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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2016
The election contests of 1900 in St Stephen’s Green and South County Dublin were covered in detail by newspapers throughout the British Isles and have been treated as a political watershed by more recent and scholarly commentators. This interest has had a partly personal and biographical inspiration since one of the unionist candidates for South Dublin was the agrarian reformer and junior minister, Horace Plunkett; but the significance, symbolic and actual, of these contests has been seen as extending beyond the participation of one prominent Edwardian Irishman. The defeat of two unionist M.P.s, Plunkett and Campbell, in a fairly static Irish electoral arena would in itself have been worthy of comment. But the association of these men with a constructive administrative programme for Ireland, combined with the fact of their defeat by dissident unionists, gave the contests a broader notoriety and a significance for policy formulation which they would not otherwise have had. With the benefit of hindsight it has also been suggested that the repudiation of Plunkett and Campbell was a landmark in the gradual decline of southern unionism in Ireland. For, though South Dublin briefly returned to the unionist party between 1906 and 1910, the defeats of 1900 effectively marked the end of unionism as a significant electoral movement outside Ulster. After 1900, as the historian W.E.H. Lecky observed, ‘Ulster unionism is the only form of Irish unionism which is likely to count as a serious political force’.
1 Irish Times (hereafter I.T.], 12 Oct. 1900, noting the British reception of the results; Gailey, Andrew, Ireland and the death of kindness: the experience of constructive unionism, 1890–1905 (Cork, 1987), pp 153–8 Google Scholar. See also West, Trevor, Horace Plunkett: co-operation and politics, an Irish biography (Gerrards Cross, 1986), pp 55-9Google Scholar; Digby, Margaret, Horace Plunkett: an Anglo-American Irishman (Oxford, 1949), pp 89–90 Google Scholar.
2 For Plunkett’s career, see West, Plunkett; Digby, Plunkett. Plunkett’s letters and diaries are preserved in the Plunkett Foundation, Oxford. For Campbell, see Coffey’s, Diarmuid cool ‘James Henry Mussen Campbell’ in D.N.B., 1931–40, p. 141 Google Scholar. Persistent efforts to locate Campbell’s papers have proved fruitless.
3 Gailey, Death of kindness, pp 153–8.
4 W.E.H. Lecky to Montgomery, 26 Nov. 1900 (P.R.O.N.I., Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery papers, T. 1089/297).
5 Parliamentary election, 1892: return of charges, p. 74, H.C., 1893–4 (21), lxx, 791; Parliamentary election, 1895: return of charges p. 74, H.C., 1896 (19), lxvii, 393; Parliamentary election, 1900: return of charges, p. 74, H.C. 1901 (33), lxix, 218.
6 Observations based upon figures in Walker, B.M., Parliamentary election results in Ireland, 1801–1922 (Dublin, 1978), pp 346–9 Google Scholar.
7 Biggs-Davison, John and Chowdharay-Best, George, The cross of St Patrick: the catholic unionist tradition in Ireland (Bourne End, 1984), pp 246-57, 264–70Google Scholar.
8 This argument is most effectively expounded in Gailey, Death of kindness, pp 136–58.
9 Horace Plunkett’s diary, 25 Feb. 1897 (Plunkett Foundation, Oxford).
10 Ibid., 28 Oct., 27 Dec. 1899.
11 Ibid., 12, 13 Mar. 1900; Plunkett to Gill, 14, 17, 19 Mar. 1900 (N.L.I., T.P. Gill papers, MS 104593/3).
12 Walker, Parliamentary election results, p. 349.
13 Campbell to Balfour, 21 Oct. 1900 (Bodl., J.S. Sandars papers, Ms. Eng. Hist. c732, f. 90); Irish Times, 5 Oct. 1900. This is a predictable apologia.
14 See Jackson, Alvin, The Ulster party: Irish unionists in the House of Commons, 1884–1911 (Oxford, 1989), ch. 5Google Scholar.
15 For details of internal loyalist dissent, see Buckland, P.J., ‘The unity of Ulster unionism, 1886–1939’ in History, lx (1975), pp 211–27 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Patterson, Henry, Class conflict and sectarianism: the protestant working class and the Belfast labour movement, 1868–1920 (Belfast, 1980), pp 42–61 Google Scholar; Patterson, , ‘Independent Orangeism and class conflict in Edwardian Belfast’ in R.I.A. Proc., lxxx (1980), sect. C, pp 1–27Google Scholar; McMinn, J.R.B., ‘Liberalism in north Antrim, 1900–14’ I.H.S., xxiii, no. 89 (May 1982), pp 17–29 Google Scholar.
16 I.T., 11 Oct. 1900. This view was confirmed by the editor of the Dublin Daily Express and Edward Dowden: Dublin Daily Express (hereafter D.D.E.), 4, 8, 25, 29 Aug. 1900.
17 Plunkett to Gill, 10 Mar. 1899 (Gill papers, MS 13496/6) (’that ass Ball’); Plunkett to Gill, 3 Aug. 1899 (Gill papers, MS 13496/8) (’that little waif Falkiner’).
18 Plunkett’s diary, 10 July 1900.
19 Ibid., 30 May 1900; I.T., 21 Sept. 1900; Plunkett to Balfour, 11 June 1900 (B.L., Balfour papers, Add. MS 49792, f. 56).
20 D.D.E., 27 Sept. 1900.
21 I.T., 25 Aug. 1900.
22 D.D.E., 25 Aug. 1900.
23 I.T., 18 Sept. 1900.
24 Ibid., 19 Sept. 1900.
25 Ibid.
26 Ibid., 4 Aug. 1900.
27 Ibid., 17 July 1900.
28 Gailey, Death of kindness, p. 133; Anderson, R.A., With Plunkett in Ireland: the co-op organiser’s story (2nd ed., Dublin, 1983), pp 105-8Google Scholar.
29 I.T., 19 Sept. 1900; Inglis condemns Gill specifically because of his association with the Plan of Campaign; Plunkett to Gill, 27 June 1900 (Gill papers, MS 13495/6); Lecky to Dowden, n.d. (T.C.D., Dowden papers, MS 3147–54a/1109) (’I like the Plan of Campaign antecedents quite as little as they [the Irish Unionist Alliance] do’).
30 Saunderson to Salisbury, 30 Jan. 1900 (Hatfield House, 3rd marquess of Salisbury papers): ‘We can quite understand that a Roman Catholic should have one of these posts ...’.
31 Cadogan to Gerald Balfour, 2 Feb. 1900 (Whittingehame, Gerald Balfour papers, TD. 83/133/111).
32 Wrench to Macartney, 26 Jan. 1900 (copy) (P.R.O.N.I., Ellison-Macartney papers, D. 3649/20/43); Wrench to Macartney, 28 Jan. 1900 (ibid., f. 53).
33 Plunkett to Gill, 6 Mar. 1899 (Gill papers, MS 13494/6). For Falkiner, see the memoir by Dowden, Edward in Falkiner, C.L., Essays relating to Ireland biographical, historical and topographical (London, 1909), p. vi Google Scholar.
34 Plunkett to Gill, 6 Mar. 1899 (Gill papers, MS 13494/6).
35 Daly, Mary E., Dublin, the deposed capital: a social and economic history, 1860–1914 (Cork, 1984), pp 152–202 Google Scholar (on suburban growth).
36 I.T., 26, 28 Sept., 3 Oct. 1900.
37 Kingstown and District Unionist Club Minutes, 29 Mar. 1911 (P.R.O.N.I., D. 950/1/144).
38 I.T., 5 Sept. 1900; exchange of letters between Plunkett and W.J. Goulding.
39 Bateman, John, The great landowners of Great Britain and Ireland (3rd ed., London, 1883), p. 13 Google Scholar. The supporters of Ball were ‘Ardilaunites’; but cf. Edward Wilson to Lecky, 15 Nov. 1900 (T.C.D., Lecky papers, MS 1832/1995); Parliamentary election, 1900: return of charges, p. 74, H.C. 1901 (33), lxix, 218.
40 Plunkett to Gill, 10 Mar. 1899 (Gill papers, MS 13494/6); Falkiner, Essays, pp xiv-xvi.
41 Plunkett’s diary, 12 June 1900.
42 Waller, P.J., Democracy and sectarianism: a political and social history of Liverpool, 1868–1939 (Liverpool, 1983), pp 172–87 Google Scholar. Ira Sankey’s visit to Dublin at this time may have fuelled evangelical protestant and unionist passions (D.D.E., 10 Sept. 1900; O’Connor, Garry, Sean O’Casey: a life (London, 1988), p. 34 Google Scholar).
43 Minute Book of District L.O.L. III, Dublin, 2 Sept. 1898 (P.R.O.N.I., D. 2947/5/41).
44 Ibid.
45 Plunkett’s diary, 25 Sept. 1900; Belfast News Letter, 26 Sept. 1900.
46 Belfast News Letter, 11 Jan. 1896.
47 Kingstown and District Unionist Club Minutes, 20 Oct. 1913 (P.R.O.N.I., D. 950/1/144).
48 Daly, Dublin, the deposed capital, pp 124ff., comments on the existence and vulnerability of the protestant working class in Dublin. See also Hoppen, K.T., Elections, politics and society in Ireland, 1832–1885 (Oxford, 1984), p. 312 Google Scholar.
49 Calculated from Minute Book of District L.O.L. III, Dublin (P.R.O.N.I., D. 2947/5/41).
50 Anderson, G.L., ‘The social economy of late Victorian clerks’ in Crossick, Geoffrey (ed.), The lower middle class in Britain, 1870–1914 (London, 1977), pp 124–5 Google Scholar. Increasingly clerks were of working-class background ( Daly, Mary E., ‘Social structure of the Dublin working class, 1871–1911’ in I.H.S., xxiii, no. 90 (Nov. 1982), p. 125)Google Scholar.
51 Census of Ireland, 1891: province of Leinster, p. 73, H.C., 1890–91 (48), xcv, 184; Census of Ireland, 1901: province of Leinster, p. 218, H.C., 1902 (68), cxxii, 218. See also Daly, ‘Social structure’, p. 123.
52 Daly, Dublin, p. 224, for an example of commercial passivity. The class nature of unionist divisions is hinted at by the Dublin Daily Express editor’s comment that only ‘bourgeois and superficial’ newspapers had supported Plunkett (D.D.E., 13 Oct. 1900). Charles Eason П supported Plunkett ( Cullen, L.M., Eason & Son: a history (Dublin, 1989), p. 314 Google Scholar).
53 See Jackson, Alvin, Edward Saunderson and the evolution of Ulster unionism, 1865–1906 (Belfast, forthcoming)Google Scholar.
54 I.T., 11, 12 Oct. 1900.
55 Plunkett’s diary, 10 Oct. 1900; Walker, Parliamentary election results, pp 348–9.
56 I.T., 11 Oct. 1900.
57 Gailey, Death of kindness, p. 95.
58 Saunderson to Salisbury, 23 Oct. 1900 (Salisbury papers); Abercorn to Salisbury, 9, 31 Oct. 1900 (ibid.).
59 Chamberlain to Balfour, 21 Oct. 1900 (copy) (ibid.).
60 Devonshire to Cadogan, 31 Oct. 1900 (copy) (Chatsworth, 8th duke of Devonshire papers, 340/2842).
61 Salisbury to Devonshire, 31 Oct. 1900 (Devonshire papers, 340/2843); Sinclair to Balfour, 15 Oct. 1900 (Bodl., Sandars papers, Ms.Eng.Hist. c732, f.28).
62 Salisbury to Devonshire, 6 Nov. 1900 (Devonshire papers, 340/2846).
63 Sandars to Balfour, 24 Sept. 1900 (Balfour papers, Add. MS 49760, f. 254); Sandars to Balfour, 19 Oct. 1900 (ibid., f. 215).
64 Sinclair to Balfour, 15 Oct. 1900 (Sandars papers, Ms.Eng.Hist. c732, f. 28).
65 Gailey, Death of kindness, p. 158.
66 (Belfast News Letter, 11 Oct. 1900; I. T., 12 Oct. 1900; Sinclair to Balfour, 15 Oct. 1900 (Sandars papers, Ms.Eng.Hist. c732, f. 28); Plunkett to Lecky, 12 Oct. 1900 (Lecky papers, MS 1832/1915).
67 Montgomery to Lecky, 21 Nov. 1900 (Lecky papers, MS 1832/1997).
68 Sinclair to Balfour, 15 Oct. 1900 (Sandars papers, Ms.Eng.Hist. c732, f. 28).
69 Patterson, ‘Independent Orangeism’, pp 12–18.
70 Ibid. See also Boyle, J.W., ‘The Belfast Protestant Association and the Independent Orange Order, 1901–10’ in I.H.S., xiii, no. 50 (Sept. 1962), pp 117–52 Google Scholar.
71 Crawford to the Orange brethren, 10 Dec. 1903 (P.R.O.N.I., District L.O.L. III, Dublin, papers, D.2947/5/41).
72 Ibid.
73 For William Johnston’s career, see McClelland, Aiken, ‘William Johnston of Ballykilbeg’ (unpublished M.Phil, thesis, New University of Ulster, 1978)Google Scholar.
74 Plunkett to Dunbar-Buller, 2 Aug., 8 Nov. 1902 (P.R.O.N.I., Pack-Beresford papers, D.664/D/355).
75 Schomberg Macdonnell to Aretas Akers-Douglas, 14 Aug. 1892 (Kent Record Office, Chilston papers, U564/C24/24); Plunkett’s diary, 31 Oct. 1900; William Johnston’s diary, 22 Sept. 1900 (P.R.O.N.I., D.880/2/52). The Conservative Central Office stopped paying Johnston his stipend shortly before the general election, which may have been an attempt to discourage him from standing for re-election for South Belfast.
76 Plunkett’s diary, 5, 28 Jan., 16, 24 Mar. 1901.
77 Ibid., 5 Jan. 1901.
78 Ibid., 16 Mar. 1901.
79 Ibid.
80 D.D.E., 27 Sept., 6 Oct. 1900. The most explicit denunciations of Plunkett’s support for amelioration were often provoked by his assertion that the Ardilaunite campaign was fought ‘on a number of narrow and mainly personal questions and petty incidents’.
81 1 am grateful to the British Academy for sponsoring my research into Edwardian unionism in Ireland. Brian Harrison commented perceptively on an earlier draft of this essay, and my former colleagues Paul Bew and David Harkness have continued to offer advice and argument. Martin Maguire drew my attention to the Dublin Conservative Workingmen’s Association. My thanks go to them all.