William Dickson (Northern Ireland politician)

William Dickson (born 1947), known as Billy Dickson, is a unionist politician in Northern Ireland.

Early life and education

Dickson was born in Greencastle and grew up off the Donegall Road in Belfast,[1] where he studied at Kelvin Secondary School.[2]

Career

Dickson first rose to prominence in 1970, as the secretary of the Donegall Road Defence Committee, at which time he was also active in Ian Paisley's Protestant Unionist Party (PUP).[3]

Dickson was a founder member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the successor to the PUP. He was elected to Belfast City Council in 1977, and again stood for the party in Belfast West at the 1979 UK general election, taking third place with 11.2% of the vote.[2][4] He was able to hold his council seat in 1981.[4]

Dickson was selected as a candidate for Belfast West at the 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly election. Six weeks before the election, he was shot at his home by members of the Irish National Liberation Army.[5] He survived the attack, although he was unable to take part in the remainder of the election campaign,[6] and narrowly failed to win election.[4]

Although Dickson was re-elected at the 1985 local election, and served as Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast in 1986, he then left the DUP and stood as an independent Unionist in 1989 local election, losing his seat.[7] He subsequently joined the Conservatives in Northern Ireland, but again missed election when he stood for them in 1993.[8]

Outside politics, Dickson long worked at the Ulster Museum,[9] but later became a tour guide, specialising in the history of Belfast and the Ulster Covenant.[10] He served as a Royal Ulster Constabulary Reservist, and from 2007 had a weekly column in the South Belfast Community Telegraph.[1]

Dickson later joined Traditional Unionist Voice, and at the 2014 Northern Ireland local elections, he stood unsuccessfully for the party in Botanic.[11] He subsequently left the party, and in 2016 formed his own organisation, South Belfast Unionists, for which he stood in Belfast South at the 2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election,[12] taking 351 first preference votes.

References
  1. Rebecca Petticrew, "Through the Grapevine - Billy Dickson", Belfast Telegraph, 10 October 2013
  2. The Times Guide to the House of Commons May 1979, p.49
  3. Steve Bruce, The Red Hand, p.39
  4. The Local Government Elections 1973–1981: Belfast, Northern Ireland Elections
  5. J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA, p.531
  6. "Ulster alert after school shooting", Glasgow Herald, 19 October 1982, p.1
  7. "Local Government Elections 1985 - 1989: Belfast", Northern Ireland Elections
  8. "Belfast City Council Elections 1993-2011", Northern Ireland Elections
  9. Bill Rolston, Politics and Painting, p.52
  10. "William Dickson", Northern Ireland Tourist Guide Association
  11. "Botanic", BBC News
  12. Rebecca Black, "Billy Dickson’s new party South Belfast Unionists joins the fray", Belfast Telegraph, 13 April 2016
Civic offices
Preceded by
Hugh Smyth		 Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast
1985–1986		 Succeeded by
Dixie Gilmore
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