->Alekksandr at 11:32, 20 November 2021

2021-11-20T11:32:11Z

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{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name = Dame Dehra S. Parker
| honorific-suffix = [[Order of the British Empire|GBE]]
| image = 
DehraChichester.jpg
| caption = [[Dame]] Dehra skiing with her grandson, [[James Chichester-Clark]], in [[Switzerland]] (1931)
| office = [[Parliamentary Secretary]] to the <br>[[Minister of Education (Northern Ireland)|Ministry of Education]]
| term_start = 1937
| term_end = 1944
| office2 = [[Minister of Health and Local Government]]
| term_start2 = 1949
| term_end2 = 1957
| predecessor2 = [[William Grant (Northern Ireland politician)|William Grant]]
| successor2 = [[Jack Andrews]]
| office3 = Member of the <br>[[Northern Ireland House of Commons]]
| term_start3 = 1921
| term_end3 = 1929
| predecessor3 = [[Parliament of Northern Ireland|Parliament]] created
| successor3 = Seat split
| constituency3 = [[Londonderry (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)|Londonderry]]
| office4 = Member of the <br>[[Northern Ireland House of Commons]]
| term_start4 = 1933
| term_end4 = 1960
| predecessor4 = [[James Lenox-Conyngham Chichester-Clark]]
| successor4 = [[James Chichester-Clark]]
| constituency4 = [[South Londonderry (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1882|8|13|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Dehradun]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1963|11|30|1882|8|13|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Castledawson]], [[County Londonderry]], [[Northern Ireland]]
| nationality = [[Northern Irish people|Northern Irish]]
| party = [[Ulster Unionist Party]]
| spouse = [[Robert Chichester (politician)|Robert Chichester]] (d.1921)<br>Admiral Henry Parker
| children = 2
}}

[[The Right Honourable|The Rt Hon.]] '''[[Dame]] Dehra S. Parker''', [[Order of the British Empire|GBE]], [[Privy Council of Northern Ireland|PC (NI)]] (13 August 1882<ref>[http://oxforddnb.com/index/101058628 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]</ref> – 30 November 1963), was the longest serving female MP in the [[House of Commons of Northern Ireland]].

==Family life==
'''Dehra Kerr-Fisher''' was born in a military hospital in [[Dehra Dun]], north of [[Delhi, India]], in 1882, the only child of James Kerr-Fisher and his wife Annie. Her father, a native of [[Kilrea]], [[County Londonderry]], was a successful financier.<ref name="The Stormont Papers">[http://stormontpapers.ahds.ac.uk/stormontpapers/context.html?memberId=154 The Stormont Papers]</ref> She was educated in the United States, where her father held extensive property holdings, and in [[Germany]].<ref name="ReferenceA">Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</ref> The surname has been spelled, alternatively, as '''Ker-Fisher''' or '''Ker Fisher'''.<ref>[http://www.thepeerage.com/p24996.htm Peerage.com]</ref>

==Marriages==
She was married twice. Her first husband was [[Robert Chichester (politician)|Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Peel Dawson Spencer Chichester, MP]]<ref name="The Stormont Papers"/> (d.1921), with whom she had one son and one daughter, Robert James Spencer Chichester (1902–1920) and Marion Caroline Dehra Chichester (1904–1976).<ref name="ReferenceA"/> She was predeceased by her son. On 4 June 1928 she married her second husband, [[Admiral (Royal Navy)|Admiral]] Henry Wise Parker ([[Order of the Bath|CB]], [[Order of St. Michael and St. George|CMG]]).<ref>[http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/biographies.html Biographies of Members of the Northern Ireland House of Commons]; accessed 13 April 2016.</ref>

==Political career==
[[Dame]] Dehra was first elected as a [[Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Londonderry (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)|Londonderry]], as '''Dehra Chichester''' (as she was known prior to her second marriage in 1928), in the [[1921 Northern Ireland general election]]. She stood down at the [[1929 Northern Ireland general election|1929 election]] just before her second marriage but was elected unopposed as '''Dehra Parker''' in the 15 March 1933 by-election for the [[South Londonderry (NI Parliament constituency)|South Londonderry]] constituency following the death of her son-in-law [[James Lenox-Conyngham Chichester-Clark]], and served until her resignation on 15 June 1960. Her grandson, [[James Chichester-Clark]], was elected unopposed at the subsequent by-election. He later served as the fifth [[Prime Minister of Northern Ireland]] from 1969 to 1971.

From her re-election in 1933 until her retirement in 1960, she faced opposition only once. During the 1949 Northern Ireland General Election, with anti-partition agitation a common theme across the region, she was opposed in South Londonderry by a Nationalist Party candidate, T.B. Agnew, whom she defeated. She was a [[Parliamentary Secretary]] to the [[Ministry of Education (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Education]] from 1 December 1937 to 15 March 1944. She was also Chair of the Northern Ireland General Health Services Board from 1948 to 1949. She served as Minister of Health and Local Government from 26 August 1949 to 13 March 1957 and became a member of the [[Privy Council of Northern Ireland]] in 1949.<ref>[https://www.thegazette.co.uk/Belfast/issue/1470/page/185 Belfast Gazette, Issue 1470, Page 185, 26 August 1949]</ref> She was elevated to [[Order of the British Empire|Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] in the 1949 Birthday honours "for public services", having previously been appointed as an OBE,<ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/38628/supplements/2802 ''London Gazette'' notice of Dehra Parker's damehood (DBE)]</ref> and was advanced to be a [[Order of the British Empire|Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire]] (GBE) in 1957.

Her promotion to the Cabinet at the age of 67 under [[Basil Brooke, 1st Viscount Brookeborough|Sir Basil Brooke]] (later created The 1st [[Viscount Brookeborough]]) was part of his so-called 'reforming' premiership; his [[J. M. Andrews|predecessor]] having been criticised for appointing elderly members to Cabinet. She was the first woman to serve in the Northern Ireland Cabinet. {{Citation needed|date=July 2012}}

==Extra-Parliamentary activities==
Outside of parliamentary activities, [[Dame]] Dehra was a long-serving local councillor on [[Magherafelt]] [[Rural District Council]], president of both the ''Northern Ireland Physical Training Association'' and the ''Girls' Training Corps'', and chairman of the ''Ancient Monuments Advisory Committee''. In 1944, Parker was appointed senior vice-chairman of the ''Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts'' (CEMA NI), and in 1949 she succeeded Sir David Lindsay Keir as President for CEMA, a position she held until 1960.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts in Northern Ireland|title=Annual Report|year=1960|page=4}}</ref> Parker was made an honorary member of the [[Ulster Society of Women Artists]] in 1958.<ref>{{Cite news|date=10 December 1958|title=Women artists to show own works|page=8|work=Belfast Telegraph|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk|access-date=4 August 2021}}</ref>

==Later life==
{{unreferenced section|date=March 2016}}
She died at her home, Shanemullagh House, [[Castledawson]], in the south of [[County Londonderry]], on 28 November 1963, at age 81. She was interred two days later in the grounds of Christ Church, Castledawson.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|ni}}
{{s-new| Parliament }}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Londonderry (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)|Londonderry]]
| years = 1921–1929
}}
{{s-non | reason = Constituency split }}
{{succession box
| title = [[Member of Parliament]] for [[South Londonderry (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)|South Londonderry]]
| before = [[James Lenox-Conyngham Chichester-Clark]]
| after = [[James Chichester-Clark]]
| years = 1933–1960}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box
| title = [[Minister of Education (Northern Ireland)|Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education]]
| years = 1937–1944
| before = [[John Hanna Robb]]
| after = Vacant
}}
{{succession box| title=[[Minister of Health and Local Government]] | before=[[William Grant (Northern Ireland politician)|William Grant]] | after=[[Jack Andrews]] | years=1949–1957}}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Dehra}}
[[Category:1882 births]]
[[Category:1963 deaths]]
[[Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Dames Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Ulster Unionist Party members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1921–1925]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1925–1929]]
[[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 House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1945–1949]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1949–1953]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1953–1958]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1958–1962]]
[[Category:Northern Ireland junior government ministers (Parliament of Northern Ireland)]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:Women members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:Politicians from Dehradun]]
[[Category:Politicians from County Londonderry]]
[[Category:Chichester family|Dehra]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for County Londonderry constituencies]]
[[Category:Northern Ireland Cabinet ministers (Parliament of Northern Ireland)]]

Dehra Parker - Revision history

->Alekksandr at 11:32, 20 November 2021