Trimble, David (1944-2022), was first minister of the government of Northern Ireland and the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). The UUP favors Northern Ireland’s continued union with the United Kingdom. Trimble shared the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize with John Hume, the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). The SDLP favors Northern Ireland’s union with the Republic of Ireland achieved through a democratic process of consent. The two men won the prize for their efforts to bring peace to Northern Ireland. 
William David Trimble was born on Oct. 15, 1944, in Bangor, Northern Ireland. He received a law degree from Queen’s University, Belfast, and taught law at the university from 1968 to 1990. Trimble joined the UUP in 1977 and became its leader in 1995. He began serving in the United Kingdom’s House of Commons in 1990.
Trimble and Hume participated with other political leaders from the United Kingdom and Ireland in talks that concluded with the signing of a peace agreement in April 1998. The agreement established a legislative assembly for Northern Ireland that would control many local affairs. Trimble was elected to the new assembly and became its leader, first minister of Northern Ireland.
In 2001, Trimble resigned as first minister to protest a refusal by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to disarm. For many years, the IRA had used violence in an effort to unite Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland. After the IRA began disarming later in 2001, Trimble was reelected to the post. However, the United Kingdom suspended Northern Ireland’s government in 2002, and Trimble’s role as first minister ended. See Northern Ireland (The Good Friday Agreement).
In 2005, Trimble was defeated in a bid for reelection to the House of Commons. He then resigned as UUP leader. In 2006, Trimble was made a life peer, an honor which gave him the title of lord and a seat in the United Kingdom’s House of Lords. Trimble died on July 25, 2022.
