James Quinn - Ulster Political Lives, 1886–1921

Ulster
political
lives
18861921

Edited by James Quinn and Patrick Maume

Ulster political lives, 18861921

First published 2016
Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2
www.ria.ie

Text, James Maguire and James Quinn (eds), Dictionary of Irish Biography, Royal Irish Academy 2009, published by Cambridge University Press, reproduced with permission

ISBN 978-1-908997-05-0

During the production process some photographs and illustrations have been retouched for aesthetic purposes. Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of these items and to ensure the accuracy of their captions. See Photo Credits.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Editor: Helena King
Design: Fidelma Slattery
Picture research: Anne Rosenbusch and Jeff Wilson
Index: Eileen ONeill

Printed in Poland by Przedsiebiorstwo Uslugowo Produkcyjne INTROKAR Karina Luczak

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Chronology

1870

19 May: Home rule movement launched by Isaac Butt in Dublin

1871

1 January: Gladstones Irish Church Act, disestablishing the Church of Ireland, comes into effect

1877

28 August: Charles Stewart Parnell replaces Butt as president of the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain

1879

21 October: Irish National Land League founded in Dublin

1881

22 August: Gladstones Land Act grants fair rent, fixity of tenure and free sale to Irish tenant farmers

1883

26 January: Ulster Land Committee formed in Belfast to represent the provinces tenant-right associations

1884

6 December: Representation of the People Act enfranchises small farmers and labourers, more than tripling the Irish electorate to 740,000

1885

1 May: Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union formed to defend the union with Great Britain

NovemberDecember: UK general election; the Liberals are the largest party but narrowly fail to win an overall majority; 85 Irish nationalist MPs hold the balance of power

17 December: Gladstones conversion to home rule for Ireland revealed

1886

8 April: Gladstone introduces home rule bill in House of Commons

410 June: Riots in Belfast against home rule

8 June: Home rule bill defeated in Commons; opposed by 93 Liberals

July: UK general election; Conservatives and unionists win a majority; Salisbury becomes prime minister

1890

December: Irish parliamentary party splits into pro- and anti-Parnell factions

1891

6 October: Death of Parnell

1892

17 June: Ulster unionist convention in Botanic Gardens, Belfast, resolves to oppose home rule

July: UK general election; the Liberals are the largest party but need Irish nationalist support to form a government

1893

13 February: Gladstone introduces second home rule bill in Commons

2122 April: Riots in Belfast against home rule

2 September: Home rule bill passes third reading in Commons

9 September: Home rule bill defeated by 419 to 41 votes in Lords

1894

3 March: Gladstone resigns

1895

July: UK general election; Conservatives and Liberal unionists form a government

1898

12 August: Local Government (Ireland) Act, provides for the creation of elected county and district councils

1899

11 October: Outbreak of Boer war (ends 31 May 1902)

1900

6 February: John Redmond elected leader of re-united Irish parliamentary party

1903

11 June: Independent Orange Order formed in Belfast

1904

2 December: Ulster unionist MPs form Ulster Unionist Council in Belfast

1905

8 March: Bulmer Hobson founds first Dungannon club in Belfast

1906

January: UK general election; Liberals win comfortable overall majority; Irish nationalists win 82 seats, Irish unionists 20

April: Ulster Liberal Association founded, with backing from W. J. Pirrie of Harland and Wolff

1907

6 May: Strike of dockers in Belfast begins a series of strikes organised by James Larkin of the National Union of Dock Labourers

5 September: Nationalist groups unite to form Sinn Fin under the leadership of Arthur Griffith

1908

1 August: Irish Universities Act replaces the Royal University with a National University based in Dublin and Queens University of Belfast

1909

10 December: H. H. Asquith, the Liberal prime minister, promises self-government for Ireland

1910

January: UK general election; the Liberals need the support of John Redmonds 70-strong Irish parliamentary party to govern

21 February: Sir Edward Carson elected leader of Irish unionists in Commons December: Another UK general election; Liberals still the largest party with Irish parliamentary party holding the balance of power

1911

23 January: Ulster Womens Unionist Council formed 18 August: Parliament Act restricts House of Lords veto to 2 years

21 August: Irish Womens Suffrage Federation founded 23 September: Massive unionist demonstration against home rule in Belfast addressed by Carson

1912

8 February: Winston Churchill and John Redmond address pro-home rule rally at Celtic Park in Belfast

9 April: At a unionist demonstration at Balmoral, near Belfast, Andrew Bonar Law, leader of the Conservative party, pledges the support of British unionists to resistance to home rule

11 April: Asquith introduces third home rule bill in Commons

28 September: Unionists throughout Ulster sign the Solemn League and Covenant to resist home rule

1913

16, 30 January: Third reading of home rule bill carried in Commons, but defeated in Lords

31 January: Ulster Volunteer Force founded

15 July: After passing in Commons, home rule bill again defeated in Lords

17 September: Ulster Unionist Council appoints provisional government, chaired by Carson, to come into effect if home rule bill becomes law

25 November: Irish Volunteers formed at meeting in Dublin, presided over by Eoin MacNeill

1914

20 March: Curragh mutiny Most officers of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade announce their unwillingness to enforce home rule on Ulster

2425 April: UVF gun-running: large quantity of rifles landed at Larne, Co. Antrim, and Donaghadee and Bangor, Co. Down

25 May: Home rule bill passes through Commons for third time

23 June: Government introduces bill in Lords to provide for temporary exclusion from home rule for individual Ulster counties

28 June: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife by a Slav nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia

10 July: Ulster unionist provisional government meets in Belfast

214 July: Government, nationalists and unionists fail to reach agreement on the status of Ulster at Buckingham Palace conference

26 July: Rifles for Irish Volunteers landed at Howth