David Trimble

The Right Honourable The Lord Trimble PC
Official portrait, 2018
First Minister of Northern Ireland
In office 1 July 1998 – 14 October 2002[a] Serving with Seamus Mallon and Mark Durkan
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	John Reid[b](as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland) Ian Paisley (2007)
12th Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party
In office 8 September 1995 – 24 June 2005
Deputy	John Taylor Reg Empey
Preceded by	James Molyneaux
Succeeded by	Reg Empey
Member of the Legislative Assembly for Upper Bann
In office 25 June 1998 – 7 March 2007
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	George Savage
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Life peerage 2 June 2006 – 25 July 2022
Member of Parliament for Upper Bann
In office 17 May 1990 – 11 April 2005
Preceded by	Harold McCusker
Succeeded by	David Simpson
Northern Ireland Forum Member for Upper Bann
In office 30 May 1996 – 25 April 1998
Preceded by	Forum created
Succeeded by	Forum dissolved
Personal details
Born	William David Trimble (1944-10-15)15 October 1944 Belfast, Northern Ireland
Died	25 July 2022(2022-07-25) (aged 77) Belfast, Northern Ireland
Political party	Ulster Unionist ( before 1973 1978–2007 ) Ulster Vanguard (1973–1978) Conservative (from 2007)
Spouses	Heather McComb ​ ​ (m. 1968; div. 1976)​ Daphne Orr ​ (m. 1978)​
Children	4
Alma mater	Queen's University Belfast (LLB)
Profession	Barrister lecturer
Awards	Nobel Peace Prize (1998)
Website	Official website
Trimble's voice from the BBC programme Great Lives, 14 August 2007[1]
a. ^ Reg Empey served as Acting First Minister from 1 July to 6 November 2001. b. ^ During the periods of suspension of the Northern Ireland Executive, the Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland assumed the responsibilities of the First Minister and deputy First Minister. At the time of suspension the Northern Ireland Secretary was John Reid.

William David Trimble, Baron Trimble, PC (15 October 1944 – 25 July 2022) was a Northern Irish politician who was the inaugural First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2002, and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1995 to 2005.^[2] He was also Member of Parliament (MP) for Upper Bann from 1990 to 2005 and Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Upper Bann from 1998 to 2007.

Trimble began his career teaching law at The Queen's University of Belfast in the 1970s, during which time he began to get involved with the paramilitary-linked Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party (VPUP). He was elected to the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention in 1975, and joined the UUP in 1978 after the VPUP disbanded.^[2] Remaining at Queen's University, he continued his academic career until being elected as the MP for Upper Bann in 1990. In 1995 he was unexpectedly elected as the leader of the UUP.^[2] He was instrumental in the negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, and (along with John Hume) won the Nobel Peace Prize that year for his efforts. He was later elected to become the first First Minister of Northern Ireland, although his tenure was turbulent and frequently interrupted by disagreements over the timetable for Provisional Irish Republican Army decommissioning.

Trimble resigned the leadership of the UUP soon after being defeated at the 2005 general election. In June 2006, he accepted a life peerage in the House of Lords, taking the title of Baron Trimble, of Lisnagarvey in the County of Antrim.^[3] He did not stand again for the Assembly, which finally reconvened in 2007, instead leaving the UUP to join the Conservative Party.^[4]