William Stratton Mills, known as Stratton Mills (born 1 July 1932), is a retired solicitor and former politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 in Northern Ireland

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...

.

He was the only Member of Parliament

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,...

 (MP) to have sat for the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland

Alliance Party of Northern Ireland

The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland is a liberal and nonsectarian political party in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's fifth-largest party overall, with eight seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly and one in the House of Commons....

 in the British House of Commons

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...

, until Naomi Long won Belfast East

Belfast East (UK Parliament constituency)

Belfast East is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Naomi Long of the Alliance Party, elected in 2010...

 in 2010. In August 1969, at the outset of The Troubles

The Troubles

The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...

, Mills traveled with Robin Bailie

Robin Bailie

Robin John Bailie is a Northern Irish solicitor and former politician.Bailie was born in Toomebridge, County Antrim, and studied at the Rainey Endowed School and Queen's University, Belfast. He was a member of the Belfast Junior Chamber of Commerce, and an officer of the Ulster Young Unionist...

 to the U.S. to counter the fund raising efforts of Bernadette Devlin and to espouse the Unionist

Unionism in Ireland

Unionism in Ireland is an ideology that favours the continuation of some form of political union between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain...

 point of view for an American audience.

The son of Dr. V.J.S. Mills, CBE, RM, Mills was educated at Campbell College Belfast and Queen's University, Belfast. A solicitor

Solicitor

Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...

 by trade, Mills was elected as the Ulster Unionist Party

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...

 (UUP) MP for Belfast North

Belfast North (UK Parliament constituency)

Belfast North is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.-Boundaries:The seat was created in 1922 when, as part of the establishment of the devolved Stormont Parliament for Northern Ireland, the number of MPs in the Westminster Parliament was drastically cut...

 in the 1959 UK general election. He held his seat in subsequent elections, but in 1972 he refused to join the other UUP MPs in resigning the 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...

 whip

Whip (politics)

A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...

. He instead resigned from the UUP, describing himself as an independent Unionist and Conservative MP.

In 1973, Mills joined the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. He retired from the House in 1974. He lives in Malone Park

Malone Park

Malone Park is the largest private avenue in Ireland and the United Kingdom. It is located in Belfast in Northern Ireland, and it has 72 houses....

, was partner in a solicitors firm, and currently serves on Northern Ireland's Historic Buildings Council, and is a member of the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society

Ulster Architectural Heritage Society

Ulster Architectural Heritage Society was founded "to promote the appreciation and enjoyment of architecture from the prehistoric to the present in the nine counties of Ulster, and to encourage its preservation and conservation"...

 and the Irish Georgian Society

Irish Georgian Society

The Irish Georgian Society aims to encourage an interest in and to promote the conservation of distinguished examples of architecture and the allied arts of all periods in Ireland...

.