Brief Biography:

James Chichester-Clark's formal education began at Selwyn House School in Kent, England and then at Eton. In 1942 he joined the Irish Guards and during the Second World War he saw service in North Africa and Italy where he was wounded in 1944. After the end of the war he remained in the army and in 1960 was promoted to the rank of major in the Irish Guards. In the same year however he chose to retire from military service and returned to manage his family's Moyola estate in South Derry. But the death of his grandmother Dame Debra Parker, the only woman ever appointed to the Northern Ireland cabinet and the sitting MP for the Stormont constituency of South Londonderry, in the summer of 1960 saw him returned unopposed as the new Unionist MP for the seat (1960-72).
In 1963 his ministerial career began under Captain Terence O'Neill, a distant cousin, who appointed him as a junior minister at the Ministry of Finance as well as Chief Whip of the parliamentary party (1963-66). Promotions later followed, firstly as Leader of the Commons (1966-67) and then in 1967 as Minister of Agriculture (1967-69). The position of O'Neill however was becoming increasingly vulnerable during the winter months of 1968-69 in the face of growing criticism from Unionist backbench MPs who opposed concessions to the civil rights movement in addition to their demands for a tougher stance to be taken against such protestors. As O'Neil's position became more difficult Chichester-Clarke began to emerge as possible successor. Then in April 1969 he announced his intention to resign from the government, not in opposition to O'Neill's programme of reform, but at the pace at which it was being done. In particular Chichester-Clarke believed that further concessions at such a juncture would only encourage further instability. His move however weakened O'Neill's position further and the Prime Minister stood down soon after. In the subsequent election, decided by the votes of the Unionist parliamentary party, Chichester-Clarke defeated his main rival, Brian Faulkner, by just one vote to become the fourth Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (1969-71).

The situation he faced was extremely difficult with demands from the civil rights movement for the introduction of a thorough package of reforms, matched by growing unease amongst the wider unionist community at the apparent willingness of the government to follow such a path. As conditions deteriorated throughout the summer of 1969 he was forced to ask the British government to send troops to Northern Ireland in order to try to restore stability. The danger for Chichester-Clark in taking such a step lay in the fact that it only weakened his own position and authority as increasingly political and military decisions began to be taken in London and not Belfast. A further package of political reform did little to ease the growing tension in the region and instead conditions worsened as street protests gave way to an upsurge in paramilitary violence. Under pressure from elements within his own party to take a tougher security response against the Irish Republican Army (IRA) which had re-emerged he attempted to persuade the British government to take such steps. When it became clear that such demands would not be meton his terms he resigned as Prime Minister in March 1971. Later in 1971 he was created a life peer and took up his position in the House of Lords as Lord Moyola.

Book References:

Elliott, Sydney. and Flackes, W.D. (1999), Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968-1999. Belfast: Blackstaff Press.
Harbinson, John Fitzsimons. (1973), The Ulster Unionist Party, 1882-1973:Its Development and Organisation. Belfast: Blackstaff Press,
Hennessey, Thomas. (1997), A History of Northern Ireland 1920-1996. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan.
McRedmond, Louis. (ed.) (1998), Modern Irish Lives: Dictionary of 20th-century Biography. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan.
Scoular, Clive William. (2000), James Chichester-Clark: Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. Belfast: Clive Scoular.

Web Sources:

http://www.rte.ie/culture/millennia/people/chichesterclarkjames.html

[Entry written by B.Lynn - 7 November 2002]