Awkward Prods: biographical studies of Progressive Protestants and political allegiance in Northern Ireland

ABSTRACT

Through studies of four individuals, this article will explore the utility of biography as a method of disentangling strands of political allegiance in Northern Ireland during the era of the ‘old Stormont’. The four individuals – Harry Midgley, Arthur Linden Agnew, Albert McElroy and Jack Hassard – are connected by progressive strands of political activism, Protestantism and use of Ulster-Scots or British identity to support their political stances. These four lives reveal much about the development of Northern Labour and Liberal politics, but as a collective biography, rather than a party or institutional history, they reveal much of the wider milieu of reformist Northern Protestants. Their diverse final political destinations highlight the tensions within this strand and the persistence of divisions in Northern Ireland.

KEYWORDS:

• Northern Ireland
• Protestant
• Labour
• liberal
• Ulster-Scots
• biography

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 From 1945 until 1964, Maginnis moved from the Ministries of Labour, Commerce, Home Affairs and Finance, and the post of Attorney General (Walker 2004, p. 292).

2 The new party was decidedly Christian socialist in character.

3 His book of poetry Thoughts from Flanders (Belfast, 1924) contains several religious-themed poems. See also his reflections on his religious upbringing in NI House of Commons Debates Vol. XVII, 22 November 1934, c. 138.

4 Information from Murtagh Morgan, a colleague of Midgley in the NILP in the 1920s (see Walker 1985, chapter 6).

5 See Joe Keenan’s Introduction to The Labour Opposition of Northern Ireland: Complete Reprint of Northern Ireland’s First Labour Newspaper, 1925–26 (Belfast: Athol Books, 1992).

6 Biographical overviews of Agnew: The Non-Subscribing Presbyterian, January 1949; March 1953; Courtney (2014, pp. 324–325). Obituaries: Belfast Telegraph, 28 January 1977; Belfast News Letter, 28 January 1977.

7 Agnew’s substantial private papers – including correspondence, sermons, lectures and political pamphlets – are kept at Harris Manchester College, Oxford.

8 In 1923 in a straight fight Lynn held a majority of 2720 over Midgley. In a three-way contest in 1924, Lynn’s majority over Midgley rose to 7313: www.electionsireland.org.

Additional information

Funding

Research for this article was funded by the Northern Ireland Department of Communities.