TOM CALDWELL: Tom Caldwell, who died on November 13th, did not realise his political dream of being the first President of a united Ireland.
The former Independent Unionist MP and interior designer cum gallery owner North and South of the border, was born in 1921 in Namirembe, Kampala Parish in the district of Mengo, Uganda. His parents with his sister settled back in Belfast in 1924 where Tom attended RBAI between 1934 and 1939.
As an adventurous young man he joined the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in 1941 and was discharged from the British Army a year later. He sailed to India and became rank officer - cadet in the Army ending up a staff captain GHQ in New Delhi.
Always impatient and restless, he returned to Belfast in 1946 and joined the family business at 25. Eight years later he would be running it. In 1948 he married Molly Cook of Malvern, Worcester.
Maintaining his involvement in the Territorial Army, he receivedw an MBE (Military Division) in 1957 and would eventually rise to the rank of Lieut-Col Commanding 146 Engineers Regiment (Antrim Artillery).
By this time the visionary Tom Caldwell was shifting the emphasis of the family business to interior design and one of his first big coups was his appointment as consultant by the 5th Duke of Westminster for Grosvenor Estates in 1967.
In the wake of the political upheaval in the North from 196 the liberally-minded unionist, Caldwell entered the political fray. He was elected in April 1969 as a pro-O'Neill independent unionist for the Willowfield seat. In August he held two meetings with Cardinal William Conway, the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland.
According to his account he wanted to establish what the Catholic Church's view was on a united Ireland. He later told a member of his family that the cardinal said there could not be a united Ireland until such time as there were more Catholics than Protestants in the North.
With violence erupting in Belfast in 1970 Caldwell stared it down and opened an art gallery with a one-man show of Colin Middleton's paintings. In that year he failed to get elected in South Antrim in the Westminster General Election.
Fearless and outspoken he engaged in the unthinkable as a Unionist in the aftermath of the March 1972 Abercorn bombing - he met the leadership of the Official IRA and later the Army Council of the Provisional IRA.
His diaries record that on meeting Harold Wilson in London in February of 1972 to discuss his talks with Republicans Wilson expressed surprise that he had confined his contacts to the Officials: "You should be talking to those who are doing the bombing," he said. In March Caldwell met the top echelon of the IRA. He later related how he confronted Ruairi Ó Bradaigh and Seán MacStiofáin with the words "Who do you guys think you are! ?"
In 1973 he quit politics and in his later years concentrated on his business with art galleries in Belfast and Dublin. He pioneered the works of many artists deemed to be too esoteric and avant-garde for that era, like Colin Middleton, Brian Vallely, George Campbell, Gerard Dillon, Neville Johnston, Tony O'Malley, Brian Ballard , Charles Brady, Basil Blackshaw, Patrick Collins, Markey Robinson, Neil Shawcross . He even brought canvasses into prison to Armagh painter Brian Vallely while he was detained.
Caldwell's daughter Celia, who worked with him over the last two decades, recalls that "he was always impatient. He often drove around the roundabout the wrong way to get to where he wanted as quickly as he could."
According to his son Christopher, faced with a fine for speeding through the village of Ballybogey on his way to Coleraine early one Sunday morning his father refused to pay and chose instead to dispatch a message to the court. "Not even God," he wrote," would be too worried about speeding through Ballybogey at eight o'clock on a Sunday morning." "Case dismissed", declared the judge.
Caldwell was a flamboyant, enigmatic character who didn't suffer fools gladly. He habitually showed the door to customers he judged not to be sufficiently respectful of his taste and opinion on interior design and art. "Why a three-piece suite?" he would intone, adding, "That is passé."
He coped gallantly almost until the end and despite his worsening health he braved the journey daily from his beloved "Springfield" at Magheragall outside Lisburn to his unique store in Bradbury Place.
He is survived by his wife Molly, daughters Jennifer, Hilary, Celia and son Christopher.
- Tom Caldwell: born 1921; died November 13th, 2002.