 |
| Sunday World columnist Hugh Jordan |
In his Sunday World column yesterday (27 May 2018) veteran journalist Hugh Jordan wrote: 'Fred Crawford, one of Sir Edward Carson's right-hand men in the original UVF ... became infamous as the man who introduced the gun into Irish politics.'
It is a comment that one hears from time to time from people who should know better. Indeed the last time I heard it was from a Dublin government official as we were walking round a historical exhibition in the centre of Belfast.
There can be no disputing the fact that Fred Crawford armed the original Ulster Volunteer Force and indeed his autobiography was entitled Guns for Ulster, but is it true to say that Carson, Crawford and the other unionist leaders 'introduced the gun into Irish politics'?
It is simply untrue because guns had been introduced into Irish politics long before the third home rule crisis and even before the first home rule crisis.
 |
| Members of the IRB with guns, in the 19th century |
 |
| IRB bomb at Clerkenwell Prison (1867) |
During the incident a police sergeant named Charles Brett was shot and killed by the IRB, some forty-five years before the UVF was formed. The IRB were using guns in the middle of the 19th century so it is not true to say that Carson, Crawford and the unionists 'introduced the gun into Irish politics'.
Irish republicans were using guns in 1867 and they were also using explosives. An IRB attack on Clerkenwell Prison on 13 December 1867 resulted in the deaths of twelve innocent people, including a seven-year-old girl, with many more being injured.
There was another more minor historical error in the article where Hugh Jordan wrote: 'The story goes that Sir Edward Carson and a small coterie of confidants enjoyed lunch in the [Ulster] Reform Club before making their way along Donegall Place to Belfast City Hall where the historic signing [of the Ulster Covenant] took place.'
No there were religious services across Ulster on the morning of Ulster Day. Carson and many other Unionist leaders attended a service in the Ulster Hall before making their way to the City Hall for the signing. It was after this that they made their way to the Ulster Reform Club, not before.
The error about the lunch in the Ulster Reform Club is relatively minor but the other 'error' is much more significant.
It's strange how the majority of Ulster protestants went from being enlightened liberals, to right-wing reactionaries. Rather a regression than a progression, no?
ReplyDeleteYour knowledge of British, Ulster and Irish history is remarkably deficient. Of course your point also depends on what you mean by 'right wing reactionary'. Was that republican hero Sean South not a 'right wing reactionary' and yet I'm sure the ballad of Sean South is often sung in the Felons Club?
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty, I'd never even heard of Sean South until you mentioned him. I don't think he figures largely in Republican folklore. As for Felons, well, you seem to be the expert on it, so you tell me.
ReplyDeleteYou really should brush up on your history.
ReplyDeleteI apologise for failing to be aware of such a pivotal figure as Sean South, and your continued insistence that I'm ignorant of history has no basis. Simply because I hold different views than you about the past, you claim that my grasp of history is "remarkably deficient;" what is remarkably deficient is your evidence of this absurd accusation.
ReplyDeleteSean South was very significant and illustrative of the deeply sectarian and anti-semitic underbelly of the IRA. Sinn Fein organise an annual commemoration for him. Yet he was a neo-fascist.
ReplyDeleteDuring the period that Sean South was a member of the IRA, it included protestant members such as George Plant, George Gilmore and John Graham, to name only the most prominent ones. As regards to some of South's other views, yes these were unfortunate; however, you shouldn't take some of his views as being the shared beliefs of the majority of contemporary republicans, they were not. If a person undoubtedly holds some reprehensible beliefs, it does not follow on that this should invalidate all of their other beliefs.
ReplyDeleteStrange someone has never heard of Sean South yet is aware of his colleagues typical republican
ReplyDeleteI found out about those people when I was reading about Sean South earlier; I wasn't previously aware of them.
ReplyDeletePresumably you are now aware of how sectarian and anti-semitic Sean South was. If you want to know a bit more I have written about him on this blog and also in my column in the Belfast Telegraph. Google should enable you to find the references. As regards George Plant, George Gilmore and John Graham they were 'Protestant republicans' who joined the IRA. You describe them as 'only the most prominent ones'. They were among the most prominent but that should not be interpreted as meaning there were a large number. The so-called IRA 'Prod squad' in Belfast, including Graham, had only a handful of members. Some writers try to make a mountain out of a molehill.
ReplyDeleteIt is still significant, as it must be kept in mind that the IRA of that period was much smaller than in later incarnations.
ReplyDeleteSo that's perhaps 5 or 6 out of how many???
ReplyDeleteWell I can’t give you an exact number because I don’t know it, but I was able to glean a couple more people from the period, nakedly Billy Smith and Rex Thompson. I also found that during the late 30’s, there was a a number of Protestant Republicans from the Shankhill road who attended the Republican Congress; it is not unreasonable to assume there was a residual element of this group that were involved in the later border campaign. I think when it was writtent Graham was the lead of a “squad” of members with similar background to himself, the implication would be more than two or three members. As I said before the IRA of the period was small, it’s hard to be exact on this matter but it’s usually put at a somewhere between 150-200 members, and If I was to hazard a guess I would say there were roughly about 20 Aprotestant members give or take a few in either direction. So very much a small minority, but not insignificant.
ReplyDelete*namely
ReplyDeleteI am familiar with the names you mention and in particular those of the so-called 'Prod squad' in Belfast, led by John S S Graham. They are mentioned in a number of books about the IRA and about Marxism in Ireland. That group operated during the Second World War, when many Ulstermen and Irishmen, Protestant and Roman Catholic, were fighting the Nazis. Meanwhile the leadership of the IRA was collaborating with the Nazis. I am unaware of any evidence of 'residual' members of the group participating in the Border Campaign (1956-1962). Graham was arrested on 10 September 1941 and sentenced to 12 years and this followed the arrests of two other Protestant IRA men earlier in the year. This damaged the relationship between the IRA and the Communists because the Communists were aware of the unit and some IRA men wanted to shoot Betty Sinclair and Billy McCullough. Graham was in prison from 1942 to 1948 and then moved south to Sligo. In the late 1940s and early 1950s he was a successful international golfer. Later he returned to Belfast but was arrested and jailed during the IRA Border Campaign and so could not have taken part. He was married to the actress Sheila McGibbon and both he and his wife died in 1997. It is an aspect of history that I have researched and your estimates about Protestant membership in the IRA are wide of the mark. Most of the 'Protestants' who moved to republicanism were Marxists.
ReplyDeleteI should have said from a protestant background instead; as marxists, in all likelihood they were irreligious.
ReplyDeleteSome republicans try to portray them as 'trophy Protestants'.
ReplyDelete