Daniel Stewart Thomas Bingham Dixon, 2nd Baron Glentoran, KBE (19 January 1912 – 22 July 1995), 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 ...

soldier and politician. Glentoran was the son of

Herbert Dixon, 1st Baron Glentoran Herbert Dixon, 1st Baron Glentoran, OBE, PC (NI), DL (23 January 1880 – 20 July 1950) was a Unionist politician from Ireland, present day Northern Ireland. Early life Dixon was born in Belfast, the fourth son of Sir Daniel Dixon, 1st Baro ...

. After being educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

and Sandhurst he was appointed aide-de-camp to the GOC 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 ...

in 1935. He served with the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

in World War II, for which he was mentioned in dispatches. In 1950 he succeeded his father as Baron Glentoran, as well being elected in his place as

Ulster Unionist 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 ...

member for Belfast Bloomfield in the

Northern Ireland House of Commons 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 ...

(where peers could also hold a seat). Appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Ec ...

in 1952, Lord Glentoran was the following year made Minister of Commerce, a post he held until elected to the Northern Ireland Senate in 1961. He was the Minister responsible for the destruction of much of the Great Northern Railway in Northern Ireland, when he unilaterally closed the Portadown – Armagh – Monaghan, Clones – Enniskillen -Belleek and Enniskillen – Omagh railway lines in 1957. Consequently, the privately owned

Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway The Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway (SL&NCR) was a railway in counties Cavan, Fermanagh, Leitrim and Sligo in north-west Ireland. It consisted of one main line, with no branch lines and remained privately owned until its closu ...

linking Enniskillen to Sligo was forced to close. He was then Minister in and Leader of the Senate for three years, becoming its last

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

in 1964. Lord Glentoran was said to have had such a "grand" demeanor that once, when visiting America, a

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

newspaper carried the headline "Irish royalty to visit Texas." Appointed

Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(KBE) in 1973, Lord Glentoran was also the Lord Lieutenant (and from 1950 to 1976 Lieutenant) for

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 Kingdom ...

from 1976 to 1985. In 1933 he married Lady Diana Mary Wellesley (died 1984), daughter of the third Earl Cowley, by whom he had three children; the eldest is Olympic gold medal-winning bobsledder

Robin Dixon Major Thomas "Robin" Valerian Dixon, 3rd Baron Glentoran, (born 21 April 1935), is a former British bobsledder and Northern Irish politician, known as Robin Dixon. He is a former Conservative Party Shadow Minister for the Olympics. Early life ...

. Lord Glentoran died in 1995 aged 83 and was succeeded to the Barony by his son Robin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glentoran, Daniel Dixon, 2nd Baron 1912 births 1995 deaths Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Grenadier Guards officers British Army personnel of World War II Lord-Lieutenants of Belfast Members of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland Ulster Unionist Party members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland Dixon, Daniel Dixon, Daniel Dixon, Daniel Dixon, Daniel Dixon, Daniel Dixon, Daniel Dixon, Daniel Northern Ireland junior government ministers (Parliament of Northern Ireland) Northern Ireland Cabinet ministers (Parliament of Northern Ireland) Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Eton College Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for Belfast constituencies Ulster Unionist Party members of the Senate of Northern Ireland Ulster Unionist Party hereditary peers

See also

References