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1. NATIONALISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

​Home Rule as a political objective for Irish nationalists emerged in the nineteenth century. The 1801 Act of Union had removed from Ireland the ability to make its own laws. While attempts had been made by Daniel O'Connell to see this repealed in the 1830s and 1840s, the impact of the potato famine (1845-49) silenced much Irish nationalist political activism thereafter.

Nationalism in Ireland was active in the nineteenth century due to a number of grievances, including land ownership, Catholic emancipation and other social issues. Key leaders such as Daniel O'Connell and Charles Stewart Parnell, events such as the Great Famine and the Fenian Rebellion, and cultural changes during the Gaelic Revival fed the movement and kept the demand for some form of self-government alive.
 
Two particular developments contributed to the emergence of Home Rule as an objective around which nationalists could unite.

1. The Fenian Rebellion in 1867 reminded the British government that considerable discontent remained within Ireland, and contributed to reforms by Liberal Prime Minister W.E. Gladstone in the form of the 1869 Irish Church Act and the 1870 Land Act. In addition, the treatment of the ‘Manchester Martyrs’ generated sympathy and admiration among many. Most notable among these was the Irish barrister and MP Isaac Butt. Butt created the Home Government Association in 1870, creating a political pressure group which sought to regain for Ireland many of the legislative rights lost through the Act of Union. ‘Home Rule’ became an ideal around which nationalists could begin to gather.

 

1. During the late 1870s, the Home Rule Association developed into a political party, with Charles Stewart Parnell appointed its leader in 1878. Under Parnell’s leadership, the party was transformed into a potent political force at Westminster, winning 86 seats in the 1885 election. They continued to hold over 80 seats in to the early 20th century. Holding this many seats meant that in the event of a hung parliament, the Irish Parliamentary Party, as it became known, would hold the balance of power. When that happened in 1886, Parnell’s influence combined with Gladstone’s enthusiasm for solving the Irish Question, resulting the in the introduction of the first Home Rule Bill. The Bill was met with considerable opposition and was defeated in the House of Commons. When Gladstone introduced a second Home Rule Bill in 1893 it passed the House of Commons but was defeated in the Conservative dominated House of Lords.

 
The 1890's saw the demise of Parnell amid political scandal, the division of his party and another twelve years of Conservative government. With the loss of Parnell’s strong leadership, and no hope of a sympathetic ear in the British government, Home Rule was off the agenda.  
 

2. the development of unionism

The creation of the union in the 1801 Act of Union created a group in favour of it, as well as a group who wished to dismantle it.
 
However, for the purposes of understanding the Home Rule Crisis of 1910-14, unionism as a religio-political identity really developed out of opposition to the first Home Rule Bill in 1885-86. In seeking to ‘pacify Ireland’, Gladstone’s Home Rule crusade created a more polarised society, carved up not just on political affiliation, but on religious belief.
 
It is crucial to understand Unionism not as a monolithic entity, but as a diverse mixture of groupings drawn together by their opposition to Home Rule. Jackson calls Unionism in the period 1885-1910 ‘a formidable if unlikely combination of landed and commercial capital, of the southern gentry and Belfast industrialists, of small-town Orange brokers as well as metropolitan Tories and imperialists.’

Southern Unionists, as a minority of around 10% in the South of Ireland, did identify closely with Britain but had a strong sense of Irishness. They were mostly from the landowning class, and were concerned that Home Rule would threaten their privileged positions. They feared that their land would be taken and that a Home Rule parliament run by lower classes would plunge the country into financial chaos. 

Ulster Unionists, by contrast, made up a majority in what would later become Northern Ireland. They came from all social classes, and their concerns were more varied - the feared religious persecution from a Catholic-dominated Home Rule parliament, the saw Home Rule as a threat to Ulster's economic prosperity and felt that Nationalists couldn't be trusted to run the country lawfully given the tactics they had used with land agitation. 

British Unionists were another distinct group. They had little direct concern for Ireland, but were keen to maintain the 1801 Act of Union. Their key concerns were Home Rule leading to demands for complete independence for Ireland, as well as the impact of Home Rule for other parts of the British Empire. 
 
To read more about the long term development of Unionism in the nineteenth century, take a look Queen's University's History Live.  

Visit the Who's Who page to learn more about the key figures within Unionism. For this topic you will need to have a good understanding of the position and motivation of the following: 
- Edward Carson
- Andrew Bonar Law
- James Craig
- Lord Landsdowne
- Fred Crawford
- George Richardson

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3. WHAT WAS HOME RULE?

Home Rule was the name given to a form of devolved government, which would have established an Irish parliament and executive in Dublin with responsibility for strictly Irish affairs, while Ireland remained part of the UK. There were 3 Home Rule Bills. The First Home Rule Bill (1886) failed to pass through the House of Commons or the House of Lords. The second (1893) passed through the Commons but was blocked by the House of Lords. The Third Home Rule Bill (1912) passed through the Commons but again was blocked by the Lords. This time, however, a change in the powers of the Lords meant they could only delay the Bill by two years.

4. THE IPP AND THE LIBERALS

The IPP were an incredibly successful political party in Ireland, winning 82 of Ireland's 103 parliamentary seats during the 1906 general election. They represented Catholic aspirations in Ireland, both for social reform and for increased self-government. Their leader from 1900, John Redmond, was a good organiser and speaker, but lacked assertiveness and often deferred decisions to his deputy leader John Dillon. This style of leadership may have made him seem weak, with the historian Nicholas Mansergh stating that "He lacked the personality, and the base in popular, national standing alike."

The IPP had an informal alliance with the Liberal party which started in 1885 following the general election. The IPP held the balance of power, with 86 seats compared to the Liberals' 335 and the Conservatives' 249. Gladstone's conversion to the cause of Home Rule meant that the two parties worked together towards their common goal, although relations were more strained than those between unionists and the Conservative party. This informal alliance led to the first two Home Rule Bills in 1886 and 1893, and, while neither were successful in delivering Home Rule for Ireland, they set a precedent within the Liberal Party which would deliver the Third Home Rule Bill in 1912.
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5. THE ELECTIONS OF 1906 and 1910

In 1906 the Liberal party swept to victory with a huge landslide win over the Conservatives, winning 397 of the 670 seats in the House of Commons. This strong majority meant that the IPP did not hold the balance of power, so did not have a strong bargaining tool to push Home Rule onto the agenda. The Irish Council was the only attempt by the Liberals to address the Home Rule issue, but Redmond rejected it as something that looked like a substitute for self-government rather than a step towards it. There were some laws passed which were in line with IPP aspirations, must notably the 1908 Universities Act, but the lack of progress towards Home Rule even under a Liberal government threatened the IPP's dominant position in Ireland.

Rather than pursuing Home Rule, the Liberals began to initiate a wide-ranging suite of social reforms, including old age pensions and support for the sick and unemployed. Part of the problem with doing this, though, was that it had to be paid for, meaning a huge boost to public finances would be needed in the form of higher taxation.
 
When the Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, brought forward his so-called ‘People’s Budget’ in 1909, it caused outrage in the Conservative Party, which had a strong body of members among the rich, land-owning class. The House of Lords flatly rejected Lloyd George’s budget – an unprecedented move in British parliamentary tradition.
 
King Edward VII insisted on a general election to secure a mandate for the ‘People’s Budget’ as it had caused such a rift in the Houses of Parliament. Immediately prior to the January 1910 election, Redmond insisted that Asquith give a public declaration of his commitment to Home Rule for Ireland – This was delivered in the Albert Hall on 10 December 1909. Asquith was criticised by Unionists for this ‘corrupt bargain’ for power, but it was in line with what had been Liberal policy since 1885. Any reduction in the power of the House of Lords would turn Home Rule into practical politics and fulfil the democratic wish of the majority of Ireland.

GENERAL ELECTION JANUARY 1910 RESULTS:
Liberals – 274
Conservatives and Liberal Unionists – 272
Labour – 40
IPP - 71
  
Redmond now held the balance of power, but as the historian O’Day points out, there was “no balance of terror”. He had no choice but to support the Liberals or the unionists would return to power. Despite this, Redmond was politically shrewd. He insisted that Asquith agree to abolish the Lord’s veto or the IPP would vote against the ‘People’s Budget’ – ‘no veto, no budget’. Asquith agreed, although the King required another general election to secure a mandate for this constitutional change.

 GENERAL ELECTION DECEMBER 1910 RESULTS:
Liberals – 272
Conservatives and Liberal Unionists – 271
Labour – 42
IPP - 74
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Once again the IPP held the balance of power, and with the subsequent passage of the Parliament Act on 10th August 1911, the stage looked set for the next attempt to secure Home Rule. 

6. THE PARLIAMENT ACT OF 1911

Although the Parliament Act was intended as a way to ensure that the House of Lords could never again stand in the way of a budget, there were three provisions it contained which had enormous significance for Ireland. 

1. The maximum duration of any Parliament was reduced from seven to five years. For Home Rule, this meant that Asquith had until the end of 1915 to get the bill through Parliament.

2. The House of Lords could only veto a bill twice. On its third circuit through Parliament a bill would automatically bypass the House of Lords and move to the King for Royal Assent. The removal of the Lords’ veto meant that, with the Liberals and IPP holding a significant joint majority, the bill was sure to pass the Commons.

3. Any bill which was rejected by the House of Lords on its first circuit would have to proceed unchanged in subsequent circuits. This meant that any amendments to the bill would have to be made on the first circuit, before it reached the House of Lords. Any amendments thereafter would make passing the bill on time very difficult and would require separate legislation.

7. THE THIRD HOME RULE BILL

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Cabinet Committee
At the beginning of 1911, Asquith established a cabinet committee to oversee the drafting of the Bill. For the first year, the committee paid little attention to what it felt to be the bluster of Ulster Unionists. Augustine Birrell, Chief Secretary for Ireland, was the only figure convinced that unionists were not bluffing. By February 1912, Lloyd George and Churchill had lent their weight to Birrell’s concerns and proposed that some part of Ulster be excluded from the draft bill. After much heated debate, Asquith decided to reject their suggestion, banking on the hope that if any concession was to be offered it would have to be offered at the latest possible opportunity. In so doing, he missed his first opportunity for compromise.
 
The Nature of the Bill
Asquith, in 1912, was determined to stick to Gladstone’s principle of Home Rule on an all-Ireland basis. He was reluctant to give in to an “irreconcilable minority” in Ulster who were opposed to Home Rule, given that 4/5 of Irish MPs supported it and Ulster itself had only a slim unionist majority, with 16 Nationalist MPs and 17 Unionist MPs. The Third Home Rule Bill, introduced on 11 April 1912, had 3 clauses:

1. A bicameral (two-house) Irish Parliament would be established in Dublin with powers to deal with most national affairs – a 40 member Senate and a 164 member House of Commons.
2. A number of Irish MPs would continue to attend Westminster (42 rather than 103).
3. Dublin Castle Administration would be eliminated, though with the retention of the Lord Lieutenant.

Progress of the Bill
1912 - Passed by the Commons, rejected by the House of Lords.

1913 - Reintroduced and passed by the Commons, rejected by the House of Lords.

1914 - Reintroduced and passed by the Commons, rejected by the House of Lords. The new 1911 Parliament Act was therefore used to bypass the Lords and send the bill for royal assent. When it finally reached the Statute Book in September 1914, it was accompanied by a Suspensory Act which postponed its operation. By now, it also included a promise of amending the legislation to make provision for Ulster. 
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​Unionist reaction
While the government's plans for Home Rule seemed to stall somewhat until early 1912, Unionists were alert to the threat of a third Home Rule Bill from the moment the Parliament Act passed. 

On On 8th February 1912, Churchill arrived in Ulster, intending to give a speech at the Ulster Hall, where he would appear on stage with John Redmond and Joe Devlin. Such was the strength of Unionist opposition that he was blocked from accessing the venue, his car was pelted with missiles, and the meeting was shifted to the grounds of Belfast Celtic football club. Having intended to spend two days in Ulster promoting Home Rule, he spent just over seven hours! Read more about it here and here. For Churchill, this reinforced the belief that a Home Rule Bill which neglected Unionist concerns was doomed to run aground. 

Evidence exists of military drilling in Unionist clubs from as early as January 1911. An interview from this time with James Craig, in the Unionist Belfast Morning Post, suggested that Unionists were engaging in more than mere propaganda.
 
In  September 1911, Craig assembled 50,000  demonstrators at a rally at his home in Craigavon, east Belfast. Carson was the star speaker, and the letter below, which he wrote in reply to Craig’s invitation in July, indicates why Craig had invited him to lead the Ulster Unionists. Read more about it here. 
 
On 9th April 1912 two days before the Home Rule Bill was introduced to Parliament, Craig again orchestrated a huge demonstration, this time at Balmoral Showgrounds in south Belfast. The 100,000 strong crowd was addressed by Andrew Bonar Law, recently appointed leader of the Conservative Party, who addressed the assembled Unionists in terms which seemed to praise the organised militancy of the assembled ranks.
 
“when the crisis is over men will say to you… you have saved yourselves by your exertions, and you will save the empire by your example.”
 
By the time the bill was introduced on 11th April (the day after Titanic left Southampton on her maiden voyage), the stage was set for a standoff.
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the first circuit and beyond: april 1912 to february 1913

Introduction and the Agar-Robartes amendment
The Government of Ireland Bill (or Third Home Rule Bill) was introduced on its first circuit on 11th April 1912. 

Two months later, on 11th June 1912, Liberal backbencher Thomas Agar-Robartes proposed an amendment to the bill which would exclude the four most north-easterly, predominantly protestant counties (Londonderry, Armagh, Down, Antrim).
 
This was Asquith’s first big test.
If he accepted it:

• he would look weak, as Robartes was one of his own back bench MPs.
• He would be acknowledging at an early stage that the bill was not fit for purpose.
• He would risk alienating the IPP.
• It probably wouldn’t satisfy Unionist demands.

 
If he rejected it:

• He would miss a significant opportunity to compromise and wrong-foot Unionist opponents.

 
In the end, Asquith rejected the amendment, and it was defeated by 69 votes. One important consequence was that it forced Unionists into supporting concessions for Ulster. Although Carson viewed is support merely as a ‘wrecking device’, his support of the amendment signalled to Southern Unionists the growing importance of Ulster.
 

Tensions flare
Over the summer of 1912, tension over the Home Rule Bill became palpable within Ulster. One major flashpoint was an incident which unfolded at Castledawson on 28th June, where a group of Sunday School children from Whitehouse Presbyterian Church were attacked by members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians on their return journey from an outing to Derry. The incident sparked outrage among Protestants in Belfast, and contributed to the expulsion from the shipyards of over 2,000 Catholic employees. The twelfth of July Orange Order commemorations and associated ‘marching season’ a few weeks later were, unsurprisingly, was accompanied by sectarian rioting and social unrest, especially in Belfast, with Charles Craig, MP calling it an 'explosive' situation.
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​Ulster Day and the Covenant
In response to this growing unrest, James Craig and the Ulster Unionist leadership devised a plan for a ‘grand gesture’ which could act as a safety valve for the anti-Home Rule feeling which was manifesting itself in social unrest. This would take the form of ‘Ulster Day’, a public holiday to be held on Saturday 28th September 1912, on which the men of Ulster would sign Ulster’s Solemn League and Covenant. The moment was preceded by eleven days of demonstrations across Ulster’s provincial towns, and the day itself carried through with religious fervour and military organisational precision. Over 200,000 Ulster men signed the Covenant, committing to oppose Home Rule by ‘all means which may be found necessary’, with another 228,000 women signing a parallel Declaration ascribing their support to the cause.
 
The Covenant was not a petition to be presented to Parliament: it was a statement of intent, and therein lies its significance.

Did any of your ancestors sign the Covenant? Search the records of the Ulster Covenant here. 

​Carson's nine-county amendment and the end of the first circuit
As the first circuit drew to a close, the Unionists sponsored an amendment tabled in January 1913, which proposed exclusion of all nine Ulster counties. The rationale – that all of Ulster was economically tied to the economic power house of Belfast – was merely another bid to wreck the government’s bill, and was quickly rejected by Asquith and voted down.
 
The first circuit came to a close in mid January with the House of Lords rejecting the bill following its passage through the Commons by a majority of 110.
 
What had become clear, though, was that during the course of 1912, the issue of Ulster had outgrown Unionist hopes of an all-Ireland escape from Home Rule.​

1913: extra-parliamentary tension ramps up

The Ulster Volunteer Force
The conclusion of the first circuit was significant for two reasons:

1. The clock was continuing to tick on the Home Rule Bill, moving it closer to enactment.
2. The opportunity for amendments to the Bill had passed, as under the Parliament Act, the Bill had to be presented to the Lords in identical form on the two subsequent circuits.

 
This consequence of this was that any changes to the course of the Home Rule Bill would have to be made through either a) political negotiation between the leadership of the concerned parties; or b) extra-parliamentary activity.
 
It was out of this situation that the UVF was established.
 
Read Timothy Bowman’s excellent analysis of the origins and impact of the organisation here. 

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The second circuit
With heavy use of the guillotine, Asquith engineered a swift passage for the Home Rule Bill on its second circuit, which was completed between February and July 1913. Debates in parliament were not well attended and the Bill failed to generate much interest. However, this seemingly uneventful few months belied two significant facts about the brewing crisis.

1. The next time the Bill was introduced to Parliament would be on its third and final circuit, meaning that passage was guaranteed under the Parliament Act.
2. As the chance for compromise through amendment had been missed on the first circuit, Asquith’s ‘wait and see’ strategy’ would be tested by Unionist opposition, making for a tense standoff.

 
Notable developments during the second circuit:

1. Ultra Conservative Lord Willoughby de Broke established the British League for the Support of Ulster and the Union (BLSUU), a British based pressure group which engaged in pro-Ulster propaganda and fundraising.
2. Carson spent most of this period in England, speaking at demonstrations and rallying support for the Ulster cause amongst English Conservatives.
3. The summer marching season was again dominated by sectarian violence.

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Lord Loreburn's letter
​On 20th September 1913 Lord Loreburn, venerable elder statesman, recently retired Lord Chancellor and Liberal peer, published a letter in The Times. In it he drew attention to the precarious position in Ireland, which had seen another summer of violence, and called for political leaders to find compromise or face civil war. 

Such criticism, from within his own party, made clear to Asquith that, with the third circuit looming, a compromise would have to be reached. 

Ulster's Provisional Government
On 24th September 1913, a meeting of 500 delegates from the Ulster Unionist Council met in the Ulster Hall, where they approved the formation of a Provisional Government for Ulster. 

This was a full 'shadow' executive which would work to establish a 'counter-state', holding the counties of Ulster in trust until such times as the British Government abandoned the idea of Home Rule. Crucially, it would only be called into action in the event that a Nationalist Home Rule government was set up in Dublin. 

Most interestingly, the previous day Carson had written to Bonar Law, suggesting that he had abandoned Ulster resistance as a mere wrecking device, and was willing to consider the idea of partition as a solution to the crisis. 
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The Irish Volunteers
The Irish Volunteers ​was a Nationalist paramilitary force established at a meeting in the Rotunda, Dublin, on 25th November 1913. The background to its formation lies in the resurgence of so called 'advanced nationalism' in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A combination of renewed interest in Irish culture, propelled by the work of the Gaelic League, and the revival of the militant republican organisation the Irish Republican Brotherhood meant that once Ulster Unionists had established a fighting force in the UVF, the time was ripe for a similar nationalist force to emerge. 

Following the proclamation of Ulster's Provisional Government in September 1913, IRB leaders Denis McCullough and Bulmer Hobson began to put pressure on the leader of the Gaelic League, Eoin MacNeill, to use his influence to form such a body (For more information on IRB involvement, click here).  MacNeill published an influential article 'The North Began' on 1st November in which he argued that Ulster militancy had raised the stakes across the island. Patrick Pearse published a more overt call to arms a week later in his article 'The Coming Revolution' in which he asserted ‘I think the Orangeman with a rifle a much less ridiculous figure than the nationalist without a rifle.'

While the stated aims of the Volunteers was to ensure (by force if necessary) that Home Rule was implemented in Ireland, against any threat by the UVF. At its first meeting it attracted 3,000 new members.  

On 5th December 1913 the government, alarmed by the emergence of two large opposing paramilitary forces on the island of Ireland, issued a Royal Proclamation banning the importation of arms to Ireland. 

The search for a solution
The summer of tension, the criticism from Lord Loreburn and others, and the increasing militancy of both Unionists and Nationalists combined to push politicians from both sides of the debate to explore the possibility of compromise over the autumn and winter of 1913/14. 

In September Bonar Law met Churchill at the King's holiday residence in Balmoral, Scotland, where they began to seriously consider what Ulster exclusion would look like. In correspondence with Asquith, Carson for the first time accepted exclusion as more than just a wrecking device, endorsing a six-county solution. Publicly, the Liberals started speaking more openly about the possibility of compromise. The IPP, on the other hand, held firm to thirty-two county Home Rule

"Ireland is a unit...The two-nation theory is an abomination and a blasphemy." (Redmond addressing an audience in Limerick on 12th October 1913)

On 14th October, 6th November and 10th December, three secret meetings took place between Bonar Law and Asquith. While both men were privately open to compromise, each faced difficulties in keeping their supporters happy, and by the end of the third meeting negotiations were no further forward. 

 “Either they must submit their bill to the judgement of the people or prepare for the consequences of civil war.” (Bonar Law speaking to an audience in Cardiff on 15th January 1914)

At the same time, Lloyd George had been meeting with Redmond and Dillon in an effort to win them over to the idea of temporary exclusion for all or part of Ulster. A number of different iterations of this scheme were proposed, including 'Home Rule within Home Rule', by which a Belfast parliament, subordinate to the Dublin parliament, would be established. By March 1914, the Liberals had convinced the IPP to accept what became known as 'county option'. Counties in Ulster would be given the option to vote themselves out of Home Rule by means of plebiscites. This would exclude them from Home Rule for a period after which they would come under the control of the Dublin parliament. 

The main point of contention over this issue was that Asquith seemed to have been outwitted by the Unionists during these negotiations. While Redmond had initially submitted to a three year period of exclusion for counties unwilling to join Home Rule, Unionist pressure on the Liberals quickly saw this extended to six years. Even still, when Asquith finally introduced the idea to Parliament on 9th March 1914, Carson turned his back on even this compromise. 

“We do not want a sentence of death with a stay of execution of six years.” (Edward Carson, speaking in Parliament on 9th March 1914)

Key points

• Rather than reaching compromise, the autumn/winter negotiations saw greater divisions emerge between the two sides. 
• Even so, Unionists appeared to have secured some concessions from the government, as Asquith accepted that Home Rule could not now be imposed on an all Ireland basis.
• The relationship between the IPP and the Liberals was damaged, as Redmond considered himself betrayed by political wiles of Asquith, Lloyd George and the Unionists. 

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​the third circuit and a (temporary) end to the crisis: march to september 1914

The Curragh Incident
In September 1913, Carson had proclaimed the following at the meeting establishing the Unionist Provisional Government: 

​ ‘If England allows the army and the navy to be used, we may be coerced into submission, but if we are, we will be governed as a conquered community and nothing else.’

By the end of 1913, senior Liberals were expressing concerns to Asquith over growing support for Unionism within the higher ranks of the army. If Asquith was to proceed with his 'wait and see' policy, he needed assurance that, when required, he had at least the threat of force as a way of counteracting the threat of the Unionist Provisional Government and the UVF. 

Realising this, Bonar Law toyed with the idea of obstructing the Army (Annual) Bill in January 1914, in an attempt to undermine Asquith's reliance on the armed forces. Though he did not go through with this rather extreme form of parliamentary brinkmanship, events in March made such moves unnecessary. 

The precise chain of events is unclear, but the following facts are important: 

• General Sir Arthur Paget, Commander-in-Chief of troops in Ireland, was ordered in early 1914 to make preparations to counteract a potential UVF insurgency in the event of Home Rule being enforced in Ireland. #
• On 20th March, Paget informed senior officers that plans were being made, but that officers having a home in Ulster would be able to 'disappear' temporarily without consequence. Others were expected to stay and follow orders. 
• Possibly due to a miscommunication by Brigadier-General Hubert Gough, commander of the 5th and 6th Lancers, at least 57 officers threatened to resign if ordered to take action against the UVF. 

The incident reached the press and was hugely embarrassing for the government, forcing Asquith and the War Secretary Jack Seely to backtrack, denying that there had ever been an intention to coerce Ulster. Crucially, it meant that the Liberals had lost a key bargaining chip against the Unionists.

The Larne Gunrunning
On the night of 24th April 1914 the Unionists pulled off probably the most successful propaganda stunt of the Home Rule crisis. Coordinated by Major Fred Crawford, the UVF landed almost 25,000 guns and around 3,000,000 rounds of ammunition at Larne and Donaghadee. The operation was carried out with military precision and with minimal interference from the local police force. It was a bold move, in direct contravention of the Royal Proclamation of December 1914, and important in a number of ways.

• It further enhanced the threat to order presented by the UVF, establishing that they were not simply bluffing in their threats of insurrection.
• It enhanced the profile of Ulster’s Provisional Government and demonstrated the government’s impotence, reinforcing Unionist confidence just one month after the Curragh Incident.
• It further distanced Nationalists from Asquith’s Liberal government, inspiring many to join the Irish Volunteers, whose membership rapidly increased to over 100,000. Just three months later, the Volunteers would make their own landing of weapons at Howth.
• It is crucial, though, to bear in mind that the consignment fell far short of making the UVF battle-ready; among a force of 100,000 men, and against the might of the British Army, that amount of ordnance would not make the impact that Unionists proclaimed in their propaganda. 

Asquith's Amending Bill
Asquith’s solution to the impasse was to introduce a bill that would amend the Home Rule Bill to reflect his ‘county option’ solution – temporary exclusion of six years for those Ulster counties which voted to opt out. This bill was sent directly to the House of Lords in June 1914. However, Conservative peers led by Lord Lansdowne quickly thwarted Asquith’s plan, by amending the Amendment Bill, providing for permanent exclusion of all nine counties – an offering unacceptable to Liberal and Nationalists in the House of Commons. 

The Buckingham Palace Conference
Finding another road block in his way, Asquith finally agreed to engage in round table discussions with all parties at a conference in Buckingham Palace, held from 21st to 24th July 1914. The conference was spent in heated debate over where the excluded area should begin and end, with much consultation of maps highlighting the ‘green’ and ‘orange’ zones. In the end, no agreement was reached, with discussion, in Churchill’s words, getting  ‘bogged down in the muddy byways of Fermanagh and Tyrone.’
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Guns for the Irish Volunteers
On 26th July 1914 the Irish Volunteers landed a consignment of 1,500 Mauser rifles at the port of Howth, just north of Dublin. Government forces were unable to prevent the guns being landed and distributed, but on the way back to barracks, a crowd of assembled nationalists jeered and stoned the King's Own Scottish Guards. The soldiers opened fire, killing four and wounding over thirty. 

The incident was seen as yet another example of the British Government's double standards: the authorities had seemed complicit in the UVF Larne gunrunning, and yet the landing of a much smaller shipment of weapons was met with greater force. 

War in Europe
When Britain entered WW1 in August 1914 it shifted attitudes towards the Home Rule Crisis. Bonar Law expressed a desire to work towards a greater sense of national unity in the face of the crisis. 

Home Rule passes Parliament
In response to this, the Home Rule Bill was passed through both Houses of Parliament and given the Royal Assent on 18th August 1914. It was accompanied by a Suspensory Act which placed two restrictions on its implementation:
1. Home Rule would not be implemented until after the war was over. 
2. Home Rule would not be implemented until a settlement had been agreed over Ulster. 
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