Ian Adamson

Ian Adamson OBE (28 June 1944 – 9 January 2019) was an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician and paediatrician, who was the Lord Mayor of Belfast from 1996 to 1997.

Adamson was born in 1944 in Bangor, County Down and raised in the nearby village of Conlig.

In his 1974 book, Cruthin: The Ancient Kindred, Adamson proposed that the Cruthin were a British people who spoke a non-Celtic language and were the original inhabitants of Ulster.

He argues that they were at war with the Irish Gaels for centuries, seeing the story of the Táin Bó Cúailnge as representing this; and argues that most of the Cruthin were driven to Scotland after the Battle of Moira (637), only for their descendants to return 1,000 years later in the Plantation of Ulster.

Adamson's suggestion is that the Gaelic Irish are not really native to Ulster, and that the Ulster Scots have merely returned to their ancient lands.

His theory has been adopted by some Ulster loyalists and Ulster Scots activists to counter Irish nationalism, and was promoted by elements in the Ulster Defence Association (UDA).

They saw this new 'origin myth' as "a justification for their presence in Ireland and for partition of the country".

Adamson said his theory offers "the hope of uniting the Ulster people at last".

Historians, archaeologists and anthropologists have widely rejected Adamson's theory.

Prof. Stephen Howe of the University of Bristol argues it was designed to provide ancient underpinnings for a militantly separate Ulster identity.

Historian Peter Berresford Ellis likens it to Zionism.

Archaeologists such as J. P. Mallory and T. E. McNeil note that the Cruthin are "archaeologically invisible"; there is no evidence of them being a distinct group and "there is not a single object or site that an archaeologist can declare to be distinctly Cruthin".

On 18 July 1978, he was accepted as a Member of the International Medical Association of Lourdes for services to the disabled children and young people of the Falls parish in Belfast.

He had a special interest in the long-term unemployed and became the founder secretary of Farset Youth and Community Development in 1981.

He was an Ulster Unionist member of Belfast City Council from 1989, becoming that party's first honorary historian, until his retirement from active politics in 2011.

In 1989, he became founder Chairman of the Somme Association based at Craigavon House, Circular Road, Belfast, under the auspices of Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester; he also established the Somme Heritage Centre, now Museum, at Conlig, in 1994.

He founded the Ullans Academy, of which he served as President, followed by the Ulster-Scots Language Society in 1992.

Adamson served as Deputy Lord Mayor in 1994–95 and then Lord Mayor of Belfast in 1996–97.

He became the first Rector and founder Chairman of the Ulster Scots Academy in 1994.

He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Belfast from 1998 to 2003.

He was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1998 for services to local government.

He was an MLA for Belfast East from 1998 until 2003.

Adamson was a specialist in community child health (community paediatrics), being a member of the Faculty of Community Health, and was awarded the fellowship of the Royal Institute of Public Health for his services to the health of young people in 1998.

He was awarded a special commendation by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales.

He was a founder member of the Cultural Traditions Group, the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council and the Ultach Trust, and served as a member of the Ulster-Scots Agency, 2003-12.

He was President of the Belfast Civic Trust.

He was an Executive Board Member of the London-based Association of Port Health Authorities, 2005–11 (Chairman of the Border Inspection Post Committee, 2005–06 and Imported Food Committee, 2006–11).

Vice-President of the Somme Association, Adamson was a member of the boards of many other local public sector and voluntary civic organisations.

In his later years, he became a patron of the Dalaradia Group.

Based in Newtownabbey they slowly evolved from the peace process as a vehicle for working class loyalists in County Antrim, many of whom were ex-combatants, to engage in the transformation of their communities after the troubles.

On his website, Adamson described himself as "a British Unionist, an Irish Royalist and an Ulster Loyalist".

He was also personal physician and advisor on history and culture to Rev. Ian Paisley (First Minister of Northern Ireland 2007–08) from 2004 until the latter's death in 2014.

He was the leading advocate of a version of the prehistory of Ireland based on the theory of the Cruthin.

After Adamson's death on 9 January 2019, his funeral was attended by President of Ireland Michael D Higgins, whom he described as a friend.

Van Morrison also attended the funeral, playing Adamson's favourite song.