Robert Bradford (NI politician)
|
Robert Bradford MP |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Member of Parliament for Belfast South |
|
|
In office 28 February 1974 – 14 November 1981 |
|
| Preceded by | Rafton Pounder |
| Succeeded by | Martin Smyth |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Robert Jonathan Bradford 8 June 1941 Limavady, Northern Ireland |
| Died | 14 November 1981 (aged 40) Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party |
Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party Ulster Unionist Party |
| Spouse(s) | Norah Bradford |
| Children | Claire Bradford |
| Profession | Clergyman |
Reverend Robert Jonathan Bradford (8 June 1941 – 14 November 1981) was a Methodist Minister and a Vanguard Unionist and Ulster Unionist Member of Parliament for the Belfast South constituency in Northern Ireland until his assassination by the Provisional Irish Republican Army on 14 November 1981.
Bradford was born on 8 June 1941 to a Belfast family resident in Limavady, County Londonderry, due to the wartime evacuation. Bradford's father left the family not long after his birth and his mother died so he was raised by foster parents. A talented footballer, Bradford signed for Glenavon F.C. as a teenager and his displays soon attracted the attentions of the English side Sheffield Wednesday F.C, who invited him to a trial. However, Bradford was not signed by the club and returned to Northern Ireland to resume his career with the then Belfast-based club Distillery.
Bradford gave up football in 1964, after deciding to train to become a Methodist minister. After spending the rest of the 1960s attached to congregations in East Belfast and Fivemiletown, Bradford was fully ordained in 1970 and given his own parish in the Suffolk area of southwest Belfast. Bradford would later be removed from his post in the late 1970s and would spend the final years of his life without a church. During these years he came to spend time in the 'Bible belt' of the United States and became associated with Evangelicalism. Nevertheless, Bradford claimed to always remain at heart a Methodist and also rejected suggestions that he was to join Ian Paisley's Free Presbyterian Church (which he never did).
...
Wikipedia