Social Democratic Labour Party
Founded when six Stormont MPs and one Senator former members of the Republican Labour Party (a party with ties to the Irish Labour Party) the National Democratic Party (NDP
Historical biography archive · Updated 2026-11-03
Gerry Fitt Biography and Timeline
Follow Gerry Fitt through 11 dated historical records for Great Britain.
Gerry Fitt, historical timeline
A chronological timeline drawn from matching World History Database records.
11Distinct records
1 of 1Page
1970–1974Years on this page
1970
Social Democratic Labour Party
The SDLP initially rejected the Nationalist Party's policy of abstentionism and sought to fight for civil rights within the Stormont system but the SDLP quickly comes to that Stormont is unreformable, and withdraws from Parliamentary involvement.
Social Democratic Labour Party
a small nationalist party that dissolved itself after the foundation of the SDLP) individual nationalists former members of the Nationalist Party and members of the Northern Ireland Labour Party join to form a new party
1973
Northern Ireland Assembly
Includes former Unionist PM Brian Faulkner as Chief Executive, SDLP leader Gerry Fitt as Deputy Chief Executive & SDLP leader John Hume as Minister for Commerce & alliance leader Oliver Napier
Election
Following the abolition of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, the SDLP emerges as the second-largest party, and the largest party representing the nationalist community, in elections to the new Northern Ireland Assembly established in 1973: the party wins 19 out of 75 seats
Northern Ireland Assembly
Following the abolition of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, the SDLP emerges as the second-largest party, and the largest party representing the nationalist community, in elections to the new Northern Ireland Assembly established in 1973: the party wins 19 out of 75 seats
1974
Constitution of Great Britain
The SDLP is one of the parties involved in the negotiations that result in the Sunningdale Agreement, which in turn resulted in the establishment of a power-sharing executive
Northern Ireland Assembly
SDLP leader Gerry Fitt became deputy chief executive in a power-sharing government with Brian Faulkner's Ulster Unionist Party and the Alliance Party.
Northern Ireland Assembly
The Assembly and Executive collapsed after four months because of sustained unionist opposition.
Northern Ireland Assembly
The SDLP is one of the parties involved in the negotiations that result in the Sunningdale Agreement, which in turn resulted in the establishment of a power-sharing executive.
Sunningdale Agreement
The SDLP is one of the parties involved in the negotiations that result in the Sunningdale Agreement, which in turn resulted in the establishment of a power-sharing executive
Records, sources and methodology
These dates and descriptions come from the historical_events database. Exact duplicate records have been collapsed. Names are grouped by the country, Name 2 and Name 1 fields; records with missing Name 2 cannot be reliably assigned to an individual biography. Check the underlying sources before formal citation.