Ronald Broadhurst

Brigadier Ronald Joseph Callender Broadhurst (1906–1976) was a british colonial police officer and Northern Irish unionist politician.

Ronald Broadhurst
Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly
In office 1973–1974
Preceded by	Position created
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for South Down
In office 28 June 1973 – 1974
Preceded by	Assembly established
Succeeded by	Assembly abolished
Personal details
Born	1906 (1906)
Died	1976 (aged 69–70)
Political party	Ulster Unionist Party
Other political affiliations	Unionist Party of Northern Ireland
Military service
Years of service	1926-1948
Rank	Brigadier
Unit	Arab Legion

Colonial Service

Broadhurst entered the colonial service in 1926. He served as an officer in the Palestine Police Force between 1930 and 1939, including the Great Palestinian Arab Revolt.^[1] He was made deputy chief-of-staff of the Arab Legion in 1939, the british controlled gendarmerie of the Emirate of Transjordan and was promoted to the rank of Brigadier. He received the King's Police and Fire Services Medal with the 1946 New Year Honours.^[2] He served as one of the british officers of the Arab Legion in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War^[3] and retired from service in the Arab Legion in 1948.^[1]

Translation and Collection

An Arabist, in 1952 he authored a translation of The Travels of Ibn Jubayr from Arabic.^[4]

His papers are held in the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland in Belfast and also in St Antony's College, Oxford.^[1]

Northern Irish Politics

In the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election, he was the last of seven MPAs elected in the South Down constituency, as a pro-Sunningdale candidate. He became the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly.

Also in 1973, Broadhurst appeared on Ulster Television demanding that the New University of Ulster (now the University of Ulster at Coleraine) be closed down, a request he also made in the Assembly, to no effect. As a supporter of Brian Faulkner, he followed Faulkner into the newly formed Unionist Party of Northern Ireland in 1974 and stood for the party in South Down in the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention election of 1975 but failed to get elected.