Cecil Harvey

Cecil Harvey was a unionist politician in Northern Ireland.

This article is about the Northern Irish politician. For the video game character, see Characters of the Final Fantasy IV series § Cecil Harvey.

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.[1] He was also active in the Orange Order[2] and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), and was elected as a councillor.[3] He became disillusioned with the UUP as it came to support the idea of power-sharing, and joined the rival Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party.[3] Under this banner, he was elected from South Down to the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973, where he was the party's chief whip,[4] then the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention.[5]

In 1974, Harvey argued for the Orange Order to pay compensation to loyalists interned around the Ulster Workers' Council strike.[2] 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.[6] Undeterred, Harvey became a founder member of the United Ulster Unionist Party, becoming the party chairman,[7] and remaining loyal until its collapse in 1984. He then joined the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP),[3] for which he stood unsuccessfully in South Down at the 1983 general election.[8]

Cecil's son, Harry, later became a DUP politician.[9]

References
  1. Steve Bruce, Paisley: religion and politics in Northern Ireland, p.35
  2. Henry Patterson and Eric P. Kaufmann, Unionism and Orangeism in Northern Ireland Since 1945, p.204
  3. Steve Bruce, Paisley: religion and politics in Northern Ireland, p.179
  4. Ted Nealon, Ireland: a parliamentary directory, 1973–1974
  5. South Down 1973–85, Northern Ireland Elections
  6. Eric P. Kaufmann, The Orange Order: a contemporary Northern Irish history, p.99
  7. "Austere surroundings for first UUUP conference", Belfast News Letter, 30 December 2009 [first published 1979]
  8. South Down, 1983–1992
  9. "DUP announce Harry Harvey as MLA replacing Simon Hamilton". Belfast Telegraph. 6 September 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
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