Partition of Ireland

Background information

Ireland is an island with a long and complicated history. It was first partitioned in 1921. Today over a century later it remains partitioned into two countries – Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

KEY TERM:
PARTITIONED: Dividing something into parts, e.g. – dividing Ireland into Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

The Republic of Ireland is an independent country made up of 26 of the remaining counties of Ireland.
It has a population of 5 million people.
Its Capital city is Dublin and it is a member of the European Union.

Northern Ireland was founded in 1921.
It is made up of SIX of the nine counties of Ulster. Fermanagh, Antrim, Tyrone, Derry/Londonderry, Armagh and Down.
It has a population of 1.8 million.
It is part of the United Kingdom.

The partition of Ireland was a complicated issue which continues to cause divisions and led to over 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles.
Until the 1920's Ireland was ruled directly by Britain. However, many people in Ireland were Nationalists and wanted some form of independence from Britain.
NATIONALISTS initially advocated for HOME RULE in Ireland. This was SEMI INDEPENDENCE from the UNITED KINGDOM.
UNIONIST enjoyed being ruled by Britain and wanted to maintain the union with Britain.

KEY TERMS:
NATIONALISM -
A belief that Ireland should govern itself as its own state.
UNIONIST-
An individual loyal to the crown who wants a union between Ireland and Great Britain.
UNIONISM -
A policy of supporting a union of Ireland with Britain.
NATIONALIST -
A person who strongly identifies with their own nation.

Did all unionists live in the North of Ireland and all Nationalists live in the South of Ireland?

SIR EDWARD CARSON:
Edward Carson was born in Dublin, into a liberal professional middle class family and studied law at Trinity College. He was amongst the most successful lawyers of his generation. The reputation he acquired led to his election as Unionist MP for Trinity College. In February 1910, Carson agreed to become leader of the Irish Unionist Parliamentary Party and in June 1911 accepted James Craig’s invitation to lead the Ulster Unionists. His objective throughout his leadership was to preserve the union between Britain and Ireland. Carson believed preserving the union was in the best interests of his fellow-countrymen; he stated that his professional success was a result of the union. He was an Irish patriot but a Southern Unionist, not a Nationalist.

JAMES CRAIG:
James Craig is rightly regarded by Ulster unionists as the founding father of the Northern Ireland state. He was the architect of Ulster unionist resistance to home rule, 1912-14. His strength lay in his organisational ability. He arranged for Edward Carson to act as unionist leader, whilst he masterminded the campaign of resistance; he stage-managed Covenant Day (28th September 1912), supported and helped organise the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and helped persuade colleagues of the need to import arms prior to the Larne gun-running. Craig was an Ulster Unionist.

JOHN REDMOND:
John Redmond, was a Dublin born Irish Nationalist. Redmond was leader of the (IPP) Irish Parliamentary Party (This was the Irish Nationalist Party, or the Nationalists) who devoted his life to achieving Home Rule for Ireland.

James Craig John Redmond Edward Carson

home rule posters

HOME RULE

This was to be an IRISH PARLIAMENT in Ireland to deal with Irish affairs.
Britain would still have a role in Ireland, but it would be a reduced one.
Ireland would remain a part of the United Kingdom;
It would also still have the British King or Queen as Head of State.

Ireland would have semi independence through self-rule while still remaining within the United Kingdom.
Ireland was under the rule of the British empire until the 1920s. Despite the efforts of the members of the British Parliament to pass laws for Home Rule in 1886, 1893 and 1912, they never received enough votes for them to pass. This demand for Irish Home Rule was supported by Irish Nationalists, while it was opposed by Irish Unionists and Ulster Unionists.

By 1912, Liberal British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith had proposed a Third Home Rule Bill.

This “Government of Ireland Bill” more commonly known as the THIRD HOME RULE BILL was passed through the House of Commons in London.
However, this bill was once again rejected—for the third time, by the House of Lords. The House of Lords were unelected and mainly supported the Unionists living mainly in Ulster. They feared Home Rule would spell a break up for the United Kingdom and perhaps the British Empire.
However, the rules had changed by 1912. Previously, the House of Lords could reject Home Rule and had done so.

However, a new Parliament Act in 1911 meant the House of Lords no longer had the power to defeat a bill. It could only DELAY it for TWO YEARS. This meant that Home Rule would be passed but would have to wait to be implemented until 1914.

Unionists were becoming increasingly aware that HOME RULE was becoming more realistic for Ireland. There was a Liberal government in Britain that was willing to help the Irish Nationalists to achieve Home Rule. There was also no longer a VETO for the House of Lords, which had traditionally stopped Home Rule! However, Unionists deeply feared Home Rule and were determined to stop it! There were a number of reasons they wanted to stop it:

RELIGIOUS Reasons.
ECONOMIC Reasons.
POLITICAL Reasons.

Many Protestants across Ireland believed that HOME RULE is ROME RULE This meant that they feared that a Home Rule Ireland would see Protestants in a minority and them dominated by the Catholic church. They feared for their Protestant religion and felt it would be threatened

Unionists also feared for their economy. ULSTER in particular was a thriving economic success story at this time. It had the biggest shipyard in the world and the largest Linen Mills. Belfast was bigger than Dublin and was a very well known industrial success story. They worried that a Home Rule parliament would be more interested in Irish agriculture and Ulster’s success would be threatened. They also worried about their access to British markets and the Empire

Unionists feared that HOME RULE would lead to nationalists wanting to go further and gain complete Independence for Ireland. They worried that this would be a danger to the British Empire. They worried other countries like India would demand home rule. If Ireland got Home rule the rest of the Empire could collapse

THE ULSTER VOLUNTEER FORCE (UVF)

Ulster Protestants were not just prepared to demonstrate to show they did not want Home Rule – they were prepared to FIGHT!
Up to 100,000 men joined the UVF.
They trained, marched and paraded with wooden rifles.
They were prepared to resist Home Rule by force if necessary.

LARNE GUN RUNNING
At first the UVF had no weapons. However in 1913 they managed to smuggle in guns and ammunition from Germany into the port of LARNE.
This angered Nationalists as nothing was done to stop them by the police or army.

POLITICAL
Unionists also built political links with important politicians.
Many important men in England were against Home Rule and supported the opposition.
Winston Churchill’s father said
‘ULSTER WILL FIGHT AND ULSTER WILL BE RIGHT!’

THE ULSTER COVENANT
In 1912 up to 600,000 people from all over Ulster signed a mass petition against Home Rule.
They declared their loyalty to Britain and their determination to resist Home Rule.
Apparently, some people even signed this covenant in their own blood!

Irish Identity had been almost lost in the 19th century. Irish speaking people were a very small minority, Gaelic sports were rarely played and the Irish seemed to have lost their self-confidence. This began to change in the late 19th century as a distinctive type of Irish Nationalism began to develop. This was dye to the introduction of several organisations.

The Gaelic League -The Gaelic League helped to promote the Irish language and traditions again. The GAA Gaelic Athletic Association promoted Irish sports such as Hurling and Gaelic football.
The Irish Republication Brotherhood (IRB) - In 1908 the IRB was taken over by men dedicated to winning complete independence and an Irish Republic – by violence if necessary. One of its leaders was Patrick Pearse.
The Irish Citizen Army - This was an organisation formed to free Irish workers by gaining a free Ireland, it was lead by James Connolly.
Sinn Fein - Sinn Fein means ‘ourselves alone.’ It wanted British MP’s to walk out on the British Parliament and declare complete independence.