Basil Brooke (9 June 1888-18 August 1973) was Prime Minister of Northern Ireland from 1 May 1943 to 26 March 1963, succeeding J.M. Andrews and preceding Terence O'Neill. He was among the most hardline anti-Catholic leaders of the Ulster Unionist Party.
Biography[]
Basil Brooke was born in Colebrooke, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland on 9 June 1888, and he was educated at Winchester and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. He served as a minister in the government of Northern Ireland during the 1930s, replacing J.M. Andrews as Prime Minister in May 1943. He modernized the government in membership and policy, and he was heavily involved in Prime Minister Clement Attlee's application of welfare reforms to Northern Ireland. In the 1950s, he presided over an economic expansion, which led him to overestimate his grip on the province, and his decision to oppose the selection of Catholics as candidates for his Ulster Unionist Party strengthened Catholic feeling against his government. He was replaced by Terence O'Neill in 1963, and he died ten years later.