Nelson Elder

Nelson Elder (born January 1923) was a unionist politician in Northern Ireland.

Early life

Born in Limavady, Elder worked in a bakery[1] and joined the Northern Ireland Labour Party.[2] He then defected to the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and ran the Welfare and Advice Centre of the Ulster Unionist Council.

Career

He served as an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) member of the Senate of Northern Ireland from 1966 to 1972.[1] In 1967, he attended the founding meeting of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association as a representative of the UUP, but he walked out of its founding meeting after failing to convince the organisation that the murder of a police officer merited the death penalty.[3]

Following the abolition of the Senate, Elder was elected at the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election, in Belfast South. On the Assembly, he served as the secretary of the backbench group of Pro-Assembly Unionists.[1]

Elder also served as Secretary of the Unionist Trade Unionist Alliance, and as a member of the B Specials.[1]

References
  1. Ted Nealon, Ireland: a Parliamentary Directory, 1973–1974, p194
  2. Mark Mulholland, "Assimilation versus Segregation: Unionist Strategy in the 1960s", Twentieth Century British History, 2000 11(3):284–307
  3. We Shall Overcome, NICRA
Northern Ireland Assembly (1973)
New assembly Assembly Member for South Belfast
1973–1974		 Assembly abolished
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