Richard Reid (UK politician)

Richard Reid is a former Ulster unionist politician.

Reid worked as a farmer in Pomeroy, County Tyrone. An evangelical Protestant, he became friendly with Norman Porter, secretary of the National Union of Protestants. In 1950, he arranged a meeting at the town courthouse for Monica Farrell, and through this, became acquainted with Ian Paisley.^[1] He subsequently joined Paisley's Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, and, although there was no local congregation, he became a church elder.^[2]

In 1975, Reid stood for Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party in Mid Ulster, and was elected to the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention.^[3] He was also elected to Cookstown District Council at the Northern Ireland local elections, 1977.^[4]

From the 1980s on, Reid withdrew from formal politics, but he was active in the Orange Order, where he became known as a leading traditionalist during the Drumcree conflict.^[5]

References

1. ↑ Ed Moloney and Andrew Pollak, Paisley, p.43
2. ↑ Ed Moloney and Andrew Pollak, Paisley, p.228
3. ↑ "Mid-Ulster 1973-1982", Northern Ireland Elections
4. ↑ "The Local Government Elections 1973-1981: Cookstown", Northern Ireland Elections
5. ↑ Eric P. Kaufmann, The Orange Order: A Contemporary Northern Irish History, p.287