On This Day / August 4, 1921
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
August 4, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 4th August 1921, James Craig was honoured at Westminster as Britain’s political establishment praised his role in creating and leading the new Northern Ireland government. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Tribute to Craig | On This Day – 4th August 1921
IN A Committee Room of the House of Commons at Westminster, presentations were made to Sir James and Lady Craig.
To Sir James, the presentation took the form of a plain solid silver tray upon which was engraved:
‘To Colonel Sir James Craig, lately Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty, now first Prime Minister of Ulster, a loyal colleague, a wise counsellor, a faithful friend.’
The presentation was made by Mr Austin Chamberlain [Chancellor of the Exchequer] and the Lord Chancellor [Birkenhead] and the gathering included Sir Hamar Greenwood [Chief Secretary for Ireland].
Mr Chamberlain, who conveyed apologies form Lord Carson and Mr Walter Long [former Unionist leader], said most people left the House of Commons to secure greater freedom and less responsibility but that did not apply to Sir James.
He had accepted on one of the heaviest tasks which could fall to the lot of any public man – to establish on a firm footing the new government with which his people had been endowed by the Imperial Parliament.
Lord Birkenhead described Sir James as a very remarkable man. He reviewed the history of the North of Ireland and went on to say that the people of Ulster had never failed in their attachment to the people of [Great Britain].
‘Ulster owed the positions she occupied at the present time to two remarkable men – Lord Carson and Sir James Craig.
We hope that through the exertions of Sir James Craig, for which he had sacrificed so much, Ireland will be brought safe into the harbour of his aspirations and happiness’.
In acknowledging the gifts, Sir James said that Ulster could still rely upon the assistance and helpfulness of the British people.
‘Whatever side people take, I refuse ever to take any side except that of Great Britain and the Empire.’
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: WHILE James Craig always claimed that Ulster Unionism had made ‘a supreme sacrifice’ in accepting a devolved administration and the loss of Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal as ‘the price of peace’, he protested too much.
As a junior minister in the British coalition government he had rejected the nine counties as containing too many Catholics and quickly grasped that a Unionist parliament would provide a barrier against any attempt by Westminster to force the north into a united Ireland.
His wife’s diary shows that Craig was reluctant to leave the cosy world of British politics and viewed his new role with resignation rather than enthusiasm.
Despite his praise for Carson and Craig, Birkenhead knew that without Conservative support for Unionism, Northern Ireland would never have been created in 1920.)
On This Day – 4th August 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
On This Day is a daily column in the Irish News looking back either 50 or 100 years. The column was compiled by Dr Éamon Phoenix from the mid 1980s until autumn, 2022. The Foundation is very grateful to the Irish News for giving permission to reproduce Eamon’s columns. Funding gratefully received from Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and the Magill Trust.
* The Foundation has worked hard to recreate Eamon’s distinctive voice through AI. Since this is an emerging technology, occasional imperfections may be audible.