But he couldn’t have done it without ‘his trusted advisor, his political antenna,’ his wife, Pat Hume, who supported the family financially in the early years of John’s political career and then set-up and ran his full-time office after he was elected as one of Northern Ireland’s three Members of the European Parliament (MEP) in 1979.

Towards the end of the 1960s, John became a vocal leader of the Civil Rights Movement, particularly in Derry when he was made deputy chairman of the Derry Housing Action Committee (DHAC), an organisation formed in 1968 in response to housing discrimination. This led him into politics, and eventually to the leadership of the SDLP in 1979, a party he helped to co-found nine years previous with the vision of being an anti-sectarian political movement.

Meanwhile, Pat was at home oftentimes (in the early days, at least) supporting the family financially on her teacher’s salary and raising their children whilst remaining a steady ‘guiding light,’ ‘trusted advisor’ and ‘anchor’ for John.

But as a constituency officer manager from 1979 onwards, she took on a more visible and politically active role within her community, helping many who had been caught up in some way or another in the conflict, and offering advice on housing, security, and education issues. Their family home sometimes acted as an office as they hosted political figures and constituents alike.

As John’s profile grew, the threats and violence meted out on the family home became more and more frequent, but Pat maintained a stable home life for her children as best she could, and neither partner wavered in their belief in the power of dialogue. Despite evoking criticism and causing controversy at the time, the meetings between John and the then leader of Sinn Féin, Gerry Adams, from 1988, are considered by many to have been a serious turning point in the conflict.

John and Pat’s joint actions were critical in the realisation of major political developments in Northern Ireland that led to peace, such as the Sunningdale Agreement, Anglo-Irish Agreement, and the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement as well.

Both John and Pat remained politically active until 2005 when John retired, and Pat as well, to care for him. Since the 1990s, John had begun to suffer the symptoms of dementia. Despite this, the couple continued to promote EU integration and the Credit Union movement (which had long been of particular importance to John who, in the 1960s, held the title of the youngest ever President of the Irish League of Credit Unions).

John died on 3 August 2020 and was hailed by many as a ‘political titan’ and a ‘visionary who refused to believe the future had to be the same as the past.’ Pat died just over a year later on 2 September 2021. She was remembered as ‘small in stature but a colossus.’ Together, they helped to change the future of Northern Ireland and prove that open dialogue, negotiation, and commitment can overcome even the most terrible conflict and bring peace for future generations.

Susan McKay pays tribute to Pat Hume in this video from the John and Pat Hume Foundation: