Gerard Benedict Newe CBE (5 February 1907 – 25 October 1982) was a Northern Irish politician. A Roman Catholic and Unionist,[1] he was the first Roman Catholic to be appointed a minister in the Government of Northern Ireland.[2]

Biography

Born at Cushendall, County Antrim, he was the son of gardener Patrick Newe and Catherine McCanny. He attended St. Malachy's College. A journalist, Newe edited The Ulster Farmer from 1931 to 1967.[3] He helped to establish the Northern Ireland Council of Social Service and was Secretary of the group from 1948 to 1972.[3] He was also a founder of the cross-community Protestant and Catholic Encounter Group.[3] He was awarded an honorary MA by Queen's University Belfast in 1967.[4]

Political career

Newe served as Minister of State in the Northern Ireland Government from 1971 to 1972.[5] Although not a member of the parliament,[6] he was appointed by Brian Faulkner as part of an attempt to liberalise the government of Northern Ireland. Newe was the only Catholic to serve as a minister in the original Stormont government.[7] He was appointed to Her Majesty's Privy Council of Northern Ireland on 27 October 1971 at Government House, Hillsborough.[8][9]

Long before his appointment, Dr. Newe had made known his view that the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland needed to fully engage with the Northern Ireland Government. In 1958 he condemned the futility of depending on the Republic of Ireland’s legal claim to the territory of Northern Ireland and encouraged Catholics to co-operate with the Northern government, it being in his own words, “the authority that controls life and welfare."[10]

Awards

References

  1. ↑ Laura Cahillane, James Gallen, Tom Hickey, Judges, Politics and the Irish Constitution, Oxford University Press, 2017, ISBN 1526108208, pp. 199-200
  2. ↑ See: Executive Committee of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland
  3. 1 2 3 Chris Cook, The Routledge Guide to British Political Archives: Sources Since 1945, Routledge, 2012, ISBN 1136509623, p. 147
  4. ↑ QUB Honorary Degrees 1871-2016
  5. ↑ Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN) biography
  6. ↑ Berresford Ellis, Peter, A History of the Irish Working Class, 1985, p 324
  7. ↑ Alvin Jackson, Home Rule: An Irish History, 1800-2000, Oxford University Press, 2003, ISBN 019522048X, p. 249
  8. ↑ The Belfast Gazette, 5 November 1971
  9. ↑ CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1971
  10. ↑ Bardon, Jonathan, A History of Ulster, 1992, p 410
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