The Ulster Liberal Party was a liberal

Liberalism

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

 political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in Northern Ireland

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...

, supporting a unionist position and linked to the British Liberal Party

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

.

The party succeeded the Northern Ireland Liberal Association, which was active before World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and relaunched in May 1928. It nominated candidates in the UK general election, 1929, including future Seanad Éireann

Seanad Éireann

Seanad Éireann is the upper house of the Oireachtas , which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann . It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its members Senators or Seanadóirí . Unlike Dáil Éireann, it is not directly elected but consists of a mixture of members chosen by...

 member Denis Ireland and Unbought Tenants' Association

Unbought Tenants' Association

The Unbought Tenants' Association was an agrarian political party in Northern Ireland in the 1920s. Under the Irish Land Acts, most farmers in the preceding decades had acquired the freehold to their farms; the Association represented the interests of remaining tenant farmers...

 MP George Henderson

George Henderson (Northern Ireland politician)

George Henderson was a farmer and politician in Northern Ireland.Henderson worked as a farmer in County Antrim. Around the time of his retirement, he was appointed Chairman of the Unbought Tenants' Association. Standing as a representative of that group, he won a seat in Antrim at the Northern...

, before the party became inactive.

The party was re-founded by Albert McElroy

Albert McElroy

Albert Horatio McElroy was a minister of religion and politician in Northern Ireland.Born in Glasgow, McElroy studied at Trinity College Dublin, then at Manchester College in Oxford .McElroy joined the Northern Ireland Labour Party , in which he acted as an ally of Harry Midgley, and was elected as...

 in 1956, as the Ulster Liberal Association. From 1961 to 1969, the party had one seat in the House of Commons of Northern Ireland

House of Commons of Northern Ireland

The House of Commons of Northern Ireland was the lower house of the Parliament of Northern Ireland created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The upper house in the bicameral parliament was called the Senate. It was abolished with the passing of the Northern Ireland Constitution Act...

, when Sheelagh Murnaghan

Sheelagh Murnaghan

Sheelagh Mary Murnaghan was an Ulster Liberal Party Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Northern Ireland at Stormont....

 held one of the four seats allocated to Queen's University, Belfast

Queen's University, Belfast (UK Parliament constituency)

Queen's University of Belfast was a university constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Parliament from 1918 until 1950.It returned one Member of Parliament , elected by the first-past-the-post voting system.-Boundaries:...

. In 1967, it was represented on the committee of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association

Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association

The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was an organisation which campaigned for equal civil rights for the all the people in Northern Ireland during the late 1960s and early 1970s...

.

After 1970, it suffered the loss of many of its members to the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland

Alliance Party of Northern Ireland

The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland is a liberal and nonsectarian political party in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's fifth-largest party overall, with eight seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly and one in the House of Commons....

. Its last political contest was the 1985 local government election

Northern Ireland local elections, 1985

Elections for local government were held in Northern Ireland on 15 May 1985.-1981 elections:The previous elections had been fought in the middle of the hunger strike and the H-Block Prison Protest...

, after which its last remnants joined the Labour '87 group. The Liberal Democrats, successor to the British Liberal Party, later formed links with the Alliance Party

Alliance Party of Northern Ireland

The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland is a liberal and nonsectarian political party in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's fifth-largest party overall, with eight seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly and one in the House of Commons....

. There is also a small, somewhat inactive, local party of the Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...

 in Northern Ireland

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...

.