{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}} Major '''David Graham Shillington''' PC(NI) (10 December 1872 – 22 January 1944) was an Ulster Unionist politician and agricultural and builders' merchant.
{{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = Major | honorific_suffix = PC (NI) | birth_date = 10 December 1872 | death_date = 22 January 1944 | occupation = Politician | children = 6, including; Graham Shillington | relatives = {{plainlist| * Thomas Shillington (cousin) * Geoffrey Cather (nephew) }} }}
==Early life== Shillington was a son of Thomas Primus Shillington (1831-1889), of Tavanagh House, Portadown, County Armagh, of a prominent Methodist mercantile family, by his wife Mary Jane (d. 1915), née Graham. His cousin was the factory owner and politician Thomas Shillington.<ref>The Linen Houses of the Bann Valley: The Story of Their Families, Kathleen Rankin, Ulster Historical Foundation, 2007, pp. 203-209</ref><ref>A Call to Arms- Portadown and the Great War, Richard Edgar, 2014, p. 238</ref> Shillington was educated at Methodist College Belfast and Rydalmount School, Colwyn Bay.<ref>{{cite web|title=Northern Ireland Parliamentary Elections Results: Biographies|url=http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/biographies.html|website=www.election.demon.co.uk|accessdate=30 May 2017|archive-date=26 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190226144802/http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/biographies.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was the proprietor of a general merchant's shop in Belfast. In April 1895 he married Sarah Louisa Collen of Killicomaine, Portadown and they had six children. He served in the First World War as a Major in the 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers.<ref>A Call to Arms- Portadown and the Great War, Richard Edgar, 2014, p. 238</ref>
==Career== In 1921, he was elected to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland as Unionist member for Armagh, and then for Armagh, Central in 1929 until he resigned on medical advice in February 1941.
He served as Minister of Labour from 1937–38.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Government of Northern Ireland|url=http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/administration.html|website=www.election.demon.co.uk|accessdate=30 May 2017|archive-date=25 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925114629/http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/administration.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Shillington was a prosperous agricultural and builders' merchant.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=2001-08-16 |title=Sir Graham Shillington |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/aug/16/guardianobituaries |access-date=2025-05-11 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
==Personal life== Shillington and his wife Sarah Louisa (née Collen) lived at Ardeavon, Killycomain Road, Portadown,<ref>The Linen Houses of the Bann Valley: The Story of Their Families, Kathleen Rankin, Ulster Historical Foundation, 2007, p. 206</ref><ref>A Call to Arms- Portadown and the Great War, Richard Edgar, 2014, pp. 238-239</ref> and had six children. The youngest was (Robert Edward) Graham Shillington, who would become the Chief Constable of Royal Ulster Constabulary.<ref name="obit - telegraph">{{cite news|title=Sir Graham Shillington|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1337555/Sir-Graham-Shillington.html|accessdate=17 September 2014|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=16 August 2001}}</ref> Son Thomas Graham Shillington served with the 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers, and was killed in action in 1917 aged 19, during the First World War. Victoria Cross recipient Lieutenant Geoffrey St. George Shillington Cather was the son of Shillington's sister.<ref>A Call to Arms- Portadown and the Great War, Richard Edgar, 2014, pp. 238-239</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== * http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/biographies.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190226144802/http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/biographies.html |date=26 February 2019 }}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|ni}} {{s-new | constituency }} {{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for Armagh | years = 1921–1929 }} {{s-non | reason = Constituency abolished}}
{{s-new | constituency }} {{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for Armagh Central | years = 1929–1941 }} {{s-aft | after = George Dougan }}
{{s-off}} {{succession box | title = Minister of Labour | before = J. M. Andrews | after = John Fawcett Gordon | years = 1937–1938 }} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shillington, David Graham}} Category:1872 births Category:1944 deaths Category:Ulster Unionist Party members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland Category:Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1925–1929 Category:Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1929–1933 Category:Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1933–1938 Category:Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1938–1945 Category:Members of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland Category:Northern Ireland Cabinet ministers (Parliament of Northern Ireland) Category:People educated at Methodist College Belfast Category:Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for County Armagh constituencies