Robin Kinahan

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Sir Robert George Caldwell Kinahan, ERD (24 September 1916 – 2 May 1997) was a Northern Irish unionist politician, businessman and a senior member of the Orange Order. In his obituary, he was described as one of the last of the "county elite" to remain a high-ranking member of the Orange Order during the turbulent years of The Troubles, when it became potentially dangerous to belong. In his personal life he deplored bigotry and was almost expelled from the Orange Order for having attended a Roman Catholic funeral service.^[1]

Background

Born in

In the family firm, Lyle and Kinahan wine and spirit merchants, which was founded by his paternal grandfather, there was a large contingent of Catholic workers and Kinahan would often relate how, before The Troubles, they turned out to cheer him on 12 July as he walked with his lodge to the "field". He was almost expelled from the Orange Order for having attended a Roman Catholic funeral service.^[1]

Personal life

In 1963, following his family firm being taken over in 1961, he acquired Castle Upton and 300 acres (1.2 km²) for £53,000. He and his wife, Coralie de Burgh, an artist (and daughter of Captain Charles de Burgh, The Lodge, Seaforde, County Down), set about restoring it from an almost ruinous state. He and his wife had two sons and three daughters. His son, Danny Kinahan, was appointed to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2009 and was a successful Ulster Unionist Party candidate in the 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election having been elected to Antrim Borough Council in 2005. At the 2015 general election, Danny was elected MP for South Antrim.

Later life

Unlike many Unionists he agreed, reluctantly, to serve on the short-lived