Jack Allen (Northern Ireland politician)

Jack Allen
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
for Londonderry
In office
20 October 1982 – 1986
Mayor of Derry
In office
1974–1975
Member of Derry City Council
In office
30 May 1973 – 20 May 1981
Preceded byDistrict created
Succeeded byDavid Davis
ConstituencyLondonderry Area E
Personal details
Born1941
Derry, Northern Ireland
Political partyUlster Unionist

Jack Allen is a former Northern Irish unionist politician and businessman from Derry.

Political career

Working as a businessman, Allen became a member of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). He was elected to Londonderry City Council. In 1974-75, he served as Mayor of Derry.[1]

Allen was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1982, representing Londonderry.[2] The following year, he became the Honorary Treasurer of the UUP.[3] In June 1984, Allen was appointed to the prominent role of Chairman of the Devolution Report Committee within the Assembly.

In this position, he wrote three times to leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party John Hume proposing discussions, but was rebuffed.[4] In 1984, amid a dispute about the name of the city council, Allen was defeated in a by-election for a ward on the city council.[5]

Allen headed the UUP list in Foyle for the Northern Ireland Forum election of 1996, but failed to be elected.[6] At the 1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election, he was again unsuccessful in Foyle, despite coming fourth on first preference votes in the six seat constituency.[7] During this period, he was the chairman of the Foyle Ulster Unionist constituency association.[8]

Allen stood down as UUP treasurer in 2005, citing ill health.[3]

References

  1. ^ The North/South Implementation Bodies Archived 19 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Commissioners of Irish Lights
  2. ^ Londonderry 1973-1982, Northern Ireland Elections
  3. ^ a b "Health sees treasurer leave party", BBC News, 6 September 2005.
  4. ^ Cornelius O'Leary, Sydney Elliott and R. A. Wilford, The Northern Ireland Assembly 1982-1986: A Constitutional Experiment
  5. ^ History of the DUP's Londonderry Branch, Democratic Unionist Party
  6. ^ 1996 Forum Elections: Candidates in Foyle, Northern Ireland Elections
  7. ^ Foyle Archived 2 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Northern Ireland Elections
  8. ^ "Unionists to meet Apprentice Boys Governor", Belfast Telegraph, 1 April 1997
Northern Ireland Assembly (1982)
New assembly MPA for Londonderry
1982–1986 		Assembly abolished
Civic offices
Preceded by Mayor of Londonderry
1974–1975 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by
?
 Honorary Treasurer of the Ulster Unionist Party
1983–2005 		Succeeded by