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Henry Cassidy Midgley, PC (NI), known as Harry Midgley (1893 – 29 April 1957) was a prominent politician in Northern Ireland.〔(Northern Ireland Parliamentary Results: Biographies )〕 Born to a unionist family in Belfast, he worked in the textile industry before joining the Royal Engineers during World War I. == Early political career == In 1919, Midgley joined the Belfast Labour Party, and in 1920 he was elected to Belfast City Council. At the time of the Northern Ireland general election, 1921, the first ever election to Northern Ireland's embryonic parliament, the "principal anxiety" of James Craig was that Labour in Belfast would attract the loyalist vote. When Labour candidates booked the Ulster Hall for a final rally, it was disrupted by Loyalist shipyard workers, who then telegraphed Craig to inform him that they had "captured the Ulster Hall from Bolsheviks Baird, Midgley and Hanna". Craig responded: "...Well done big and wee yards".〔Bardon, Jonathan, A History of Ulster, 199〕 Midgley was indeed defeated in his attempt to win the Belfast East seat. In the 1923 UK general election, Midgley won 47% of the vote, the best result for the Labour movement in Northern Ireland until the Belfast West by-election, 1943. His vote dropped slightly in the 1924 UK general election, but held his council seat until 1943, becoming an Alderman in 1929.〔(Midgely Papers ), Public Record Office of Northern Ireland〕 In the Northern Ireland general election, 1933, Midgley was elected for Belfast Dock, by now representing the Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) which the Belfast Labour Party had formed. He also joined the board of Linfield F.C.. Following his election, he became the party leader. During the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s, Midgley was outspoken in his support for the beleaguered Spanish Republic and described Franco as a "monstrosity" and a "killer of babies".〔 In turn, Midgley became involved in a public controversy regarding ''The Irish News attitude to the Spanish Civil War. The newspaper supported Francisco Franco's Nationalists, partly because of Spanish Republican anti-clericalism, while Midgley saw the Spanish Republican side as fighting a necessary war against fascism and for democracy. When the 1938 election was called, Midgley's opposition to Franco was to cost him dearly. The Nationalist Party stood a candidate against him, Mr James Collins, who supported Franco's armed rebellion. During the election campaign, "()ight after night there were violent clashes in the Dock constituency as Midgley faced hostile crowds shouting 'Up Franco', 'Remember Spain', and 'We want Franco'".〔 Midgley was also opposed by a Unionist candidate, to whom he lost his seat. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Harry Midgley」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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