predecessor successor death_date birth_place death_place religion children party nationality office profession birth_date term_start article_title term_end name
constituency castlereagh mary agnes hamilton recreated john morrow simms -lrb- 1922 -rrb- viscount patricia barbara castle ford constituency abolished himself -lrb- north down -rrb- 31 january 1953 belfast , ireland donaghadee , northern ireland anglican patricia ulster unionist party british member for down member of parliament for blackburn of parliament for north down member of parliament soldier 19 12 19 y 23 february 1950 5 july 1945 27 october 1931 w. d. smiles
 31 january 1953 23 february 1950 5 july 1945 walter smiles
w. d. smiles

lieutenant-colonel sir walter dorling smiles cie dso dl -lrb- 8 november 1883 -- 31 january 1953 -rrb- was a northern irish politician .
sir walter was the son of william holmes smiles , director of belfast ropeworks , and grandson of samuel smiles .
sir walter served during the first world war and , in the 1920s , managed a tea estate in assam , there he became involved in local government and was a member of the assam legislative council .
he was conservative member of parliament -lrb- mp -rrb- for blackburn from 1931 to 1945 .
smiles was re-elected in 1935 but stood for down in northern ireland at the 1945 westminster election , as a unionist .
the two-seat constituency was split in 1950 into north down and south down .
smiles won north down that year and remained its mp until his death in 1953 ; he lost his life in the sinking of the off larne lough , in the great storm .
he was succeeded by his daughter , patricia ford .
he was the great-grandfather of explorer bear grylls .
