Nathaniel Owens Minford (2 December 1912 – 5 September 1975) was a Northern Irish unionist politician.

Life

Minford was born in

Templepatrick Templepatrick (; ) is a village and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is northwest of Belfast, and halfway between the towns of Ballyclare and Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim. It is also close to Belfa ...

and was the son of Hugh Minford, who became an

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it l ...

(UUP) 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 ord ...

. Nat studied at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution before following his father into

farming Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, and also going into business.Biographies of Members of the Northern Ireland House of Commons
/ref> Minford's father died in 1950, and Nat was selected to contest the resulting by-election in Antrim for the UUP. He was successful and held the seat at each election until the Parliament was prorogued in 1972. At the end of an

Orange Institution The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants. It also has lodges in England, Grand Orange Lodge of ...

meeting during the 1951 general election, the chair gave the customary declaration "

God Save the King "God Save the King" ("God Save the Queen" when the monarch is female) is ''de facto'' the national anthem of the United Kingdom. It is one of national anthems of New Zealand, two national anthems of New Zealand and the royal anthem of the Isle ...

!". Minford replied "and to hell with the

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

!" An '' Irish News'' reporter was in the meeting and included this remark in his report. The following year, the Ulster Unionist Council rebuked him for this, stating they regretted this insult to their "Roman Catholic fellow citizens" and noted their "detestation of such statements, which are entirely opposed to the principles of the Unionist Party". Minford had much to say on Catholicism. In 1959, he called for security screening of

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

s and asked for the percentage of Catholics employed to be made known. During the 1960s, Minford attended a Catholic church service on the occasion of the opening of a

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

in Andersonstown. For this, he was questioned by his Orange Lodge, but was let off with a warning. He later stated that he considered it acceptable for Catholics to be members of the UUP, but that they could never be Unionist Members of Parliament. Minford received a threat from the Ulster Volunteer Force in 1966, and as a result, the Stormont Committee on Privilege was set up. In 1967, Minford became the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Development. The following year he became the Ministry's Senior Parliamentary Secretary, and in 1969 he became its Minister of State, also joining the

Privy Council of Northern Ireland The Privy Council of Northern Ireland is a dormant privy council formerly advising the Governor of Northern Ireland in his role as viceroy of the British Crown, in particular in the exercise of the monarch's prerogative powers. The council wa ...

. In 1971, Minford became the Minister and Leader of the House of Commons. He was the last holder of the post. Minford was elected to 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 ...

in South Antrim, and became the Speaker of the Assembly. In 1982,

Ian Paisley Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, (6 April 1926 – 12 September 2014) was a loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader from Northern Ireland who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and ...

described Minford as "...reckoned to be an extreme Right-wing Unionist... However, Nat Minford gained the respect of the Assembly."Probation Board (Northern Ireland)

Hansard ''Hansard'' is the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official printe ...

, 10 May 1982

References