Kennedy Lindsay
Encyclopedia
Kennedy Lindsay was a Northern Ireland
politician and a leading advocate of Ulster nationalism
.
Born in Saskatchewan
, Canada
of Ulster Scots descent, Lindsay was educated at Trinity College, Dublin
. After securing his PhD, he took up lecturing posts in North America
and Nigeria
before eventually settling in Northern Ireland and lecturing in the School of Humanities at the University of Ulster
in Coleraine
, County Londonderry
.
Lindsay entered politics as a member of the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party
and was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly
set up under the 1973 Sunningdale Agreement
to represent that party.
His Eight Point Ulster Plan, produced for the Loyalist Association of Workers
, had garnered him much attention and he soon rose to become on of the most prominent members of the Vanguard. As per CAIN, the Eight Point Ulster Plan's main points can be summarized as follows:
Deeply opposed to the Assembly, Lindsay had also grown disillusioned with unionism, and began to call for implementation of the ideas of W. F. McCoy
, who had earlier called for Northern Ireland to be granted Dominion
status. He felt that his plan, which he had intended to strengthen the Union, had been ignored and so moved to a more formal separation for Northern Ireland. In 1972 he published a paper, Dominion of Ulster, in which he likened Irish Nationalists to the pre-World War two Sudeten Germans and described the late Stormont era as Ulster's "Vichy period".
Lindsay underlined this new-found commitment when, in 1975, he set up the Ulster Dominion Group, which would emerge as the British Ulster Dominion Party
in 1977. The party contested local elections without success and also produced a newspaper, The Ulsterman, which enjoyed wider circulation than the party had support.
Lindsay withdrew from politics after it became clear that the BUDP was not going to get anywhere. He then turned his attention to writing books about the British secret service operations in Northern Ireland, including Ambush at Tullywest and The British Intelligence Services in Action. The former, Ambush at Tullywest, would later be quoted by Sinn Féin
MLA Mary Nelis
in a Northern Ireland Assembly
debate on security forces collusion in Northern Ireland. Lindsay briefly returned in 1982 to stand in an Assembly election in South Antrim
as a candidate for the United Ulster Unionist Party
, although he and his running mate Samuel Larmour came bottom of the poll.
In 1996 Lindsay made an even briefer return when he formed the British Ulster Unionist Party with the intention of standing in elections to the Northern Ireland Forum
but in the event the party did not run any candidates.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
politician and a leading advocate of Ulster nationalism
Ulster nationalism
Ulster nationalism is the name given to a school of thought in Northern Irish politics that seeks the independence of Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom without becoming part of the Republic of Ireland, thereby becoming an independent sovereign state separate from England, Scotland and Wales...
.
Born in Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
of Ulster Scots descent, Lindsay was educated at Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
. After securing his PhD, he took up lecturing posts in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
before eventually settling in Northern Ireland and lecturing in the School of Humanities at the University of Ulster
University of Ulster
The University of Ulster is a multi-campus, co-educational university located in Northern Ireland. It is the largest single university in Ireland, discounting the federal National University of Ireland...
in Coleraine
Coleraine
Coleraine is a large town near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is northwest of Belfast and east of Derry, both of which are linked by major roads and railway connections...
, County Londonderry
County Londonderry
The place name Derry is an anglicisation of the old Irish Daire meaning oak-grove or oak-wood. As with the city, its name is subject to the Derry/Londonderry name dispute, with the form Derry preferred by nationalists and Londonderry preferred by unionists...
.
Lindsay entered politics as a member of the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party
Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party
The Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party , informally known as Ulster Vanguard, was a unionist political party which existed in Northern Ireland between 1973 and 1978...
and was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly
Northern Ireland Assembly
The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...
set up under the 1973 Sunningdale Agreement
Sunningdale Agreement
The Sunningdale Agreement was an attempt to establish a power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive and a cross-border Council of Ireland. The Agreement was signed at the Civil Service College in Sunningdale Park located in Sunningdale, Berkshire, on 9 December 1973.Unionist opposition, violence and...
to represent that party.
His Eight Point Ulster Plan, produced for the Loyalist Association of Workers
Loyalist Association of Workers
The Loyalist Association of Workers was a militant unionist organisation in Northern Ireland that sought to mobilise trade union members in support of the loyalist cause...
, had garnered him much attention and he soon rose to become on of the most prominent members of the Vanguard. As per CAIN, the Eight Point Ulster Plan's main points can be summarized as follows:
- The sole task for the future must be to destroy the Irish Republican ArmyIrish Republican ArmyThe Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
- The British government must commit to governing Northern Ireland in the same way as the rest of the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
- The government must fully identify itself as being with the Ulster people and abandon any notions of being simply a neutral arbiter
- The security forces must be strengthened for war on the IRA
- More local personnel must be recruited to the Royal Ulster ConstabularyRoyal Ulster ConstabularyThe Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...
and Ulster Defence RegimentUlster Defence RegimentThe Ulster Defence Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army which became operational in 1970, formed on similar lines to other British reserve forces but with the operational role of defence of life or property in Northern Ireland against armed attack or sabotage...
. - The Ulster Defence AssociationUlster Defence AssociationThe Ulster Defence Association is the largest although not the deadliest loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during "The Troubles"...
should be incorporated into the security forces - The British ArmyBritish ArmyThe British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and the police must be given vastly improved weapons and techniques - The government must induce the Republic of IrelandRepublic of IrelandIreland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
to stop harbouring IRA members.
Deeply opposed to the Assembly, Lindsay had also grown disillusioned with unionism, and began to call for implementation of the ideas of W. F. McCoy
W. F. McCoy
William Frederick McCoy was an Ulster Unionist member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland for South Tyrone who went on to become an early supporter of Ulster nationalism....
, who had earlier called for Northern Ireland to be granted Dominion
Dominion
A dominion, often Dominion, refers to one of a group of autonomous polities that were nominally under British sovereignty, constituting the British Empire and British Commonwealth, beginning in the latter part of the 19th century. They have included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland,...
status. He felt that his plan, which he had intended to strengthen the Union, had been ignored and so moved to a more formal separation for Northern Ireland. In 1972 he published a paper, Dominion of Ulster, in which he likened Irish Nationalists to the pre-World War two Sudeten Germans and described the late Stormont era as Ulster's "Vichy period".
Lindsay underlined this new-found commitment when, in 1975, he set up the Ulster Dominion Group, which would emerge as the British Ulster Dominion Party
British Ulster Dominion Party
The British Ulster Dominion Party was a minor political party in Northern Ireland during the 1970s.The party began in 1975 as the Ulster Dominion Group, when Professor Kennedy Lindsay broke from the United Ulster Unionist movement , itself a breakaway from the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party to...
in 1977. The party contested local elections without success and also produced a newspaper, The Ulsterman, which enjoyed wider circulation than the party had support.
Lindsay withdrew from politics after it became clear that the BUDP was not going to get anywhere. He then turned his attention to writing books about the British secret service operations in Northern Ireland, including Ambush at Tullywest and The British Intelligence Services in Action. The former, Ambush at Tullywest, would later be quoted by Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
MLA Mary Nelis
Mary Nelis
Mary Margaret Nelis, was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly. She was born in Wellington Street in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1935. She is the eldest daughter of the late Catherine and Denis Elliott. She was educated at St Eugene's Convent School and left school at...
in a Northern Ireland Assembly
Northern Ireland Assembly
The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...
debate on security forces collusion in Northern Ireland. Lindsay briefly returned in 1982 to stand in an Assembly election in South Antrim
South Antrim (UK Parliament constituency)
South Antrim is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.-Boundaries:From 1885, this constituency was one of four county divisions of the former Antrim constituency...
as a candidate for the United Ulster Unionist Party
United Ulster Unionist Party
The United Ulster Unionist Party was a unionist political party which existed in Northern Ireland between 1975 and 1984.It emerged from a division in the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party in the late 1970s...
, although he and his running mate Samuel Larmour came bottom of the poll.
In 1996 Lindsay made an even briefer return when he formed the British Ulster Unionist Party with the intention of standing in elections to the Northern Ireland Forum
Northern Ireland Forum
The Northern Ireland Forum was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Belfast Agreement in 1998....
but in the event the party did not run any candidates.
External links
- Obituary
- Text of Lindsay's 1972 'Dominion of Ulster' pamphlet
- CAIN, Eight Point Ulster Plan