Roy Bradford

{{Short description|British Unionist politician in Northern Ireland and government minister}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|honorific-prefix =

|name = Roy Bradford

|honorific-suffix =

|image =

|imagesize =

| office = Mayor of North Down

| deputy =

| term_start = 1994

| term_end = 1995

| predecessor = Brian Wilson

| successor = Susan O'Brien

| office1 = Member of
North Down Borough Council

| constituency1 = Bangor West

| term_start1 = 17 May 1989

| term_end1 = 7 June 2001

| predecessor1 = Cecil Braniff

| successor1 = Royston Davies

| office2 = Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
for East Belfast

| term_start2 = 1973

| term_end2 = 1974

|office3 = Minister of Development

|parliament3 =Northern Ireland

|monarch3 = Elizabeth II

|primeminister3 = Brian Faulkner

|term_start3 = 25 March 1971

|term_end3 = 30 March 1972

|deputy4 =

|predecessor4 = Brian Faulkner

|successor4 = Abolished

|office5 = Minister of Commerce

|parliament5 =Northern Ireland

|monarch5 = Elizabeth II

|primeminister5 = {{ubl|Terence O'Neill 1963–69|James Chichester-Clark 1969-1971}}

|term_start5 = 24 January 1969

|term_end5 = 23 March 1971

|predecessor5 = Brian Faulkner

|successor5 = Robin Bailie

|constituency_MP6 = Belfast Victoria

|term_start6 = 25 November 1965

|term_end6 = 30 March 1972

|predecessor6 = David Bleakley

|successor6 = Parliament abolished

|majority6 = 423 (3.2%)

|birth_name = Roy Hamilton Bradford

|birth_date = 7 July 1921

|birth_place = Ligoniel, Belfast, Northern Ireland

|death_date = 2 September 1998 (aged 77)

|death_place = Belfast, Northern Ireland

|nationality = British

|party = Ulster Unionist Party

| otherparty = Unionist Party NI (1974)

|spouse = Hazel Bradford

|children = Conor Bradford

|alma_mater = Trinity College Dublin

|occupation = Politician

}}

Roy Hamilton Bradford (7 July 1921 – 2 September 1998) was a Northern Irish unionist politician. Bradford was a government minister in both the Parliament of Northern Ireland and the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly.

Background

Born in Ligoniel in Belfast, Bradford studied at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and Trinity College Dublin, where he was elected a Scholar. He then worked in British Army intelligence before moving to London, where he worked for the BBC and ITV. In 1960, he published a novel, Excelsior."Bradford, Roy", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

At the 1965 Northern Ireland general election, Bradford was elected for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in Belfast Victoria, defeating David Bleakley MP of the Northern Ireland Labour Party. In 1966, he was appointed as an Assistant Whip, then in 1968 as Chief Whip. From 1969 to 1971 he was the Minister of Commerce, becoming Minister of Development from 1971 to 1972.

At the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election, Bradford was elected in Belfast East. He sided in favour of the Sunningdale Agreement and remained loyal to Brian Faulkner, and was Minister in charge of the Department of the Environment until June 1974. He stood unsuccessfully in North Down at the February 1974 general election. He followed Brian Faulkner into the Unionist Party of Northern Ireland after the collapse of the power-sharing executive, but in June 1974 he returned to the UUP. He was not elected to the 1975 Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention.

Bradford completed a second novel, Last Ditch, in 1982. In 1989, he was elected to North Down Borough Council, where he joined his wife, Hazel, in the UUP group. He worked as a journalist, writing an influential weekly column in the Belfast News Letter and also served as a councillor and Mayor of North Down. In 1996, he was an unsuccessful candidate in the Northern Ireland Forum election in North Down.[http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/96nd.htm Northern Ireland elections], ark.ac.uk. Accessed 24 December 2022.

His papers were deposited in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. Roy and Hazel Bradford's son, Conor Bradford, is a presenter of Good Morning Ulster for BBC Northern Ireland.[http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/new-day-for-good-morning-ulster-s-conor-bradford-1-1888583 New day for Good Morning Ulster's Conor Bradford], The News Letter, 27 August 2009.