Tom Hartley is a historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

 and Irish republican politician

Politician

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

.

Hartley grew up in the Falls Road area of Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

 and became a republican activist in the late 1960s. In 1970, he was imprisoned in the Crumlin Road gaol for ten months for riotous behaviour; he was again imprisoned in 1978. During the 1981 Irish hunger strike

1981 Irish hunger strike

The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during The Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special Category Status for convicted paramilitary prisoners...

, Hartley chaired the POW

Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...

 Committee.

Hartley became active in 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...

, serving as the General Secretary in the mid-1980s and as the Chair in the early 1990s. In 1993

Northern Ireland local elections, 1993

Elections for local government were held in Northern Ireland on 19 May 1993.-Overall:-Belfast:-References:...

, he was elected to Belfast City Council

Belfast City Council

Belfast City Council is the local authority with responsibility for the city of Belfast, the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. The Council serves an estimated population of , the largest of any district council in Northern Ireland, while also being the fourth smallest by area...

 for the Lower Falls, and has held his seat at each subsequent election.

Hartley was one of three Sinn Féin candidates in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland (European Parliament constituency)

Northern Ireland is a constituency of the European Parliament. It currently elects three MEPs using the Single Transferable Vote, the only United Kingdom constituency to do so.- Members of the European Parliament :- 2009 :...

 at the European election in 1994. Although he took only 3.8% of the votes cast and was not elected, he did receive more votes than the party's other candidates.

In 2008, Hartley became the second Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Belfast

Lord Mayor of Belfast

The Lord Mayor of Belfast is the leader and chairman of Belfast City Council, elected annually from and by the City's 51 councillors.The Lord Mayor is Niall Ó Donnghaile of Sinn Féin, while the Deputy Lord Mayor is Ruth Patterson of the Democratic Unionist Party, who were elected in May 2011.The...

. In his spare time, he conducts tours of Belfast City Cemetery

Belfast City Cemetery

Belfast City Cemetery is a cemetery in west Belfast, Northern Ireland. It lies within the townland of Ballymurphy, between Falls Road and Springfield Road, near Milltown Cemetery...

and authored the 2006 book Written in Stone: The History of Belfast City Cemetery.