{{Short description|Northern Irish politician (born 1928)}} {{For|those of a similar name|Anne Dixon (disambiguation)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Anne Dickson | office = Leader of the Unionist Party of Northern Ireland | deputy = | term_start = 1976 | term_end = 1981 | predecessor = Brian Faulkner | successor = ''Office abolished'' | office1 = Member of the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention <br/> for South Antrim | term_start1 = 1975 | term_end1 = 1976 | office2 = Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly <br/> for South Antrim | term_start2 = 1973 | term_end2 = 1974 | office3 = Member of Parliament <br/> for Carrick | term_start3 = 1969 | term_end3 = 1973 | predecessor3 = Austin Ardill | successor3 = ''Parliament abolished'' | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1928|4|18}} | birth_place = London, England | death_date = | party = Unionist Party NI (1974 - 1981) <br/> Independent Unionist (1972 - 1974) | other_party = Ulster Unionist (until 1972) }} '''Anne Letitia Dickson''' CBE (born 18 April 1928) is a former Northern Irish Unionist politician.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KGAiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SasFAAAAIBAJ&pg=812,4671283&dq=anne-dickson+ulster&hl=en|title=Shots, blasts heard in Ireland|date=12 August 1970|work=The Owosso Argus-Press|archive-date=24 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924131418/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KGAiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SasFAAAAIBAJ&pg=812%2C4671283&dq=anne-dickson+ulster&hl=en|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Background== Born in London, she moved with her family to Northern Ireland at an early age and was educated at Holywood and Richmond Lodge School.<ref name="ED">[http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/biographies.html Stormont biographies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190226144802/http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/biographies.html |date=26 February 2019 }}, electiondemon.co.uk, accessed 2 July 2013</ref> After service as the Chair of the Northern Ireland Advisory Board of the Salvation Army she became actively involved in politics for the Ulster Unionist Party. Elected as chair of the Carrick Division Unionist Association she later became a member of the Newtownabbey Urban District Council; serving as vice-chair of the council from 1967 to 1969.<ref name="ED"/>
She was then elected as an Ulster Unionist politician for the Carrick constituency in the Parliament of Northern Ireland at Stormont as a supporter of the prime minister Terence O'Neill. After the dissolution of the Stormont Parliament, she was elected in the 1973 Assembly election for South Antrim as an Independent Unionist candidate having resigned from the UUP in 1972. After the Ulster Unionist party split in 1973/4 over the Sunningdale agreement she joined the newly formed Unionist Party of Northern Ireland (UPNI) along with other supporters of the former Northern Ireland prime minister Brian Faulkner. She retained her seat in South Antrim in the 1975 constitutional convention election. After the retirement of Brian Faulkner she became leader of the Unionist Party of Northern Ireland (UPNI) in 1976, becoming the first woman to lead a major political party in Northern Ireland.<ref>[http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/new_hibernia_review/v013/13.2.rynder.html A Women at the Center: Anne Dickson and the “Troubles”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304122327/http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=%2Fjournals%2Fnew_hibernia_review%2Fv013%2F13.2.rynder.html |date=4 March 2016 }}, New Hibernia Review (2009) ("Anne Dickson, leader of the Unionist Party of Northern Ireland (UPNI) from 1976 to 1981. She succeeded Brian Faulkner, who founded...")</ref><ref>Cosgrove, Art. [https://books.google.com/books?id=QCagZOubDWUC&q=anne+dickson&pg=PA341 A New History of Ireland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627072833/http://books.google.com/books?id=QCagZOubDWUC&pg=PA341&dq=%22anne+dickson%22+belfast&hl=en&ei=6nY0TIG5HoH-8Aax8YzJCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=anne%20dickson&f=false |date=27 June 2014 }} (orig. ed. 1987) ({{ISBN|978-0199539703}})</ref> In 1979 she contested the Belfast North constituency in the Westminster election, polling 10% of the vote, the best performance by a UPNI candidate in Northern Ireland, however, her intervention was sufficient to split the moderate Unionist vote resulting in the seat being gained by the DUP. The UPNI disbanded in 1981 after poor results in the local government elections that year and Dickson retired from active politics. Subsequently, she was chair of the Northern Ireland Consumer Council from 1985 to 1990.<ref name="ED"/> She was appointed CBE in the 1990 Birthday Honours.
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{S-start}} {{s-par|ni}} {{s-bef | before = Austin Ardill }} {{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for Carrick | years = 1969–1973 }} {{s-non|reason=Parliament abolished}} {{s-par|ni/ass73}} {{s-new | assembly}} {{s-ttl | title = Assembly Member for South Antrim | years = 1973–1974 }} {{s-non | reason = Assembly abolished }} {{s-par|ni/cc}} {{s-new | Convention}} {{s-ttl | title = Member for South Antrim | years = 1975–1976 }} {{s-non | reason = Convention dissolved }} {{S-off}} {{S-bef | before=Brian Faulkner }} {{s-ttl | title=Leader of the Unionist Party of Northern Ireland | years=1976–1981 }} {{s-non | reason = Position abolished }} {{S-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickson, Anne}} Category:1928 births Category:Living people Category:Leaders of political parties in Northern Ireland Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Councillors in County Antrim Category:Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1969–1973 Category:Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly 1973–1974 Category:Members of the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention Category:Ulster Unionist Party members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland Category:Unionist Party of Northern Ireland politicians Category:Women members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland Category:Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for County Antrim constituencies Category:Ulster Unionist Party councillors Category:Women councillors in Northern Ireland