- William McMullen
William McMullen, sometimes known as Billy McMullen, was an Irish
trade unionist andpolitician .Born into a
Protestant family inBelfast , McMullen began working in theshipyard s and became an activetrade unionist . He metJames Connolly in 1910, and was thereafter Connolly's most prominent supporter in Belfast, acting as the first Chairman of theIrish Labour Party in the city. Becoming a full-time official for theIrish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU), McMullen was a strong opponent of thepartition of Ireland .Michael Farrell , "Northern Ireland: The Orange State"]At the
Northern Ireland general election, 1925 , McMullen stood in Belfast West for theNorthern Ireland Labour Party . [ [http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/biographies.html Northern Ireland Parliamentary Elections Results: Biographies] ] Despite coming bottom of the poll, he was elected on transfers fromJoe Devlin , the only Nationalist Party candidate. In Parliament, he challenged theUlster Unionist Party overunemployment , and in 1928, he joined the rest of the party in walking out, earning themselves suspensions from the body. For 1927-28, he was the President of theIrish Trades Union Congress .Following the restructuring of constituencies, McMullen stood in Belfast Falls in 1929. The Nationalist Party stood
Richard Byrne , apublican andlandlord . Devlin offered to secure McMullen a seat in theSenate of Northern Ireland should he stand down, but McMullen refused the offer. He produced a newspaper, the "Northern Worker", claiming that Byrne was aslum landlord . Byrne secured an injunction to stop distribution two days before the election, and beat McMullen by around 1,400 votes.In 1934, McMullen was a supporter of the
Republican Congress movement, a left-wing split from theIrish Republican Army , unsuccessfully contesting Belfast Central in a by-election. He later moved toDublin to take up a post as the President of the ITGWU. From 1951, he served three years as a member of theSeanad Éireann .References
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