Captain Robert Austin Ardill MC (1917 – 12 October 2010) was a

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

unionist

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Biography

Ardill was born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...

and educated at

Coleraine Academical Institution Coleraine Academical Institution (CAI and styled locally as Coleraine Inst) was a voluntary grammar school for boys in Coleraine, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Coleraine Academical Institution occupied a site on the Castlerock Road, ...

. He later worked as the managing director of a feedstuffs company. He served in the Royal Irish Fusiliers from 1939 to 1946, winning the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

for his bravery on the Greek island of

Leros Leros ( el, Λέρος) is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese in the southern Aegean Sea. It lies (171 nautical miles) from Athens's port of Piraeus, from which it can be reached by an 9-hour ferry ride or by a 45-minute flight f ...

and retiring as a captain. He was a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of ...

for 18 months before being freed by Allied troops after the D-Day landings. He also served as chairman of the Irish Temperance League. After the war he became involved with the

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule ...

(UUP) and was elected as a member of

Larne Rural District Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight roll-on roll-off port. Larne is administered by Mi ...

Council. In 1965 he was elected as a member of the

Parliament of Northern Ireland The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore o ...

, representing Carrick. He was opposed to the political reform programme of the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Terence O'Neill Terence Marne O'Neill, Baron O'Neill of the Maine, PC (NI) (10 September 1914 – 12 June 1990), was the fourth prime minister of Northern Ireland and leader (1963–1969) of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). A moderate unionist, who sought ...

and as a result lost the UUP nomination for Carrick in 1969 to

Anne Dickson Anne Letitia Dickson CBE (born 18 April 1928) is a former Northern Ireland Unionist politician. Born in London, she moved with her family to Northern Ireland at an early age and was educated at Holywood and Richmond Lodge School.Ulster Vanguard The Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party (VUPP), informally known as Ulster Vanguard, was a unionist political party which existed in Northern Ireland between 1972 and 1978. Led by William Craig, the party emerged from a split in the Ulster Unio ...

movement, as one of its deputy leaders. The movement was launched on opposed to any further reforms which would threaten the status quo. When the movement broke away from the UUP to form a separate political party, Ardill chose to remain with the UUP. In 1973, Ardill was elected to the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameral , house1 = , leader1_type = ...

, representing South Antrim. Although he signed the pledge to support the former Prime Minister

Brian Faulkner Arthur Brian Deane Faulkner, Baron Faulkner of Downpatrick, (18 February 1921 – 3 March 1977), was the sixth and last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, from March 1971 until his resignation in March 1972. He was also the chief executive ...

, he changed sides after the election to oppose the

Sunningdale Agreement The Sunningdale Agreement was an attempt to establish a power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive and a cross-border Council of Ireland. The agreement was signed at Sunningdale Park located in Sunningdale, Berkshire, on 9 December 1973. Union ...

. Ardill was courted by the

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by ...

and considered switching to that party before ultimately deciding to remain an Ulster Unionist.Steve Bruce, ''Paisley: Religion and Politics in Northern Ireland'', Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 121 He was re-elected for South Antrim in the

Constitutional Convention Constitutional convention may refer to: * Constitutional convention (political custom), an informal and uncodified procedural agreement *Constitutional convention (political meeting), a meeting of delegates to adopt a new constitution or revise an e ...

election of 1975. In September 1979 he stood in the UUP leadership election but lost to

James Molyneaux James Henry Molyneaux, Baron Molyneaux of Killead, KBE, PC (27 August 1920 – 9 March 2015) was a Northern Irish unionist politician who served as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1979 to 1995, and as the Member of Parliament ( ...

. In the wake of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985, he became involved in the

Charter Group A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

, a pressure group within the UUP which had the restoration of devolution as its main objective and accepted an Irish dimension in Northern Ireland politics. A close friend of Rev Martin Smyth, Ardill would briefly return to politics in the late 1990s when he joined Smyth in campaigning against the

Belfast Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in Nor ...

Personal life

His wife Molly Ardill later served on Carrick Borough council as a UUP,

Independent Unionist Independent Unionist has been a label sometimes used by candidates in elections in the United Kingdom, indicating a support for British unionism (not to be confused with trade unionism). It is most popularly associated with candidates in elect ...

and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

councillor, reaching the post of deputy mayor. Betty Orr his daughter, was a schoolteacher who upon her retirement received praise for her work at the school where she taught and for building cross community links.

Burial

He was buried after a ceremony in the Holy Trinity

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second l ...

in Carrickfergus."Tributes paid to unionist stalwart"
''The Newsletter''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ardill, Austin 1917 births 2010 deaths Ulster Unionist Party members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland Councillors in County Antrim Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly 1973–1974 Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1965–1969 Members of the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention British Army personnel of World War II Recipients of the Military Cross Royal Irish Fusiliers officers People of The Troubles (Northern Ireland) British World War II prisoners of war Politicians from Belfast Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for County Antrim constituencies Ulster Unionist Party councillors Military personnel from Belfast World War II prisoners of war held by Germany