Cecil Harvey (died 1985[1]) was a unionist politician in Northern Ireland.

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. 1 2 Henry Patterson and Eric P. Kaufmann, Unionism and Orangeism in Northern Ireland Since 1945, p.204
  4. 1 2 3 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", 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.
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