Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

William Stephen Brownlow (9 October 1921 – May 1998"Colonel William Brownlow", ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'', 1 June 1998) was a

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 ...

officer and

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 ...

Unionist politician.

Early life and military service

Brownlow was born in

Portaferry Portaferry () is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland, at the southern end of the Ards Peninsula, near the Narrows at the entrance to Strangford Lough. It is home to the Exploris aquarium and is well known for the annual Gala Week Flo ...

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

. He was the son of Colonel Guy Brownlow and Elinor Scott, the daughter of Colonel George Scott (

18th Hussars The 18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, first formed in 1759. It saw service for two centuries, including the First World War before being amalgamated with the 13th Hussars to form the 13th/18th Royal ...

). He was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

before joining the

following the outbreak of 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 was commissioned into his father's former regiment, the

Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) The Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army formed in January 1800 as the "Experimental Corps of Riflemen" to provide sharpshooters, scouts, and skirmishers. They were soon renamed the "Rifle ...

. Over the course of the war, Brownlow was wounded and

Mentioned in Despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

three times. He retired from the military with the rank of major in 1954. He was awarded the rank of Honorary Colonel in 1973 in the Northern Irish Militia, part of the

Royal Irish Rangers The Royal Irish Rangers (27th (Inniskilling), 83rd and 87th) was a regular infantry regiment of the British Army with a relatively short existence, formed in 1968 and later merged with the Ulster Defence Regiment in 1992 to form the Royal Irish ...

Politics

He held the office of

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for County Down in 1956 and was

High Sheriff of Down The High Sheriff of Down is the Sovereign's judicial representative in County Down. Initially an office for lifetime, assigned by the Sovereign, the High Sheriff became annually appointed from the Provisions of Oxford in 1258. Besides his judic ...

in 1959. Brownlow was Deputy Lieutenant of County Down in 1961 and 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 the

Down County Council Down County Council was the authority responsible for local government in County Down, Northern Ireland. History Down County Council was formed under orders issued in accordance with the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 which came into effect ...

between 1970 and 1973. He was elected to 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 ...

for North Down as a pro-Sunningdale UUP candidate in 1973 following the

Sunningdale Agreement The Sunningdale Agreement was an attempt to establish a power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive and a cross-border Council of Ireland. The agreement was signed at Sunningdale Park located in Sunningdale, Berkshire, on 9 December 1973. Unionist ...

, but Parliament never assembled. In 1975, he stood as the

Unionist Party of Northern Ireland The Unionist Party of Northern Ireland was a political party founded by Brian Faulkner in September 1974. Formation The party emerged following splits in the Ulster Unionist Party in 1973 and 1974 over the British government's white paper ''Nor ...

(UPNI) candidate for North Down in the Constitutional Convention Election, but failed to be elected, being defeated by a coalition of Anti-Assembly Unionists. Brownlow stood for North Down's Westminster seat in the October 1974 general election for the UPNI, but lost to the UUP. He served as the Lord Lieutenant of Down between 1990 and 1996.

Personal life

Brownlow married Eveleigh, the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel George Panter

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

, on 11 January 1961. Together they had three children: *James George Christy Brownlow (b. 20 September 1962) *Camilla Jane Brownlow (b. 29 July 1964) *Melissa Anne Brownlow (b. 8 May 1968) In his spare time, Brownlow was a leading practitioner of

fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of ho ...

, in which circles he was known as "The Major". Following his death, a Brownlow Trophy was instituted for the person who had made the "greatest contribution to country sports and conservation in Ireland" each year.'' Irish Countrysports and Country Life Magazine'', Autumn 2011, p.136 During the 1960s, Brownlow used an amphibious car to cross

Strangford Lough Strangford Lough (from Old Norse ''Strangr Fjörðr'', meaning "strong sea-inlet"PlaceNames N ...

to visit his fox hounds, stopping only when he persuaded local councillors to introduce the

Portaferry - Strangford Ferry Portaferry () is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland, at the southern end of the Ards Peninsula, near the Narrows at the entrance to Strangford Lough. It is home to the Exploris aquarium and is well known for the annual Gala Week Flo ...

service.

References

*Davina Jones, ''Parallel Lives'' (Appletree Press, 2005) {{DEFAULTSORT:Brownlow, William 1921 births 1998 deaths Rifle Brigade officers Members of Down County Council People educated at Eton College British Army personnel of World War II 20th-century Anglo-Irish people

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly 1973–1974 Ulster Unionist Party politicians High Sheriffs of Down Unionist Party of Northern Ireland politicians Politicians from County Down People from Portaferry