Stratton Mills

William Stratton Mills (born 1 July 1932), is a retired solicitor and former politician in Northern Ireland.

He was the only Member of Parliament (MP) to have sat for the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland in the British House of Commons, until Naomi Long won Belfast East in 2010. In August 1969, at the outset of The Troubles, Mills traveled with Robin Bailie to the U.S. to counter the fund raising efforts of Bernadette Devlin and to espouse the Unionist point of view for an American audience.

The son of Dr. V.J.S. Mills, CBE, RM, Mills was educated at Campbell College, Belfast and Queen's University, Belfast. A solicitor by profession, Mills was elected as the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) MP for Belfast North in the 1959 UK general election. He held his seat in subsequent elections, but in 1972 he refused to join the other UUP MPs in resigning the Conservative Party whip. He instead resigned from the UUP, describing himself as an independent Unionist and Conservative MP.

In 1973, Mills joined the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. He retired from the House in 1974. He lives in Malone Park, was partner in a solicitors firm, and currently serves on Northern Ireland's Historic Buildings Council, and is a member of the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society and the Irish Georgian Society.

References

• Lords Hansard text for 3 Jul 1996 (160703-12)

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Stratton Mills

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by H. Montgomery Hyde	Member of Parliament for Belfast North 1959–1974	Succeeded by John Carson