Cecil Harvey (died 1985[1]) was a Northern Irish unionist politician and Church elder.
Cecil Harvey | |
|---|---|
| Member of Down District Council | |
| In office 20 May 1981 – 15 May 1985 | |
| Preceded by | William Finlay |
| Succeeded by | District abolished |
| Constituency | Down Area A |
| Member of the Constitutional Convention for South Down | |
| In office 1975–1976 | |
| Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for South Down | |
| In office 1973–1974 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Crossgar, County Down, Northern Ireland |
| Died | 1985 |
| Political party | DUP (from 1983) United Ulster Unionist Party (1975 - 1983) |
| Other political affiliations | Vanguard (1973 - 1975) Ulster Unionist (before 1973) |
Background
editHarvey was a founding elder of Ian Paisley's Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, in 1951. The following year, he suggested the congregation's move from Crossgar to Whiteabbey.[2] He was also active in the Orange Order[3] and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), and was elected as a councillor.[4] He became disillusioned with the UUP as it came to support the idea of power-sharing, and joined the rival Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party.[4] Under this banner, he was elected from South Down to the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973, where he was the party's chief whip,[5] then the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention.[6]
In 1974, Harvey argued for the Orange Order to pay compensation to loyalists interned around the Ulster Workers' Council strike.[3] By 1975, Harvey was calling for the Order to found an entirely new united unionist party; this was moved by Robert Overend but was defeated.[7] Undeterred, Harvey became a founder member of the United Ulster Unionist Party, becoming the party chairman,[8] and remaining loyal until its collapse in 1984. He then joined the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP),[4] for which he stood unsuccessfully in South Down at the 1983 general election.[9]
References
edit- ^ Paisley, Ian (May 1985). "Councillor Cecil Harvey - a tribute". The Revivalist. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
- ^ Steve Bruce, Paisley: religion and politics in Northern Ireland, p.35
- ^ a b Henry Patterson and Eric P. Kaufmann, Unionism and Orangeism in Northern Ireland Since 1945, p.204
- ^ a b c Steve Bruce, Paisley: religion and politics in Northern Ireland, p.179
- ^ Ted Nealon, Ireland: a parliamentary directory, 1973–1974
- ^ South Down 1973–85, Northern Ireland Elections
- ^ Eric P. Kaufmann, The Orange Order: a contemporary Northern Irish history, p.99
- ^ "Austere surroundings for first UUUP conference[permanent dead link]", Belfast News Letter, 30 December 2009 [first published 1979]
- ^ South Down, 1983–1992
- ^ "DUP announce Harry Harvey as MLA replacing Simon Hamilton". Belfast Telegraph. 6 September 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2020.