Robin Chichester-Clark
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Sir Robert "Robin" Chichester-Clark (10 January 1928 – 5 August 2016) was a British politician who served as a Member of Parliament for Londonderry from 1955 until February 1974, and to date was the last MP representing a seat in
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 ...
to be a British
government minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...
.


Early life

Chichester-Clark was born at
Moyola Park Moyola Park is a country estate near Castledawson, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It was formerly the home of Lady Moyola and Lord Moyola, former Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. The estate is and is home to Moyola Park Golf ...
, Castledawson, County Londonderry, his family's ancestral home. He was the eldest of three children of James J. Lenox-Conyngham Clark and Marion Caroline Dehra, née Chichester. His brother was
James Chichester-Clark James Dawson Chichester-Clark, Baron Moyola (12 February 1923 – 17 May 2002) was the penultimate Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and eighth leader of the Ulster Unionist Party between 1969 and March 1971. He was Member of the Northern I ...
and his sister was
Penelope Hobhouse Penelope Hobhouse MBE (née Chichester-Clark; born 20 November 1929) is a British garden writer, designer, lecturer and television presenter. Early life Born into an Anglo-Irish family in Moyola Park, Castledawson, she is the daughter of Ja ...
, the garden writer and historian. In 1924, his father changed the family name to ''Chichester-Clark'' by deed poll, thus preventing the old ascendancy name Chichester (his wife's maiden name) from dying out. On his mother's side the family are descended from the Donegall Chichesters and were the heirs of the Dawsons of Castledawson, who had originally held Moyola Park. He was educated at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth and
Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...
. He began work as a journalist in 1949, worked as
public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...
officer for Glyndebourne 1952–3, before joining the publishing house
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
.


Political life

Chichester-Clark was elected for Londonderry at the 1955 general election. He was the third generation of politicians from his family. His grandfather, Robert Chichester, represented South Londonderry at the Imperial Parliament at
Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
; his grandmother, Dame Dehra Parker, and father were both members 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 ...
. His brother,
Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...
James Chichester-Clark James Dawson Chichester-Clark, Baron Moyola (12 February 1923 – 17 May 2002) was the penultimate Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and eighth leader of the Ulster Unionist Party between 1969 and March 1971. He was Member of the Northern I ...
, was
Prime Minister of Northern Ireland The prime minister of Northern Ireland was the head of the Government of Northern Ireland (1921–1972), Government of Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. No such office was provided for in the Government of Ireland Act 1920; however, the L ...
from 1969 to 1971, but resigned in the face of increasing violence and internal
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 ...
splits. The family were also active in politics in the 19th century and Chichester-Clark's great-great-grandfather, The Rt. Hon. George Robert Dawson, was Member of Parliament for Londonderry, later for an English constituency, before joining the government of Sir Robert Peel, whose sister Mary he married. They lived at Castledawson. Chichester-Clark was consistently either a Front Bench Spokesman for the Opposition or a member of the Government of Harold Macmillan and, later, Edward Heath. He held the position of Assistant Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of the Treasury,
Comptroller of the Household The Comptroller of the Household is an ancient position in the British royal household, nominally the second-ranking member of the Lord Steward's department after the Treasurer of the Household. The Comptroller was an ''ex officio'' member of ...
, was Conservative Spokesman for Northern Ireland and on the Arts, Shadow Minister of Public Building and Works and, ultimately, Minister of State for Employment. In 1970 he remained outside the UK government because of the Premiership of his brother in Northern Ireland. When
Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 ...
suspended the Stormont Government and Parliament in 1972, he asked Chichester-Clark to go with
William Whitelaw William Stephen Ian Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw (28 June 1918 – 1 July 1999) was a British Conservative Party politician who served in a wide number of Cabinet positions, most notably as Home Secretary from 1979 to 1983 and as '' de fac ...
to Northern Ireland as Minister of State. Chichester-Clark did not accept but later joined the administration as Minister of State for Employment. Before the February 1974 election he announced his retirement from the Londonderry constituency and did not put himself forward for reselection.


Later life

From 1974 he worked as a director of companies in the construction industry, as a political adviser to the NFBTE, as a management consultant and as chairman of the medical research charity RAFT (www.raft.ac.uk) and The Arvon Foundation. He also helped with fundraising for the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...
and with the development of the Museum of Illustration. Chichester-Clark was interviewed in 2012 and 2014 as part of
The History of Parliament The History of Parliament is a project to write a complete history of the United Kingdom Parliament and its predecessors, the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of England. The history will principally consist of a prosopography, in w ...
's oral history project.


Personal life

He was first married to Jane Helen Goddard, daughter of Air Marshall Sir Robert Victor Goddard, KCB, CB. They married in 1953 and had three children, Emma, Mark and Sophia; they divorced in 1972. His second wife was the barrister Caroline Bull, daughter of the transport executive Anthony Bull. They married in 1974 and had two sons; Adam and Thomas.Mosley, Charles, (Ed.) ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage'' (107th edition, 3 volumes, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 581 He owned homes in Fulham, London, and Yarlington, Somerset. During a holiday in Burnham Overy, Norfolk, Chichester-Clark died from a stroke on 5 August 2016, at the age of 88. He was buried near his home in Yarlington.


Ancestors


References


Further reading

*


External links


Robin Chichester-Clark interview at History of Parliament OnlineThe Papers of Sir Robin Chichester-Clark
held at
Churchill Archives Centre The Churchill Archives Centre (CAC) at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge is one of the largest repositories in the United Kingdom for the preservation and study of modern personal papers. It is best known for housing the papers ...
, Cambridge {{DEFAULTSORT:Chichester-Clark, Robin 1928 births 2016 deaths Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Burials in Somerset Robin Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Londonderry constituencies (since 1922) Ministers in the Macmillan and Douglas-Home governments, 1957–1964 People from Castledawson People from Fulham Politicians from County Londonderry UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 Ulster Unionist Party MPs