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Basil Glass

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Basil Glass
Deputy leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
In office
1976–1980
LeaderOliver Napier
Preceded byBob Cooper
Succeeded byDavid Cook
Member of
Belfast City Council
In office
18 May 1977 – 20 May 1981
Preceded byPatricia Carson
Succeeded byDonnell Deeny
ConstituencyBelfast Area A
Member of the
Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention
for Belfast South
In office
1975–1976
Preceded byConvention established
Succeeded byConvention abolished
Alliance Party Chief whip
in the Northern Ireland Assembly
In office
1973–1974
LeaderOliver Napier
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
for Belfast South
In office
28 June 1973 – 1974
Preceded byAssembly created
Succeeded byAssembly dissolved
Personal details
Born21 April 1926
County Leitrim, Ireland
Died30 September 2005
Political partyAlliance (from 1970)
Other political
affiliations
New Ulster Movement (1969-1970)

Basil Glass (21 April 1926 – 30 September 2005) was a Northern Irish solicitor and politician.

Background

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Born in County Leitrim, Glass studied at Queen's University Belfast; he qualified as a solicitor in 1950 and became a prominent lawyer. He was elected joint treasurer of the New Ulster Movement, with fellow solicitor Oliver Napier, in 1969. The following year, he became the first Chairman of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland.

In 1973, Glass became the President of the Alliance Party, and he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for South Belfast, acting as the party's chief whip in the Assembly. At the October 1974 general election he stood for the Westminster seat of South Belfast, taking second position and almost one quarter of the vote.

Glass was again elected to represent South Belfast on the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention in 1975. In 1976, he became the Alliance Party's deputy leader. In 1977 he was elected to Belfast City Council, a post he held for four years. At the 1979 general election, he slightly improved his performance for the Westminster seat.

Glass narrowly failed to be elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1982, and thereafter scaled back his political activities. In 1987, he was appointed to the post of High Court Bankruptcy Master in Northern Ireland.

He was described by John Wilson QC, Clerk of the Crown for Northern Ireland, as "a gentleman and a scholar."[1]

References

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Bibliography

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Northern Ireland Assembly (1973)
New assembly Assembly Member for South Belfast
1973–1974
Assembly abolished
Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention
New convention Member for South Belfast
1975–1976
Convention dissolved
Party political offices
Preceded by Deputy Leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
1976–80
Succeeded by