1979-1991

• Who supported the Home Rule Bill?

  The Nationalists were in support of Home Rule, alongside Prime minister Asquith who had abolished the Lord's veto via the Parliament bill and could delay it for 2 years, Redmond also supported the bill as he had provided support within the IPP for the People's Budget
• Who opposed the Home Rule Bill?

  The Ulster Unionists opposed Home Rule, Carson was one of the leading figures, Andrew Bonar Law and Sir James Craig
• How did Bonar Law plan to opposse?

  Bonar Law had four main aims to oppose Home Rule; anti propaganda, restore divisions in the Conservative Party, win a general election and abolish Home Rule
• What were Craig's aims?

  Craig aimed to defend the Ulster Unionists at all costs but disregarded the Southern Unionists even though they were relatively close
• What were Carson's aims?

  Carson aimed to resist any form of partiton from the liberals and believed he could help Ulster but he was unable to play the sectarianism car
• What was the first demo?

  The Craigavon Rally occurred in September 1911, 50,000 Unionists attended, Churchill ignored it, Carson wanted to set up a PG and draft the constituion of Ulster
• What was the second demo?

  The second demo occured at Balmoral April 1912, 100,000 Unionists were in attendance, 6 million leaflets had been distributed, Bonar Law delivered a speech reflecting on the siege of Derry which concerned the government
• What was Exclusion?

  Agar Roberts was a liberal MP and he introduced the idea of excluding 4 counties from Home Rule which gained the support of the Ulster Unionists
• What was the Solemn Covenant?

  The Covenant was a religious crusade introduced by Unionists which took place at Belfast City Hall and 228,000 women signed a seperate declaration while 218,000 men signed the Covenant alongside the Archbishop of Armagh
• What was the UVF?

  The Ulster Volunteer Force was set up in January 1913, it had 100,000 members of men who had signed the covenant and was led by Sir George Richardson. They had the Motor Car Corps set up for military transportation
• What was the IVF?

  The Irish Volunteer Force was set up in November 1913 by Eoin MacNeil and it had 90,000 members and the main aim of this group was to uphold the law
• What was the County Option Scheme?

  The County Option Scheme was introduced by Lloyd George and he created a table of statistics of counties that had Nationalist/Unionist minorities/majorities so exclusion could be based off that, Carson supported it but he agreed for 6 counties as that was his "irreduicible miniumum"
• What was the Curragh incident?

  This occurred in March 1914, when members of the UVF were opposing the Home Rule Bill unless it was commending to each county but the RCC had 60 officers that refused to act against the UVF which became public and caused embarrasment to the government that their officers refused to take action
• What was the UVF gunrunning incident?

  This occurred in April 1914, in Larne and the UVF smuggled in 35,000 rifles and 3 million rounds of ammunition in which evoked fear for the government as they feared the possibility of civil war but it showed the UVF were strong and determined
• What happened 21st-24th July 1915?


  King George VII invited Carson, Craig, Bonar Law, Redmond, Asquith, Lloyd George to Buckingham Palace for a meeting regarding this issue. Asquith and George produced a table of the counties that would be excluded based on the Unionist minority and Fermanagh and Tyrone were excluded
• What was happening at home?

  26th July, At the Bachelors Walk members of the Brtish Army killed 6 members of the IVF because they smuggled in weapons into Howth and 60 were left injured
• What happened in August?

  During August, Britain proclaimed war on Germany which meant that Asquith had to postpone Home Rule until the war was over. Carson offerred the UVF to the army and Redmond offerred the IVF for protection. However, Craig had abandoned Southern Unionists in Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan as he was primarily focused with Ulster which resulted in the SUs being furious