Simpson Gibson

Hugh John Simpson Gibson (born August 1945) is a unionist politician in Northern Ireland.

Gibson studied at Saintfield Secondary School and Shaftesbury House Tutorial College, before working as a farmer and becoming a member of the Orange Order.^[1] He joined the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and was elected to Ards Borough Council in 1981.^[2] He held his seat until he stood down in 1997,^[3] serving as Mayor of Ards in 1987/88.

At the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1982, Gibson was elected in North Down.^[4] He contested Strangford at the 1983 UK general election, taking second place, with 30% of the votes cast.^[5] In the mid-1990s, he served as Vice-Chairman of the DUP.^[6]

In August 2010, Gibson was appointed to the Northern Ireland Assembly as the replacement for Jim Shannon.^[7] He did not stand in the 2011 Assembly election in which the DUP held three of its four seats, losing Gibson's to the Ulster Unionist Party.

References

1. ^ The Times Guide to the House of Commons, June 1983
2. ^ The Local Government Elections 1973-1981: Ards, Northern Ireland Elections
3. ^ Ards Borough Council Elections, 1993-2005, Northern Ireland Elections
4. ^ North Down 1973-1982, Northern Ireland Elections
5. ^ Strangford, Northern Ireland Elections
6. ^ Dod's Parliamentary Companion (1996), p.778
7. ^ Membership of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Northern Ireland Assembly