The Lord Browne of Belmont | |
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Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast East |
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In office 7 March 2007 – 2011 |
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Preceded by | Michael Copeland |
Succeeded by | Sammy Douglas |
50th Lord Mayor of Belfast | |
In office 2005–2006 |
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Preceded by | Tom Ekin |
Succeeded by | Patrick McCarthy |
Personal details | |
Born | 29 October 1947 (age 69) |
Political party | Democratic Unionist Party |
Alma mater | Queen's University Belfast |
Religion | Protestant |
Wallace Hamilton Browne, Baron Browne of Belmont (born 29 October 1947) is a Northern Irish politician in the Democratic Unionist Party.
Browne was an unsuccessful candidate in East Belfast in the 1996 Northern Ireland Forum election. He was Lord Mayor of Belfast in 2005-06, and it was announced on 11 April 2006 that he would be one of the first three members of the DUP to be created a life peer, giving the party its first representation in the House of Lords. The other two are Maurice Morrow, the chairman of the DUP, and Eileen Paisley, a vice-president of the DUP and wife of the then Leader of the DUP, Ian Paisley; all became "working" life peers. At the same time, it was announced that David Trimble, former MP and former leader of the Ulster Unionists, was also being appointed as a working life peer. Browne was raised to the peerage as Baron Browne of Belmont, of Belmont in County Antrim on 12 June 2006.
In 2007 he was elected in the Assembly elections for the East Belfast seat.
Browne is a graduate of Queen's University, Belfast, and is a retired school teacher. He has been a member of Belfast City Council for the Victoria electoral area since 1985.