On This Day / October 18, 1921
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
October 18, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 18th October 1921, James Craig insisted the six counties would remain intact as partition became central to the Treaty negotiations, while plans emerged to reorganise the Ulster Volunteer Force. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
‘What We Have We Hold’ | On This Day – 18th October 1921
A BELFAST telegram states that it has been definitely decided to reorganise the Ulster Volunteer Force.
The action is in consequence to the inactivity of the British Government in coping with Sinn Fein who have established camps in Unionist quarters and are openly drilling with rifles and machine-guns.
Sir James Craig said the Government of Ireland Act [1920] was accepted reluctantly by the people of Ulster as a final settlement of the difficulties that have confronted Great Britain.
‘The six counties hang together. Fermanagh and Tyrone are as sacred to the men of Down and Antrim as are their own hills and valleys.
Under no circumstances would I, as their leader, allow any tampering with the region comprised in the Parliament his Majesty opened in Belfast.
…There are many who imagine Ulster as a bargaining factor in the situation. That is not so.
She bargains for nothing except to be left to work out her own destiny, acting fairly and squarely by all creeds and classes within her borders.
This policy I intend to pursue undaunted by any threats….’
The Liverpool Post says: ‘It is a pity the PM of Ulster thinks it necessary to indulge in inflammatory speeches’.
Fermanagh and Tyrone Form ‘Crux’
THE Press Association says the general belief prevails in Dublin that crucial difficulties of the London Peace Conference will be encountered early in the week.
The fact that Mr Sean Milroy has been summoned to London to consult with Mr Arthur Griffith is regarded as significant.
He is an [abstentionist] Sinn Fein member of the Northern Parliament for Tyrone/ Fermanagh whose position forms one of the greatest difficulties in any [settlement].
Southern Protestants Seek Safeguards
SPEAKING at the Dublin Diocesan Synod yesterday, Dr Gregg, Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, said he found it hard to feel any confidence regarding a settlement being beaten out in Downing Street.
He claimed safeguards prohibiting any interference with religious equality.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: BY MID-OCTOBER 1921, the focus of the negotiations moved on to partition, now an accomplished fact.
Griffith and Collins argued that nationalist-majority areas, like Fermanagh and Tyrone, should not be coerced.
Craig, however, insisted that he would not abandon the six-county area he had negotiated in 1920.
The Ulster Unionist leader’s threats encountered sharp criticism in the British press.
Sinn Féin had no real strategy to deal with the north, calling in its ‘Ulster expert’ Sean Milroy who had been returned in the partition elections.
Born in the Isle of Wight and remote from northern nationalist realities, his presence amused former northern Home Rule leader Joe Devlin.)
On This Day – 18th October 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.