Sir Ivan Neill, KBE, PC (1 July 1906 — 7 November 2001), was a British Army officer and Unionist politician from Northern Ireland.
Early life
Born in Belfast, Ireland, Neill studied at Ravenscroft National School and Shaftesbury Tutorial College before receiving a BSc in Economics from Queen's University, Belfast. He ran a firm of building contractors in east Belfast before joining the Royal Engineers as an officer in 1939. He served with the military until 1946, by which time he held the rank of major.
Political activity
In 1946, Neill was elected to Belfast Corporation as an Ulster Unionist Party member, and two years later, he became an alderman, serving until 1950. At the 1949 Northern Ireland general election, he was elected for Belfast Ballynafeigh. In January 1950, he was made Minister of Labour, and was appointed to the Privy Council of Northern Ireland. In this post, he sometimes spoke against his Government's policy – for example, against the 1956 Rent Bill which permitted landlords to increase rents in order to improve properties, while in 1958 he was rebuked for making a critical speech on economic policy.
He held the post until 1962, when he became Minister of Education, then in 1964 he moved to become Minister of Finance and Leader of the House of Commons. He was stripped of the Leadership of the House the following spring, and resigned from the Government in April, feeling that he was being marginalised in favour of William Craig.
