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Liberalism in north Antrim, 1900–14

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

J.R.B. McMinn
J.R.B. McMinn*
Affiliation:
Stranmillis College, Belfast
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Extract

In the general election of January 1906, R. G. Glendinning, a taciturn baptist linen manufacturer of Belfast, won the North Antrim parliamentary seat. The significance of this event was his success in an overwhelmingly protestant constituency at the expense of the highly articulate and intelligent unionist sitting member, William Moore, the principal architect of the Ulster Unionist Council and the leader of the unionist campaign to expose the devolutionary dangers of ‘Macdonnellism’. Furthermore Glendinning had campaigned as a ‘liberal unionist’, but had been condemned as a home ruler by his opponent and indeed upon arrival in the house of commons took his seat on the liberal government benches. Some years later, in 1913, despite the heightened political temperature, it was still possible for a meeting on 24 October in Ballymoney town hall attended by some four or five hundred protestants to denounce ‘the lawless policy of Carsonism’, and for this same meeting to be addressed by such noted nationalists as Captain Jack White, Sir Roger Casement and Mrs Alice Stopford Green. Their audience was invited to sign an anti-covenant devised by White and closely modelled on, though directly opposed to, the Ulster Solemn League and Covenant. As late as 1925 an independent protestant candidate, George Henderson, representing the Unbought Tenants Association, secured one of the seven County Antrim seats in the Northern Ireland parliament, thus preventing the election of an official unionist, R. D. Megaw. Then there is the interesting phenomenon of the Independent Orange Order which in the years before 1914 had established itself more firmly in north Antrim than anywhere else. The area also threw up in this period a number of prominent individuals who became active in non-unionist politics, of whom the Reverend J. B. Armour, the Reverend D. D. Boyle, John Pinkerton and Samuel Craig McElroy are perhaps the best known. Finally Bally money and the Route was the epicentre of the Ulster tenant-right movement in the last three decades of the nineteenth century.

Type
Articles
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 23 , Issue 89 , 1982 , pp. 17 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1982

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References

1 Glendinning received 3,757 votes and had a majority of 788. See Ballymoney Free Press (hereafter cited as B.F.P.), 1 Feb. 19061 and Walker, B. M., Parliamentary election results in Ireland, 1801-1922 (Dublin, 1978), p. 325.Google Scholar

2 The Ulster unionists were naturally anxious that Moore should return to the house of commons as soon as possible, hence his election for North Armagh after a noisy and sometimes violent contest with the Independent Orange Order activist Lindsay Crawford in November 1906.

3 He justified his decision in apublic letter to his constituents. See Belfast News Letter, (hereafter cited as B.N.L.), 20 Feb. 1906.

4 For a full account of the Ballymoney meeting, see McMinn, J. R. B., ‘The Reverend James Brown Armour and liberal politics in north Antrim, 1869-1914’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Queen’s University of Belfast, 1979), pp 390-98.Google Scholar

5 The anti-covenant is given in full in McMinn, ‘Armour and liberal polities’, appendix H, p. 431.

6 Elliott, Sydney, Northern Ireland parliamentary election results, 1921-72 (Chichester, 1973), p. 11.Google Scholar

7 The careers of all of these men are discussed in McMinn, ‘Armour and liberal polities’.

8 Fisher, J. R., The Ulster Liberal Unionist Association: a sketch of its history, 1885-1914 (Belfast, 1913).Google Scholar

9 Macknight, Thomas, Ulster as it is, or twenty-eight years experience as an Irish editor (2 vols, London, 1896).Google Scholar

10 See for example Gibbon, Peter, The origins of Ulster unionism (Manchester, 1975)Google Scholar.

11 Magee, John, ‘The Monaghan election of 1883 and the “invasion of Ulster”’ in Clogher Record, vii, no. 2 (1974), pp 147-66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

12 Bottomley, T. M., ‘The North Fermanagh elections of 1885 and 1886: some documentary illustrations’ in Clogher Record, vii, no.2 (1974), pp. 167-81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13 Walker, B. M., ‘Parliamentary representation in Ulster, 1868-86’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Trinity College, Dublin, 1976).Google Scholar

14 McElroy, S. C., The Route land crusade (Coleraine, n.d.).Google Scholar

15 Armour, W. S., Armour of Ballymoney (London, 1934).Google Scholar

16 B.F.P., 28 Nov. 1907.

17 The history of both the R.T.D.A. (1869) and the A.C.T.R. A. (1876) is analysed in McMinn, ‘Armour and liberal polities’. See also McMinn, Richard, ‘The myth of “Route” liberalism in County Antrim, 1869-1900’ in Eire-Ireland, xvii, no. 1 (spring 1982), pp 137-49.Google Scholar

18 Sinclair polled 3,971 votes and the conservative Hon. R. T. O’Neill 3,832 (B.F.P., 28 May 1885; Walker, Parliamentary election results, p. 129).

19 B.F.P., 18 Oct. 1900.

20 B.F.P., 14 June 1900.

21 Liberal unionist member for South Tyrone since 1886.

22 Minute book of the Route Tenants Defence Association (P.R.O.N.I., D1426).

23 B.F.P., 6 Dec. 1900.

24 B.N.L., 30 Nov. 1900.

25 North Antrim Standard (hereafter cited as N.A.S.), 22 Nov. 1900.

26 B.F.P., 7 Feb. 1901.

27 Hansard 4, lxxxix, 709–809(21 Feb. 1901).

28 B.F.P., 28 Feb. 1901.

29 B.F.P., 11 Apr. 1901.

30 B.F.P., 21 Mar. 1901.

31 B.F.P., 11 Apr. 1901.

32 B.N.L, 6 June 1901; B.F.P., 13 June 1901.

33 B.N.L., 6 June 1901.

34 B.F.P., 7 Nov. 1901.

35 N.A.S., 18 Apr. 1901; B.F.P., 18 Apr. 1901.

36 B.N.L., 19 Dec. 1901; N.A.S., 19 Dec. 1901; B.F.P., 19 and 26 Dec. 1901.

37 B.F.P., 13 Nov. 1902.

38 B.F.P., 15 May and 2 Oct. 1902.

39 See 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

40 Boyle, ‘Independent Orange Order’, p. 151. Patterson, Henry, Class conflict and sectarianism: the protestant working class and the Belfast labour movement, 1868-1920 (Belfast, 1980)Google Scholar, concentrates almost entirely upon the Independent Orange Order as an urban phenomenon.

41 B.F.P., 21 Aug. 1902.

42 B.F.P., 12 Nov. 1903. Further evidence of Boyle’s importance in creating widespread support for the I.O.O. in north Antrim can be found in a letter from Boyle’s nephew Harold Moody to the author, in which Moody states that Boyle ‘took a number of lodges with him into the Independent Orange Order’.

43 The new order cannot therefore be seen as a purely rural phenomenon in north Antrim.

44 These were at Topp, Dunaghy, Garryduff and Bendooragh.

45 B.F.P., 31 Dec. 1903.

46 B.F.P., 12 Nov. 1903.

47 Boyle, ‘Independent Orange Order’, p. 133.

48 B.F.P., 7 Apr. 1904.

49 B.F.P., 21 Jan. 1904; Boyle, ‘Independent Orange Order’, pp 130–33.

50 B.N.L., 7 Apr. 1904.

51 B.F.P., 14 July 1904.

52 B.F.P., 22 Sept. 1904.

53 B.F.P., 22 Dec. 1904.

54 For details of the manifesto’s content, see Boyle, ‘Independent Orange Order’, pp 134–5.

55 B.F.P., 7 Sept. 1905; B.N.L., 5 Sept. 1905; Coleraine Constitution, 9 Sept. 1905.

56 B.N.L., 19 Dec. 1905; B.F.P., 21 Dec. 1905.

57 Some of these candidates dubbed as ‘Russellites’ by the unionist press were not in fact his followers. In addition to these nine independent unionists, W. H. Dodd successfully contested North Tyrone as a liberal and T. H. Sloan won the South Belfast seat as an independent.

58 South Tyrone was held by T. W. Russell himself.

59 Boyle, ‘Independent Orange Order’, p. 141.

60 B.F.P., 14 Dec. 1905.

61 N.A.S., 21 Dec. 1905.

62 N.A.S., 1 Mar. 1906.

63 B.F.P., 28 Dec. 1905.

64 B.F.P., 11 Jan. 1906. Taggart was N.A.L.P.A.’s chief electoral organiser.

65 N.A.S., 21 Dec. 1905.

66 Glendinning was the principal partner in Glendinning, McLeese and Co. of Belfast and New York.

67 Devlin was secretary of the United Irish League and an official of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

68 Report reprinted in N.A.S., 11 Jan. 1906.

69 Carlisle only received 153 votes, but his intervention combined with effective electioneering allowed Devlin to win back the seat for the nationalists by the slender majority of 16 votes. Devlin polled 4,138 votes as against Smiley’s 4,122.

70 B.N.L., 4 Jan. 1906.

71 Glendinning’s meetings were held at Ballymoney (4 Jan); Ballycastle (9 Jan.); Finvoy and Rasharkin (10 Jan.); Armoy and Corkey (11 Jan.); Dervock and Dunseverick (12 Jan.); Roseyards and Portrush (13 Jan.); Dunloy and Ballinaloob (19 Jan.); Balnamore and Killins (20 Jan.); Ballynagarvey and Finvoy (23 Jan.).

72 See B.F.P., 18 Jan. 1906.

73 B.N.L., 25 Jan. 1906.

74 See B.F.P., 18 and 25 Jan. 1906.

75 B.N.L., 25 Jan. 1906.

76 N.A.S., 25 Jan. 1906.

77 B.F.P., 1 Feb. 1906. Walker, Parliamentary election results, pp 165 and 325, gives William Moore’s total vote as 2,969.

78 B.F.P., 4 Sept. 1902; N.A.S., 25 Jan. 1906.

79 Quoted in Boyle, ‘Independent Orange Order’, p. 149.

80 B.N.L., 29 Jan. 1906; Northern Whig, 29 Jan. 1906.

81 B.F.P., 1 Feb. 1906.

82 The constitution of the North Antrim Reform Association did not mention home rule and even the word ‘liberal’ was avoided. Five presbyterian ministers were present at its inception. See North Antrim Reform Association constitution and rules in J. B. Armour papers (P.R.O.N.I., D1792/A5); B.F.P., 21 June 1906.

83 Irish News, 18 and 20 Dec. 1909.

84 The North Antrim Reform Association’s only public meeting of 1908 was on the subject of land purchase (B.F.P., 30 Apr. 1908).

85 A schism was created by Lindsay Crawford’s expulsion and membership declined (Boyle, ‘Independent Orange Order’, p. 150).

86 The two successive liberal chief secretaries James Bryce and Augustine Birrell visited Ballycastle, accompanied by Glendinning, to investigate the harbour problem in 1907, but no action resulted. See B.F.P., 17 Jan. and 28 Nov. 1907.

87 See B.F.P., 22 Apr. 1909.

88 In his letter of resignation to the North Antrim Reform Association he pleaded pressure of work as the reason for his retirement and stressed his continuing devotion to liberalism and unionism (Northern Constitution, 11 Dec. 1909).

89 He was very actively involved in various public and municipal bodies such as Coleraine Urban Council and Coleraine Harbour Board.

90 He largely ignored the home-rule issue in his speeches, but had to face a barrage of unionist heckling, as at Portrush on 5 January 1910. The Ballintoy post-office case revolved around the appointment of a catholic publican as Ballintoy’s sub-postmaster rather than the daughter of the deceased protestant sub-postmaster. This was alleged to be the result of pressure from the local parish priest. See Hansard 5, vi, 1696–7 (23 June 1909), ix, 248–50 (10 Aug. 1909), 822–43 (13 Aug. 1909).

91 Peter Kerr-Smiley, the unionist candidate who was significantly a presbyterian unlike William Moore, obtained 3,519 votes as against 3,135 for Baxter (Walker, Parliamentary election results, p. 325; B.F.P., 27 Jan. 1910).

92 Peter Kerr-Smiley polled 3,557 votes, William Macafee 2,974, increasing his majority from 384 to 583. For the intervention of the Hon. Alexander Murray, the master of Elibank, urging home-rule on the Ulster liberals at a Belfast luncheon on 18 October 1910, see B.N.L., 19 Oct. 1910.

93 McMinn, ‘Armour and liberal polities’, pp 390–93.

94 Ibid., pp 396–7.

95 The meeting was advertised as a purely protestant one and the platform party included 10 magistrates, 1 county councillor, 1 rural district councillor and 3 urban district councillors.

96 B.F.P., 27 Nov. 1913.

97 Jalland, Patricia, The liberals and Ireland: the Ulster question in British politics to 1914 (Brighton, 1980), p. 268 Google Scholar; Wilson, Trevor, The downfall of the liberal party, 1914-35 (London, 1968), pp 20–21.Google Scholar

98 For a discussion of these beliefs, see. 1. McMinn, R. B., ‘Presbyterianism and politics in Ulster, 1871-1906’ in Studia Hib., xxi (forthcoming).Google Scholar

99 Clarke, P. F., Lancashire and the new liberalism (Cambridge, 1971)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Morgan, K. O.. Wales in British politics, 1868-1922 (Cardiff, 1970).Google Scholar