A Life in Time: Northern Ireland Peacemaker John Hume (1937-2020) Early life
John Hume was born in Derry City in 1937. He worked as a teacher and became active in the local community. He helped to found the Derry Credit Union, campaigned for better housing in the city and for a university to be established in Derry.
Civil rights activist
Hume became involved with the Civil Rights Movement after the failure of his housing and university campaigns due to Unionist opposition. He was a founder member of NICRA
and believed it should only pursue peaceful means. Hume was elected to Stormont in 1969. In 1970 he helped found the SDLP to give a new voice to nationalists. As the violence worsened throughout the early 1970s, he repeatedly rejected the use of force as a means of achieving change.
The search for peace
As a senior member of the SDLP, Hume was appointed Minister for Commerce in the Sunningdale Power-Sharing Executive. After the collapse of the Sunningdale Agreement, he began working closely with the Irish government. He became leader of the SDLP in 1979. He strongly supported the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985. He then began holding talks with Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Féin. He was harshly criticised for this, as the IRA were still killing people. However, Hume insisted he was willing ‘to talk to anyone, any time’ to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. His work paid off with the IRA ceasefire in 1994 and the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. He retired as leader of the SDLP in 2004.
Legacy
Along with the Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble, Hume was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998 for his work during the peace process. Hume belongs to the same tradition in Irish history as O’Connell and Parnell: men who believed Ireland’s problems could only be resolved peacefully. He died in 2020 at the age of 83.
Hume (right) receiving the Nobel Peace Prize with David Trimble
