Hugh Smyth was a Northern Irish politician. He was born in 1941 in Woodvale Road, district of the Shankill Road area of Belfast, and grown up in a third class family of nine children.
It was probably this to influence him in his political choices, before as leader of the Independent Unionist Group, a more formalised alliance of working-class independent unionists based in Belfast, and continuing as leader of the Progressive Unionist Party when the Group changed name. In his role, and hoping to gain understanding from the Republicans, Smyth was one of only two unionist politicians to accept an offer to visit IRA prisoners in the early 1980s.
“Historically, Unionist politicians fed their electorate the myth that they were first class citizens… and without question people believed them. Historically, Republican/Nationalist politicians fed their electorate the myth that they were second class citizens… and without question the people believed them. In reality, the truth of the matter was that we all, Protestant and Catholic, were third class citizen, and none of us realised it!”
As politician, he represented the upper Shankill Road from 1973 to 2013. He died in 2014.
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| Canmore Street, Shankill Road, Belfast 2015 |
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| Canmore Street, Shankill Road, Belfast 2015 |
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