Cecil Walker

Cecil Walker

Infobox Person
name = Alfred Cecil Walker
birth_date = 17 December 1924
birth_place = Belfast, Northern Ireland
death_date = death date and age|2007|1|3|1924|12|17|df=y
death_place = Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland

Sir Alfred Cecil Walker (17 December 1924 - 3 January 2007) was an Ulster Unionist Member of Parliament for North Belfast from 1983 to 2001.

Walker was born in Belfast. His father was a police constable. He was educated at Everton elementary school, Model Boys' school and Belfast Methodist College. He worked for the Belfast timber trader James P. Corry after leaving school in 1941 until he was elected to Parliament in 1983. He married Ann Verrant in 1953. They had two sons together.

He became actively involved in Unionist politics in the 1970s, and was elected to Belfast City Council in 1977. He contested the Belfast North constituency in the 1979 general election, narrowly losing to John McQuade of the Democratic Unionist Party. He won the seat 4 years later, in the 1983 general election, after McQuade retired. He was one of the MPs with the lowest attendance rate at Westminster.

Along with all other Unionist MPs, he resigned his seat in December 1985 in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement. He was re-elected at a by-election in January 1986. In 1988, he advocated internment of Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) suspects to stem a series of murders, but also argued for the interment of suspects connected with the Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Volunteer Force. In 1998, he was one of only two UUP MPs to support the Good Friday Agreement without reservation, and he backed UUP leader David Trimble until the end of Trimble's own political career in 2005.

However, he lost his own seat to Nigel Dodds of the DUP in the 2001 general election, following a disastrous televised debate at Crumlin Road Courthouse in his constituency, in which he stumbled over some of the most rudimentary questions. His vote declined from 21,000 to 4,000, and he was beaten into fourth place behind Sinn Féin and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) - although this was also partly due to the fact that there had been no DUP candidate in the previous general election.

He was noted for the moderation of his Unionist views, which contrasted with the deep sectarian divisions in his constituency. He said he would have no objection to amending the Act of Settlement 1701 to allow the heir to the throne to marry a Roman Catholic, and caused controversy in 2001 by saying that a united Ireland in 30 years time, after he was dead, may not be a bad thing. He received a knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours in June 2002.

He lived in Glengormley, in County Antrim, and died of a heart attack in Newtownabbey. He was survived by his wife and their two sons.

References

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6228809.stm Former MP Cecil Walker dies at 81] , BBC News, 3 January 2007
* [http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2125391.ece Obituary] , "The Independent", 5 January 2007
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=1KAWLSAT0BWYPQFIQMGCFGGAVCBQUIV0?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2007/01/05/db0502.xml Obituary] , "The Daily Telegraph", 5 January 2007
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-2537176,00.html Obituary] , "The Times", 9 January 2007
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,1990321,00.html Obituary] , "The Guardian", 15 January 2007
*rayment

*"Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1992 edition"


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Cecil Walker — (* 17. Dezember 1924 in Belfast; † 3. Januar 2007 in Newtownabbey) war ein nordirischer Politiker (Ulster Unionist Party). Von 1983 bis 2001 war Walker Mitglied des Unterhauses für Nord Belfast. Walker starb im Alter von 82 Jahren an einem… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Cecil — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: David Cecil (1905–1981), britischer Hochschullehrer und Schriftsteller David Cecil, 6. Marquess of Exeter (1905–1981), britischer Leichtathlet und Sportfunktionär Hugh Cecil, 1. Baron Quickswood… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Walker (surname) — Walker is a surname of English origin. In English, the name comes from the medieval profession of a ‘walker’, a person who trod on woollen cloth in a bath of Fuller s earth, and sometimes urine, in order to thicken the fibres and ready the cloth… …   Wikipedia

  • Walker (Familienname) — Walker ist ein Familienname. Bekannte Namensträger Inhaltsverzeichnis A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Walker Baronets — There have been five Baronetcies created for people with the surname Walker, one is extinct, four are still extant.The Walker Baronetcy, of Bushey Hall in the County of Hertfordshire was created in the Baronetage of England on 28 January 1680 for …   Wikipedia

  • Cecil Ashby — Cecil Thomas Ashby (* 1897 oder 1898; † 10. Juni 1929 in Douglas, Isle of Man) war ein britischer Motorradrennfahrer. In seiner Karriere gewann er unter anderem zweimal die Motorrad Europameisterschaft. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Karriere 1.1 Tödlicher …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Cecil B. DeMille — Born Cecil Blount DeMille August 12, 1881(1881 08 12) Ashfield, Massachusetts, United States Died January 21, 1959(1959 01 21) (aged 77) Hollywood, California, United States …   Wikipedia

  • Cecil Farris Bryant — (* 26. Juli 1914 im Marion County, Florida; † 1. März 2002 in Jacksonville, Florida) war ein US amerikanischer Politiker und von 1961 bis 1965 der 34. Gouverneur von Florida. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Frühe Jahre und politischer Aufstieg 2 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Cecil Gordon Lawson — (December 3, 1851 June 10, 1882), was an English landscape painter.The youngest son of William Lawson of Edinburgh, a well regarded portrait painter, and of a mother also known for her flower pieces, he was born in Fountain Place, Wellington,… …   Wikipedia

  • Cecil Mary Leslie — (1900 1980) was an engraver, portrait painter, sculptor and illustrator. She studied at the Royal Academy Schools, and exhibited from 1923 until 1939 at the Royal Academy; the Society of Women Artists; the Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts; the… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”