Thomas Bailie

Thomas Bailie (15 July 1885 – 22 November 1957) was an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of Parliament (1941–1953) in the Parliament of Northern Ireland, based at Stormont, during which time he was Deputy Speaker.[1]

Bailie was born in Boston, USA,[1] the son of William Bailie and Margaret Crooks – his family was from Newtownards, County Down. Returning to Northern Ireland, Bailie attended the Ward School, Bangor.[1] He was married, in 1908, to Jean Fowler and had six children, Muriel, Winifred, Margaret, Mabel, Maureen and William. He served on Bangor Borough Council from 1913 to 1953.[1]

When the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Lord Craigavon, died in 1940, Bailie was elected as his replacement in the 1941 by-election in North Down.[2] He won the seat as an independent Unionist defeating the UUP candidate. He held his seat in 1945 unopposed,[2] was elected once more in 1949 as the UUP candidate (with a majority of 11,670 over the Labour Party candidate).[2] By 1953, Bailie was once more an independent; this time he was defeated by Robert Samuel Nixon, the UUP candidate, by 1,097 votes.[2]

References

1. Biographies of members of the Northern Ireland House of Commons accessed 1 December 2010
2. Northern Ireland parliament election results accessed 1 December 2010

Parliament of Northern Ireland
Preceded by James Craig	Member of Parliament for North Down 1941–1953	Succeeded by Robert Samuel Nixon