Tom Hartley (politician)

For the English cricketer, see Tom Hartley (cricketer).

Tom Hartley
65th Lord Mayor of Belfast
In office
1 June 2008 – 1 June 2009
Preceded byJim Rodgers
Succeeded byNaomi Long
Belfast City Councillor
In office
19 May 1993 – 4 September 2013
Preceded bySeán McKnight
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
ConstituencyLower Falls
Personal details
Born1945 (age 78–79)
Falls Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Political partySinn Féin
OccupationIrish Republican activist and author

Tom Hartley (born 1945[1]) is a historian and Irish republican politician. Hartley grew up in the Falls Road area of Belfast and became a republican activist in the late 1960s. In 1970, he was imprisoned in the Crumlin Road gaol for ten months for riotous behaviour; he was again detained in 1978. During the 1981 Irish hunger strike, Hartley chaired the POW Committee.[2]

Hartley became active in Sinn Féin, serving as the General Secretary in the mid-1980s and the Chairperson in the early 1990s.[2][3] In 1993, he was elected to Belfast City Council for the Lower Falls and held his seat in each subsequent election until 2013 when he stood down.[4][5] Hartley was one of three Sinn Féin candidates in Northern Ireland at the European election in 1994. Although he took only 3.8% of the votes cast and was not elected, he did receive more votes than the party's other candidates.[6] In 2008, Hartley became the second Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Belfast.[2]

In his spare time, he conducts tours of Belfast City Cemetery[7] and authored the book series The History of Belfast. Written in Stone.[1][8][9][10]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c "Sinn Féin's Tom Hartley elected Mayor of Belfast". An Phoblacht. 5 June 2008. Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  3. ^ Adams, Gerry (29 June 2022). "Tom's lifetime of politics is well worth a view". Belfast Media Group. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  4. ^ Black, Rebecca (4 September 2014). "Sinn Fein's Tom Hartley departs Belfast City Hall as 'a much better place'". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  5. ^ "Belfast City Council Elections 1993-2011". ARK - Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  6. ^ "The 1994 European elections". ARK - Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  7. ^ Friel, Laura (16 December 1999). "A winter's tale". An Phoblacht. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "Written in Stone - the History of Belfast City Cemetery by Tom Hartley". Belfast City Council. Archived from the original on 16 November 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2024.