Biographies of Prominent People - 'W'

Walker, Cecil (b.17 December 1924)
Politician; Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) MP 1983-2001
[Entry to be included at a later date]

Waters, John (Lieutenant-General) (Sir) (b. 2 September 1935)
British Army Soldier; General Officer Commanding (GOC) Northern Ireland 1988-90

John Waters had an extensive military service including a number of postings in Northern Ireland throughout the 1970s. Waters was appointed Army General Officer Commanding (GOC) Northern Ireland in 1988 (1988-90). During his time as GOC he had to deal with a fresh wave of attacks on the regular units of the British Army serving in Northern Ireland.

Book References:
Elliott, Sydney. and Flackes, W.D. (1999), Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968-1999. Belfast: Blackstaff Press.
[Entry written by B.Lynn - 25 March 2003]

Weir Peter (b. 21 November 1968)
Politician; Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MLA

Peter Weir was educated at Bangor Grammar School and Queen's University Belfast from where he graduated with a degree in Law and Accountancy, and after a further period of study was called to the Northern Ireland Bar in 1992. As for his interest in politics, this first developed at Queen's where he became involved with the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and later he served as Chairman of the Ulster Young Unionist Council. In May 1996 Weir was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum as a representative of the (UUP) for the constituency of North Down (1996-98). He was strongly opposed to the party signing up to the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) in April 1998 and went onto campaign actively for a 'No' vote in the subsequent referendum campaign in May 1998.

Although his opposition to the GFA had been clearly established, Weir succeeded in being returned to the Northern Ireland Assembly in June 1998 for the UUP, again representing North Down (1998-present). From the outset however he repeated his determination to continue his fight against the GFA and increasingly this brought him into conflict with David Trimble, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). This was perfectly illustrated in December 1999 when he lost the party whip in the Assembly when he voted against the leadership over its acceptance of measures to establish the administrative structures envisaged under the GFA. This move did nothing to stem his criticism of party policy over the GFA and to the surprise of some Weir succeeded in winning the nomination in March 2000 to be the UUP candidate for the constituency of North Down at the next Westminster general election.

However in February 2001 he was suspended from the UUP because of his record of consistently voting against the party line in the Northern Ireland Assembly. As a result within a matter of weeks, to the obvious annoyance of him and his supporters, he was de-selected as a UUP Westminster candidate. In June 2001 Weir was reinstated as a member of the UUP but this rapprochement was to brief. Following his decision not to support Trimble's nomination to be re-elected as Northern Ireland First Minister in November 2001, he was formally expelled from the party. For a time he then sat in the Assembly as an Independent Unionist but in April 2002 decided to join the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) (2002-present) and urged dissidents in the UUP to follow his example.

Book References:
Elliott, Sydney. and Flackes, W.D. (1999), Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968-1999. Belfast: Blackstaff Press.
Web Sources:
http://www.dup.org.uk/
http://www.ni-assembly.gov.uk/members/biogs/pweir.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1634703.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1675646.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1958764.stm
[Entry written by B.Lynn - 19 January 2003]

West, ('Harry') Henry William (b. 27 March 1917)
Politician; Unionist MP (Stormont); Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) 1974-79

A native of County Fermanagh Harry West completed his education at Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, before pursuing a farming career. West entered politics when elected in 1954 as the Unionist MP for the constituency of Enniskillen (1954-72) in the Stormont Parliament. He served on two occasions as Minister of Agriculture (1960-67 and 1971-72). Having been sacked from the cabinet in 1967 due to allegations concerning a conflict between his ministerial responsibilities and his own business interests, over the next four years from 1967 to 1971 he strongly attacked the governments of Captain Terence O'Neill and James Chichester-Clark. In particular West criticised the programmes of reform, which had been introduced in the wake of the civil rights campaign on the grounds that they had the potential to undermine the unionist cause. However in June 1971 he decided to return to government under Brian Faulkner, then Northern Ireland Prime Minister, on the grounds that Faulkner would restore stability to Northern Ireland. This belief however was not to be sustained and in late 1973 West refused to support Faulkner over the power-sharing Executive and the Sunningdale Agreement.

Early in 1974 he succeeded Faulkner as the new leader (1974-79) of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) following the decision of the Ulster Unionist Council to reject the new forms of government proposed under the settlement agreed at Sunningdale. In June 1973 West was returned to the Northern Ireland Assembly (1973-74) and led the anti-agreement element of the UUP in this new body. In addition he subsequently combined with other unionist elements in the Assembly to form the United Ulster Unionist Council (UUUC). In the general election in February 1974 West won the Westminster seat of Fermanagh and South Tyrone (February-October 1974). Later he also supported the Ulster Workers' Council (UWC) strike of May 1974, which eventually led to the collapse of the Executive.

In May 1975 West gained a seat in the Constitutional Convention (1975-76) and took part in its efforts to find an agreed plan to break the political stalemate. He again however reiterated his party's opposition to any proposal that contained any reference to power-sharing especially at cabinet level. After the failure of the Convention West continued as leader of the UUP but, following his failure to win a seat for the party at the election in June 1979 for the European Parliament he resigned as leader. For a time he continued to be actively involved in politics most notably in April 1981 when he was defeated in the by-election for the Westminster constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone by the Republican hunger striker, Bobby Sands.

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.
Mulholland, Marc (1971), Northern Ireland at the Crossroads: Ulster Unionism in the O'Neill Years 1960-9. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
[Entry written by B.Lynn - 30 March 2003]

Wheeler, Rodger (General) (Sir) (b. 16 December 1941)
British Army Soldier; General Officer Commanding (GOC) Northern Ireland 1993-96

Before being appointed as Army General Officer Commanding (GOC) Northern Ireland in 1993 (1993-96) Rodger Wheeler had served in a number of important positions in the armed forces including the role of Chief of Staff of British forces involved in the 1982 Falklands War. During his term as GOC he had to respond to the changing security situation in the wake of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) ceasefire in August 1994 and the ceasefire announced by Loyalist paramilitaries in October 1994.

Book References:
Elliott, Sydney., and Flackes, W.D. (1999), Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968-1999. Belfast: Blackstaff Press.
[Entry written by B.Lynn - 25 March 2003]

Widgery, John Passmore (b. 1911)
Lawyer; Lord Chief Justice 1971-80; Bloody Sunday; Widgery Report

During the Second World War John Widgery served in the Royal Artillery before going to finish his legal training in 1946 when he was called to the Bar. Widgery then moved through the profession becoming a Judge (1961-68), Lord Justice of Appeal (1968-71); and Lord Chief Justice (1971-80). It was in his role as Lord Chief Justice that in 1972 he was invited by Edward Heath, then British Prime Minister, to chair a public inquiry into the shooting dead of thirteen civilians by the British Army during a civil rights march in Derry on 30 January 1972. His subsequent report which broadly exonerated the role of the Army in the incident was heavily criticised and in 2000 the British government bowed to public pressure to establish a new inquiry in order to re-investigate the whole matter.

Book References:
Daly, Edward. (2000), Mister, Are You A Priest? Dublin: Four Courts Press.
Elliott, Sydney. and Flackes, W.D. (1999), Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968-1999. Belfast: Blackstaff Press.
Great Britain. Parliament. (1972), Report of the Tribunal appointed to inquire into events on Sunday 30th January 1972. [Widgery Report, HC 220] London: HMSO.
Hennessey, Thomas. (1997), A History of Northern Ireland 1920-1996. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan.
Mullan, Don. (1997), Eyewitness Bloody Sunday. Dublin: Wolfhound.
Ramsden, John (ed.) (2002), The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century British Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Web Sources:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/northern_ireland/2000/bloody_sunday_inquiry/default.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/northern_ireland/2000/bloody_sunday_inquiry/665100.stm
[Entry written by B.Lynn - 19 January 2003]

Williams, ('Betty') Elizabeth (Nobel Laureate) (b. 22 May 1943)
Peace Activist; Joint Winner of Nobel Peace Prize 1976

In August 1976 Betty Williams, then a housewife from West Belfast, witnessed a road accident between the British Army and Irish Republican Army (IRA) suspects which led to the death of three young children. Along with others, most notably Mairead Corrigan and Ciaran McKeown, she helped to form the Peace People which began to organise public rallies across Northern Ireland calling for an end to violence. After an initial surge of support it soon began to face mounting problems as to its future policy and direction. Further problems then arose following the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 to Corrigan and Williams when they clashed over how their prize money should be used as well as fundamental disagreements over strategy. Finally in 1980, Williams resigned from the executive of the Peace People and in 1982 after re-marrying left for a new life in the United States of America. Since then she has continued to be involved in peace movements across the world and lectures on peace and politics in Houston, Texas.

Book References:
Elliott, Sydney. and Flackes, W.D. (1999), Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968-1999. Belfast: Blackstaff Press.
Fairmichael, Rob. (1987) The Peace People Experience. Belfast: Dawn.
Hennessey, Thomas. (1997), A History of Northern Ireland 1920-1996. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan.
McKeown, Ciaran. (1984), The passion of Peace. Belfast: Blackstaff.
McRedmond, Louis. (ed.) (1998), Modern Irish Lives: Dictionary of 20th-century Biography. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan.
[Entry written by B.Lynn - 19 January 2003]

Wilsey, John (General) (Sir) (18 February 1939)
British Army Soldier; General Officer Commanding (GOC) Northern Ireland 1990-93

John Wilsey was appointed as Army General Officer Commanding (GOC) Northern Ireland in 1990 (1990-93) after a long and extensive military career in which, during the 1970s, he had served in Northern Ireland as a senior officer. During his time as GOC his main focus was to deal with the ongoing threat particularly from the Irish Republican Army (IRA) which, during this period had sought to focus its attacks on security bases along the border. In addition Wilsey also oversaw the merger between the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) and the Royal Irish Rangers (RIR) to form the Royal Irish Regiment (RIR).

Book References:
Elliott, Sydney. and Flackes, W.D. (1999), Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968-1999. Belfast: Blackstaff Press.
[Entry written by B.Lynn - 25 March 2003]

Wilson, Cedric (b. 6 June 1948)
Politician; Northern Ireland Unionist Party (NIUP) MLA 1999-2003; Leader of NIUP 1999-present

Cedric Wilson first came to prominence in the mid to late 1980s when as a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Councillor on Castlereagh Borough Council (1981-89) he was involved in the campaign against the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA). After an internal dispute he left the DUP and in May 1996 agreed to stand as a candidate for the United Kingdom Unionist Party (UKUP) in the elections to the Northern Ireland Forum. Elected for the constituency of Strangford he subsequently joined with his colleagues in withdrawing completely from the talks process in July 1997. During the referendum campaign on the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) in May 1998 he campaigned for a 'No' vote.

In June 1998 he was returned to the Northern Ireland Assembly (1998-2003) as a member of the UKUP for Strangford. However in December 1998 after a dispute over strategy with Robert McCartney, then leader of the UKUP, Wilson along with his other three Assembly members resigned from the party. A month later in January 1999 they formed the Northern Ireland Unionist Party (NIUP) and he became party leader (1999-present). Along with other unionist elements in the Assembly the NIUP continued to oppose the full implementation of the GFA. At the election in November 2003 to the Northern Ireland Assembly Wilson lost his seat as did his party colleagues and the NIUP was left without any representation in the new body.

Book References:
Elliott, Sydney. and Flackes, W.D. (1999), Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968-1999. Belfast: Blackstaff Press.
Web Sources:
http://www.niup.org/
http://www.stratagem-ni.org/
http://www.ni-assembly.gov.uk/members/biogs/cwilson.htm
[Entry written by B.Lynn - 25 March 2003; updated 10 June 2004]

Wilson, Harold James (Life Peerage) (b. 11 March 1916)
Politician; Labour Party MP; British Prime Minister 1964-70 and 1974-76

Harold Wilson was born near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, and educated at Royds Hall Secondary School in Huddersfield, and Wirral Grammar School before going to attend Jesus College, Oxford. He graduated with a first-class honours degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, but then stayed on at Jesus College to lecture in Economics. At the outbreak of the Second World War Wilson was recruited into the Civil Service, going onto serve in a number of various departments. His work during this period was later recognised in 1945 when he received an OBE. At the 1945 British general election he was returned to Westminster as the Labour MP for the constituency of Ormskirk (1945-50) and in 1950 was elected for the new seat of Huyton (1950-83).

On his election in 1945 he was immediately appointed a junior minister and in 1947 became a member of the Cabinet as the President of the Board of Trade (1947-51). Following a dispute over government policy, Wilson resigned his position in 1951 and a few months later the Labour Party lost office following the 1951 general election. In opposition he went onto hold a number of important positions and in 1963, after an earlier failed attempt, became Labour leader (1963-76) and Leader of the Opposition (1963-64). Wilson was then later to go onto hold the office of Prime Minister on four separate occasions: from October 1964 - March 1966, April 1966 - June 1970, February 1974 - October 1974, and finally October 1974 - March 1976.

As Prime Minister, Wilson had to face many difficult domestic and foreign issues, but problems associated with Northern Ireland were also frequently to appear on his political agenda. This began soon after Labour returned to government in 1964, when the emerging civil rights movement in Northern Ireland, increasingly sought to interest Labour backbench MPs about its complaints of alleged discrimination by the Stormont authorities. Eventually this led to the formation of the Campaign for Democracy in Ulster (CDU), almost exclusively made up of Labour MPs, keen to monitor the situation in Northern Ireland. As a result the pressure grew on Wilson to take on a more active role and eventually he felt compelled to act. Initially however his reaction was to take a cautious approach and so through a series of meetings with Terence O'Neill, then Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, he sought to encourage O'Neill to fulfil the promises given that a programme of reforms would be carried through.

By the end of 1968 with growing civil unrest in the region, Wilson and James Callaghan, then British Home Secretary, found themselves having to consider direct intervention. This finally came after the decision to send British troops to Northern Ireland in August 1969, following a request for assistance from the Stormont government, who felt they could no longer adequately deal with the situation. In a series of discussions with representatives of the Northern Ireland government, Wilson and Callaghan came up with their own reform agenda, encompassing action in areas such as social, political and security issues. The opportunity to carry this through however was lost when Labour lost the 1970 general election. By the time the party was to return to government in 1974 Wilson was to face an entirely new set of challenges in Northern Ireland.

From the outgoing Conservative administration he had inherited the Sunningdale Agreement (1973) and in May 1974 unionist and loyalist opinion had combined to organise a general strike against it. His handling of this dispute was however to be condemned on all sides. For unionists and loyalists, a speech he gave on 25 May 1974 attacking the strike organisers and the particular accusation of "sponging on Westminster" provoked a great deal of resentment. As for nationalists, the failure of his government to confront the strike and the subsequent decision to seemingly give into its demands led to accusations of betrayal. Before resigning as Prime Minister in March 1976, he had overseen a final effort to achieve a political breakthrough in Northern Ireland with the establishment of the Constitutional Convention (1975-76). After his resignation he remained as an MP until retiring from active politics in 1983 and later in 1983 received a life peerage. He then took his seat in the House of Lords as Lord Wilson of Rievaulx but increasing ill-health led to him virtually withdrawing from public life.

Book References:
Elliott, Sydney. and Flackes, W.D. (1999), Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968-1999. Belfast: Blackstaff Press.
Hennessey, Thomas. (1997), A History of Northern Ireland 1920-1996. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan.
Ramsden, John (ed.) (2002), The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century British Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pimlott, Ben. (1992), Harold Wilson. London: Harper Collins.
Wilson, Harold. (1971), The Labour Government, 1964-70: A Personal Record. London: Penguin,1974.
Ziegler, Philip (1993), Wilson: The Authorised Life of Lord Wilson of Rievaulx. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Web Sources:
http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/page129.asp
http://www.britannia.com/gov/primes/prime52.html
http://www.hewett.norfolk.sch.uk/curric/POLIT/brit/wilson.htm
[Entry written by B.Lynn - 19 January 2003]

Wilson, ('Sammy') Samuel (b. 4 April 1953)
Politician; Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MLA

Sammy Wilson was born in Belfast and educated at Methodist College, Belfast before going to attend Queen's University Belfast, and Stranmillis Teacher Training College. After his graduation Wilson took up a teaching position and became actively involved in politics as a member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) as well as later serving as its Press Officer (1982-96). In 1981 he was elected as a DUP councillor to Belfast City Council (1981-present) and became the first person from the party to serve as Lord Mayor of the City (1985-86). He was a prominent member of the DUP's delegation to the political talks in the period 1991 to 1992. Wilson was then elected to the Northern Ireland Forum in May 1996 for the constituency of East Belfast (1996-98). Following the election to the Northern Ireland Assembly (NIA) in June 1998 he again went onto represent the area. In November 2001 with formation of the new Northern Ireland Policing Board (NIPB), he was one of three members of the DUP to take their seats on the board (2001-present).

Book References:
Elliott, Sydney. and Flackes, W.D. (1999), Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968-1999. Belfast: Blackstaff Press.
Web Sources:
http://www.ni-assembly.gov.uk/members/biogs/swilson.htm
http://www.stratagem-ni.org/
[Entry written by B.Lynn - 24 March 2003]

Windlesham, Lord (formerly Hennessy, David James George) (b. 28 January 1932)
Politician; Conservative Party MP; Minister of State at Northern Ireland Office (NIO) 1972-73

A graduate of Trinity College, Oxford, George Windlesham pursued various business before in 1962 assuming the title of Lord Windlesham on the death of his father. Having taken his seat in the House of Lords as a Conservative peer he was appointed as deputy to William Whitelaw when Whitelaw was appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in March 1972. As Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office (NIO), Windlesham had responsibility for the departments of Community Relations, Home Affairs, and Development, as well acting as the government's spokesman on Northern Ireland affairs in the House of Lords (1972-73). In 1973 he returned to Westminster when he became Government leader in the Lords (1973-74).

Book References:
Elliott, Sydney. and Flackes, W.D. (1999), Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968-1999. Belfast: Blackstaff Press.
Ramsden, John. (ed.) (2002), The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century British Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[Entry written by B.Lynn - 25 March 2003]