Charles Beattie
Encyclopedia
Charles Beattie was a Northern Irish
farmer and auctioneer. Active in the Ulster Farmers' Union and in Unionist
associations, he achieved senior office in the Orange Order
and the Royal Black Institution and served on Omagh Rural District Council from 1952 until his death. He is principally known for an exceptionally brief career as a Member
of the United Kingdom Parliament
representing Mid-Ulster: he did not win an election, but was declared elected when his opponent was disqualified. However, a few weeks after he took his seat, he was discovered to be holding an "office of profit under the Crown" which disqualified him.
Beattie was born in 1899. In the mid-1950s he was farming a 120 acre (0.4856232 km²) farm and living at Ashgrove House in Dunbreen, County Tyrone
, together with his wife Eileen, one son and two daughters. In addition to his farming activity, Beattie went into business as an auctioneer in about 1944, with premises at 53 High Street in Omagh. He advertised the property he was auctioning weekly in local newspapers circulating in County Tyrone, including the Nationalist Ulster Herald
.
associations, Beattie was appointed a representative of Dunmullan on North Tyrone Unionist Association in August 1946. From November 1949 he was a delegate to Mid Ulster Unionist Association; and became a member of the Association's Executive Committee in June 1950. On his re-election in July 1952, he was also named to the Association's delegation to that year's Conservative Party
Conference in Scarborough.
In 1951 Beattie was chosen as Secretary of the Omagh
branch of the UFU. In June 1952, he attended a meeting of the County Tyrone Committee of the Ulster Farmers' Union at which he complained that a consignment of potatoes had been sent to Londonderry
and left on the quay for six weeks before the Ministry had rejected them. Beattie's willingness to take up grievances led the UFU to select him to be a new member of its delegation to the Tyrone Committee of Agriculture.
Although he had previously resigned from the National Assistance tribunals, he came under pressure from his friends at the UFU in early 1953 to accept reappointment. He gave in to the pressure and on 9 March was reappointed, receiving with his letter of appointment a document identified as "A/cs.150" which stated "Service on the bodies referred to above is regarded as voluntary and unpaid". He was not to know it, but volunteering for this position would have serious consequences three years later.
organised by Castlederg
District Royal Black Chapter No. 6 on 25 August 1951; the attendance at the meeting was estimated at over 20,000 which made it one of the largest such gatherings yet seen.
As Grand Treasurer of County Tyrone Grand Orange Lodge, he was one of the platform speakers at the celebration of The Twelfth
at Strabane
in 1954 where he stressed loyalty to the Prime Minister
while saying that 'it was at times not as good as it was when they were under the late Lord Carson
'. Beattie went on to deny that there was any split in Orange ranks but to warn that if the Government of Northern Ireland did not act wisely (in the opinion of the Orange Order), the Order 'would know what to do when it came to the next election'.
In October 1954, one of Beattie's warnings to the Northern Ireland government was mentioned by the Irish Nationalist MP Joe Stewart
in the Parliament of Northern Ireland
. He referred to a newspaper report that Beattie had said "the time had come for them, behind the walls of the Orange lodges, to decide what the future of Ulster would be" and that "It was time the Government realised that they would only have the support of the Orange Order so long as they got what they wanted, and so long as the Government worked for the good of the cause". Stewart took these statements as proof that the Orange Order was running the Northern Ireland government. Beattie was re-elected as County Grand Treasurer on 6 December 1954.
By 1955 he was a member of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, and of the Imperial Grand Black Chapter of the British Commonwealth (normally known as the Royal Black Institution). He served as Deputy Lecturer of the Grand Royal Arch Purple
of Ireland, and was District Master of Omagh Black Chapter. He later became Worshipful Master of Omagh District R.B.P. No. 4 and Grand Treasurer of County Tyrone Royal Black Chapter.
, Dunbreen and neighbouring districts, calling for mains electricity supplies.
The next month he defended the achievements of the Ulster Farmers' Union when the closure of Fintona
centre for fat stock was announced; Beattie pointed out that there were 28 such centres in Northern Ireland when in an equivalent area in England there were only 8. He was reselected as a candidate for Omagh Rural District Council in April 1955, and was again returned unopposed on 24 May 1955.
by Michael O'Neill
, who ran as an 'Anti-Partition' candidate associated with the Irish Anti-Partition League. However at a Nationalist convention on 8 May 1955, O'Neill's supporters were outnumbered by supporters of Sinn Féin
who had picked Tom Mitchell, forcing O'Neill to stand down in his favour. Mitchell was in HM Prison Belfast serving a sentence of ten years' imprisonment after he was caught during an Irish Republican Army
raid on Omagh barracks. Although Mitchell as a Sinn Féin candidate did not have access to Nationalist halls to hold meetings, nor to those run by the Roman Catholic Church, he was still regarded as the favourite.
The Mid Ulster Unionist Association had a meeting on 15 April 1955, the day the 1955 general election
was announced, but the news had not reached Omagh and so the association did not make any decision about whether to fight the seat. A meeting to select the Unionist candidate was held on Saturday 14 May; among the other names considered were Charles A. Beattie (of Kingarrow), William J. Hamilton, Lt-Col. Alexander, Thomas Lyons
(Stormont MP for North Tyrone
), and J. P. Duff OBE. Beattie won the selection.
The election was held on 26 May 1955 with nearly one in ten of the votes cast by post. After a recount, Mitchell was declared the winner by 260 votes.
, he was technically ineligible for election and the Unionists began to consider how they could get him disqualified. However they did not present an election petition
, and so when the deadline for challenging the election passed early in July 1955, the Home Secretary put down a motion for an investigation into the circumstances of the election.
When Beattie was invited to speak at the unfurling of a new banner for Moree L.O.L.
195 (near Cookstown
) at the end of June 1955, he made some remarks about the recently concluded election. He blamed apathy and carelessness in Unionist ranks for his defeat, and said that so-called loyalists who stayed at home playing a neutral part had indirectly supported Sinn Féin. Beattie then insisted that he asked for support not for what he was, but for what he stood for, which he defined as civil and religious liberty for Roman Catholics and Protestants alike. There was said to be an inquest in the Unionist Party into disagreements and apathy and the lack of support given to Beattie.
and the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
Viscount Brookeborough
was present. Although there was strong support for the view that no Unionist candidate should stand, the meeting decided after considerable discussion to renominate Beattie.
The campaign was said to have been "remarkably quiet", partly because the polling day (11 August) clashed with the harvest in a rural constituency. Beattie appealed to voters not to disfranchise themselves by returning an abstentionist representative. During the campaign, the Unionists talked up Beattie's chances and claimed that he was winning significant support from Nationalists.
On polling day, Mitchell was declared the winner again, increasing his majority to 806. Asked after the result was known, Beattie blamed his loss on the Nationalists being united against him, and said that thousands of his supporters were away on holiday. To the local press he claimed that Sinn Féin would have had a majority of 4,000 if they had polled their maximum.
to claim the seat. When it came to trial, Tom Mitchell caused some surprise by deciding to attend the court; however at the end of a three day hearing, judgment was given for Beattie. He was awarded the seat without a further contest.
shouted "The member for Queen's Bench" as he came forward to take the oath.
when on 30 November his membership of appeal tribunals under the Northern Ireland National Insurance Act and the Northern Ireland National Assistance Act, and of the County Tyrone Agricultural Committee, came to light. There had been several similar cases where MPs were discovered to hold disqualifying offices and the initial advice was that these appointments might constitute "offices of profit under the Crown" which would disqualify him from being elected. The following day, Leader of the House of Commons
Harry Crookshank
moved to refer Beattie to the Select Committee on Elections to investigate. Unionist MPs expressed the hope that Beattie's membership of Parliament would be kept by a special Bill if he was found disqualified, as had been passed in the case of other MPs. When the press asked Beattie about the issue, Beattie said he had "no comment
to make"; he was then asked what fee he had received for his membership of the tribunals, and replied that "I have a clear conscience on that".
The Select Committee found that Beattie was indeed disqualified by his membership of the three appeal tribunals for which expenses could be paid, and ruled his election invalid. They recommended a Bill be brought in to indemnify him from the consequences of having acted as a Member of Parliament while disqualified (he was potentially liable for fines of £9,500) but found it difficult to determine whether to validate his election and allow him to continue as an MP. By the time he had been nominated as a candidate in the August by-election, three other MPs had been discovered to have held similar offices and a Select Committee had found them to be disqualified. The Select Committee noted that the issue of disqualification was a very prominent issue in the by-election as it was prompted by the disqualification of Mitchell, and it was known that in the event of his return an election petition would be presented to disqualify him again. Therefore the Committee recommended that no legislation to validate his election and preserve his membership should be brought in.
The news had been given to Beattie on Saturday 17 December; Beattie expected to be invited to attend Parliament when it was formally made public but was not. He was in his auctioneer's office in High Street, Omagh when newspaper reporters told him that he had been disqualified. The Select Committee report was published on Monday 19 December 1955, although the disqualification did not formally come into effect until the House of Commons accepted the Select Committee report, on 7 February 1956.
Although Beattie had resigned his appointments after discovering that they were probably disqualifying, the Mid-Ulster Unionist Association decided on 20 January 1956 not to nominate him or any other candidate in the by-election resulting from Beattie's disqualification. The Charles Beattie Indemnity Act 1956 received Royal Assent on 15 March 1956. At the by-election, the former MP Michael O'Neill
stood against Tom Mitchell, while George Forrest
came forward as an unofficial Unionist. With the Nationalist vote split, Forrest won by 4,481.
Feeling unwell on Saturday 8 March 1958, Beattie had a violent heart attack on Monday 10 March. He received medical attention and was taken to Tyrone County Hospital
where he died, being survived by his wife and children. His funeral on 12 March was said to be one of the largest ever witnessed in County Tyrone and the procession included 150 cars; Beattie is buried in Mountjoy Presbyterian Church in Omagh. His son Robin succeeded him as Treasurer of Dunmullan Unionists.
Beattie's comparative obscurity and disappearance after he was disqualified led to little detail about his life being published. In 1981, Michael Stenton and Stephen Lees wrote in a section headed "Advice to Readers" at the beginning of volume IV of "Who's Who of British Members of Parliament" (covering MPs between 1945 and 1979) that "there remains a small band of MPs who are not included in [standard reference works] or whose entries are very brief. What has happened to, for example, Lester Hutchinson
, Charles Beattie or Sidney Schofield
?"
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
farmer and auctioneer. Active in the Ulster Farmers' Union and in Unionist
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...
associations, he achieved senior office in the Orange Order
Orange Institution
The Orange Institution is a Protestant fraternal organisation based mainly in Northern Ireland and Scotland, though it has lodges throughout the Commonwealth and United States. The Institution was founded in 1796 near the village of Loughgall in County Armagh, Ireland...
and the Royal Black Institution and served on Omagh Rural District Council from 1952 until his death. He is principally known for an exceptionally brief career as a Member
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
of the United Kingdom Parliament
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
representing Mid-Ulster: he did not win an election, but was declared elected when his opponent was disqualified. However, a few weeks after he took his seat, he was discovered to be holding an "office of profit under the Crown" which disqualified him.
Working life
County Tyrone
Historically Tyrone stretched as far north as Lough Foyle, and comprised part of modern day County Londonderry east of the River Foyle. The majority of County Londonderry was carved out of Tyrone between 1610-1620 when that land went to the Guilds of London to set up profit making schemes based on...
, together with his wife Eileen, one son and two daughters. In addition to his farming activity, Beattie went into business as an auctioneer in about 1944, with premises at 53 High Street in Omagh. He advertised the property he was auctioning weekly in local newspapers circulating in County Tyrone, including the Nationalist Ulster Herald
Ulster Herald
The Ulster Herald is a weekly newspaper based in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, known locally as The Herald.It is published by the North West of Ireland Printing & Publishing Co. Ltd...
.
Unionism
For many years an active member of UnionistUlster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...
associations, Beattie was appointed a representative of Dunmullan on North Tyrone Unionist Association in August 1946. From November 1949 he was a delegate to Mid Ulster Unionist Association; and became a member of the Association's Executive Committee in June 1950. On his re-election in July 1952, he was also named to the Association's delegation to that year's Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Conference in Scarborough.
Farmers' Union
As a strong supporter of the Ulster Farmers' Union, Beattie was appointed by the Tyrone County UFU as its representative on the local appeal tribunal under the National Assistance and National Insurance Acts when they were introduced in Northern Ireland in 1946. Self-employed farmers were in a complicated situation with National Insurance and the appeal tribunal often heard their cases; Beattie later stressed that "I thought .. it was the farmers only I was working for". He was paid 3s. 6d. for attending one meeting in 1948, but early in 1949 Beattie informed the Ministry that he would not seek reappointment.In 1951 Beattie was chosen as Secretary of the Omagh
Omagh
Omagh is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers Drumragh and Camowen meet to form the Strule. The town, which is the largest in the county, had a population of 19,910 at the 2001 Census. Omagh also contains the headquarters of Omagh District Council and...
branch of the UFU. In June 1952, he attended a meeting of the County Tyrone Committee of the Ulster Farmers' Union at which he complained that a consignment of potatoes had been sent to Londonderry
Derry
Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...
and left on the quay for six weeks before the Ministry had rejected them. Beattie's willingness to take up grievances led the UFU to select him to be a new member of its delegation to the Tyrone Committee of Agriculture.
Although he had previously resigned from the National Assistance tribunals, he came under pressure from his friends at the UFU in early 1953 to accept reappointment. He gave in to the pressure and on 9 March was reappointed, receiving with his letter of appointment a document identified as "A/cs.150" which stated "Service on the bodies referred to above is regarded as voluntary and unpaid". He was not to know it, but volunteering for this position would have serious consequences three years later.
Orange Order
Beattie was an active Orangeman. His local lodge was Reaghan L.O.L. No. 304, of which he had served as Master; in addition he became Worshipful Master (W.M.) of Reaghan Royal Black Preceptory No. 1101. At the anniversary service on 6 August 1950, Beattie marshalled the procession of Reaghan R.B.P., while his daughter Ethel played the organ during the service. Representing Reaghan R.B.P., he was one of the platform party at a celebration of the Relief of DerrySiege of Derry
The Siege of Derry took place in Ireland from 18 April to 28 July 1689, during the Williamite War in Ireland. The city, a Williamite stronghold, was besieged by a Jacobite army until it was relieved by Royal Navy ships...
organised by Castlederg
Castlederg
Castlederg is a village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Derg and is close to the border with County Donegal. The village has a ruined castle and two ancient tombs known as the Druid's Altar and Todd's Den...
District Royal Black Chapter No. 6 on 25 August 1951; the attendance at the meeting was estimated at over 20,000 which made it one of the largest such gatherings yet seen.
As Grand Treasurer of County Tyrone Grand Orange Lodge, he was one of the platform speakers at the celebration of The Twelfth
The Twelfth
The Twelfth is a yearly Protestant celebration held on 12 July. It originated in Ireland during the 18th century. It celebrates the Glorious Revolution and victory of Protestant king William of Orange over Catholic king James II at the Battle of the Boyne...
at Strabane
Strabane
Strabane , historically spelt Straban,is a town in west County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It contains the headquarters of Strabane District Council....
in 1954 where he stressed loyalty to the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland was the de facto head of the Government of Northern Ireland. No such office was provided for in the Government of Ireland Act 1920. However the Lord Lieutenant, as with Governors-General in other Westminster Systems such as in Canada, chose to appoint someone...
while saying that 'it was at times not as good as it was when they were under the late Lord Carson
Edward Carson, Baron Carson
Edward Henry Carson, Baron Carson PC, PC , Kt, QC , often known as Sir Edward Carson or Lord Carson, was a barrister, judge and politician from Ireland...
'. Beattie went on to deny that there was any split in Orange ranks but to warn that if the Government of Northern Ireland did not act wisely (in the opinion of the Orange Order), the Order 'would know what to do when it came to the next election'.
In October 1954, one of Beattie's warnings to the Northern Ireland government was mentioned by the Irish Nationalist MP Joe Stewart
Joseph Francis Stewart
Joseph Francis Stewart, known as Joe Stewart , was an Irish nationalist politician.After growing up in Dungannon, where he studied at the Christian Brothers' School, Stewart worked as a wine merchant and became active in the Irish Parliamentry Party...
in the Parliament of Northern Ireland
Parliament of Northern Ireland
The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended...
. He referred to a newspaper report that Beattie had said "the time had come for them, behind the walls of the Orange lodges, to decide what the future of Ulster would be" and that "It was time the Government realised that they would only have the support of the Orange Order so long as they got what they wanted, and so long as the Government worked for the good of the cause". Stewart took these statements as proof that the Orange Order was running the Northern Ireland government. Beattie was re-elected as County Grand Treasurer on 6 December 1954.
By 1955 he was a member of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, and of the Imperial Grand Black Chapter of the British Commonwealth (normally known as the Royal Black Institution). He served as Deputy Lecturer of the Grand Royal Arch Purple
Royal Arch Purple
The Royal Arch Purple is a "higher degree" of initiation within the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland and takes its 'Royal' title from the Biblical Kings and also the time when the fifth son of King George the third was Grand Master of the Orange Order in England. The 'Purple' comes from the cloth...
of Ireland, and was District Master of Omagh Black Chapter. He later became Worshipful Master of Omagh District R.B.P. No. 4 and Grand Treasurer of County Tyrone Royal Black Chapter.
Rural District Council
On 15 April 1952, the sitting councillor for Dunbreen on Omagh Rural district Council, Joseph Patterson, told a meeting of Unionist electors at Dunmullan Orange Hall that he wished to retire from the council at the forthcoming elections. He nominated Beattie to succeed him, a motion that was passed. Beattie was returned unopposed for Dunbreen District Electoral Division on 6 June 1952. He was not a notably active councillor, but on 4 March 1954 he handed in a petition from farmers in CappaghCappagh
Cappagh is a small village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is between Pomeroy, Ballygawley, Galbally and Carrickmore, with the hamlet of Galbally about one mile to the east...
, Dunbreen and neighbouring districts, calling for mains electricity supplies.
The next month he defended the achievements of the Ulster Farmers' Union when the closure of Fintona
Fintona
Fintona is a village and townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second largest settlement in the Omagh District Council area, after Omagh itself. Its 2010 population was estimated to be 1,410.-History:...
centre for fat stock was announced; Beattie pointed out that there were 28 such centres in Northern Ireland when in an equivalent area in England there were only 8. He was reselected as a candidate for Omagh Rural District Council in April 1955, and was again returned unopposed on 24 May 1955.
1955 general election
Mid Ulster was represented from the 1951 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1951
The 1951 United Kingdom general election was held eighteen months after the 1950 general election, which the Labour Party had won with a slim majority of just five seats...
by Michael O'Neill
Michael O'Neill (politician)
Michael O'Neill was an Irish politician in the United Kingdom.O'Neill was educated at Dromore National School and Bellisle Academy. He was a farmer and a chairman of the Gaelic Athletic Association...
, who ran as an 'Anti-Partition' candidate associated with the Irish Anti-Partition League. However at a Nationalist convention on 8 May 1955, O'Neill's supporters were outnumbered by supporters of Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
who had picked Tom Mitchell, forcing O'Neill to stand down in his favour. Mitchell was in HM Prison Belfast serving a sentence of ten years' imprisonment after he was caught during an Irish Republican Army
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
raid on Omagh barracks. Although Mitchell as a Sinn Féin candidate did not have access to Nationalist halls to hold meetings, nor to those run by the Roman Catholic Church, he was still regarded as the favourite.
The Mid Ulster Unionist Association had a meeting on 15 April 1955, the day the 1955 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1955
The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against Labour Party, now in their 20th year...
was announced, but the news had not reached Omagh and so the association did not make any decision about whether to fight the seat. A meeting to select the Unionist candidate was held on Saturday 14 May; among the other names considered were Charles A. Beattie (of Kingarrow), William J. Hamilton, Lt-Col. Alexander, Thomas Lyons
Thomas Lyons (politician)
Thomas Lyons was a unionist politician in Northern Ireland.Lyons studied at Albert Agricultural College in Glasnevin, then emigrated to Australia in 1922. He returned to Ireland in 1939, and was elected for the Ulster Unionist Party in North Tyrone in 1943. At the 1945 UK general election, he...
(Stormont MP for North Tyrone
North Tyrone (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)
North Tyrone was a constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.-Boundaries:North Tyrone was a county constituency comprising the northern part of County Tyrone. It was created when the House of Commons Act 1929 introduced first-past-the-post elections throughout Northern Ireland...
), and J. P. Duff OBE. Beattie won the selection.
The election was held on 26 May 1955 with nearly one in ten of the votes cast by post. After a recount, Mitchell was declared the winner by 260 votes.
After the election
With Mitchell in prison serving ten years' imprisonment for treason felonyTreason Felony Act 1848
The Treason Felony Act 1848 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The Act is still in force. It is a law which protects HM the Queen and the Crown....
, he was technically ineligible for election and the Unionists began to consider how they could get him disqualified. However they did not present an election petition
Election petition
An election petition refers to the procedure for challenging the result of a Parliamentary election or local government election in the United Kingdom and in Hong Kong.- Outcomes :...
, and so when the deadline for challenging the election passed early in July 1955, the Home Secretary put down a motion for an investigation into the circumstances of the election.
When Beattie was invited to speak at the unfurling of a new banner for Moree L.O.L.
Orange Institution
The Orange Institution is a Protestant fraternal organisation based mainly in Northern Ireland and Scotland, though it has lodges throughout the Commonwealth and United States. The Institution was founded in 1796 near the village of Loughgall in County Armagh, Ireland...
195 (near Cookstown
Cookstown
Cookstown may refer to either of the following:*Cookstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland*Cookstown, Ontario, Canada*Cookstown, New Jersey, United States...
) at the end of June 1955, he made some remarks about the recently concluded election. He blamed apathy and carelessness in Unionist ranks for his defeat, and said that so-called loyalists who stayed at home playing a neutral part had indirectly supported Sinn Féin. Beattie then insisted that he asked for support not for what he was, but for what he stood for, which he defined as civil and religious liberty for Roman Catholics and Protestants alike. There was said to be an inquest in the Unionist Party into disagreements and apathy and the lack of support given to Beattie.
By-election
When the House of Commons had official confirmation that Mitchell was disqualified, it voted to declare the seat vacant and call a by-election. A Unionist meeting was called for 25 July at the Orange Hall in Omagh to select a candidate; the meeting was presided over by the Duke of AbercornJames Hamilton, 4th Duke of Abercorn
James Edward Hamilton, 4th Duke of Abercorn . He was the son of James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn and Lady Rosalind Cecilia Caroline Bingham...
and the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland was the de facto head of the Government of Northern Ireland. No such office was provided for in the Government of Ireland Act 1920. However the Lord Lieutenant, as with Governors-General in other Westminster Systems such as in Canada, chose to appoint someone...
Viscount Brookeborough
Basil Brooke, 1st Viscount Brookeborough
Basil Stanlake Brooke, 1st Viscount Brookeborough, Bt, KG, CBE, MC, PC, HML was an Ulster Unionist politician who became the third Prime Minister of Northern Ireland in 1943 and held office until 1963....
was present. Although there was strong support for the view that no Unionist candidate should stand, the meeting decided after considerable discussion to renominate Beattie.
The campaign was said to have been "remarkably quiet", partly because the polling day (11 August) clashed with the harvest in a rural constituency. Beattie appealed to voters not to disfranchise themselves by returning an abstentionist representative. During the campaign, the Unionists talked up Beattie's chances and claimed that he was winning significant support from Nationalists.
On polling day, Mitchell was declared the winner again, increasing his majority to 806. Asked after the result was known, Beattie blamed his loss on the Nationalists being united against him, and said that thousands of his supporters were away on holiday. To the local press he claimed that Sinn Féin would have had a majority of 4,000 if they had polled their maximum.
Election petition
The Mid-Ulster Unionist Association immediately decided that they would petitionElection petition
An election petition refers to the procedure for challenging the result of a Parliamentary election or local government election in the United Kingdom and in Hong Kong.- Outcomes :...
to claim the seat. When it came to trial, Tom Mitchell caused some surprise by deciding to attend the court; however at the end of a three day hearing, judgment was given for Beattie. He was awarded the seat without a further contest.
Parliament
When he was declared to be the Member of Parliament for Mid-Ulster, Beattie said he had never been to London and had therefore never seen the House of Commons. He was, however, said to have become a familiar personality at Conservative Party conferences after attending several. On 25 October 1955, when the House of Commons assembled after the summer recess and received the report of the Judges trying the election petition, Beattie took his seat. The Labour MP Hugh DelargyHugh Delargy
Hugh James Delargy was an Irish British Labour Party politician and MP.He was born in County Antrim.Delargy was educated in England, Paris and Rome and worked as a teacher, journalist, labourer and insurance official...
shouted "The member for Queen's Bench" as he came forward to take the oath.
Disqualification
Beattie had enough time to vote in 19 House of Commons divisions but not to make his maiden speechMaiden speech
A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament.Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country...
when on 30 November his membership of appeal tribunals under the Northern Ireland National Insurance Act and the Northern Ireland National Assistance Act, and of the County Tyrone Agricultural Committee, came to light. There had been several similar cases where MPs were discovered to hold disqualifying offices and the initial advice was that these appointments might constitute "offices of profit under the Crown" which would disqualify him from being elected. The following day, Leader of the House of Commons
Leader of the House of Commons
The Leader of the House of Commons is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Commons...
Harry Crookshank
Harry Crookshank, 1st Viscount Crookshank
Harry Frederick Comfort Crookshank, 1st Viscount Crookshank CH, PC , was a British Conservative politician. He was Minister of Health between 1951 and 1952 and Leader of the House of Commons between 1951 and 1952....
moved to refer Beattie to the Select Committee on Elections to investigate. Unionist MPs expressed the hope that Beattie's membership of Parliament would be kept by a special Bill if he was found disqualified, as had been passed in the case of other MPs. When the press asked Beattie about the issue, Beattie said he had "no comment
No comment
No comment is a phrase used as a response to journalistic inquiries which the respondent does not wish to answer. Public figures may decline to comment on issues they are questioned or have nothing to say about the issue at the time...
to make"; he was then asked what fee he had received for his membership of the tribunals, and replied that "I have a clear conscience on that".
Committee hearing
The Select Committee held two hearings to gather evidence from the Attorney-General and from Beattie himself, on 7 and 8 December 1955, and then met again on 13 and 15 December to deliberate and agree a report. The Attorney-General explained the operation of the law and contended that membership of the National Insurance Tribunals was disqualifying; however on investigating the County Agricultural Committees he advised that there was no issue. Beattie told the committee that his place of business was only 500 yards from the Court House where the National Insurance tribunals met and that meetings lasted "no longer than an hour and a half or two hours" so that he was unable to claim for subsistence, as well as being disqualified from receiving money as an employer. He had never attended the tribunal relating to industrial injuries as it had never met and might not even have been constituted, and since his appointment he had not been paid anything in respect of the tribunals he had attended; his last attendance was before his election.The Select Committee found that Beattie was indeed disqualified by his membership of the three appeal tribunals for which expenses could be paid, and ruled his election invalid. They recommended a Bill be brought in to indemnify him from the consequences of having acted as a Member of Parliament while disqualified (he was potentially liable for fines of £9,500) but found it difficult to determine whether to validate his election and allow him to continue as an MP. By the time he had been nominated as a candidate in the August by-election, three other MPs had been discovered to have held similar offices and a Select Committee had found them to be disqualified. The Select Committee noted that the issue of disqualification was a very prominent issue in the by-election as it was prompted by the disqualification of Mitchell, and it was known that in the event of his return an election petition would be presented to disqualify him again. Therefore the Committee recommended that no legislation to validate his election and preserve his membership should be brought in.
The news had been given to Beattie on Saturday 17 December; Beattie expected to be invited to attend Parliament when it was formally made public but was not. He was in his auctioneer's office in High Street, Omagh when newspaper reporters told him that he had been disqualified. The Select Committee report was published on Monday 19 December 1955, although the disqualification did not formally come into effect until the House of Commons accepted the Select Committee report, on 7 February 1956.
Later life
Michael O'Neill (politician)
Michael O'Neill was an Irish politician in the United Kingdom.O'Neill was educated at Dromore National School and Bellisle Academy. He was a farmer and a chairman of the Gaelic Athletic Association...
stood against Tom Mitchell, while George Forrest
George Forrest (politician)
George Forrest was a Unionist politician in Northern Ireland who served as MP for Mid Ulster from 1956 until his death...
came forward as an unofficial Unionist. With the Nationalist vote split, Forrest won by 4,481.
Feeling unwell on Saturday 8 March 1958, Beattie had a violent heart attack on Monday 10 March. He received medical attention and was taken to Tyrone County Hospital
Tyrone County Hospital
Tyrone County Hospital is the main hospital in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The hospital has occupied the same site in the town since 1899.-Proposed closure:...
where he died, being survived by his wife and children. His funeral on 12 March was said to be one of the largest ever witnessed in County Tyrone and the procession included 150 cars; Beattie is buried in Mountjoy Presbyterian Church in Omagh. His son Robin succeeded him as Treasurer of Dunmullan Unionists.
Beattie's comparative obscurity and disappearance after he was disqualified led to little detail about his life being published. In 1981, Michael Stenton and Stephen Lees wrote in a section headed "Advice to Readers" at the beginning of volume IV of "Who's Who of British Members of Parliament" (covering MPs between 1945 and 1979) that "there remains a small band of MPs who are not included in [standard reference works] or whose entries are very brief. What has happened to, for example, Lester Hutchinson
Lester Hutchinson
Hugh Lester Hutchinson was a Labour politician who was elected to represent Manchester Rusholme in the 1945 General Election....
, Charles Beattie or Sidney Schofield
Sidney Schofield
Sidney Schofield was a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom who served as a Member of Parliament for little over a year.Born in Pontefract, Schofield was elected MP for Barnsley at the 1951 general election...
?"