Robin Chichester-Clark

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Sir Robin Chichester-Clark (born 10 January 1928) was MP for Londonderry in the British House of Commons from 1955 until February 1974, and was the first and only MP representing Northern Ireland to be a British minister since the Government of Ireland Act 1920.

Chichester-Clark was educated at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth and Magdalene College, Cambridge. He began work as a journalist in 1949, worked as public relations officer for Glyndebourne 1952-3, before joining the publishing house Oxford University Press.

Chichester-Clark was elected for Londonderry at the 1955 general election. He was the third generation of politicians from his family. His grandfather represented Derry County and City at Westminster. His brother James Chichester-Clark was Prime Minister of Northern Ireland from 1969 to 1971, but resigned in the face of increasing violence and internal Ulster Unionist Party splits. The family were also active in politics in the 19th century and Chichester-Clark's great great grandfather, The Rt. Hon. George Robert Dawson was Member of Parliament for Derry, later for an english constituency, before joining the Government of Sir Robert Peel whose sister Mary he married. They lived at Castledawson.

Chichester-Clark was consistently either a Front Bench Spokesman for the Opposition or a member of the Government of Harold Macmillan and, later, Edward Heath. He held the position of Assistant Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, Comptroller of the Household, was Conservative Spokesman for Northern Ireland and on the Arts, Shadow Minister of Public Building and Works and, ultimately, Minister of State for Employment. In 1970 he remained outside the UK government because of the Premiership of his brother in Northern Ireland. When Edward Heath suspended the Stormont Government and Parliament in 1972, he asked Chichester-Clark to go with William Whitelaw to Northern Ireland as Minister of State. Chichester-Clark did not accept but later joined the administration as Minister of State for Employment. Before the first 1974 Election he announced his retirement from the Londonderry constituency and did not put himself forward for reselection.

Since 1974 he has worked as a director of companies in the construction industry, as a political adviser to the NFBTE, as a management consultant and as Chairman of charities in medical research (RAFT) and the arts The Arvon Foundation. He has also helped with fundraising for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and is now involved with the development of the Museum of Illustration.

He was first married to Jane Helen Goddard with whom he had three children and married, secondly, Caroline Bull with whom he has two sons. His sister, Penelope Hobhouse, is a gardener, gardening writer and historian.