Gerard "Gerry" Fitt, Baron Fitt (9 April 1926 – 26 August 2005) was a Northern Irish politician. Events 193 - Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army in Illyricum (in the Balkans) Year 1926 ( MCMXXVI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1071 - Battle of Manzikert: The Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantine Army at Manzikert. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Northern Ireland (Tuaisceart Éireann Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a Country within the United Kingdom, lying in the northeast of He was the founder leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), a social democratic and Irish nationalist party. The Social Democratic and Labour Party ( SDLP; Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre is one of the two major nationalist parties in Northern Ireland Social democracy is a Political ideology of the left and centre-left Irish nationalism (Náisiúnachas Éireannach refers to political and sociological movements and sentiment that embodies a love for Irish ancestry, culture and language and
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Early years
Fitt was born in Belfast and educated a local Christian Brothers School. Belfast ( is the capital city of Northern Ireland and the seat of government in Northern Ireland. Between 1941 and 1953 he served in the Merchant Navy. The British Merchant Navy, known simply as the Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom, and describes the seagoing commercial interests Living in the nationalist Beechmount neighborhood of the Falls, he stood for the Falls as a candidate for the 'Dock Labour Party' in a city council byelection in 1956 but lost to Paddy Devlin, later his close ally, of the Irish Labour Party. Falls Road also refers to the Rochester Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad, the New York Central Railroad 's line to Niagara Falls New York. Paddy Devlin ( March 8 1925 - August 15 1999) was a Northern Irish Social democrat and Labour activist a former Stormont The Labour Party (Páirtí an Lucht Oibre is a Democratic socialist and Social democratic Political party in the Republic of Ireland. In 1958 he was elected to Belfast City Council as a member of the Irish Labour Party.
1960s
In 1962 he won a Stormont seat from the Ulster Unionist Party, becoming the only Irish Labour member. The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule Legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, The Ulster Unionist Party ( UUP, sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or OUP or in a historic sense simply the Unionist Party Two years later he left Irish Labour and joined with Harry Diamond, the sole Socialist Republican Party Stormont MP, to form the Republican Labour Party. Harry Diamond (1908 - 1996 was a Socialist and an Irish nationalist. The Socialist Republican Party was an Irish republican Political party in Northern Ireland. The Republican Labour Party was a political party in Northern Ireland. At the 1966 general election Fitt won the Belfast West seat in the Westminster parliament. National opinion poll summary Research Services: 3% swing to Labour (forecast majority of 101National Opinion Polls: 3 For other constituencies of the same name see Belfast West. Belfast West is a Parliamentary Constituency in the UK House The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories
He used Westminster as a platform to interest British Members of Parliament (MPs) in the problems and issues of Northern Ireland. A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a Parliament. Northern Ireland (Tuaisceart Éireann Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a Country within the United Kingdom, lying in the northeast of Many sympathetic MPs were present at the civil rights march in Derry on October 5, 1968 when Fitt and others were beaten by the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Events 869 - The Fourth Council of Constantinople is convened to decide about what to do about Patriarch Photius of Constantinople Year 1968 ( MCMLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Royal Ulster Constabulary GC was the name of the Police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001 RTÉ's film, in which Fitt featured prominently, of the police baton charge on the peaceful, but illegal, demonstration drew world attention to the claims of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association. A baton charge is a coordinated tactic for violent crowd dispersal The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association ( Cumann Chearta Sibhialta Thuaisceart Éireann) was an organisation which campaigned for Civil rights in Northern
Fitt also supported the 1969 candidacy of Bernadette Devlin in the Mid Ulster by-election who ran as an anti-abstenstionist 'Unity' candidate. Josephine Bernadette Devlin McAliskey (born 23 April 1947, in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland) also known as Bernadette Devlin Mid Ulster is a Parliamentary Constituency in the British House of Commons. " Unity " was the political label for a series of electoral pacts by Irish nationalist candidates in Northern Ireland elections in the 1960s and 1970s Devlin's success greatly increased the authority of Fitt in the eyes of many British commentators, particularly as it produced a second voice on the floor of the British House of Commons who challenged the Unionist viewpoint at a time when Harold Wilson and other British ministers were beginning to take notice. The House of Commons' is the Lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords Unionism in Ireland, is a belief in the desirability of a full constitutional and institutional relationship between Ireland and Great Britain based on the terms and James Harold Wilson Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, PC (11 March 1916 &ndash 24 May 1995 was one of the most prominent British politicians In his maiden speech, he called for an inquiry into the unionist government of Northern Ireland. A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly- elected members of a Legislature or Parliament.
Fitt was elected as a socialist republican and was proud to unveil a plaque at the house on the Falls Road where James Connolly, the socialist leader of the Irish Easter Rising had lived. Irish republicanism (Poblachtánachas is an ideology based on the Irish nationalist belief that all of Ireland should be a single independent Republic Falls Road also refers to the Rochester Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad, the New York Central Railroad 's line to Niagara Falls New York. James Connolly (Séamas Ó Conghaile 5 June 1868 &ndash 12 May 1916 was an Irish Socialist leader The Easter Rising (Éirí Amach na Cásca was a rebellion staged in Ireland in Easter Week, 1916 He was anxious to build a broader movement that would challenge Unionist hegemony. At the same time a new generation of Catholics, many with secondary education and university degrees for the first time as a consequence of the post-War creation of the welfare state, were determined to make their voices heard. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including
1970s
In August 1970 Fitt became the first leader of a coalition of civil rights and nationalist leaders who created the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). The Social Democratic and Labour Party ( SDLP; Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre is one of the two major nationalist parties in Northern Ireland The party was founded on high hopes - rejecting abstensionism and containing a number of prominent Protestants and without the stigma of conservatism and impotency that surrounded the old nationalist party. Abstentionism is standing for Election to a Deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business But already by then Northern Ireland was charging headlong towards near-civil war and the majority of unionists remained hostile.
After the collapse of Stormont in 1972 and the establishment of the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1973 he became deputy chief executive of the short-lived Power-Sharing Executive created by the Sunningdale Agreement. The Northern Ireland Assembly was a legislative assembly set up by the Government of the United Kingdom on 3 May 1973 to restore devolved The Sunningdale Agreement was an attempt to end " The Troubles " in Northern Ireland by forcing unionists to share power with nationalists Arguments still rage over the extent to which Fitt, as opposed to John Hume, helped shape the agreement. Fitt certainly was becoming less engaged with the nationalist concerns of the majority of the SDLP.
Fitt became increasingly detached from both his own party and also became more outspoken in his condemnation of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Óglaigh na hÉireann ( IRA; also referred to as the PIRA, the Provos, or by some of its supporters as the He became a target for republican sympathisers in 1976 when they attacked his home. He became disillusioned with the handling of Northern Ireland by the British government. In 1979 he abstained from a crucial vote in the House of Commons which brought down the Labour government, citing the way that the government had failed to help the nationalist population and tried to form a deal with the Ulster Unionist Party. The House of Commons' is the Lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords The Labour Party is a Political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century it has been since the 1920s the principal party of the
1980s
In 1980 he was replaced by John Hume as leader of the SDLP and he left the party altogether after he had agreed to constitutional talks with British Secretary of State Humphrey Atkins without any provision for an 'Irish dimension' and had then seen his decision overturned by the SDLP party conference. John Hume (born 18 January 1937) is a former Politician in Northern Ireland, founding member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is the chief minister in the Government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Northern Ireland Humphrey Edward Atkins Baron Colnbrook ( August 12, 1922 – October 4, 1996) was a British Conservative politician The Council of Ireland (Comhairle na hÉireann may refer to one of two councils one established in the 1920s the other in the 1970s Like Paddy Devlin before him, he claimed the SDLP had ceased to be a socialist force.
In 1981 he opposed the hunger strikes in the Maze prison in Belfast. The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during The Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. Her Majesty's Prison Maze (known colloquially as The H Blocks, Long Kesh, or The Maze) was a Prison used to house Paramilitary prisoners His seat in Westminster was targeted by Sinn Féin as well as by the SDLP. Sinn Féin () is a political party in Ireland. The current party led by Gerry Adams was formed following a split in January 1970 In June 1983 he lost his seat in Belfast West to Gerry Adams, in part due to competition from an SDLP candidate. For other constituencies of the same name see Belfast West. Belfast West is a Parliamentary Constituency in the UK House Gerry Adams, MLA, MP (Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh born 6 October 1948 is an Irish Republican politician and abstentionist Westminster The following month he was made a UK life peer as Baron Fitt, of Bell's Hill in the County of Down. In the United Kingdom, life peers are created members of the Peerage whose titles may not be inherited (those whose titles are inheritable are known as Hereditary His Belfast home was firebombed a month after the election and he moved to live in London.
Later career
In his later life he was an active member of the House of Lords where he was strongly critical of some aspects of the political developments of Northern Ireland, including concessions to Irish republicanism and the disbandment of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. The House of Lords is the second house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as "the Lords" The Royal Ulster Constabulary GC was the name of the Police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001 He was unique in that he was the only nationalist/republican from Northern Ireland ever to be elevated to the House of Lords.
Conclusion
Although Fitt was initially considered a Nationalist politician, his career defies the traditional terms used for the discussion of Northern Irish politics. It would perhaps be most fair to say that he was first and foremost a socialist politician rather than a Nationalist. For example, on October 11, 1974 he stated:
In Northern Ireland it is very difficult to be a socialist without being labelled a Unionist socialist or an anti-partitionist socialist, but I am a socialist. Events 1138 - A massive earthquake struck Aleppo, Syria. 1531 - Huldrych Zwingli is killed Year 1974 ( MCMLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. . . .
Lord Fitt died on August 26, 2005, at the age of 79, after a long history of heart disease, a widower survived by his five daughters. Events 1071 - Battle of Manzikert: The Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantine Army at Manzikert. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. When his daughters had campaigned for him in elections, they were nicknamed 'the Miss Fitts'.
See also
References
External links
| Parliament of Northern Ireland | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by William Oliver |
Member of Parliament for Belfast Dock 1962 - 1972 |
Succeeded by Position prorogued 1972 Parliament abolished 1973 |
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by James Kilfedder |
Member of Parliament for Belfast West 1966–1983 |
Succeeded by Gerry Adams |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by New post |
Leader of the Republican Labour Party 1964–1970 |
Succeeded by Patrick Kennedy |
| Preceded by New post |
Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party 1970–1979 |
Succeeded by John Hume |
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