James Chichester-Clark (12 February 1923 – 17 May 2002) was Prime Minister of Northern Ireland from 1 May 1969 to 23 March 1971, succeeding Terence O'Neill and preceding Brian Faulkner. He was concurrently leader of the Ulster Unionist Party.
Biography[]
James Chichester-Clark was born in Moyola Park, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland on 12 February 1923. He was educated at Eton, and he joined the Irish Guards in 1942; he was wounded in Italy in 1944 while fighting in World War II. Chichester-Clark also served as aide-de-camp to the Governor-General of Canada, Harold Alexander, from 1947 to 1949. He left the army in 1960 as a Major, and he was elected an Ulster Unionist Party MP in Stormont that year. He served as Minister of Agriculture under Terence O'Neill from 1967, and he succeeded him as Prime Minister in 1969. He immediately issued an amnesty for those convicted of or charged with political offenses since October 1968. During his premiership, there was serious rioting in Londonderry and Belfast, and he was forced to ask for British troops to help maintain order. He remained in office until his resigation in March 1971. The period was marked by the emergence of the IRA as a threat to order, and it is believed that Chichester-Clark urged the British government to increase the numbers of troops in Northern Ireland, and to saturate areas dominated by the IRA with security forces. He died in Moyola Park in 2002.