Charles Beattie (3 August 1899 – 10 March 1958) was a Northern Irish farmer and auctioneer. Active in the Ulster Farmers' Union and in Unionist associations, he achieved senior office in the Orange Order and the Royal Black Institution and served on Omagh Rural District Council from 1952 until his death. He is principally known for an exceptionally brief career as a Member of the United Kingdom Parliament representing Mid Ulster; he did not win an election, but was declared elected when his opponent was disqualified. However, a few weeks after he took his seat, he was discovered to be holding an "office of profit under the Crown" which disqualified him.
Working life
Beattie was born on 3 August 1899 and the birth was registered as Charles Beattyhttps://geni.nidirect.gov.uk/ and verified by his daughter Matilda Margaret (Pearl) Adams (nee Beattie).The brief biography given in the Tyrone Constitution when Beattie was declared elected (in October 1955) stated he was then aged 55. However the 1901 Census of Ireland shows the family in Dunbreen with Charles having passed his first birthday by Census day (31 March 1901). In the mid-1950s he was farming a farm and living at Ashgrove House in Dunbreen, County Tyrone, together with his wife Eileen, one son (Robin) and two daughters (Betty and Pearl). In addition to his farming activity, Beattie went into business as an auctioneer in about 1944,"Mr. Chas. Beattie, Dunbreen, Omagh" (Obituary), Tyrone Constitution, 14 March 1958, p. 6. with premises at 53 High Street in Omagh."New M.P. Interviewed", Tyrone Constitution, 14 October 1955, p. 3. He advertised the property he was auctioning weekly in local newspapers circulating in County Tyrone, including the Nationalist Ulster Herald.
Unionism For many years an active member of Unionist associations, Beattie was appointed a representative of Dunmullan on North Tyrone Unionist Association in August 1946."Candidates for Omagh Rural", Tyrone Constitution, 16 August 1946, p. 8. From November 1949 he was a delegate to Mid Ulster Unionist Association;"Tyrone Unionism", Tyrone Constitution, 11 November 1949, p. 3. and became a member of the Association's executive committee in June 1950."Mid-Ulster Unionists", Tyrone Constitution, 30 June 1950, p. 5. On his re-election in July 1952, he was also named to the Association's delegation to that year's Conservative Party Conference in Scarborough."Unionism in Omagh", Tyrone Constitution, 1 August 1952, p. 3.
Farmers' Union As a strong supporter of the Ulster Farmers' Union, Beattie was appointed by the Tyrone County UFU as its representative on the local appeal tribunal under the National Assistance and National Insurance Acts when they were introduced in Northern Ireland in 1946.Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee on Elections, House of Commons Paper 145-I, Q. 78, p. 12. Self-employed farmers were in a complicated situation with National Insurance and the appeal tribunal often heard their cases; Beattie later stressed that "I thought .. it was the farmers only I was working for".Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee on Elections, House of Commons Paper 145-I, Q. 90, p. 14. He was paid 3s. 6d. for attending one meeting in 1948,Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee on Elections, House of Commons Paper 145-I, Q 93, p. 15. but early in 1949 Beattie informed the Ministry that he would not seek reappointment.
In 1951 Beattie was chosen as Secretary of the Omagh branch of the UFU."Omagh Farmers' Union", Tyrone Constitution, 27 April 1951, p. 6. In June 1952, he attended a meeting of the County Tyrone Committee of the Ulster Farmers' Union at which he complained that a consignment of potatoes had been sent to Derry and left on the quay for six weeks before the Ministry had rejected them. Beattie's willingness to take up grievances led the UFU to select him"Tyrone Farmers' select Representatives", Tyrone Constitution, 27 June 1952, p. 6. to be a new member of its delegation to the Tyrone Committee of Agriculture."Co. Tyrone Committee of Agriculture", Tyrone Constitution, 8 August 1952, p. 6.
Although he had previously resigned from the National Assistance tribunals, he came under pressure from his friends at the UFU in early 1953 to accept reappointment. He gave in to the pressure and on 9 March was reappointed, receiving with his letter of appointment a document identified as "A/cs.150" which stated "Service on the bodies referred to above is regarded as voluntary and unpaid".Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee on Elections, House of Commons Paper 145-I, Q. 85, p. 13. He was not to know it, but volunteering for this position would have serious consequences three years later.
Orange Order Beattie was an active Orangeman. His local lodge was Reaghan L.O.L. No. 304, of which he had served as Master; in addition he became Worshipful Master (W.M.) of Reaghan Royal Black Preceptory No. 1101. At the anniversary service on 6 August 1950, Beattie marshalled the procession of Reaghan R.B.P., while his daughter Ethel played the organ during the service."Anniversary Services in Tyrone", Tyrone Constitution, 11 August 1950, p. 8. Representing Reaghan R.B.P., he was one of the platform party at a celebration of the Relief of Derry organised by Castlederg District Royal Black Chapter No. 6 on 25 August 1951; the attendance at the meeting was estimated at over 20,000 which made it one of the largest such gatherings yet seen."Impressive Loyalist Assemblage at Castlederg", Tyrone Constitution, 31 August 1951, p. 3.
As Grand Treasurer of County Tyrone Grand Orange Lodge, he was one of the platform speakers at the celebration of The Twelfth at Strabane in 1954 where he stressed loyalty to the Prime Minister while saying that 'it was at times not as good as it was when they were under the late Lord Carson'. Beattie went on to deny that there was any split in Orange ranks but to warn that if the Government of Northern Ireland did not act wisely (in the opinion of the Orange Order), the Order 'would know what to do when it came to the next election'."Huge Assembly at Strabane", Tyrone Constitution, 16 July 1954, p. 5.
In October 1954, one of Beattie's warnings to the Northern Ireland government was mentioned by the Irish Nationalist MP Joe Stewart in the Parliament of Northern Ireland. He referred to a newspaper report that Beattie had said "the time had come for them, behind the walls of the Orange lodges, to decide what the future of Ulster would be" and that "It was time the Government realised that they would only have the support of the Orange Order so long as they got what they wanted, and so long as the Government worked for the good of the cause". Stewart took these statements as proof that the Orange Order was running the Northern Ireland government.Hansard (NI), vol. 38, col. 2729. Beattie was re-elected as County Grand Treasurer on 6 December 1954."Tyrone Grand Orange Lodge", Tyrone Constitution, 24 December 1954, p. 2.
By 1955 he was a member of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, and of the Imperial Grand Black Chapter of the British Commonwealth (normally known as the Royal Black Institution). He served as Deputy Lecturer of the Grand Royal Arch Purple of Ireland, and was District Master of Omagh Black Chapter. He later became Worshipful Master of Omagh District R.B.P. No. 4 and Grand Treasurer of County Tyrone Royal Black Chapter.
Rural district council
On 15 April 1952, the sitting councillor for Dunbreen on Omagh Rural District Council, Joseph Patterson, told a meeting of Unionist electors at Dunmullan Orange Hall that he wished to retire from the council at the forthcoming elections. He nominated Beattie to succeed him, a motion that was passed."Unionist Meetings in Omagh", Tyrone Constitution, 18 April 1952, p. 5. Beattie was returned unopposed for Dunbreen District Electoral Division on 6 June 1952.The official announcement is in the Tyrone Constitution, 13 June 1952, p. 8. He was not a notably active councillor,Charles Beattie should not be confused with his namesake Charles A. Beattie, who was Chairman of Omagh Rural District Council through most of the relevant period, and was also active in the Orange Order in Omagh Town. The two were to sit next to each other during the Election Petition. There was also a Crozier S. Beatty who sat on the Rural District Council. but on 4 March 1954 he handed in a petition from farmers in Cappagh, Dunbreen and neighbouring districts, calling for mains electricity supplies."Electricity in Omagh Rural", Tyrone Constitution, 12 March 1954, p. 3.
The next month he defended the achievements of the Ulster Farmers' Union when the closure of Fintona centre for fat stock was announced; Beattie pointed out that there were 28 such centres in Northern Ireland when in an equivalent area in England there were only 8."No fat stock sales at Fintona", Tyrone Constitution, 9 April 1954, p. 5. He was reselected as a candidate for Omagh Rural District Council in April 1955,"Unionist meetings in Tyrone", Tyrone Constitution, 15 April 1955, p. 5. and was again returned unopposed on 24 May 1955.The official announcement is in the Tyrone Constitution, 27 May 1955, p. 10.
1955 general election Mid Ulster was represented from the 1951 general election by Michael O'Neill, who ran as an 'Anti-Partition' candidate associated with the Irish Anti-Partition League. However at a Nationalist convention on 8 May 1955,"Contests for all Ulster seats", The Times, 2 May 1955, p. 8. O'Neill's supporters were outnumbered by supporters of Sinn Féin who had picked Tom Mitchell, forcing O'Neill to stand down in his favour. Mitchell was in HM Prison Belfast serving a sentence of ten years' imprisonment after he was caught during an Irish Republican Army raid on Omagh barracks."Ulster challenge by Sinn Fein", The Times, 16 May 1955, p. 3. Although Mitchell as a Sinn Féin candidate did not have access to Nationalist halls to hold meetings, nor to those run by the Roman Catholic Church, he was still regarded as the favourite."Prospects in N. Ireland", The Times, 26 May 1955, p. 4.
The Mid Ulster Unionist Association had a meeting on 15 April 1955, the day the 1955 general election was announced, but the news had not reached Omagh and so the association did not make any decision about whether to fight the seat."Mid Ulster Unionist Association", Tyrone Constitution, 22 April 1955, p. 5. A meeting to select the Unionist candidate was held on Saturday 14 May; among the other names considered were Charles A. Beattie (of Kingarrow), William J. Hamilton, Lt-Col. Alexander, Thomas Lyons (Stormont MP for North Tyrone), and J. P. Duff OBE."No Unionist Yet", Strabane Chronicle, 14 May 1955, p. 3. Beattie won the selection."The Times House of Commons 1955", p. 234.
The election was held on 26 May 1955 with nearly one in ten of the votes cast by post.D. E. Butler, "The British General Election of 1955", Macmillan & Co, 1955, p. 114. After a recount, Mitchell was declared the winner by 260 votes.
After the election