Roy Bradford

Preceded byBrian FaulknerSucceeded byRobin BailieMember of Parliament
for Belfast VictoriaIn office
25 November 1965 – 30 March 1972Preceded byDavid BleakleySucceeded byParliament abolishedMajority423 (3.2%) Personal detailsBorn
7 July 1921
Ligoniel, Belfast, Northern IrelandDied2 September 1998 (aged 77)
Belfast, Northern IrelandNationalityBritishPolitical partyUlster Unionist PartyOther political
affiliationsUnionist Party NI (1974)SpouseHazel BradfordChildrenConor BradfordAlma materTrinity College DublinOccupationPolitician

Roy Hamilton Bradford (7 July 1921 – 2 September 1998) was a Northern Irish unionist politician. Bradford was a government minister in both the Parliament of Northern Ireland and the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly.

Background

Born in Ligoniel in Belfast, Bradford studied at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and Trinity College Dublin, where he was elected a Scholar. He then worked in British Army intelligence before moving to London, where he worked for the BBC and ITV. In 1960 he published a novel, Excelsior.^[1]

At the 1965 Northern Ireland general election, Bradford was elected for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in Belfast Victoria, defeating David Bleakley MP of the Northern Ireland Labour Party. In 1966 he was appointed as an Assistant Whip, then in 1968 as Chief Whip. From 1969 to 1971 he was the Minister of Commerce, becoming Minister of Development from 1971 to 1972.^[1]

At the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election, Bradford was elected in Belfast East. He sided in favour of the Sunningdale Agreement and remained loyal to Brian Faulkner, and was Minister in charge of the Department of the Environment until June 1974. He stood unsuccessfully in North Down at the February 1974 general election. He followed Brian Faulkner into the Unionist Party of Northern Ireland after the collapse of the power-sharing executive, but in June 1974 he returned to the UUP. He was not elected to the 1975 Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention.^[1]

Bradford completed a second novel, Last Ditch, in 1982. In 1989 he was elected to North Down Borough Council, where he joined his wife, Hazel, in the UUP group. He worked as a journalist, writing an influential weekly column in the Belfast News Letter and also served as a councillor and Mayor of North Down.^[1] In 1996, he was an unsuccessful candidate in the Northern Ireland Forum election in North Down.^[2]

His papers were deposited in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. Roy and Hazel Bradford's son, Conor Bradford, is a presenter of Good Morning Ulster for BBC Northern Ireland.^[3]

References

Parliament of Northern Ireland
Preceded by David Bleakley	Member of Parliament for Belfast Victoria 1965–1973	Parliament abolished
Northern Ireland Assembly (1973)
New assembly	Assembly Member for East Belfast 1973–1974	Assembly abolished
Party political offices
Preceded by Isaac George Hawthorne	Unionist Assistant Whip 1966–1967 With: Samuel Magowan	Succeeded by Samuel Magowan
Vacant Title last held by James Chichester-Clark	Unionist Chief Whip 1968–1969	Succeeded by John Dobson
Political offices
Preceded by Isaac George Hawthorne	Assistant Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Finance 1966–1967 With: Samuel Magowan	Succeeded by Samuel Magowan
Political offices
Vacant	Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education 1967–1968	Office abolished
Vacant Title last held by James Chichester-Clark	Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Finance 1968–1969	Office abolished
Preceded by Brian Faulkner	Minister of Commerce and Production 1969–1971	Succeeded by Robin Bailie
Civic offices
Preceded by Brian Wilson	Mayor of North Down 1994–95	Succeeded by Susan O'Brien