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George Seawright AI simulator
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George Seawright AI simulator
(@George Seawright_simulator)
George Seawright
George Seawright (c.1951 – 3 December 1987) was a Scottish-born unionist politician in Northern Ireland and loyalist paramilitary in the Ulster Volunteer Force. He was assassinated by the Irish People's Liberation Organisation in 1987.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland from an Ulster Protestant background, Seawright lived in Drumchapel and worked in the shipyards of Clydeside. Also living for a time in Springburn, he was one of the few Scots to join the Ulster Protestant Volunteers in the late 1960s.
He then worked in the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast until entering politics as a member of the Democratic Unionist Party. As well as being a shipyard worker he also served as a lay preacher and was an elder in north Belfast's John Knox Memorial Free Presbyterian Church. Seawright was also a member of an Orange Lodge in the Ballysillan area of North Belfast and the Apprentice Boys of Derry. He lived in the unionist Glencairn estate in the northwest of the city with his wife and three children.
Seawright was noted for his fiery rhetoric. He was elected to Belfast City Council in 1981, and soon developed a following amongst unionists. The following year he was elected as the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) candidate to the 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly. Seawright, who had initially campaigned for John McQuade before securing his own candidacy, had problems with the party leadership from the beginning of his political career. Seawright stated that he was viewed as lacking respectability due to his rough personality, his residence in social housing, and that he was in arrears to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
Seawright courted controversy throughout his fairly brief career. He was strongly criticised for an interview he gave to Nationalism Today, a journal produced in support of the Political Soldier wing of the British National Front (NF). In it, Seawright praised the NF, not only due to their support for Ulster loyalism, but also for their stance on race and immigration. His younger brother David Seawright was an active member of the NF.
In 1984, following the erection of an Irish tricolour on Whiterock leisure centre, Seawright, along with UVF men John Bingham and William 'Frenchie' Marchant, wielded handguns to physically remove it. Despite their efforts two flags were put up to replace it soon afterwards. Following a heated exchange in which People's Democracy councillor John McAnulty described the Union Flag as "a butcher's apron" McAnulty stated that Seawright delivered a veiled death threat, saying: "I have a soft spot for you Mr McAnulty, it's in Milltown Cemetery."
He continued to court controversy when he told a meeting of the Belfast Education and Library Board in 1984 that Irish Catholics who objected to the singing of the British national anthem "are just fenian scum who have been indoctrinated by the Catholic Church. Taxpayers' money would be better spent on an incinerator and burning the lot of them. Their priests should be thrown in and burnt as well." Seawright denied making these comments, although they were widely reported by the press at the time. The comments had been sparked by a debate before the board about building a new incinerator at a Catholic primary school. He was prosecuted and received a six-month suspended sentence as a result.
Following these high-profile political mistakes, the DUP withdrew the party whip from Seawright, although he managed to hold onto his support base and was returned to the Council in 1985 as an independent under the Protestant Unionist label (previously used by the forerunner of the DUP). He was shunned by the DUP and UUP city councillors, and the only councillors who would talk to him were Sinn Féin. Nonetheless, he did not sever his ties with all DUP members and in mid-1985 joined Ivan Foster, Jim Wells and George Graham in a failed attempt to force a banned loyalist march through the mainly nationalist town of Castlewellan. Seawright did however split from the Free Presbyterian Church and instead worshipped at the Shankill Road's Church of God.
George Seawright
George Seawright (c.1951 – 3 December 1987) was a Scottish-born unionist politician in Northern Ireland and loyalist paramilitary in the Ulster Volunteer Force. He was assassinated by the Irish People's Liberation Organisation in 1987.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland from an Ulster Protestant background, Seawright lived in Drumchapel and worked in the shipyards of Clydeside. Also living for a time in Springburn, he was one of the few Scots to join the Ulster Protestant Volunteers in the late 1960s.
He then worked in the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast until entering politics as a member of the Democratic Unionist Party. As well as being a shipyard worker he also served as a lay preacher and was an elder in north Belfast's John Knox Memorial Free Presbyterian Church. Seawright was also a member of an Orange Lodge in the Ballysillan area of North Belfast and the Apprentice Boys of Derry. He lived in the unionist Glencairn estate in the northwest of the city with his wife and three children.
Seawright was noted for his fiery rhetoric. He was elected to Belfast City Council in 1981, and soon developed a following amongst unionists. The following year he was elected as the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) candidate to the 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly. Seawright, who had initially campaigned for John McQuade before securing his own candidacy, had problems with the party leadership from the beginning of his political career. Seawright stated that he was viewed as lacking respectability due to his rough personality, his residence in social housing, and that he was in arrears to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
Seawright courted controversy throughout his fairly brief career. He was strongly criticised for an interview he gave to Nationalism Today, a journal produced in support of the Political Soldier wing of the British National Front (NF). In it, Seawright praised the NF, not only due to their support for Ulster loyalism, but also for their stance on race and immigration. His younger brother David Seawright was an active member of the NF.
In 1984, following the erection of an Irish tricolour on Whiterock leisure centre, Seawright, along with UVF men John Bingham and William 'Frenchie' Marchant, wielded handguns to physically remove it. Despite their efforts two flags were put up to replace it soon afterwards. Following a heated exchange in which People's Democracy councillor John McAnulty described the Union Flag as "a butcher's apron" McAnulty stated that Seawright delivered a veiled death threat, saying: "I have a soft spot for you Mr McAnulty, it's in Milltown Cemetery."
He continued to court controversy when he told a meeting of the Belfast Education and Library Board in 1984 that Irish Catholics who objected to the singing of the British national anthem "are just fenian scum who have been indoctrinated by the Catholic Church. Taxpayers' money would be better spent on an incinerator and burning the lot of them. Their priests should be thrown in and burnt as well." Seawright denied making these comments, although they were widely reported by the press at the time. The comments had been sparked by a debate before the board about building a new incinerator at a Catholic primary school. He was prosecuted and received a six-month suspended sentence as a result.
Following these high-profile political mistakes, the DUP withdrew the party whip from Seawright, although he managed to hold onto his support base and was returned to the Council in 1985 as an independent under the Protestant Unionist label (previously used by the forerunner of the DUP). He was shunned by the DUP and UUP city councillors, and the only councillors who would talk to him were Sinn Féin. Nonetheless, he did not sever his ties with all DUP members and in mid-1985 joined Ivan Foster, Jim Wells and George Graham in a failed attempt to force a banned loyalist march through the mainly nationalist town of Castlewellan. Seawright did however split from the Free Presbyterian Church and instead worshipped at the Shankill Road's Church of God.