George Seawright

George Seawright
Belfast City Councillor
In office 1981–1987
Constituency	Belfast North
Personal details
Born	c. 1951 Glasgow, Scotland
Died	3 December 1987 Belfast, Northern Ireland
Political party	Democratic Unionist Party
Spouse(s)	Liz Seawright
Children	3
Religion	Calvinist

George Seawright (c. 1951 - 3 December 1987) was a controversial unionist politician and paramilitary in Northern Ireland who was assassinated by the Irish People's Liberation Organisation (IPLO) during the Troubles.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland from an Ulster Protestant background, Seawright lived in Drumchapel and worked in the shipyards of Clydeside. Also living for a time in Springburn, he was one of the few Scots to join the Ulster Protestant Volunteers in the late 1960s.

He then worked in the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast until entering politics as a member of the Democratic Unionist Party. As well as being a shipyard worker he also served as a lay preacher and was an elder in north Belfast's John Knox Memorial Free Presbyterian Church. Seawright was also a member of an Orange Lodge in the Ballysillan area of North Belfast and the Apprentice Boys of Derry. He lived in the unionist Glencairn estate in the northwest of the city with his wife and three children.

Seawright was noted for his fiery rhetoric. He was elected to Belfast City Council in 1981 and soon developed a following amongst unionists. The following year he was elected as the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) candidate to the 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly. Seawright, who had initially campaigned for John McQuade before securing his own candidacy, had problems with the party leadership from early on as, he claimed, he was viewed as lacking respectability due to his rough personality, his residence in social housing and the fact that he was in arrears to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.

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