richard and Garret still residing on the family estate. The family had considerable business interests in land, Tobacco, commerce and finance. From 1931 Cunningham went into business 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 married Dorothy Enid Riley JP on 2 July 1935. Later in the 1930s, Cunningham studied law and was called to the Bar by the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1939. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he served in the

Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642, although it was only placed on the ...

although he continued his legal studies, and called to the

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

in Northern Ireland in 1942. He fought the Belfast West by-election in 1943 and the same seat in the 1945 general election. After the war Cunningham mainly lived in

Orpington Orpington is a town and area in south east London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross. On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St Ma ...

, although he retained membership of the Ulster Unionist Council. His religious faith led him to be involved with the World Alliance of

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

s from 1947, and he was Chairman of the National Council of the

in 1949. In 1954 he was elected to Orpington

Urban District Council In England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected urban district council (UDC), which shared local gove ...

. Later he maintained a home, the Derhams House, near

Minchinhampton Minchinhampton is an ancient Cotswolds market town in the Stroud District in Gloucestershire, South West England. The town is located on a hilltop, south-east of Stroud. The common offers wide views over the Severn Estuary into Wales and furth ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

Parliament

In the 1955 general election, Cunningham was chosen as the new Ulster Unionist MP for South Antrim. He was a delegate to the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

and

Western European Union The Western European Union (WEU; french: Union de l'Europe occidentale, UEO; german: Westeuropäische Union, WEU) was the international organisation and military alliance that succeeded the Western Union (WU) after the 1954 amendment of the 1948 ...

Parliamentary Assembly from 1956 to 1959. He also served as

Jocelyn Simon Jocelyn Edward Salis Simon, Baron Simon of Glaisdale, (15 January 19117 May 2006) was a Law Lord in the United Kingdom, having been, by turns, a barrister, a commissioned officer in the British Army, a barrister again, a Conservative Party po ...

Financial Secretary to the Treasury The financial secretary to the Treasury is a mid-level ministerial post in HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. It is nominally the fifth most significant ministerial role within the Treasury after the First Lord of the Treasury, first lord of th ...

, from 1958. In 1959 he was made a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

. After the 1959 general election, Cunningham was picked by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

as his

, responsible for the Prime Minister's relations with backbench

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

MPs. He was also a member of the National Executive of the

Conservative and Unionist Party The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party and also known colloquially as the Tories, is one of the Two-party system, two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. ...

. When Macmillan resigned, he awarded Cunningham a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

cy in his

resignation honours The Prime Minister's Resignation Honours in the United Kingdom are Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, honours granted at the behest of an outgoing Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister following their resignation ...

Post-Parliamentary career

Cunningham remained on the backbenches, known as one to the right of Ulster Unionism and a friend of

Ian Paisley Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, (6 April 1926 – 12 September 2014) was a Northern Irish loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and First ...

, through the rest of the 1960s, he frequently clashed with Harold Wilson during this period, but decided to retire at the 1970 general election. He was Master of the

Drapers Company The Worshipful Company of Drapers is one of the 110 livery companies of the City of London. It has the formal name The Master and Wardens and Brethren and Sisters of the Guild or Fraternity of the Blessed Mary the Virgin of the Mystery of Dr ...

in 1973–74. He was Provincial Grand Master of the Masonic Order in Gloucestershire from 1970-76. He was a member of the

Apprentice Boys The Apprentice Boys of Derry is a Protestant fraternal society with a worldwide membership of over 10,000, founded in 1814 and based in the city of Derry, Northern Ireland. There are branches in Ulster and elsewhere in Ireland, Scotland, Engla ...

Club in

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

and attended the 275th Anniversary of the shutting of the gates. Throughout his life he represented the old landed interests of Ulster and remained personally wealthy through family inheritance. He died suddenly at Derhams House,

on 29 July 1976 at the age of sixty-seven. Military intelligence, the RUC and victims named Cunningham as a paedophile and identified his close links to the sex offender ring at

Kincora Boys' Home The Kincora Boys' Home was a boys' home in Belfast, Northern Ireland that was the scene of serious organised child sexual abuse, causing a scandal and attempted cover-up in 1980, with allegations of state collusion.Dodd, Vikram; Norton-Taylor, Ric ...

but MI5 deny this.Kincora scandal: I will reveal the secrets, says ex-Army officer Colin Wallace, Belfast Telegraph, 17 July 2014
/ref>

References

Sources

*M. Stenton and S. Lees, ''Who's Who of British MPs'', vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981). {{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Knox 1909 births 1976 deaths Scots Guards officers Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom People educated at Fettes College Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Antrim constituencies (since 1922) Members of the Middle Temple Members of the Bar of Northern Ireland UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 Parliamentary Private Secretaries to the Prime Minister Ulster Unionist Party members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom People educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution Businesspeople from Northern Ireland 20th-century American lawyers Northern Ireland King's Counsel Protestants from Northern Ireland YMCA leaders