Cecil Harvey | |
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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 | 11 April 1985 |
Political party | DUP (from 1983) United Ulster Unionist Party (1975 - 1983) |
Other political affiliations | Vanguard (1973 - 1975) Ulster Unionist (before 1973) |
Cecil Harvey (died 1985) was a Northern Irish unionist politician and Church elder.
Background
Harvey 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. He was also active in the Orange Order and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), and was elected as a councillor. He became disillusioned with the UUP as it came to support the idea of power-sharing, and joined the rival Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party. Under this banner, he was elected from South Down to the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973, where he was the party's chief whip, then the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention.
In 1974, Harvey argued for the Orange Order to pay compensation to loyalists interned around the Ulster Workers' Council strike. 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. Undeterred, Harvey became a founder member of the United Ulster Unionist Party, becoming the party chairman, and remaining loyal until its collapse in 1984. He then joined the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), for which he stood unsuccessfully in South Down at the 1983 general election.
Cecil's son, Harry, later became a DUP politician.
References
- 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
- ^ Henry Patterson and Eric P. Kaufmann, Unionism and Orangeism in Northern Ireland Since 1945, p.204
- ^ 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", Belfast News Letter, 30 December 2009
- South Down, 1983–1992
- "DUP announce Harry Harvey as MLA replacing Simon Hamilton". Belfast Telegraph. 6 September 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
Northern Ireland Assembly (1973) | ||
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New assembly | Assembly Member for South Down 1973–1974 |
Assembly abolished |
Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention | ||
New convention | Member for South Down 1975–1976 |
Convention dissolved |
- Councillors in Northern Ireland
- Democratic Unionist Party politicians
- Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly 1973–1974
- Members of the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention
- 1985 deaths
- Ulster Unionist Party councillors
- United Ulster Unionist Party politicians
- Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party politicians
- Democratic Unionist Party parliamentary candidates
- Politicians from County Down