Robert James Mitchell (1912 – 5 January 1998) was a unionist

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 ...

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 ...

. After becoming a captain during

World War II 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 ...

, Mitchell worked as a sales representative. He was elected to

Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Lurgan is about south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line. It had a population ...

Borough Council in 1957 for the

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 ...

, serving until its abolition in 1973. He was elected in the 1969 Northern Ireland general election in North Armagh, serving from 1971 until 1972 as Secretary of the 1966 Committee of backbenchers.Northern Ireland Parliament Elections Results: Biographies
/ref> He was expelled from the Ulster Unionist Parliamentary Party in January 1972 when he voted for a Democratic Unionist Party censure motion opposing a ban on certain processions planned for 12 July.Simon Winchester, "Faulkner faces erosion of Unionist majority", ''

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'', 27 January 1972 The Parliament was prorogued in 1972 and abolished the following year. Mitchell stood in

Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Pri ...

for the 1973 Assembly, but was not elected. In 1989, he joined the

Conservatives in Northern Ireland The Northern Ireland Conservatives is a section of the United Kingdom's Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party that operates in Northern Ireland. The party won 0.03% of the vote in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election and 0.7% of the ...

, and became Vice-Chairman of the party's East Londonderry association.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Robert James 1912 births 1998 deaths Conservative Party (UK) politicians Councillors in County Armagh Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1969–1973 Ulster Unionist Party members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for County Armagh constituencies Ulster Unionist Party councillors