John MacDermott, Baron MacDermott

The Right Honourable The Lord MacDermott MC, PC, PC (NI)
MacDermott in 1950.
Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland
In office 1951–1971
Preceded by	Sir James Andrews, Bt.
Succeeded by	The Lord Lowry
Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
In office 23 April 1947 – 6 April 1951
Preceded by	The Lord Wright
Succeeded by	The Lord Asquith of Bishopstone
Personal details
Born	John Clarke MacDermott

John Clarke MacDermott, Baron MacDermott, MC, PC, PC (NI) (12 April 1896 – 13 July 1979), was a Northern Irish politician, barrister, and judge who served as Attorney-General for Northern Ireland, a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, and Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland. He was the first law lord to be appointed from Northern Ireland.^[1]

The son of a Belfast Presbyterian clergyman, MacDermott served with distinction with the British Army on the Western Front during the First World War, winning a Military Cross, before reading Law at the Queen's University of Belfast. After being called to the bar in both Dublin and Belfast, he acquired a busy practice in Northern Ireland, taking silk in 1936. In 1938, he was elected to the Northern Ireland House of Commons as an Ulster Unionist member, rejoined the British Army the following year on the outbreak of the Second World War, and was released from military service in 1941 to enable him to become Minister of Public Security in the Government of Northern Ireland. In 1941, he became Attorney-General for Northern Ireland, serving until his elevation to the Northern Irish High Court in 1944.

In 1947, MacDermott was appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and was elevated to the House of Lords. In 1951, he returned to Belfast to become Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, though he continued to sit occasionally in London. He retired in 1977, and in the same year was severely wounded in a terrorist attack whilst delivering a lecture. He died two years later. His son, also John Clarke MacDermott, was a Lord Justice of Appeal in Northern Ireland.