Brenda Hale,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, (born 29 January 1968) is a Unionist politician from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

representing the

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist, Ulster loyalism, loyalist, British nationalist and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who ...

(DUP). She sat in the

Northern Ireland Assembly The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliam ...

as a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

(MLA) for

Lagan Valley The Lagan Valley (, Ulster Scots: ''Glen Lagan'') is an area of Northern Ireland between Belfast and Lisburn. The River Lagan rises on Slieve Croob in County Down and flows generally northward discharging into Belfast Lough. For a section, the ...

from

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

until her narrow defeat at the 2017 Assembly election. Hale's husband served with the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and was killed in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

in 2009. Hale then started to speak to the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

on behalf of other war widows. As of August 2015, she is a Political Member of the

Northern Ireland Policing Board The Northern Ireland Policing Board (, Ulster-Scots: ''Norlin Airlan Polisin Boord'') is the police authority for Northern Ireland, charged with supervising the activities of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). It is a non-department ...

. Her book, ''I Married A Soldier'', was published in 2017. It details Hale's family life with her husband and daughters leading to her entry into Northern Irish politics. Hale was honoured in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours list and was appointed an

for political service.Birthday Honours lists 2018
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hale, Brenda 1968 births Living people Democratic Unionist Party MLAs Female members of the Northern Ireland Assembly Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 People from Bangor, County Down Politicians from County Down Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire