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Basil Kelly

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For the Bahamian sailor, see Basil Kelly (sailor).

Sir
Basil Kelly
PC, PC (NI), QC
Member of Parliament for Mid Down
In office
1964–1973
Attorney General for Northern Ireland
In office
1968–1972
Personal details
Born
John William Basil Kelly

(1920-05-10)10 May 1920
Clones, Ireland
Died5 December 2008(2008-12-05) (aged 88)
Berkshire, England
Political partyUlster Unionist
EducationTrinity College, Dublin

Sir John William Basil Kelly, PC, PC (NI), QC (10 May 1920 – 5 December 2008), usually known as Sir Basil Kelly, was a Northern Irish barrister, judge and politician.

Life

Kelly was born into an Ulster Protestant family in Clones, County Monaghan, on 10 May 1920 as one of the two children, and the only son, of Thomas William Kelly and Emily Frances Kelly (née Donaldson).[1][2][3] His parents were small farmers in West Monaghan, who had their house 'burnt out' during the revolutionary period in Ireland in the early 1920s.[1] Shortly after this, the family moved, around 1925, north-east to Belfast, settling in a working-class area of East Belfast, where Basil and his sister were raised.[3] Here he attended Mersey Street Primary School, where he later won a scholarship to the prestigious Methodist College, Belfast, later receiving his university education at Trinity College, Dublin (TCD).[1][4] He was called to the Northern Irish Bar in 1944 and took silk in 1958. He served as senior Crown Counsel in Tyrone, Fermanagh and Armagh from 1958 to 1968.[citation needed]

Later career

In 1964, he was elected to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland as Ulster Unionist member for Mid Down. He was appointed as Attorney General for Northern Ireland in 1968. He was appointed to the Privy Council of Northern Ireland in 1969, entitling him to the style The Right Honourable.[citation needed]

In March 1972, the entire Government of Northern Ireland resigned, and the Parliament of Northern Ireland was prorogued. As a result, Kelly ceased to be Attorney General. The office of Attorney General for Northern Ireland was transferred to the Attorney General for England and Wales, and Kelly was the last person to serve as Stormont's Attorney General until the re-establishment of the position in its own right in April 2010. In 1973, he was appointed as a judge of the High Court of Northern Ireland, and then as a Lord Justice of Appeal of Northern Ireland in 1984, when he was also knighted and appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom.[citation needed]

Death

Lord Justice Sir Basil Kelly died at his home in Berkshire on 5 December 2008 after a short illness. He was 88 years old.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Kelly, (John William) Basil | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  2. ^ "Judge in some of North's most high-profile trials". The Irish Times. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  3. ^ a b Doyle, Jim (10 May 2021). "Birth of Basil Kelly, Northern Irish Barrister, Judge & Politician". seamus dubhghaill. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  4. ^ "Members of the Northern Ireland House of Commons". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 26 February 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
  5. ^ "Judge in 'supergrass' trial dies". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 5 December 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2008.

Sources

  • Flackes, W.D. and Elliott, S. (1989), Northern Ireland: A Political Directory (3rd ed.). Belfast: Blackstaff Press Ltd
Parliament of Northern Ireland
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Mid Down
1964–1973 		Parliament abolished
Political offices
Preceded by Attorney General for Northern Ireland
1968–1972 		Succeeded by
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