THROUGH THE ARCHIVES: Major O’Neill to stand for election in Mid-Antrim

From the News Letter, November 19, 1918
By Darryl Armitage
Published 19th Nov 2020, 06:00 BST
Church Street, Ballymena, Co Antrim by photographer Robert French. Held by the National Library of Ireland as part of the Lawrence Photograph Collection (NLI Ref: L_ROY_11241). Picture: National Library of Ireland/Flickr CommonsChurch Street, Ballymena, Co Antrim by photographer Robert French. Held by the National Library of Ireland as part of the Lawrence Photograph Collection (NLI Ref: L_ROY_11241). Picture: National Library of Ireland/Flickr Commons
Church Street, Ballymena, Co Antrim by photographer Robert French. Held by the National Library of Ireland as part of the Lawrence Photograph Collection (NLI Ref: L_ROY_11241). Picture: National Library of Ireland/Flickr Commons

A meeting of delegates (“men and women”) in connection with the Mid-Antrim Constitutional and Unionist Association had been held in Ballymena’s Protestant Hall at which Major Hugh O’Neill was officially selected as the candidate to stand in the forthcoming 1918 general election.

O’Neill was the incumbent MP having inherited the seat unopposed on in 1915 on the death of his elder brother the Honourable Arthur Edward Bruce O’Neill who had been killed in action at Klein Zillebeke Ridge on November 4, 1914, aged 38.

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The late O’Neill was to be the first MP to be killed in the First World War, he was also the father of the future Ulster PM Terence O’Neill. Major O’Neill was proposed by the Rev Andrew Patton who said that he wished to see the tradition of an O’Neill representing the constituency.

Seconding the Rev Patton’s proposal Mr Huston Lancashire JP said that if the association did not select the major “it would be a most ungrateful act, considering what the O’Neills and the brave men who had gone from Ulster had done for them”.

As the major was unable to attend the selection meeting as he was currently on service in Palestine his wife spoke on his behalf and said that he would “do his utmost to justify their confidence in him, maintain the Union, and safeguard the interests of Ulster, especially those of Mid-Antrim”.

Related topics:Ballymena

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