Ulster Unionist MP for South Antrim
Which position did Knox Cunningham hold from May 1955 to Apr 1956?
Knox Cunningham Sir Samuel Knox Cunningham , 1st Baronet , QC ( 3 April 1909 – 29 July 1976 ) , was a Northern Irish barrister , businessman and politician . As an Ulster Unionist politician at a time when the Unionists were part of the Conservative Party , he was also a significant figure in United Kingdom politics as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Harold Macmillan . His nephew was Sir Josias Cunningham . Early career . Cunningham was from an Ulster family . His father was Samuel Cunningham , and his mother was Janet Muir Knox ( nee McCosh ) of Dalry , Ayrshire . His elder brothers were Colonel James Glencairn Cunningham , Josias Cunningham stockbroker , Dunlop McCosh Cunningham owner of Murrays tobacco works , Belfast . He was sent to the Royal Belfast Academical Institution , and then to Fettes College in Edinburgh . He then won a place at Clare College , Cambridge - where he was heavy-weight boxing champion . The Cunningham family still remain prominent landowners around the Parkgate area of South Antrim with relatives including great nephews Joe , Richard and Garret still residing on the family estate . The family had considerable business interests in land , Tobacco , commerce and finance . From 1931 Cunningham went into business in Northern Ireland . He married Dorothy Enid Riley JP on 2 July 1935 . Later in the 1930s , Cunningham studied law and was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple in 1939 . During the Second World War he served in the Scots Guards although he continued his legal studies , and called to the Bar in Northern Ireland in 1942 . He fought the Belfast West by-election in 1943 and the same seat in the 1945 general election . After the war Cunningham mainly lived in Orpington , although he retained membership of the Ulster Unionist Council . His religious faith led him to be involved with the World Alliance of YMCAs from 1947 , and he was Chairman of the National Council of the YMCA in 1949 . In 1954 he was elected to Orpington Urban District Council . Later he maintained a home , the Derhams House , near Minchinhampton . Parliament . In the 1955 general election , Cunningham was chosen as the new Ulster Unionist MP for South Antrim . He was a delegate to the Council of Europe and Western European Union Parliamentary Assembly from 1956 to 1959 . He also served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Jocelyn Simon , Financial Secretary to the Treasury , from 1958 . In 1959 he was made a Queens Counsel . After the 1959 general election , Cunningham was picked by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan as his Parliamentary Private Secretary , responsible for the Prime Ministers relations with backbench Conservative MPs . He was also a member of the National Executive of the Conservative and Unionist Party . When Macmillan resigned , he awarded Cunningham a baronetcy in his resignation honours . Post-Parliamentary career . Cunningham remained on the backbenches , known as one to the right of Ulster Unionism and a friend of Ian Paisley , through the rest of the 1960s , he frequently clashed with Harold Wilson during this period , but decided to retire at the 1970 general election . He was Master of the Drapers Company in 1973–74 . He was Provincial Grand Master of the Masonic Order in Gloucestershire from 1970-76 . He was a member of the Apprentice Boys Club in Derry and attended the 275th Anniversary of the shutting of the gates . Throughout his life he represented the old landed interests of Ulster and remained personally wealthy through family inheritance . He died suddenly at Derhams House , Minchinhampton on 29 July 1976 at the age of sixty-seven . Military intelligence , the RUC and victims named Cunningham as a paedophile and identified his close links to the sex offender ring at Kincora Boys Home but MI5 deny this . Sources . - M . Stenton and S . Lees , Whos Who of British MPs , vol . IV ( Harvester Press , 1981 ) .