Herald has determined that since Baroness Paisley is already styled as such, Dr Paisley may not be styled Lord Paisley. Dr Paisley therefore wishes to be styled Lord Bannside. I think we should therefore describe our Dublin visit as that of Dr Paisley and not Lord Paisley. If it were not too much trouble would it be possible to change it. One might put Dr Paisley (Lord Bannside) visit and continue in the text with Dr Paisley and not Lord Paisley.Ed: Will change the texts accordingly. “Bannside” was the name of the constituency of the Stormont parliament represented by Terence O’Neill for many years. Indeed, no-one had ever opposed O’Neill in the constituency. By 1969 O’Neill was Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, but his reformist policy was opposed by Ian Paisley and others. In February 1969 O’Neill called a snap General Election, generally called the “Ulster at the Crossroads” election. Paisley opposed O’Neill in Bannside. Although O’Neill was re-elected, the size of Paisley’s vote humiliated O’Neill and he resigned as Prime Minister later that year, and from Stormont politics in 1970.

Dr Paisley (Lord Bannside) visit: Part 1, by Cllr Dr Ian Adamson OBE, Monday, June 14. 2010

Dr Paisley (Lord Bannside) visit: Part 2, by Cllr Dr Ian Adamson OBE, Monday, June 21. 2010

(later) In reply to Jonathan below, Terence O’Neill represented Bannside in the Stormont Parliament from 1946 onward – and he had been never opposed in an election for the constituency until the election of February 1969 when the voting went –

Terence O’Neill (Ulster Unionist) 7,745
Ian Paisley (Protestant Unionist) 6,331
Michael Farrell (People’s Democracy) 2,310

O’Neill’s majority was 1,414, but he, the serving Prime Minister, was humiliated. O’Neill resigned as Prime Minister a few months later and from Stormont politics the following year. At the ensuing by-election, Ian Paisley took the seat which O’Neill had come to think of as his own, having represented it for over 20 years. Voting in 1970 went –

Ian Paisley (Protestant Unionist) 7,981
B. Minford (Ulster Unionist) 6,778
P. McHugh (Labour [NI]) 3,514

so that Ian Paisley’s majority was 1,203. The Bannside seat disappeared with the Stormont Parliament in 1972, and elections for the future NI Assemblies were by Proportional Representation for multi-member constituencies. By then Ian Paisley had established an even more important power base by winning the Westminster seat of North Antrim later in 1970 as a ‘Protestant Unionist’. He would retain the seat until April 2010.

The title “Lord Bannside” is a further humiliation for the memory of Terence O’Neill (O’Neill took the title “Lord O’Neill of the Maine” when ennobled), and the Ulster Unionist Party.

Links

Bannside (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency) – Wikipedia

North Antrim (UK Parliament constituency) – Wikipedia

Ian Paisley – Wikipedia