Tom French (1934 – 12 March 2023) was president of the Workers' Party (from 1996-2000) and an elected member of

Craigavon Borough Council Craigavon Borough Council was a local council in counties Armagh, Down and Antrim, in Northern Ireland. It merged with Armagh City and District Council and Banbridge District Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Nort ...

(from 1978-1993). Born in

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 Kingdo ...

in 1934, French joined

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...

as a youth and remained with the party as it evolved into the Workers' Party.

Early life

After attending teacher training college, he became a schoolteacher in

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 ...

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...

. He was an early recruit to the

Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association ) was an organisation that campaigned for civil rights in Northern Ireland during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Formed in Belfast on 9 April 1967,

and participated in many of its

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

marches throughout

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 the late 1960s. When Sinn Féin split in 1970, French supported the Official wing and was a member of its first Publicity Committee. Much later, he became a founding member of the

Peace Train Organisation The Peace Train Organisation was a campaign group set up in 1989 in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in response to the repeated bombing of the Dublin to Belfast railway line (see Enterprise (train)) by the Provisional IRA.

, which was formed to oppose the

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...

's bombing of the Dublin to Belfast railway line.

Political career

French worked closely beside

Malachy McGurran Malachy McGurran (1938 – 27 July 1978) was a leading Irish republican and founding member of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, of which he was chairman. A native of Lurgan, County Armagh, McGurran joined Sinn Féin and the Irish ...

who was a major figure in the northern

republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

movement from the late 1950s and a Vice-President of

Official Sinn Féin The Workers' Party ( ga, Páirtí na nOibrithe) is a Marxist–Leninist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It arose as the original Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, but took ...

. French was heavily involved in McGurran's various election campaigns and when McGurran died in 1978, French won the local by-election to fill his seat on Craigavon Borough Council. He remained a councillor, alternating between representing the Loughside and Craigavon Central areas, until 1993 when he lost his seat. He also unsuccessfully contested

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 ...

in the 1982 Assembly election and subsequent 1983 by-election and contested one of its successor constituencies, Upper Bann at every election from its creation in 1983 until 2005. His best result was the 19% which he polled in the

1986 by-election The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

where he was the only candidate opposing the sitting MP. In 1996 he was an unsuccessful candidate in the

Northern Ireland Forum The Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The forum was elected, with five members being elected for each Westmin ...

election in Upper Bann. He was a member of the

Ard Comhairle or ''ardfheis'' ( , ; "high assembly"; plural ''ardfheiseanna'') is the name used by many Irish political parties for their annual party conference. The term was first used by Conradh na Gaeilge, the Irish language cultural organisation, for i ...

/ Central Executive Committee of the Workers' Party for many years. In 1992, he was elected Chairman of the Workers' Party in the North and in 1996 was elected to the position of Party President, replacing Marian Donnelly. He retired from that position in 2000 and was replaced by

Seán Garland Seán Garland (7 March 1934 – 13 December 2018) was the President of the Workers' Party in Ireland from 1977 to 1999. Early life Born at Belvedere Place, off Mountjoy Square in Dublin, Garland joined the Irish Republican Army in 1953. In 1954 ...

. He stepped down from the Ard Comhairle some years later.

Personal life

An avid

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

lover and considered to have a fine singing voice, Tom French participated in the Wexford Opera Festival on several occasions. He died after a long battle with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

on 12 March 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Tom 1934 births 2023 deaths Members of Craigavon Borough Council Workers' Party (Ireland) politicians Irish Marxists Politicians from Belfast People from Lurgan