Edward Carson, a Dubliner?

Many of the staunch supporters of Northern Ireland’s unionist tradition might be very surprised to learn that Edward Carson, the father of modern Irish unionism, was born in Dublin, now the capital city of the Irish Republic.

Carson was born at 4 Harcourt Street, Dublin, on 9 February 1854. His father was an architect of Scottish descent; his mother was descended from one of Cromwell's generals. Educated at Arlington House, Portarlington, Co Laois, and at Trinity College, Dublin, Carson was called to the Irish Bar in 1877, taking silk in 1889. Appointed counsel to the Irish attorney-general in 1887, he earned the nickname 'Coercion Carson' from vigorous prosecutions.

In 1892, Carson was appointed solicitor-general for Ireland, but on being elected Liberal Unionist MP for Dublin University he found himself in opposition. He made his maiden speech at Westminster from the front bench, and quickly established a parliamentary reputation which he enhanced in opposing Gladstone's Home Rule Bill in 1893. 1894, he became the first Irish QC to take silk in England, and his cross-examination of Oscar Wilde in 1895 demonstrated his courtroom skills.

In 1900, Carson became solicitor-general in England, and was knighted. In 1905, again in opposition, he resumed his legal practice; in a famous case, in 1910, he established the innocence of a naval cadet, George Archer-Shee, accused of stealing a postal order. (The case was dramatised by Terence Rattigan in his 1946 hit play, The Window Boy.) In 1910, Carson agreed to lead the Irish Unionist parliamentary party, affirming 'I dedicate myself to your service, whatever may happen.' His loyal lieutenant was Capt James Craig, at whose house overlooking Belfast Lough he addressed a large rally in 1911, describing the imminent Home Rule Bill as 'the most nefarious conspiracy that has ever been hatched against a free people'.

On 'Ulster Day', 28 September 1912, a covenant to defeat Home Rule attracted 471,414 signatures. The Ulster Volunteer Force was formed in 1913 and, on the outbreak of World War I, Carson committed its men to the British Army; the Home Rule legislation was suspended. Carson held several wartime posts before resigning in 1918 to fight Ulster's cause again.

Recognising that he could not prevent Home Rule in the rest of Ireland, he opted in 1918 to become MP for the Belfast constituency of Duncairn. When a Northern Ireland parliament was established in 1921, he chose to remain at Westminster, and Craig became the Ulster Unionists' leader and prime minister. Carson became a lord of appeal in 1921, taking a life peerage as Baron Carson of Duncairn. A disappointed man, he concluded that 'I was only a puppet, and so was Ulster, and so was Ireland, in the political game that was to get the Conservative Party into power.' Carson resigned from the bench in 1929, and died at his home in Kent on 22 October 1935. He was buried in St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast.

Feeling used by the political establishment in the UK, Carson may well have become a reluctant unionist in latter life.

All comments welcome!

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