William Albert Boyd Douglas (10 January 1923 – 17 May 2013) 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 ...

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 ...

. Douglas worked as a

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer m ...

and served as a flight lieutenant in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

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 opposing ...

. He rose to prominence as Limavady District Master in the Orange Order, leading protests against the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

, and organising loyalist demonstrations in Dungiven.Sydney Elliott and William D. Flackes, ''Conflict in Northern Ireland'', p. 235 William, also was a man that was capable of writing a catchy melody. He wrote tunes for bands and they are still played today regularly. Most of these tunes were used by his home band;Boveva Flue Band. Douglas was also active in 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 m ...

. From 1960 to 1973, he served on Limavady

Rural District Council Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the a ...

. He was then elected in Londonderry for the

at the

1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. P ...

, and held his seat on the Constitutional Convention and at the 1982 Assembly, at which he served as

Ulster Unionist Chief Whip This is a list of people who served as Chief Whip of the Ulster Unionist Party in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Parliament of Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Assembly. Parliament of the United Kingdom :1886: William Elliso ...

. He strongly opposed the

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...

. Douglas' son, known as Boyd Douglas, also became a politician.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, William 1923 births 2013 deaths Councillors in County Londonderry Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly 1973–1974 Members of the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention Northern Ireland MPAs 1982–1986 People from Limavady Royal Air Force officers Ulster Unionist Party councillors Royal Air Force personnel of World War II