Patricia McLaughlin

{{for|the American artist|Tricia McLaughlin}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}} {{Use British English|date=February 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Patricia McLaughlin | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}} | image = Patriciamclaughlin.jpg | caption = Formal portrait, 1959 | constituency_MP = Belfast West | term_start = 26 May 1955 | term_end = 25 September 1964 | predecessor = Jack Beattie | successor = James Kilfedder | birth_name = Florence Patricia Alice Aldwell | birth_date = {{birth date|1916|06|23|df=yes}} | birth_place = Downpatrick, County Down, Ireland | death_date = {{Death date and age|1997|01|07|1916|06|23|df=yes}} | death_place = Headbourne Worthy, Hampshire, England | party = Ulster Unionist | spouse = Henry McLaughlin | children = 3 | education = Trinity College Dublin }} '''Florence Patricia Alice McLaughlin''' OBE (née '''Aldwell'''; 23 June 1916 – 7 January 1997) was a unionist politician in Northern Ireland and one of the earliest female Members of Parliament (MPs) from the region.<ref name="Obit">{{cite news |last1=Bradford |first1=Roy |title=Obituary: Patricia McLaughlin |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-patricia-mclaughlin-1284792.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-patricia-mclaughlin-1284792.html |archive-date=25 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |accessdate=26 September 2020 |work=The Independent |date=24 January 1997}}</ref>

== Early life == Florence Patricia Alice Aldwell was born in Downpatrick on 23 June 1916. Her father was ordained in the Church of Ireland.<ref name = ODNB>{{cite ODNB|title = McLaughlin, (Florence) Patricia Alice (1916–1997), politician|last = Mulholland|first = Marc|date = 2004|doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/64703}}</ref> She was educated at Ashleigh House and Trinity College, Dublin before going on to join the Ulster Unionist Party.<ref name="Obit"/> In 1937, she married Henry McLaughlin.<ref name = ODNB/>

== Career == Chosen to represent the party in the West Belfast constituency for the 1955 general election, she captured the seat from incumbent Jack Beattie and went on to successfully defend it at the 1959 election before retiring from politics.<ref name="Obit"/> She made a surprise comeback in the 1970 general election as the Conservative Party candidate in Wandsworth Central, although she failed to win the seat.<ref name="Obit"/> She was also a founding member of the Westminster women's Orange Lodge.<ref name = ODNB/>

On 13 January 1958 she visited Crumlin Road Prison in Belfast where Irish Republican Army (IRA) inmate Eamonn Boyce noted in Irish in his diary entry from that date that she was inside 'looking at the animals!'.<ref>{{cite book| last = Bryson | first = Anna | title = The Insider: The Belfast Prison Diaries of Eamonn Boyce 1956-1962 | year = 2007 | publisher = The Lilliput Press | location = Dublin| isbn = 9781843511298 | oclc = |pages = 141–2|chapter = 3}}</ref>

==Personal life and death== McLaughlin and her husband had three children.<ref name = ODNB/> Her husband and one of their daughters predeceased her.<ref name = ODNB/> She was a devout Anglican.<ref name = ODNB/>

McLaughlin died from bronchopneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at a care home in Headbourne Worthy, Hampshire, on 7 January 1997, at the age of 80.<ref name = ODNB/>

==Awards== McLaughlin was awarded the OBE in 1975.<ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/46593/supplement/7378|title = No. 46593|date = 6 June 1975|page = 7379|work = The London Gazette}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

== External links == *{{hansard-contribs | mrs-patricia-mclaughlin | Patricia McLaughlin }}

{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Belfast West | before = Jack Beattie | after = James Kilfedder | years = 1955–1964}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McLaughlin, Patricia}} Category:1916 births Category:1997 deaths Category:20th-century women politicians from Northern Ireland Category:Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Category:Anglicans from Northern Ireland Category:Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Category:Deaths from pneumonia in England Category:Deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Category:Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Northern Irish constituencies Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Belfast constituencies (since 1922) Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:UK MPs 1955–1959 Category:UK MPs 1959–1964 Category:Ulster Unionist Party MPs