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Ken Kerr

Ulster loyalist

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 16, 2026
Entity authorityQ6387938
Source-derived summary

Kenneth Jason Kerr is a Northern Irish loyalist activist. He was a leading figure within the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and its political wing, the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party. He was also central to a series of allegations regarding collusion between the British security forces and loyalist paramilitaries.

Ulster Defence Association

In his youth, Kerr served in the British Army before joining the UDA. He served as Brigadier of the UDA's "Londonderry and North Antrim Brigade", and as such was a member of the movement's Inner Council. In this role he succeeded Andy Robinson, who fled his position in 1986. Like South Belfast brigadier John McMichael, Kerr also became involved in the UDA's political arm, the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party, and following the killing of McMichael in 1987, Kerr served for a time as chairman of the party. This role was soon filled on a more permanent basis by Ray Smallwoods.

Ulster Democratic Party

In 1989, the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party contested the local elections and, despite a very low-key campaign, Kerr was elected as their sole representative in Northern Ireland. He was elected to Derry City Council, representing the loyalist Waterside area. He lost the seat at the 1993 election.

Editorial summary

“Ken Kerr” enters the record as ulster loyalist. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Kerr, Ulster and loyalist can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1986, 1987, 1989, 1993—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Kerr, Ulster and loyalist.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Ken Kerr” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Kerr, Ulster and loyalist provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6387938. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1986, 1987, 1989 and 1993.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Ken Kerr” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.