The Right Honourable The Lord Faulkner of Downpatrick PC |
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Chief Executive of Northern Ireland | |
In office 1 January 1974 – 28 May 1974 |
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Preceded by | Office created |
Succeeded by | Office abolished |
Prime Minister of Northern Ireland | |
In office 23 March 1971 – 30 March 1972 |
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Preceded by | James Chichester-Clark |
Succeeded by | Office abolished |
Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party | |
In office 31 March 1971 – 22 January 1974 |
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Preceded by | James Chichester-Clark |
Succeeded by | Harry West |
Member of the Northern Ireland Parliament for East Down |
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In office 19 February 1949 – 30 March 1972 |
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Preceded by | Alexander Gordon |
Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
Personal details | |
Born |
Helen's Bay, Ireland |
18 February 1921
Died | 3 March 1977 Seaforde, Northern Ireland |
(aged 56)
Nationality | British |
Political party | Ulster Unionist Party, UPNI |
Spouse(s) | Lucy Forsythe |
Children | 3 |
Education | St Columba's College |
Alma mater | Queen's University Belfast |
Religion | Presbyterian |
Arthur Brian Deane Faulkner, Baron Faulkner of Downpatrick, PC (18 February 1921 – 3 March 1977) was the sixth and last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, from March 1971 until his resignation in March 1972. He was also the chief executive of the short-lived Northern Ireland Executive during the first half of 1974.
Faulkner was born in Helen's Bay, County Down, the elder of two sons of James and Nora Faulkner. His younger brother was Colonel Sir Dennis Faulkner, CBE VRD UD DL. James Faulkner owned the Belfast Collar Company which traded under the name Faulat. At that time, Faulat was the largest single purpose shirt manufacturer in the world, employing some 3,000 people. He was educated initially at Elm Park preparatory school, Killylea, County Armagh, but at 14 was sent to the Church of Ireland St Columba's College at Rathfarnham in Dublin, although Faulkner was Presbyterian. Faulkner chose St Columba's, preferring to stay in Ireland rather than go to school in England; whilst there his best friend was Michael Yeats, son of W. B. Yeats. He was the only Prime Minister of Northern Ireland to have been educated in the Irish Free State and one of only two to have been educated in Ireland.
Faulkner entered the Queen's University of Belfast in 1939 to study law, but, with the advent of World War II, he quit his studies to work full-time in the family shirt-making business.