Alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...

Samuel Gardiner MBE JP (24 March 1940 – 8 November 2022) was a Northern Irish

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) politician who was a

Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs; ga, Comhaltaí den Tionól Reachtach; sco-ulster, Laa-Makkan Forgaitherars) are representatives elected by the voters to the Northern Ireland Assembly. About The Northern Ireland Assembly has 90 ...

(MLA) for Upper Bann from 2003 to 2016. Gardiner was elected to Lurgan Borough Council (now

Craigavon Borough Council Craigavon Borough Council was a local council in counties County Armagh, Armagh, County Down, Down and County Antrim, Antrim, in Northern Ireland. It merged with Armagh City and District Council and Banbridge District Council in May 2015 under l ...

) in 1963 and held office of

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

in that borough in 1968. He was mayor of Craigavon 1982/3, 1988/9 and 2000/1. Gardiner was elected to the

Northern Ireland Forum The Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The forum was elected, with five members being elected for each Westmin ...

and was party whip in the same in 1996–1998. Gardiner was elected to the Assembly in 2003. He served on the Environmental, Leisure Services and Public Services Liaison Committees and was the UUP spokesperson on environment. As the oldest Northern Ireland Assembly member, Gardiner also served as

Father of the House Father of the House is a title that has been traditionally bestowed, unofficially, on certain members of some legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. In some legislatures the title refers to the longest continuously- ...

, a role which includes presiding over the election of a new

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

of the Assembly. Gardiner was a High Sheriff for

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has ...

and was appointed a justice of the peace. He was also a member of the

Orange Order 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, particularly those of Ulster Scots people, Ulster Sco ...

, Deputy Sovereign Grand Master of the

Royal Black Institution The Royal Black Institution, the Imperial Grand Black Chapter Of The British Commonwealth, or simply the Black Institution,who?''/sup> argue is an Ulster syncretism of ritualistic Freemasonry. History The Royal Black Institution was forme ...

and former chairman of Glenavon F.C.. Gardiner died on 8 November 2022, at the age of 82.

References

External links

Profile on the UUP website

Stratagem profile

1940 births 2022 deaths People from Lurgan Members of the Order of the British Empire Mayors of Craigavon Ulster Unionist Party MLAs Members of the Northern Ireland Forum Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007 Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 British football chairmen and investors High Sheriffs of Armagh {{Northern-Ireland-MLA-stub