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'{{otherpeople}} '''Jack Beattie''' (1886 &ndash; [[9 March]] [[1960]]) was a politician from [[Northern Ireland]]. <ref >'Who's Who of British MPs: Volume IV, 1945-1979' by Michael Stenton and Stephen Lees (Harvester, Brighton, 1979) ISBN 0-85527-335-6 </ref> He was a teacher by profession. He joined the [[Northern Ireland Labour Party]] ('''NILP'''). In 1925, he became a Member of the [[Northern Ireland House of Commons]] for [[Belfast East (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)|Belfast East]].<ref>[http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?id=8341 Election History of John(Jack) Beattie - www.electionsireland.org]</ref> He represented [[Belfast Pottinger (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)|Belfast Pottinger]] from 1929. At one point he served as leader of the NILP. ==Early career== Belfast did not prosper in the 1920s. During the period, 1923 to 1930, unemployment in Northern Ireland averaged 19 per cent of the insured workforce. Many of the long term unemployed became ineligible to receive unemployment assistance. To make matters worse, the Belfast [[Poor Law Union]], the last resort of the poor and destitute was a less than generous institution. It applied its rules on who qualified to receive assistance very harshly. On one occasion in June 1926 unemployed men protested outside a meeting of the Guardians of the Belfast [[Poor Law Union]]. Jack Beattie and [[William McMullen]], a fellow NILP MP were among their number. The two MPs obstructed the meeting and were unceremoniously "seized by the police and thrown out onto the pavement."<ref name="Bardon">Bardon, Jonathan, A History of Ulster, p 523 (The Black Staff Press, Belfast, 1992)</ref> The Guardians were later congratulated for their "stand ...by a delegation of Protestant clergymen who called on the guardians 'to cut off grants to parasites'".<ref>Devlin, Paddy, Yes, We have no bananas: Outdoor relief in Belfast 1920-1939, 1988 p 112, in Bardon, Jonathan, Ibid</ref> by Miss ruland Historian, Tim Pat Coogan remarks of the time that, despite the prevailing conditions, "the Unionist ascendency was so secure that it could blithely go ahead with measures such as cutting unemployment benefits while lavishing expenditure on the new parliament building, which was opened in 1932".<ref name="Coogan">Coogan, Tim Pat</ref> Jack Beattie did not blithely play along with the establishment. One occasion perhaps highlights this better than any: In September 1932 Lord Craigavon, the [[Prime Minister of Northern Ireland]], spoke in the parliament on a motion thanking the Belfast Corporation for the use of the city hall for meetings of the Northern Ireland Parliament. Beattie, incensed, seized the [[ceremonial mace|mace]] and shouted that his motion to bring "to your notice the serious position of the unemployment in Northern Ireland" had been rejected. An unusual scene of uproar ensued as [[Tommy Henderson]] joined Beattie in his protests. Bardon reports that ignoring the Speaker's pleas for order, Beattie continued shouting "I am going to put this out of action....The House indulged in hypocrisy while there are starving thousands outside." Beattie then wrested the mace from the sergeant-at-arms, threw it upon the floor, and walked out.<ref name="Bardon" /> Unlike the majority of the NILP, Beattie supported [[United Ireland|Irish unity]]. In 1934 he was expelled from the NILP after refusing to call a by-election in [[Belfast Central (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)|Belfast Central]], where the party were the main opponents of the [[Nationalist Party (Ireland)|Nationalist Party]]. In the same year, he became an organiser for the Northern Ireland Teachers' Organisation. <nowiki>Insert non-formatted text here</nowiki> ==Later career== In 1942, Beattie was readmitted to the NILP. He went on to win the [[Belfast West by-election, 1943]] but resigned from the NILP shortly after. In 1945, he held his seat and formed the [[Federation of Labour (Ireland)]], but took the [[Labour Party (UK)]] whip in the [[British House of Commons]]. He was the only Labour candidate returned in Northern Ireland. However, his tenure as a Labour MP was short: He joined the Labour Party in London as an individual member, using his London accommodation address but was subsequently expelled, "solely on the grounds that his place of residence was Belfast".<ref>http://newdialogue.org.uk/disc/disca103.html</ref> On [[30 April]] [[1945]], Beattie was punched in the Stormont Parliament by the Government Minister and former NILP MP, [[Harry Midgley]]. Midgley apologised the next day.<ref>''Hansard'', House of Commons of Northern Ireland, Vol. 29, Col. 952, via [http://stormontpapers.ahds.ac.uk/ Stormont Papers].</ref> When the [[Northern Ireland general election, 1949]] took place, the [[Anti-Partition League of Ireland]] was at its height. The middle ground in Northern Irish politics was squeezed. The election was to be a straight sectarian fight. Beattie, who had accepted money from a fund established by the Anti-Partition League, "wore a steel helmet while campaigning in east Belfast". When one of his election meetings was broken up by an angry mob, he sent a telegram of protest to Downing Street which read "Stoned by official Unionist mobs and denied the right of free speech in my election campaign tonight. Armed Stormont police took no action".<ref name="Bardon" /> Beattie lost his seat, disbanded the Federation and joined the [[Irish Labour Party]]. <ref name="Bardon" /> Tim Pat Coogan remarks that with the defeat of Beattie and other opposition candidates, "for the first time the opposition at Stormont was entirely Catholic, a matter of much satisfaction to [Prime Minister] [[Basil Brooke, 1st Viscount Brookeborough|Brooke]]".<ref name="Coogan" /> Although he lost [[Belfast West (UK Parliament constituency)|Belfast West]] in the [[United Kingdom general election, 1950|1950 UK general election]], Beattie retook it in 1951, losing it once more at the [[United Kingdom general election, 1955|1955 election]]. His attempt to win [[Belfast Central (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)|Belfast Central]] in the Stormont Parliament in 1953 also failed. ==References== <references/>   {{start box}} {{s-par|ni}} {{succession box | title = [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Belfast Pottinger (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)|Belfast Pottinger]] | before = ''New position'' | after = [[Samuel Rodgers]] | years = 1929 - 1949}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Belfast West (UK Parliament constituency)|Belfast West]] | before = [[Alexander Browne]] | after = [[James MacManaway]] | years = 1943&ndash;[[United Kingdom general election, 1950|1950]]}} {{succession box | title = [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Belfast West (UK Parliament constituency)|Belfast West]] | before = [[Thomas Teevan]] | after = [[Patricia McLaughlin]] | years = [[United Kingdom general election, 1951|1951]]&ndash;[[United Kingdom general election, 1955|1955]]}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | title = Leader of the [[Northern Ireland Labour Party]] at Stormont | before = [[Sam Kyle]] | after = [[Harry Midgley]] | years = 1929 - 1933}} {{succession box | title = Leader of the [[Northern Ireland Labour Party]] at Stormont | before = [[Paddy Agnew (Stormont MP)|Paddy Agnew]] | after = [[Paddy Agnew (Stormont MP)|Paddy Agnew]] | years = 1942 - 1943}} {{end box}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Beattie, Jack}} [[Category:Northern Ireland Labour Party politicians]] [[Category:Leaders of political parties in Northern Ireland]] [[Category:Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for Northern Irish constituencies]] [[Category:Members of the United Kingdom Parliament from Belfast constituencies]] [[Category:Members of the Parliament of Northern Ireland]] [[Category:1886 births]] [[Category:1960 deaths]] [[Category:Northern Irish schoolteachers]] [[Category:Irish Labour Party politicians]] [[Category:UK MPs 1935-1945]] [[Category:UK MPs 1945-1950]] [[Category:UK MPs 1951-1955]] {{NI-politician-stub}} {{UK-MP-stub}}'