Pat Hume obituary

Teacher and wife of the SDLP politician John Hume, she provided stalwart support to her husband as he played a key role in the Northern Ireland peace process

Pat Hume, who has died aged 83, was the highly regarded rock and anchor in the life of her Nobel peace laureate husband John. From the very early years of the Northern Ireland Troubles in the late 1960s to the peace process and the Good Friday agreement three decades later, Pat provided sanctuary, support and often vital advice to John as he worked determinedly for a peaceful compromise to the conflict.

So respected was Pat that in 2004, when John stepped down from his seat in the European parliament, many of his colleagues inside the Social Democratic and Labour Party saw Pat as their salvation in the face of a post-ceasefire Sinn Fein surge.

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