elected as an independent member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland for Mid-Londonderry, defeating the sitting Nationalist Party MP, Paddy Gormley. On 12 August – the start of the few intense days of violence which have become known as the Battle of the Bogside – Cooper tried to restrain Catholics protesting an Apprentice Boys of Derry parade by linking arms with John Hume and Eddie McAteer. However, they were swept aside and Cooper was knocked unconscious by a brick. Cooper was suspended from Stormont for a week on 20 March after a protest in the Chamber over a Public Order Bill. SDLP On 21 August 1970, Cooper co-founded the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) with Hume, Paddy Devlin, Austin Currie, Paddy O’Hanlon and Gerry Fitt. Cooper organised a civil rights and anti-internment march for 30 January 1972, which was to develop into Bloody Sunday, whereupon fourteen unarmed civilians were murdered by soldiers from the Parachute Regiment on duty in Derry, who opened fire on the crowd. After the prorogation of the Stormont Parliament, Cooper was elected as one of the representatives of Mid Ulster to the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973 and the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention in 1975. He was also the SDLP's candidate in the constituency in both the February 1974 and October 1974 Westminster elections. By standing in the first of these, he split the nationalist vote and in effect ensured the defeat of independent MP Bernadette McAliskey. In 1983, Cooper stood aside after the boundary changes for the new Foyle constituency to let his colleague and friend John Hume contest the seat. The increase in levels of violence intertwined with the politics made Cooper slowly move away from politics. He was later an insolvency consultant. Legacy At the height of his political career, Ivan Cooper commanded the largest support of any nationalist Stormont MP. A film was released in 2002, called Bloody Sunday, in which Cooper is portrayed by actor James Nesbitt. He was the husband of Frances Cooper, and had two daughters; Sinead and Bronagh Cooper. References 1944 births 2019 deaths Members of the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1969–1973 Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly 1973–1974 Socialists from Northern Ireland Politicians from County Londonderry Protestant Irish nationalists Social Democratic and Labour Party members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland Members of the House of