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Home , Bogside, Charles McHugh (bishop), Derry, Derry City Council, Derry Journal, Irish Volunteers

Derry~Londonderry The Covenant and the 1916 Proclamation Dr Henry A. Jefferies

A programme supported by The Peace III Programme managed for the Special EU 1 Programmes Body by the North West Peace III Cluster taken from its Catholic population or St Luarach’s College (founded in ~Londonderry and and given to Protestant immigrants 1900). Unfortunately, the education from and . Without of children in separate schools had the Partition of wealth, without the access to higher the effect of reinforcing already deep education that only the wealthy could divisions in society. Derry in 1900: afford at that time, and because of discrimination on religious grounds, Catholics and Protestants in Derry, Derry~Londonderry had a population The first ever film shot in Derry, by it was extremely difficult for Ulster as was common in the larger towns of 40,000 people in 1900. It was Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon in Catholics to claw their way out of and cities across Ulster, lived mostly typical of many smaller Victorian March 1902, shows scenes of people poverty. It was not until 1947 that in separate neighbourhoods, though cities at the time. Its people were walking in Waterloo Place and Rossville higher education was made free to there were some mixed community rigidly divided by social class, and Street. Some posed for the camera, all and not until 1976 that religious districts including, for example, the divisions were made very clear but most were oblivious to the fact discrimination was outlawed in Rosemount, around Northland Road by the clothes that people wore, the that people would be looking at their . There were, of and, of course, on the Waterside. way they spoke and by their general images on a film long after they had course, poor Protestants in Ulster as They attended different churches, demeanour. Wealthy women strolled died. The film shows that most people well as Catholics, but being a Catholic read different newspapers, nurtured about the main streets of Derry in in Derry were reasonably well-fed, but in Ulster was an enormous liability different community identities and long, elegant dresses designed by had little money for nice clothes or when it came to looking for a job, or in many ways they led very separate couturiers in Paris and , with other luxuries. It was a city with limited promotion, until the last quarter of the lives. That is not to say that there their hair piled high upon their heads job opportunities for men. Its shirt twentieth century. was no interaction between the two in the contemporary pompadour or factories, which were scattered around communities. They sometimes had chignon (“waterfall of curls”) fashions, the old heart of the city, made profits Yet, from late Victorian times, things neighbours who attended a different set off with very broad hats. Wealthy by employing women on low wages. were gradually changing. St Columb’s church to their own. They might men strode about in three piece At a time when married men were College (founded in 1879) and work side by side, and they shared a suits set off by top hats. They often expected to be the ‘bread-winners’ the High School (opened in 1887) common affection for their city. They sported beards, and moustaches that while their wives reared large families provided secondary education to a all supported their local soccer team, were sometimes curled. The lower of children at home, the lack of jobs fortunate though tiny minority of Derry Celtic. Yet they formed distinct middle classes bought ready-to-wear for men in Derry was a real problem Catholic boys and girls respectively, communities defined by religious factory-made clothes that crudely for society as a whole. but it would take time before a denominations. Trade unionists in mimicked the fashions of their sizeable Catholic middle class would Derry tried to persuade working-class betters, but their clothes were plainly The social class divisions in Derry in grow from among their alumni. In Catholics and Protestants that they cheaper, and were made in practical 1900 were made worse by religious Derry, as across Ireland generally, had a great deal in common with each colours of cloth that would wear well. divisions. The wealthy citizens were children were educated according to other, and that their bosses were Poorer people often had to make do mostly Protestants. However, society religious denomination. Protestant their true enemies by paying out with second-hand clothes, sometimes in Ulster had been shaped profoundly children fortunate enough to enjoy a paltry wages. However, it was hard ragged apparel of dark colours that by the British conquest and secondary education attended either to promote socialism in Ireland when were supposed to hide the dirt. colonisation of Ireland in which some (founded in 1617), religion was such a dominating factor of the wealth of Ireland had been Victoria High School (founded in 1877) in people’s lives. 2 3 Nationalist Aspirations: necessity of establishing an Irish educated in school. The easing of matters such as taxation, foreign government. sectarian discrimination by the British policy, the and the military. Ireland had been incorporated into the state allowed Catholics to secure a The leaders of the IPP stated in of and On the other hand, Nationalists reaped growing share of jobs in the British parliament that was a Ireland in 1801, in order to copper- benefits from the United Kingdom civil service, the post office, and compromise arrangement that would fasten Britain’s control of its rebellious becoming increasingly democratic the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). satisfy Nationalists’ demands for an neighbour. Irish Nationalists were in the second half of the nineteenth However, being an Irish Catholic Irish government that would govern Irish men and women who believed century. Growing prosperity allowed continued to be a disadvantage when Ireland in the best interests of the that Ireland should be governed by more Catholics to have their children it came to promotion: for example, , while at the same time an Irish government elected by the while 70% of the police constables leaving Ireland as part of the United Irish people. That conviction was on the ground were Catholics, most Kingdom subject to the British crown. reinforced by Ireland’s catastrophic of the senior police officers were experience of the of Protestants even as late as 1914. In 1910 two general elections resulted 1845-50 – in which one million people in a stalemate between Britain’s died, and another million were forced The Irish Parliamentary Party two main political parties, the to emigrate to escape death. (IPP), of which 86 of Ireland’s Conservative Party and the Liberal 105 MPs, were members in 1885, Party. , leader of The British government’s famine relief campaigned tirelessly against the IPP, gave his party’s support to measures were woefully inadequate, religious discrimination, for equal Herbert Asquith, leader of the Liberal despite the fact that Britain was job opportunities, and for the Party, to be the prime minister - on the richest country in the world. better governance of Ireland from condition that the Liberals promised Nationalists at that time believed Westminster. Its central demand, to grant Home Rule to Ireland. With that hundreds of thousands of poor however, was for Home Rule. This was the votes of the Liberal Party, the Irish men, women and children were a form of devolved government for Irish Parliamentary Party and the new simply allowed to die. That belief was Ireland within the United Kingdom. behind it, Ireland looked confirmed by The Irish Crisis, a book Under Home Rule there would set to achieve Home Rule. written by Sir Charles Trevelyan, the have been an Irish government in British government’s chief official who responsible for law making was responsible for organising famine in economic matters, education, relief in Ireland. Trevelyan wrote policing and justice – while Ireland that the famine was created by God would remain subject to the British to make Ireland a better place in the government’s control in imperial future – by getting rid of the poor! The sheer scale of death and depopulation was seen as proof of the British government’s indifference towards the Irish people. For Nationalists it demonstrated the Illustration showing a family during the Famine 4 5 Unionist Anxieties: established under Home Rule. Most in the context of their long-standing Kingdom – just like Scotland, Protestants were worried about their animosity towards the pope in and Northern Ireland today – Ulster Unionists were Irish men and women prospects under an Irish government Rome. However, they should also be Unionists expressed their anxiety who supported the Act of Union that with a Catholic majority. seen in the context of Nationalists’ in the Covenant that Home Rule created the United Kingdom in 1801. demands for equal opportunities threatened their ‘cherished position They wanted Ireland to remain united Unionists’ anxieties about Home in securing jobs and promotions; in of equal citizenship in the United with Great Britain. Most of them were Rule were summarized by them in an economy that failed to generate Kingdom’. The Unionists knew that Protestants who traced their ancestry the Solemn League and Covenant, enough employment and wealth for most Irish Nationalists wanted Ireland to ‘British’ immigrants who had came a petition signed by half a million everyone, many Protestants feared to be free of British control, and they to Ireland since the early17th Century. on ‘Ulster Day’ that any progress made towards equal were afraid that the Nationalists would Unionists felt proud to be British, in . The Covenant opportunities would only be made at use Home Rule as a stepping stone and they took great pride in the made very clear the central role of their expense. towards Irish independence at some outstanding achievements of Victoria’s religion as a motive force for opposing point in the future. Britain in terms of culture, industry, Home Rule. Its very title implied a The Ulster Covenant identified technology and empire. Ulster contract made between God and his Unionists’ anxieties about politicians, and particularly Unionists pointed to the remarkable ‘chosen people’, and it harked back ‘material well-being of Ulster, and John Redmond, tried to reassure industrial experienced to the Scottish Solemn League and the rest of Ireland’, as another key Unionists with soothing words. in since the Union, as proof Covenant of 1644 whose signatories reason for their opposition to Home Redmond genuinely believed that of their own innate abilities and vowed to defend Rule. Essentially, they were afraid Ireland with Home Rule would be application to industry. Unionists were against “the treacherous and that a new Irish government, elected better off in the United Kingdom than worried that Home Rule could destroy bloody plots, conspiracies, attempts mostly by farmers, might mismanage as an independent state. However, all that they had achieved. and practices of the enemies of the Irish economy and cause the Catholics’ slow and fitful progress God against the true religion and collapse of industries in Ulster which towards equal rights and their For many Protestants the steady professors thereof in all places” in had prospered since the Union with demands for equal opportunities, advancement of Catholics in Victorian the . Its language echoed Great Britain. Anxieties about the fuelled Protestants’ fears and Ireland was unsettling. It could be the King James Bible. Six of the first possible threat to the economy united strengthened a ‘siege mentality’ that seen reflected in solid form in the nine individuals to sign the Covenant Protestant businessmen and their was hostile to any hint of ‘surrender’. new Catholic churches, convents and were Protestant clergymen. In the employees against Home Rule. schools built across the country. Covenant the signatories explicitly It was reflected in Nationalists’ called on God to support them in their Despite the fact that Home Rule would confidence in expressing their political time of ‘threatened calamity’. have left Ireland within the United points of view in criticising the status quo and in the sweeping victories of Many Protestants were anxious the IPP in election after election. With that any Irish government made up their usual tally of only 17 MPs, out of mostly of Catholics might restrict Ireland’s 105 constituencies, Ulster their religious freedoms; they feared Unionists were certain to form a very that “Home Rule is ”. small minority in any Irish parliament Protestants’ fears should be seen

6 7 : Carson’s hand was not so very strong at first. Only 54% of the people In Prime Minister Herbert in Ulster were Protestants, and Asquith, submitted a Home Rule Unionists usually elected only 17 of bill to the British parliament. John Ulster’s 33 MPs. However, Carson Redmond, and Nationalists generally, succeeded in creating an impression were confident that Ireland would in British minds that Ulster was both have Home Rule by the summer of Protestant and Unionist. Together 1914 and that the Irish people would with his deputy, Sir , a thereafter be able to shape their own wealthy businessman from north destinies. For Unionists, however, the Down, Carson mobilised Unionist prospect of Home Rule was seen as opposition in Ulster, and fostered the beginning of Armageddon. Hence, support for the Ulster Unionist cause while Nationalists were content to in Britain. Carson and Craig were wait passively over the next couple of fortunate to enjoy the support of the years, Unionists geared up to fight for and Apprentice Boys in their very survival. Ulster. They also enjoyed the backing of Andrew , the leader of In 1910 the Ulster Unionists appointed the Conservative Party, whose family Sir to lead them in the came from . Bonar Law was fight against Home Rule. Carson, a more determined in his commitment Dublin Protestant, brought his fierce to the Ulster Unionists than any passion, outstanding oratory and his Conservative leader was before or close connections with the British since. In a speech in he Conservative Party to the Unionist promised to support whatever actions cause. His intention was to stop the Unionists might deem necessary any part of Ireland getting Home in the fight against Home Rule - Rule, but he knew that most people including the use of violence. in Britain accepted the Nationalists’ arguments. Instead, Carson focused Under Carson’s leadership the Ulster on Home Rule’s greatest weakness; Unionists used the wealth of Belfast’s the fact that most people in Ulster businessmen and their expertise in were opposed to Home Rule. Carson’s marketing to promote their cause plan was to confront Nationalists with in Britain. The Solemn League and a choice: either to forget about Home Covenant was signed by half a million Rule, or risk having Ireland partitioned Protestants, 228,000 women and in two. 218,000 men, some of them with their

8 9 be used against was never made six Ulster which they wanted clear. to be excluded from Home Rule forever. The Derry Division of the UVF had 5,365 volunteers in 1914 In 1912 Irish Nationalists confidently under the command of Colonel Sir expected that all of Ireland would be Hervey Bruce, while the City of Derry granted Home Rule, but by 1914 the Division had 3,480 volunteers under leaders of the IPP agreed that the the command of Captain Marshall four Irish counties with a Protestant Morris. The failure of the British majority – , Down, and government to enforce the law Londonderry – could be excluded against the Unionist paramilitaries, from Home Rule, at least for a six- even after the massive importation year period. The Buckingham Palace of weapons, persuaded more and conference ended without agreement. more constitutionalist Nationalists No settlement could possibly satisfy that British politicians were not to both Nationalists and Unionists, yet be trusted. In a Asquith hoped to satisfy as many Nationalist paramilitary organisation people of both communities as was Carson signing the Covenant “Ulster Day” 1912 called the was possible given Ulster’s complex established under the leadership of religious geography. He was thinking own blood in a demonstration of their In the Solemn League and Covenant Eóin MacNéill, an Ulster Nationalist, of placing Nationalist areas in south deadly earnestness. the male signatories threatened to to counter the threat posed by the Down and south Armagh under Home “use all means that may be found UVF and to ensure that Ireland would, Rule, while excluding Unionist areas in Yet the signing of the Covenant was necessary” to fight Home Rule. In as promised, be granted Home Rule. north Fermanagh and south Tyrone. amplified by the way the Unionist that implicit threat of Never before, and never since then, leadership staged the event for British violence was given physical form were so many Irishmen, Unionists The outbreak of the Great War in journalists and news photographers, with the establishment of a Unionist and Nationalists alike, members of led to the passing of and even had it filmed for British paramilitary organisation; the Ulster paramilitary organisations! the Act, which audiences in the new cinemas that Volunteer Force. The UVF was led and granted Home Rule, with two provisos: were springing up at the time. A organised by former Whereas in 1912 the Unionists and the long-awaited government for tsunami of picture postcards, officers under General their Conservative Party allies were Ireland would only be established pamphlets and a stream of speech- Sir George Richardson. It recruited strident in opposing Home Rule after the War had ended, and ‘special making across British constituencies 100,000 Protestant men into its for all of Ireland, by the time of the provision’ was to be made to settle reinforced the Ulster Unionists’ central ranks. In the UVF illegally Buckingham Palace conference in the outstanding disputes concerning message: that Ulster opposed Home imported 24,000 rifles and 3 million they accepted that at least Ulster Rule. bullets from into , 26 Irish counties would have Home . Who the guns would Rule. They limited their demands to

10 11 The Great War: that could endanger its very survival, as well as an opportunity to prove The Great War began in August 1914 Ulster Protestants’ loyalty to king and with the German invasion of country. Carson also hoped to be in and . Their plans were opposed a strong bargaining position when it by Britain, France and . It came to negotiating about the future turned out to be a cataclysmic war, of Ulster after the war. yet many of the young men who volunteered to become soldiers On the outbreak of war 58,000 Irish believed that the war would be over by men were already serving in the Christmas 1914. Few people expected British Army. A further 130,000 Irish the war to drag on for more than four joined the British military forces years, or that 10 million men would during the course of the war. 26,000 die before the guns eventually fell of these were former members of the silent. , while 24,000 were Irish Volunteers. Yet it is striking In 1914 Ireland’s political leaders that the great majority of Ireland’s paramilitaries decided not to fight saw Irish involvement in the war as Irish Volunteers in Derry a moral obligation since Ireland was in the Great War. Of the new Irish part of the , but also recruits to the British Army, 55% were On 13 ‘The Derries’ were only 346 were fit for duty on the as an opportunity to strengthen Catholics. Many of these served in paraded in the centre of Londonderry, following morning. The Battle of the their own political agendas. For John the 16th (Irish) Division and the 10th under the command of Lieutenant Somme dragged on until November, Redmond, the men of Ireland had an (Irish) Division. Colonel Ross Smith of Ardmore. They when the British finally gave up their opportunity to prove themselves as must have looked confident, and hopes for a breakthrough. The Battle loyal subjects since Home Rule had, About a quarter of the Ulster Volunteer smart in their uniforms. However, of the Somme ended in stalemate. virtually, been granted. He hoped Force volunteered for service in the nothing could have prepared them for 146,431 allied soldiers were killed at that in fighting against a common Great War. They formed the core of the realities of fighting in the Great the Somme, and 164,055 Germans. enemy Irishmen of all political opinion the 36th (Ulster) Division. The 10th War. The sacrifice of the Ulster men in would be able to put their differences Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, part of the the has been behind them. Of course, he was also 36th Division, were commonly known On 1 the 36th Division took commemorated within Northern conscious of the “special provision” to as ‘The Derries’ because many of them part in the major British offensive Ireland ever since. It is regarded as a be negotiated for Ulster once the war used to be members of the City of against the Germans in the Battle telling counter-point to the sacrifice was over, and he wanted Nationalists Derry and the County Derry divisions of the Somme. By the end of that made by Irish Republicans in Dublin at to have a strong bargaining hand. of the UVF. day 2,000 Ulster men had been Easter of that same year. For Carson there was the same mix killed and another 3,500 had been of motives; a sense of obligation to injured. Of the 764 ‘Derries’ who The 10th (Irish) Division had already support the British empire in a war fought in the battle on that day, suffered its share of casualties at

12 13 Gallipoli in 1915, as had the 16th the British Army in the first twelve clique within the Irish Republican Irish destinies, to be sovereign and (Irish) Division at the Battles of months of the war, only 29,124 did Brotherhood (IRB), or Fenians as they indefeasible”. It proclaimed “the Irish Guillemont and Ginchy at the Somme. so in the following year, 13,785 in the were commonly known. They saw the Republic as a Sovereign Independent All three divisions from Ireland next and 12,362 in the next. Great War as a chance to strike a blow State”, guaranteed “religious and suffered further heavy losses in for Irish freedom – seeing “England’s civil liberty, equal rights and equal other bloody battles of the Great The survivors of the Great War who difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity”. In opportunities to all its citizens”, War. By the time it ended, on 11 returned to Ireland found it to be a all probability there would have been and declared its resolve to promote November 1918, it is estimated that very different country to that which no Rising but for the war. “the happiness and prosperity of somewhere between 30,000 and they had left. The men of the 36th the whole nation and of all its parts, 35,000 Irish men had lost their lives (Ulster) Division had monuments Before the Home Rule crisis the cherishing all the children of the in the Great War. Perhaps another erected in their memory in towns number of militant Republicans in nation equally, and oblivious of the 60,000 to 70,000 Irish soldiers across the new state of Northern Ireland was very small, numbering differences carefully fostered by an were seriously injured in the war but Ireland, established in 1921. However, hundreds rather than thousands. alien government, which have divided survived, sometimes left blinded, the men of the 10th and 16th (Irish) However it has been argued that a minority from the majority in the crippled or insane. The appalling Divisions found little appreciation Carson’s success in raising the UVF to past”. The Proclamation placed “the casualty rates dampened enthusiasm for their efforts among a radicalised fight Home Rule undermined peaceful cause of the under the for volunteering to fight in the war: Nationalist community. constitutional politics and suggested protection of the Most High God”. whereas 75,342 Irish men joined to some Nationalists that violent Republicans, like Unionists, enlisted rebellion could offer an alternative God in their wars! approach. , who was why the Unionists opposed the 1916 Rising: a peaceful Home Ruler until 1913, The 1916 Proclamation is a clear compromise inherent in Home Rule was inspired by Carson and the UVF statement of republican principles, – they were afraid that Home Rule On the eve of the Great War most to become a Republican advocate of the same principles as those would become a stepping stone Nationalists accepted the Home Rule violence. of the American Declaration of towards Irish independence some compromise – they were willing to Independence (1776) and the French time in the future. However, it must accept that Ireland would remain part The 1916 Rising was staged as a Declaration of the Rights of Man and be emphasised that before 1916 there of the United Kingdom, as long as an demonstration of Irish determination of the Citizen (1789). It declared was no Nationalist expectation that Irish government was established to secure an independent republic. every Irish man and woman’s right Ireland would be allowed by Britain to that was elected by and answerable Patrick Pearse, the leader of the to liberty, equality and the pursuit become a republic. to the Irish people. Yet recent studies Rising, read a Proclamation to the of happiness. It sought to address have revealed that the idea of Home people of Ireland outside the General Protestants’ fears by guaranteeing The 1916 Rising took virtually Rule inspired no great enthusiasm Post Office in the centre of Dublin religious and civil freedom and everybody by surprise. Yet it proved among Nationalists; their instincts that outlined the guiding principles of promising equal opportunities. On the to be a major turning-point in Irish were republican: they wanted Ireland Irish republicans. The Proclamation other hand, it made no concessions history: before it most Nationalists to be free from British control. Irish declared “the right of the people of to Unionists’ British identity. It had been Home Rulers, after it most of Unionists recognised the instinctive Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, demanded the allegiance of all people them became Republicans. The men separatism of their Nationalist and to the unfettered control of in Ireland to the republic. neighbours. That is a major reason who planned the Rising were a small 14 15 On the Saturday before Easter 1916 Unionist leader, had also been given a O’Doherty was elected as the first the Guildhall, and the new council 40 Irish Volunteers from Derry, guarantee that partition would, in fact, Catholic mayor of Londonderry. The declared its intention to represent all under the command of Séamus be permanent. Nationalists’ trust in headline declared, of the citizens equally. However, the Cavanagh, assembled in a shed at the government was destroyed, along “‘No surrender’ citadel conquered city remained deeply divided between Watt’s Distillery to play their part in with their confidence in Redmond after centuries of oppression”. The the two communities. the Rising, but the Volunteers’ leader, and the Irish Parliamentary Party. Union flag was no longer flown over Eóin Mac Néill, ordered his men to Nationalists began to look elsewhere ‘stand down’ and the Derry volunteers for political leadership. On 20 July dispersed without firing a shot. The 1916 Charles McHugh, Catholic bishop Partition: of Unionists sang “Rule Britannia” Rising went ahead in Dublin without of Derry, established the Anti-Partition and “Dolly’s Brae” and waved Union them on Easter Monday. The initial League to campaign against the Sinn Féin’s MPs met together in Dáil Jacks. Soon the singing contest was reaction of Nationalists in Derry to the threatened . Éireann, the republican parliament replaced with rioting between the two 1916 Rising was “cool and sensible” for Ireland, in January 1919. They sides that lasted for an hour. Tensions according to the Derry Journal. On 3 In 1917 Sinn Féin was transformed endorsed the 1916 Proclamation in the city escalated in an alarming the Derry Journal reported into a republican party and it and declared that Ireland was a fashion over the following weeks. that the British authorities in Dublin won massive support from Irish republic, whose sovereignty rested “have succeeded in suppressing Nationalists. In the with the Irish people. However, the The appalling sectarian violence disturbance and restoring order. Pearse Sinn Féin Club (named after British government had no intention suffered in Belfast in 1920 and 1921 This is highly satisfactory”. This the leader of the 1916 Rising) was of surrendering control of Ireland was echoed in Derry. In June 1920 muted reaction to the Rising among established in Derry. In the general without a fight. The army of the the UVF in Londonderry launched an Nationalists in Derry, was typical election of 1918 Eóin Mac Néill, self-proclaimed republic, the Irish attack on Catholic residents in the across Ulster generally. the founder of the Irish Volunteers, Republican Army (IRA), launched . The Derry Journal reported was elected as the Sinn Féin MP a guerrilla war against British Nonetheless, in the aftermath of the for Londonderry. He was one of 73 rule. IRA violence was particularly 1916 Rising, following the savage Sinn Féin MPs elected, alongside 26 concentrated across the south west British Army backlash and the Unionists and 6 members of the Irish of Ireland and Dublin. Derry played execution of the rebel leaders, there Parliamentary Party. The election no important part in Ireland’s War of was a decisive shift in Nationalist signalled that Home Rule no longer Independence, but the war made its sentiment against British rule. To held any appeal for Irish Nationalists: mark on Nationalists and Unionists in stem the tide towards republicanism most now wanted a republic that was Derry. the British government offered to entirely free of Britain. On the other grant Home Rule to 26 counties hand, the election also showed the In mid-April 1920 a number of immediately. John Redmond was strength of Unionism in Ulster. Republican prisoners were brought to persuaded to agree – but only after Derry’s City Jail. A crowd of Sinn Féin he was promised that partition In local elections in January supporters chanted republican songs would be temporary. However, it was 1920 Nationalists won control of and waved tricolours to give heart soon discovered that Carson, the Londonderry Corporation. Hugh C. to the prisoners. An opposing crowd GPO Dublin Easter 1916

16 17 that “Derry was on Saturday night the Government of Ireland Act (1920). the scene of appalling bloodshed and It authorised the creation of a new brutality following a wild outburst by state called Northern Ireland. It was Unionists who, armed with rifles and formed from six Ulster counties that revolvers, turned some streets of together had a population of one the city into a veritable shambles. At million Protestants and half a million least three men were shot dead and Catholics. Northern Ireland was to many persons, including a baby in remain part of the United Kingdom, [its mother’s] arms, were wounded.” but it was granted a form of devolved The president of St Columb’s College government subject to the British asked the IRA to protect the school parliament. In a general from a UVF gang. Eight Catholics and election was held for the new Northern four Protestants were killed in the Irish parliament. Given the Protestant encounter. majority in the six counties, Unionists won the election convincingly. In On 23 June 1920 the British Army June 1921 the first Northern Irish intervened to stifle the escalating government was established, with Sir violence. 1,500 British soldiers were James Craig as its first prime minister. sent into the city and they imposed a However, the inclusion of a very large curfew. The British Army and the UVF Catholic Nationalist minority, against worked together to impose control their will, in the new Northern Irish over the city; six more Catholics state created grave instability right were killed in the unrest. Indeed in from the start. November 1920 some members of the UVF were recruited into the Once Northern Ireland was newly formed Ulster Ulster Special established and the Ulster Unionists Constabulary (USC, of whom the ‘B were settled to their own satisfaction, Specials’ became the most notorious). the British government negotiated a However, the two communities were political settlement with Sinn Féin for too evenly matched in Derry for any the rest of Ireland. Under the terms kind of pogrom, like that attempted of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December in Belfast. In Derry about 40 people 1921 twenty six Irish counties left the were killed during the 1920s United Kingdom to form a separate ‘Troubles’, only a small fraction of the state, the . The Irish number killed in Belfast. Free State was allowed to have its To address the worsening political own government with full powers crisis the British parliament enacted over a range of functions; including

18 19 law making, taxation, policing and changes to the franchise reduced Epilogue: constitution of 1937 and an act of Dáil the army. In physical form you could the electorate by 250,000 for local Éireann in 1949 marked the Irish Free see the independence enjoyed in the elections. New constituencies Partition left the Irish Free State as State’s evolution into the Republic of Irish Free State as the Gardaí Síochána were created which gave Unionist a virtually homogenous Nationalist Ireland. Successive Irish governments replaced the Royal Irish Constabulary politicians control of all local councils, Catholic state which was free to promote complained about the partition of on the streets and the even in places where most of the its ideals of fashioning an ‘Irish’ Ireland. Ireland, but they failed to devise an replaced the British Army in the people were Nationalists. The Indeed, the Protestant minority in the effective policy or strategy to improve barracks. The Irish tricolour replaced Unionist government was accused of Free State shrank from 7.5% of the relations with their Northern neighbours. the Union flag flying over public , particularly in Derry population to only 3% over the following For their part, successive British buildings. The post office boxes were where the Corporation was returned four decades. For many Protestants governments were happy simply to painted green. However, the Irish Free to Unionist control in 1923 against the emigration offered an escape from the forget about ‘the Irish Question’ until the State had to remain within the British wishes of the majority of its voters. violence of the War of Independence ‘Troubles’ erupted in 1969. Empire, and the king of England was Control over the Corporation allowed and then the Civil War in Ireland. Others its head of state. It was a compromise Unionists to discriminate in favour of left for better economic opportunities. Life in Derry~Londonderry after the arrangement that split Sinn Féin and Protestants in terms of employment, However, many Unionists went to live formation of Northern Ireland in 1921 the IRA in two and led to a vicious civil housing and in representing the city. in other parts of the British Empire, was blighted by tense divisions between war. It was not until March 1923 that Londonderry Corporation became the such as or the United Kingdom its Nationalist and Unionist populations. peace finally came to the Irish Free worst example of local government itself, where their British identity could Unionists in Londonderry felt very much State. in Northern Ireland until it was finally be maintained more freely. The Irish under siege, both from the growing abolished under pressure from While the Irish Free State was torn by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights civil war, the Unionist government in Association (NICRA) in 1968. Belfast moved to impose its authority across Northern Ireland. Proportional representation was abolished and

Strand Road Derry~Londonderry 1920

20 21 Catholic majority within the city who regarded as enemies by Unionists Bibliography: resented the Unionists’ stranglehold in Northern Ireland. Unemployment, of the city’s economy and power poverty, limited access to education and Paul Bew: Ideology and the Irish Dr Henry A. Jefferies is the Head structures, and also from the southern powerlessness were hallmarks of being Question: Ulster Unionism and Irish of History at Thornhill College, Derry. Irish state that claimed jurisdiction a Catholic in Derry over the decades Nationalism (, 1996) He is the author of several books, over Northern Ireland. Unionists were that followed. Yet, the virtual collapse of including A2 History: Partition of Ireland, inclined to accept anti-partitionist Northern Ireland’s industrial economy Francis Costello: The Irish Revolution 1900-25 (Abingdon, 2011), The Irish rhetoric from Irish governments at face after the Great War meant that there and its Aftermath, 1916-1923 (Dublin, Church and the Tudor Reformations value. They saw the Irish state trying were many Protestants too who suffered 2002) (Dublin, 2010), A new history of to create an Irish-speaking Ireland, from dreadful living conditions. (Dublin, 2010) and he was the senior and they saw that the Diaramid Ferriter: The Transformation of editor of History of the diocese of Derry enjoyed a ‘special position’ across As one looks around Derry ~Londonderry Ireland, 1900-2000 (London, 2005) (Dublin, 2000), Tyrone: history and the border. The gulf separating Ulster today one sees a city which has society (Dublin, 2000). Unionists from southern Nationalists experienced remarkable progress David Harkness: Northern Ireland since grew ever wider after partition. in terms of people’s living standards 1920 (Dublin, 1983) and lifestyles, access to education Nationalists in Derry desperately and employment opportunities and Alvin Jackson: Ireland, 1798-1998 hoped that the Boundary Commission in the general physical environment (Oxford, 1999) established under the terms of the of the city. Community relations have Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 would transfer improved greatly since the onset of Michael Laffan: The Resurrection of Derry City, along with other Nationalist peace. There remains a very great deal Ireland: the Sinn Féin Party, 1916-1923 areas in Northern Ireland, to the Irish to achieve in the city before we can be (, 1999) Free State. However, the commission satisfied that all of the people of Derry actually recommended that parts of ~Londonderry enjoy good and happy Cornelius O’Leary and Patrick Maume: County bordering on Derry be lives. Nonetheless, we have progressed Controversial Issues in Anglo-Irish returned to the United Kingdom! The from where our forebears stood in 1900 Relations, 1910-1921 (Dublin, 2004) commission’s report was suppressed and we can be confident that the lives at the Irish government’s request, and of the citizens of our city will get much, A.T.Q. Stewart: The Ulster Crisis: the border was left where it stood. much better in the future. Resistance to Home Rule, 1912-1914 Nationalists in Derry found themselves (London, 1967) abandoned by the Irish Free State and Charles Townshend: Easter 1916: the Irish rebellion (London, 2005)

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22 23 This booklet represents the views of the author and not necessarily the views of

A programme supported by The Peace III Programme managed for the Special EU 24 Programmes Body by the North West Peace III Cluster