Ivan Cooper
Overview
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...
who was a Member of 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...
, and founding member of the SDLP
Social Democratic and Labour Party
The Social Democratic and Labour Party is a social-democratic, Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. Its basic party platform advocates Irish reunification, and the further devolution of powers while Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom...
. He is best known for leading an anti-internment march which ended up in the Bloody Sunday massacre
Bloody Sunday (1972)
Bloody Sunday —sometimes called the Bogside Massacre—was an incident on 30 January 1972 in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, in which twenty-six unarmed civil rights protesters and bystanders were shot by soldiers of the British Army...
on 30 January 1972, in Derry
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"...
, Northern Ireland.
Cooper was born to a working-class Protestant family in Killaloo
Killaloo
Killaloo is a townland and hamlet in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is about six miles southeast of Derry, on the main Derry to Belfast road. In the 2001 Census Killaloo had a population of 75 people...
, County Londonderry
County Londonderry
The place name Derry is an anglicisation of the old Irish Daire meaning oak-grove or oak-wood. As with the city, its name is subject to the Derry/Londonderry name dispute, with the form Derry preferred by nationalists and Londonderry preferred by unionists...
, and later moved to the "Bogside
Bogside
The Bogside is a neighbourhood outside the city walls of Derry, Northern Ireland. The area has been a focus point for many of the events of The Troubles, from the Battle of the Bogside and Bloody Sunday in the 1960s and 1970s...
" area of Derry city. He was briefly a member of the Claudy
Claudy
Claudy is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It lies southeast of Derry, where the River Glenrandal joins the River Faughan. Claudy is located in the Faughan Valley....
Young Unionist Association
Young Unionists
The Young Unionists, formally known as the Ulster Young Unionist Council , is the youth wing of the Ulster Unionist Party . It has in its present incarnation been in existence since 2004...
until April 1965 when he joined the Northern Ireland Labour Party
Northern Ireland Labour Party
The Northern Ireland Labour Party was an Irish political party which operated from 1924 until 1987.In 1913 the British Labour Party resolved to give the recently formed Irish Labour Party exclusive organising rights in Ireland...
.
