Ken Maginnis, Baron Maginnis of Drumglass
| The Lord Maginnis of Drumglass | |
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Member of Parliament for Fermanagh and South Tyrone |
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In office 9 June 1983 – 7 June 2001 |
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| Preceded by | Owen Carron |
| Succeeded by | Michelle Gildernew |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
21 January 1938 Dungannon, Northern Ireland |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Independent Ulster Unionist |
| Other political affiliations |
Ulster Unionist Party (until 2012) |
| Alma mater | Royal School Dungannon |
Major Kenneth Wiggins Maginnis, Baron Maginnis of Drumglass (born 21 January 1938) is a Northern Irish politician who sits as a life peer in the House of Lords, formerly for the Ulster Unionist Party. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 1983 to 2001.
Maginnis was educated at The Royal School in Dungannon and at Stranmillis College in Stranmillis in Belfast. He worked as a teacher for a number of years before joining the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) in 1971. After leaving the British Army with the rank of major in 1981, he became the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) spokesman on internal security and defence, and was that same year elected to Dungannon District Council, on which he sat for twelve years until losing his seat in 1993.
Maginnis was the Ulster Unionist candidate for Fermanagh and South Tyrone in the second by-election in 1981, coming second. This by-election was caused by the death of sitting MP Bobby Sands on hunger strike. As a result of changes to the electoral law with the passing of the Representation of the People Act 1981, another hunger striker could not be nominated. Instead Owen Carron, who had served as Sands' election agent in the earlier election, was nominated and elected as a "Anti-H-Block Proxy Political Prisoner".
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