James Christopher Napier:JAMES CHRISTOPHER Napier (Séamus de Napier), who has died aged 71, practised as a solicitor in Belfast for many years and served as taxing master to the Northern Ireland Supreme Court from 1990 until his retirement from that post in 2006.
Coming from a prominent Belfast legal family (his brother, Sir Oliver Napier, was founding leader of the Alliance Party), he possessed a high energy level and a remarkable versatility as devoted husband and father, lawyer, creative writer and historian.
He had a particular life-long devotion to Irish language and culture and was a softspoken but fierce advocate for the "men (and women) of no property".
He was instrumental in highlighting defects in civil unrest legislation in the North, and his work in this area helped lead to the eventual suspension of the Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Act (Northern Ireland), 1922.
He was known by his nickname Kit and cut a distinctive figure in Belfast legal circles, always wearing an fáinne ór and Pioneer pin. Once challenged that this overt display of identity might prejudice his client's case, he replied that such an attitude might speak more of the Establishment than of him.
Raising his own family with Irish in the unpromising ground of east Belfast in the 1960s, he knew that Irish could be used in daily life amongst neighbours and the wider community. He became the unofficial - frequently unpaid - solicitor to the Irish language community in Belfast.
At the start of the 1960s, he facilitated a large number of people who wanted to change their names to the Irish version and he was one of those who helped to establish the Shaw's Road Gaeltacht in west Belfast.
According to Lá Nua, the Irish language newspaper: "Fear ildánach a bhí Séamus mar athair cloinne, scoláire, dlíodóir, úrscéalaí agus stairí den scoth, ach thar aon ní eile bhí sé ina Ghaeilgoir díograsach a chaith a shaol ag saothrú i ngort na hathbheochana."
(Séamus was a versatile individual, whether as family man, scholar, lawyer, novelist and an accomplished historian, but more than anything else he was an enthusiastic Irish language speaker who spent his life working for its revival and everyday use.)
Shocked by the outbreak of the Troubles in August 1969 and the destruction of Bombay Street, he and other members of lucht na Gaeilge rebuilt the street, the first families returning to their homes in June 1970, 10 months after it was razed.
He was also one of those who took part in the tortuous negotiations with the pre-1972 Stormont government, leading to the establishment of the first Irish-medium primary school, Bunscoil Feirste.
He also helped establish the Whiterock industrial estate, the first initiative of its kind in west Belfast, as well as a knitwear factory in Ballymurphy, which at the time had the highest unemployment in western Europe.
When he and his family moved to Downpatrick he became active in Cumann Ghaelach Leath Chathail and the Irish-medium nursery and primary school in the area, as well as the Lecale Historical Society.
His commentaries on Turas Phádraig, which described the saint's second landfall in Ireland, was both informative and entertaining.
He researched Aodh MacAingil, the Franciscan monk from Downpatrick who became archbishop of Armagh in 1626. He published poetry, novels and intellectual treatises on Ulster Irish. He also served on committees of Comhchaidreamh na Mac Léinn, and Comhdháil Náisiúnta na nGael.
His astute political instinct sensed that the direct-rule British government of the 1980s could provide public funding for the Irish language if a suitable vehicle could be established, and this led him to found Iontaobhas Ultach with an endowment of many hundreds of thousands of pounds.
In 2000 he was one of the founding members of Iontaobhas na Gaelscolaíochta.
The work of these bodies has contributed greatly to the current thriving position of Irish-medium education in Northern Ireland.
He is survived by his wife Ann, children Séamus, Stiofán, Róismhuire and Clíona, and nine grandchildren.
James Christopher Napier: born November 6th, 1936; died November 1st, 2008