Charles Mulholland, 4th Baron Dunleath explained

Honorific Prefix:The Right Honourable
The 4th Baron Dunleath
Office:Member of the House of Lords
Term Start:1956
Term End:1993
Office1:Member of
the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention
for North Down
Term Start1:1975
Term End1:1976
Predecessor1:Convention founded
Successor1:Convention dissolved
Office2:Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
for North Down
Term Start2:28 June 1973
Term End2:1974
Predecessor2:Assembly established
Successor2:Assembly abolished
Birth Date:1933
Birth Place:County Down, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Party:Alliance Party (from 1973)
Otherparty:Ulster Unionist (until 1973)

Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Edward Henry John Mulholland, 4th Baron Dunleath, DL (1933–1993) was a Northern Irish politician and Territorial Army officer.

Early and personal life

Mulholland studied at Eton College and the University of Cambridge.[1] He was married to Dorinda (15 February 1929 – 19 March 2022), only daughter of Arthur Percival, on 5 December 1959.[2]

Career

Mulholland succeeded as Baron Dunleath in 1956 and entered the House of Lords. As Lord Dunleath, he became a deputy lieutenant of County Down and the commanding officer (lieutenant-colonel) of the North Irish Horse in the Territorial Army. He was also interested in vintage motoring.[3] In August 1967, he was appointed to the BBC's board of governors, taking over from Richard Pim as governor for Northern Ireland.[4]

In the early 1970s, Dunleath was active in the Ulster Defence Regiment and was an Ulster Unionist Party member.[5] However, he joined the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, and was elected for the party in North Down at the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election. He held the seat on the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention.[6]

Dunleath was the only Alliance Party member in the House of Lords.[7] While there, he strongly promoted the Education (Northern Ireland) Act, 1978, which permitted representatives of the Roman Catholic church to take a role in the Protestant-dominated state school system.[8] He also attempted to introduce a bill to liberalise divorce law in Northern Ireland.[9]

Dunleath was chairman of a company which bid for the Independent Television licence for Northern Ireland in 1979. In order to place the bid, he was required to resign from his party affiliation, and thereafter sat as a crossbencher. However, he was elected at the 1982 Assembly election for the Alliance Party again in North Down.

On Dunleath's death, his title passed to his first cousin Michael Mulholland.

See also

Notes and References

  1. Oliver Pritchett, "The team with the fate of radio in its hands", The Guardian, 29 May 1969
  2. https://www.ulsterarchitecturalheritage.org.uk/news/an-appreciation-of-dorinda-dunleath-by-alistair-rowan/ "An Appreciation of Dorinda Dunleath by Alistair Rowan". Ulster Architectural Heritage Society
  3. Ivan Yates and Laurence Marks, "BBC: When Curran tried to blow the whistle", The Observer, 22 February 1970
  4. "Lord Hill goes to BBC", The Guardian, 27 July 1967
  5. "Ulster scheme to recruit women for search duties", The Guardian, 12 June 1973
  6. http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/cnd.htm North Down 1973–1982
  7. "Resignation", The Guardian, 3 November 1979
  8. Bob Rodwell, "A integrated, all-Protestant school", The Guardian, 2 November 1981
  9. Anne McHardy, "Divorce reform for Ulster", The Guardian, 20 July 1977