Michael O'Neill (7 October 1909 – 4 October 1976) was an Irish politician in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. O'Neill was educated at Dromore National School and Bellisle Academy. He was a farmer and a chairman of the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

. He served as a councillor on Tyrone County Council and resigned as a member of

Omagh Omagh (; from , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers River Drumragh, Drumragh and Camowen River, Camowen meet to form the River Strule, Strule. Northern Ireland's c ...

rural council as a protest about the allocation of housing. O'Neill was elected Member of Parliament for the Mid Ulster constituency in 1951 as an

Independent Nationalist Independent Nationalist () is a political title frequently used by Irish nationalists when contesting elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Great Britain and Ireland not as members of the Irish Parliamentary Party, in the lat ...

, serving in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

. He was later associated with the Anti-Partition of Ireland League. He retired at the 1955 general election and the Mid Ulster seat was narrowly won by Tom Mitchell of

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

. At the

1956 Mid Ulster by-election The by-election held in Mid Ulster on 8 May 1956 was called because both candidates in the 1955 Mid Ulster by-election were disqualified. Tom Mitchell was disqualified from assuming office because he was a convicted felon. Charles Beattie was ...

the League stood O'Neill in an attempt to unseat the

abstentionist Abstentionism is the political practice of standing for election to a deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an election boycott in that abst ...

Mitchell, but this split the nationalist vote and independent Unionist

George Forrest George Forrest may refer to: *G. Topham Forrest (George Topham Forrest, 1872–1945), principal architect for the London County Council *George Forrest (author) (1915–1999), American author and musician *George Forrest (botanist) (1873–1932), S ...

was elected.Brendan Lynn, ''Holding the Ground: The Nationalist Party in Northern Ireland, 1945 - 72'' (1997),

References

External links

* Politicians from Northern Ireland Members of Tyrone County Council Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Mid Ulster Politicians from County Tyrone Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom UK MPs 1951–1955 1909 births 1976 deaths {{NorthernIreland-UK-MP-stub