Dehra Parker

Northern Ireland House of Commons
Northern Ireland House of Commons
	In office; 1933–1960
Preceded by	James Lenox-Conyngham Chichester-Clark
Succeeded by	James Chichester-Clark
Constituency	South Londonderry (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)
Personal details
Born	13 August 1882; Northern Irish
Political party	Ulster Unionist Party
Spouse(s)	Robert Chichester (died 1921); Admiral Henry Parker
Children	2

Dame Dehra S. Parker, GBE, PC (NI) (13 August 1882^[1] – 30 November 1963), was the longest serving female MP in the House of Commons of Northern Ireland.^[2]

Family life

Dehra Kerr-Fisher was born in a military hospital in

Delhi, India, in 1882, the only child of James Kerr-Fisher and his wife Annie. Her father, a native of Kilrea, County Londonderry, was a successful financier.^[3] She was educated in the United States, where her father held extensive property holdings, and in Germany.^[4]

Marriages

She was married twice. Her first husband was

CMG).^[5]

Political career

Dame Dehra was first elected as a

South Londonderry constituency following the death of her son-in-law James Lenox-Conyngham Chichester-Clark, and served until her resignation on 15 June 1960. Her grandson, James Chichester-Clark, was elected unopposed at the subsequent by-election. He later served as the fifth Prime Minister of Northern Ireland

from 1969 to 1971.

From her re-election in 1933 until her retirement in 1960, she faced opposition only once. During the 1949 Northern Ireland General Election, with anti-partition agitation a common theme across the region, she was opposed in South Londonderry by a Nationalist Party candidate, T.B. Agnew, whom she defeated. She was a

Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education from 1 December 1937 to 15 March 1944. She was also Chair of the Northern Ireland General Health Services Board from 1948 to 1949. She served as Minister of Health and Local Government from 26 August 1949 to 13 March 1957 and became a member of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland in 1949, which entitled her to the style The Right Honourable.^[6] She was elevated to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1949 Birthday honours "for public services", having previously been appointed as an OBE,^[7] and was advanced to be a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire

(GBE) in 1957.

Her promotion to the Cabinet at the age of 67 under Sir Basil Brooke (later created The 1st Viscount Brookeborough) was part of his so-called 'reforming' premiership; his predecessor having been criticised for appointing elderly members to Cabinet. She was the first woman to serve in the Northern Ireland Cabinet. ^{[citation needed]}

Extra-Parliamentary activities

Outside of parliamentary activities, Dame Dehra was a long-serving local councillor on

Rural District Council, president of both the Northern Ireland Physical Training Association and the Girls' Training Corps, and chairman of the Ancient Monuments Advisory Committee. In 1944, Parker was appointed senior vice-chairman of the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA NI), and in 1949 she succeeded Sir David Lindsay Keir as President for CEMA, a position she held until 1960.^[8] Parker was made an honorary member of the Ulster Society of Women Artists in 1958.^[9]

Later life

She died at her home, Shanemullagh House, Castledawson, in the south of County Londonderry, on 28 November 1963, at age 81. She was interred two days later in the grounds of Christ Church, Castledawson.

References

^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
^ "Parker, Dame Dehra | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
^ ^a ^b "The Stormont Papers". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2007.
^ ^a ^b Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
^ Biographies of Members of the Northern Ireland House of Commons Archived 7 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine; accessed 13 April 2016.
^ Belfast Gazette, Issue 1470, Page 185, 26 August 1949
^ London Gazette notice of Dehra Parker's damehood (DBE)
^ "Annual Report". Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts in Northern Ireland: 4. 1960.
^ "Women artists to show own works". Belfast Telegraph. 10 December 1958. p. 8. Retrieved 4 August 2021.

Parliament of Northern Ireland
New parliament	Member of Parliament for Londonderry 1921–1929	Constituency split
Preceded by James Lenox-Conyngham Chichester-Clark	Member of Parliament for South Londonderry 1933–1960	Succeeded by James Chichester-Clark
Political offices
Preceded by John Hanna Robb	Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education 1937–1944	Vacant
Preceded by William Grant	Minister of Health and Local Government 1949–1957	Succeeded by Jack Andrews

[1] Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

[2] "Parker, Dame Dehra | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie. Retrieved 22 July 2023.

[The_Stormont_Papers-3] "The Stormont Papers". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2007.

[ReferenceA-4] Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

[5] Biographies of Members of the Northern Ireland House of Commons Archived 7 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine; accessed 13 April 2016.

[6] Belfast Gazette, Issue 1470, Page 185, 26 August 1949

[7] London Gazette notice of Dehra Parker's damehood (DBE)

[8] "Annual Report". Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts in Northern Ireland: 4. 1960.

[9] "Women artists to show own works". Belfast Telegraph. 10 December 1958. p. 8. Retrieved 4 August 2021.

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