Terence O'Neill Captain Terence O'Neill (September 10, 1914 - June 12, 1990), was the fourth Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. Terence O'Neill was born on September 10, 1914 in County Antrim. He was the son of Capt. Arthur O'Neill, the first MP to be killed as a result of World War 1. O'Neill was educated at Eton College and then joined the army. During World War 2 he served in the Irish Guards. In a by-election in 1946 he was elected as a Unionist MP for the Bannside constituency in the Stormont parliament. O'Neill served in a series of junior postions. He was Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health and Local Government from February 1948 until November 1953, when he was appointed Chairman of Ways and Means and Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons. He was Minister of Home Affairs from April to October 1956 when he was appointed Minister for Finance. In 1963 he succeeded Brookeborough in becoming Prime Minister. He introduced new policies that would have been unheard of with Brookeborough as Prime Minister. He aimed to end sectarianism and to bring Catholics and Protestants into working relationships. He also had great aspirations in the industrial sector. In January 1965 O'Neill invited the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, Sean Lemass, for talks in Belfast. O'Neill met with opposition from his own party mainly because he informed very few of the visit and from Ian Paisley, who rejected any dealings with Dublin. In February O'Neill visited Lemass in Dublin. In 1968 the Northern Ireland civil rights campaign began street demonstrations. The march in Derry on 5 October 1968, banned by William Craig, the Minister of Home Affairs was met with violence from the RUC. This violence was caught by television cameras and broadcast worldwide. The date of this march is taken by historians as being the start of the Northern Ireland troubles. In February 1969 O'Neill called a surprise general election. In reality the calling of the election was more to do with the turmoil inside the Ulster Unionist Party caused by 10 to 12 anti-O'Neill dissident members of the Unionist Parliamentary Party and the resignation of Brian Faulkner from O'Neill's Government than it was to do with direct civil rights agitation. The electorate was faced with a simple choice: pro- or anti-O'Neill. However, from O'Neill's point of view, the election results were inconclusive. O'Neill in particular was humiliated by his near defeat in his own constituency of Bannside by Ian Paisley. He resigned as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and as Prime Minister in April 1969 after a serious of bomb explosions on Belfast's water supply brought his personal political crisis to a head. He retired from Stormont politics in January 1970 when he resigned his seat. In that year he was made a life peer, Lord O'Neill of the Maine, in the House of Lords. Lord O'Neill died in Hampshire in England on June 12, 1990. Other references Terence O'Neill, Ulster at the crossroads, Faber and Faber, London, 1969. Terence O'Neill, The autobiography of Terence O’Neill, Hart-Davies, London, 1972. Marc Mulholland, Northern Ireland at the crossroads: Ulster Unionism in the O'Neill years 1960-9, Macmillan, London, 2000. Most Popular Articles: Music    Musical Instruments    Guitar    Classical Music    History    Music Definition    Country Music    Rock Music    Pop Music    Hip Hop    Rap    DJ    Video Games    Casino Games    Poker    Blackjack    Casinos    Real Estate    Loan    Auction    eBay    Marketing    Search Engine Optimization    File Sharing    MP3    Music Industry    Kazaa    Internet    Supermodel    Fashion    Fashion Designers    Erotica    Modeling    Clothing    Boots    Shoes    Diamond Engagement Rings    Diamond    Rugs    Gospel Music    Affiliate    E-Commerce    Radio This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. You must provide a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html To view or edit this article at Wikipedia go to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_O'Neill