The Ulster Volunteers were the first loyalist paramilitary group in Ireland; made up of Ulster Protestants and Irish Unionists. Founded in 1912, their main aim was to disrupt any notion of Home Rule in Ireland under the control of Irish Nationalist parties, as they feared losing links with Great Britain.
Two key figures in the formation of the Ulster Volunteers were Edward Carson and James Craig.
Edward Carson was a renowned Irish Unionist, barrister and judge, who held many roles such as the Attorney General and Solicitor General for England, Wales and Ireland, MP for the Irish Unionist Alliance party and also the leader of the Ulster Unionist Council in Belfast.
James Craig was a leading Irish Unionist, who, with the support of Henry Wilson (Director of Military Operations at the British War Office) founded the Ulster Volunteers alongside Carson. When he won his first seat (East Down) during the 1906 general election, he was already playing a leading role in Irish Unionism in Ulster. Not only was Craig an extremely clever and well-respected Unionist, but he also has a pretty remarkable story. He had previously been a lieutenant in the 13th Battalion of the Second Boer War, during which time he was captured by the Boers, before being released due to a perforated colon. Talk about luck!
At the beginning of 1912, many leading Unionists and members of the Orange Order began forming their own small militia groups that would patrol their local areas. Then on September 28th 1912, under the reported influence of Edward Carson and Andrew Bonar Law (Leader of the Conservative & Unionist Party), 218,206 men signed the Ulster Covenant. Coincidently, Edward Carson was the first man to sign the Ulster Covenant, with a silver pen, at Belfast City Hall. The Ulster Covenant (officially known as Ulster's Solemn League and Covenant), was initially drafted by Thomas Sinclair in protest of the Third Home Rule Bill.
Upon signing the Ulster Covenant, those 218.206 men vowed to use "all means which may be found necessary to defeat the present conspiracy to set up a Home Rule Parliament in Ireland". This vow was supported by 234,046 women.
In January 1913, the UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) was formally established by the Ulster Unionist Council under the command of Lieutenant General Sir George Richardson. Richardson was previously a member of the British Army and the British Indian Army, where he fought in battles such as the Second Boer War and the Boxer Rebellion. Initially, when establishing the UVF the numbers were limited to 100,000 men aged between 17 and 65, who had also signed the Ulster Covenant.
Although the Ulster Unionists received the support of the Conservative Government at the time, in March 1914 the British Army moved troops to Ulster to protect their arms depots from the UVF. However, given the support the UVF had received within Ulster, over 80% of the officers at the Army’s headquarters opted to resign rather than take on the UVF. This was a huge shot in the arm for the UVF, showing that support for their cause was far-reaching. As a result, rather than raid the British Army’s arms depots, in April 1914, the UVF smuggled 20,000 German rifles and 3 million rounds of ammunition into the port of Larne. This later became known as the Larne Gunrunning.
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With the onset of the First World War in August 1914, the Ulster Volunteers had to take a back seat, with many of their volunteers enlisting to fight for Britain. Many signed up for the British Army’s 36th Ulster Division, whilst many others enrolled for the Irish regiments of the UK’s 10th and 16th (Irish) Divisions. Although this had left the ranks within the UVF depleted, the Ulster Unionists knew that upon the end of the war, the issue of Home Rule would be revisited and subsequently, they aimed to keep the UVF as a viable force during this time. However, World War I ended in the November of 1918, and just 6 months later, on the 1st of May 1919, the UVF was demobilised, with Richardson stepping down as its General Officer Commanding. In the last address to the UVF Richardson stated;
“Existing conditions call for the demobilisation of the Ulster Volunteers. The Force was organised, to protect the interests of the Province of Ulster, at a time when trouble threatened. The success of the organisation speaks for itself, as a page of history, in the records of Ulster that will never fade”
During the December 1918 general election, Sinn Féin won the majority of seats in Ireland. With the members of Sinn Féin refusing to take their seats in the British Parliament, they set up their own parliament and declared independence for Ireland. At this time, the Ulster Volunteer’s rival militia, the Irish Volunteers reformed as the Irish Republican Army (IRA). At this stage, the Irish War of Independence began, leading to fighting between the British Army, the Auxiliaries and the RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary). Subsequently, the Government of Ireland Act of 1920 created two Home Rule Parliaments; one for Northern Ireland and the other for Southern Ireland. As expected, the Unionists-dominated parliament in Northern Ireland opted to remain part of the United Kingdom.
Given all that had transpired during the Irish War of Independence, the formation of the two Home Rule parliaments and the formation of the IRA. The Ulster Unionist Council decided that to respond to the attacks by the IRA, they needed to officially revive the UVF. Many unionists felt that the RIC were not doing enough to protect protestant areas. Therefore on the 25th of June 1920, the UVF was back in business under the stewardship of Lieutenant Colonel Wilfrid Spender as its Officer Commanding. Spender was previously a British Army Officer, colonial administrator and civil servant, who later down the line would become one of the key people responsible for creating the Northern Ireland Civil Service.
Upon the revival of the UVF, there were adverts in unionist newspapers calling for all former members of the UVF to re-enlist. Although seen as a great idea at the time, this campaign didn’t prove very successful, with many believing that those targeted were influenced by unionists in Great Britain, who at this stage were not as supportive as in previous years.
Given the failure of the UVF’s recruitment drive, and their inability to stop IRA activities within Ulster, Sir James Craig called for the creation of a new special constabulary. This led to the formation of the Ulster Special Constabulary (USC) in October 1920. The plan was to have the USC in reserve for the RIC in their fight against the IRA. Many have suggested that the USC was an officially approved UVF.
Timothy Bowman wrote a great book on the UVF;
Carson’s Army: The Ulster Volunteer Force 1910-1922
In his book he gave a lasting thought on the early fractions of the UVF:
“It is questionable the extent to which the UVF did reform in 1920. Possibly the UVF proper amounted to little more than 3,000 men in this period and it is noticeable that the UVF never had a formal disbandment ... possibly so that attention would not be drawn to the extent to which the formation of 1920–22 was such a pale shadow of that of 1913–14.”
Fast forward to the present day and many unionists would feel that the UVF was formed in the 1960s. Although the far-reaching history dates back to 1912 under the guidance of Carson and Craig, a new version of the UVF was formed in 1965 under the leadership of Gusty Spence (former British Soldier from Northern Ireland). This group launched an armed resistance against Irish Republicanism, and in particular the IRA right up until they announced a ceasefire in 1994, and subsequently officially ended its campaign in 2007.
There is much to write, debate and explore when it comes to the modern version of the UVF, and I’ll be covering that as we work our way through the timeline of events of the troubles in Northern Ireland. I hope you’ll stay along for the journey and find the upcoming pieces insightful and thought-provoking.