Cecil Harvey (Northern Ireland politician)

This article is about the Northern Irish politician. For the video game character, see Cecil Harvey.

Cecil Harvey
Member of Down District Council
In office
20 May 1981 – 15 May 1985
Preceded byWilliam Finlay
Succeeded byDistrict abolished
ConstituencyDown 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
BornCrossgar, County Down, Northern Ireland
Died11 April 1985
Political partyDUP (from 1983)
United Ulster Unionist Party (1975 - 1983)
Other political
affiliations		Vanguard (1973 - 1975)
Ulster Unionist (before 1973)

Cecil Harvey (died 1985[1]) 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.[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]

Cecil's son, Harry, later became a DUP politician.[10]

References

  1. ^ Paisley, Ian (May 1985). "Councillor Cecil Harvey - a tribute". The Revivalist. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  2. ^ Steve Bruce, Paisley: religion and politics in Northern Ireland, p.35
  3. ^ a b Henry Patterson and Eric P. Kaufmann, Unionism and Orangeism in Northern Ireland Since 1945, p.204
  4. ^ a b c Steve Bruce, Paisley: religion and politics in Northern Ireland, p.179
  5. ^ Ted Nealon, Ireland: a parliamentary directory, 1973–1974
  6. ^ South Down 1973–85, Northern Ireland Elections
  7. ^ Eric P. Kaufmann, The Orange Order: a contemporary Northern Irish history, p.99
  8. ^ "Austere surroundings for first UUUP conference[permanent dead link‍]", Belfast News Letter, 30 December 2009 [first published 1979]
  9. ^ South Down, 1983–1992
  10. ^ "DUP announce Harry Harvey as MLA replacing Simon Hamilton". Belfast Telegraph. 6 September 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
Northern Ireland Assembly (1973)
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