William Brian Maginness
Minister for Labour of
Northern Ireland
In office
2 August 1945 – 12 April 1949
Minister of Home Affairs for
Northern Ireland
In office
4 November 1949 – 26 October 1953
Minister of Finance for
Northern Ireland
In office
13 February 1953 – 20 April 1956
Attorney General of
Northern Ireland
In office
14 April 1956 – 20 March 1964
Member of the
Northern Ireland House of Commons
In office
1938–1964
ConstituencyIveagh
Personal details
Born10 July 1901
Hillsborough, Ireland
Died16 April 1967 (aged 65)
Belfast, Northern Ireland
NationalityBritish
Political partyUlster Unionist Party
Alma materTrinity College Dublin
ProfessionBarrister

William Brian Maginess, QC (10 July 1901 – 16 April 1967), was a member of the Government of Northern Ireland, who was widely seen as a possible successor to The 1st Viscount Brookeborough as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.

Life

He was born in 1901, the son of William George Maginess, a Lisburn solicitor, and his wife Mary Sarah Boyd.[1] He was educated at The Wallace High School and Trinity College Dublin[2] from where he graduated with a law degree (LLD), and was called to the Northern Ireland bar in 1923.

Having served in the Royal Corps of Artillery during the Second World War he entered the Parliament of Northern Ireland in 1938 when he won the seat of Iveagh.[citation needed] He entered the Cabinet of Basil Brooke in 1945 when he became Minister of Labour. His stints as the Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Finance (de facto Deputy Prime Minister) left him favourite to succeed Brooke as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.[citation needed]

In the early 1950s however, Maginess became a hate figure for the Orange Order when he banned marches through Catholic areas in Counties Down and Londonderry. Brooke demoted him to the non-Cabinet post of Attorney General in April 1956.[3]

While Attorney General, Maginess was party to the case of Attorney General for Northern Ireland v Gallagher [1961] 3 All Er 299, which remains authority in the law of Northern Ireland and England & Wales for the principle that Dutch courage is not a defence in criminal law. Counsel for Gallagher were future Attorney General and Lord Justice, Basil Kelly, and future Stormont MP and Chairman of the Criminal Bar Association in England, Richard Ferguson.

In December 1959, Ian Paisley led a demonstration of Ulster Protestant Action members to Stormont Castle to protest at Lord Brookeborough's refusal to dismiss Maginess and Sir Clarence Graham. They had made speeches at an Ulster Young Unionist Council event supporting Catholic membership of the Ulster Unionist Party.[3]

Having been appointed a King's Counsel in 1946 he was appointed a County Court Judge in 1964 when he resigned from Parliament. He died three years later in Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital at age 65. A plaque in his memorial is cited inside the Church of Ireland parish church in Hillsborough, where he is buried.[1]

Sources

  1. ^ a b Patterson, Henry. "Maginess, (William) Brian". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/64471. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ "The Stormont Papers – Essay". ahds.ac.uk.
  3. ^ a b Bloomfield, Ken (2007). A Tragedy of Errors: The Government and Misgovernment of Northern Ireland. Liverpool University Press. p. 158. ISBN 9781846310645.
Parliament of Northern Ireland Preceded byJohn Charles Wilson Member of Parliament for Iveagh 1938–1964 Succeeded bySamuel Magowan Political offices New post Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture 1941–1943 Vacant New post Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Public Security 1941–1943 Office abolished Preceded bySir Wilson Hungerford Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Commerce and Production 1943–1945 Vacant Preceded byWilliam Grant Minister of Labour 1945–49 Succeeded byHarry Midgley Preceded byEdmond Warnock Minister of Home Affairs 1946 Succeeded byEdmond Warnock Preceded byRoland Nugent Minister of Commerce and Production 1949 Succeeded byWilliam McCleery Preceded byEdmond Warnock Minister of Home Affairs 1949–53 Succeeded byGeorge Boyle Hanna Preceded byJohn Maynard Sinclair Minister of Finance 1953–56 Succeeded byGeorge Boyle Hanna Preceded byEdmond Warnock Attorney General for Northern Ireland 1956–64 Succeeded byEdward Warburton Jones
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