Former UUP figure Ernie Hamilton was '˜loyal and devoted'

Ernest (Ernie) Hamilton, husband of the serving Ulster Unionist councillor and Claudy bomb victim Mary Hamilton, passed away in hospital on Friday after a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease.

There was a guard of honour from Orangemen as his coffin was brought into Upper Cumber Presbyterian Church in Claudy on Monday.

Ulster Unionist Party leader Robin Swann was in attendance at the funeral, as was the Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Maolíosa McHugh.

Rev David McBeth, a close family friend, led the tributes.

He said: “We celebrate a man who lived a good life. He was a man who was loyal and devoted to his wife and that goes without question. He was loyal and devoted to his children and that goes without question. He was loyal to all the organisations he was involved in, and that goes without question.”

Rev McBeth added: “He was a man who was very popular in his local community.”