Death of James Chichester-Clark

Lord Moyola died peacefully on Friday

Northern Ireland's last surviving prime minister has died.

Lord Moyola, formerly James Chichester-Clark, died peacefully on Friday after a short illness.

Born in February 1923, he was prime minister of Northern Ireland from 1969 to 1971.

He was educated at Eton and joined the Irish Guards in 1942.

My husband always enjoyed life in the countryside and he always enjoyed his political career

Lady Moyola

He retired with the rank of a major in 1960 and entered Stormont as Unionist MP for South Derry.

Mr Chichester-Clark was appointed minister for agriculture in 1967, resigning two years later after objecting to the pace of Terence O'Neill's reforms.

In May 1969, the former major succeeded Captain O'Neill. In August the same year his government called in British troops to deal with the deteriorating situation in Northern Ireland.

Mr Chichester-Clark resigned in May 1971 after security matters were put under control of the Army.

He was succeeded as prime minister by Brian Faulkner, who served until 1972 and died in 1977.

Political career

His widow, Lady Moira, said he had a rapid rise in politics.

"Things at that time happened so fast," she said.

"You lived from day to day - life was very hectic."

She said while her husband always enjoyed life in the countryside, he always enjoyed his political career.

"An awful lot of people - because he was always quiet about it - felt that he didn't, but that's not true.

"He actually quite enjoyed politics. We lived in the middle of the constituency. I would have said to anybody not to live in the middle of your constituency because anybody that can get on a bicycle comes to see you at all hours of night.

"The door was never closed to them - no matter who. He always said to me the life of an MP was like the life of an army welfare officer."