Patricia McLaughlin
Patricia McLaughlin | |
|---|---|
Formal portrait, 1959 | |
| Member of Parliament for Belfast West | |
| In office 26 May 1955 – 25 September 1964 | |
| Preceded by | Jack Beattie |
| Succeeded by | James Kilfedder |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Florence Patricia Alice Aldwell 23 June 1916 Downpatrick, County Down, Ireland |
| Died | 7 January 1997 (aged 80) Headbourne Worthy, Hampshire, England |
| Political party | Ulster Unionist |
| Spouse | Henry McLaughlin |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Trinity College Dublin |
Florence Patricia Alice McLaughlin OBE (née Aldwell; 23 June 1916 – 7 January 1997) was a unionist politician in Northern Ireland and one of the earliest female Members of Parliament (MPs) from the region.[1]
Early life
Florence Patricia Alice Aldwell was born in Downpatrick on 23 June 1916. Her father was ordained in the Church of Ireland.[2] She was educated at Ashleigh House and Trinity College, Dublin before going on to join the Ulster Unionist Party.[1] In 1937, she married Henry McLaughlin.[2]
Career
Chosen to represent the party in the West Belfast constituency for the 1955 general election, she captured the seat from incumbent Jack Beattie and went on to successfully defend it at the 1959 election before retiring from politics.[1] She made a surprise comeback in the 1970 general election as the Conservative Party candidate in Wandsworth Central, although she failed to win the seat.[1] She was also a founding member of the Westminster women's Orange Lodge.[2]
On 13 January 1958 she visited Crumlin Road Prison in Belfast where Irish Republican Army (IRA) inmate Eamonn Boyce noted in Irish in his diary entry from that date that she was inside 'looking at the animals!'.[3]
Personal life and death
McLaughlin and her husband had three children.[2] Her husband and one of their daughters predeceased her.[2] She was a devout Anglican.[2]
McLaughlin died from bronchopneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at a care home in Headbourne Worthy, Hampshire, on 7 January 1997, at the age of 80.[2]
Awards
McLaughlin was awarded the OBE in 1975.[4]
References
- ^ a b c d Bradford, Roy (24 January 1997). "Obituary: Patricia McLaughlin". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g Mulholland, Marc (2004). "McLaughlin, (Florence) Patricia Alice (1916–1997), politician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/64703. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Bryson, Anna (2007). "3". The Insider: The Belfast Prison Diaries of Eamonn Boyce 1956-1962. Dublin: The Lilliput Press. pp. 141–2. ISBN 9781843511298.
- ^ "No. 46593". The London Gazette. 6 June 1975. p. 7379.