On This Day / May 4, 1921
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19210504
Reference Date
19210504
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 26th April 1921, Unionist speakers denounced the Catholic Viceroy and warned of sectarian struggle while James Craig urged unity and resolve ahead of elections. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Protest at ‘Papist Viceroy’ | On This Day – 4th May 1921
THE appointment of a Catholic as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and the swearing-in of that gentleman at Dublin Castle on the Douai Bible were strongly condemned by Councillor W J Twaddell, one of the [Unionist] candidates for West Belfast at a meeting of women in Shankill Road Orange Hall.
Mr S Cunningham, JR who presided, said they were in very critical times and if they did not win now, they would be ‘done for’ and be under a Sinn Fein Parliament.
Mr T H Burn, MR said it might be held that the struggle was between Unionists, on the one hand, and Nationalists and Sinn Feiners on the other; but he could tell them that the real struggle lay between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism (applause).
Councillor W J Twaddell, another [Unionist] candidate, said: ‘We are as heartily and strongly opposed to Home Rule as ever we were and our opposition is amply justified by the state of Ireland today. …
‘Nevertheless Home Rule has been forced upon the Six Counties.
‘We did not want it; we don’t want it; we prefer to remain an integral part of the UK.
‘Be that as it may, it is our intention to make the best of what we consider a bad bargain.
‘This is a contest for the defence of Protestantism in opposition to an attempt at the conquest of the Six Counties by the Roman Catholics of Ireland’.
He added: ‘One item, I think we will all agree, is contrary to the Constitution of this country and that is the appointment of a Roman Catholic Lord Lieutenant.’
Mr R J Lynn, M.R. the third candidate, described the [Devlinite] Nationalists as ‘Sinn Feiners’ in disguise.
Craig and the Orange Sash
SIR James Craig, speaking at Bangor, said the people of Ulster must not expect miracles because a Parliament was brought to their doors.
His party and his policy were going to be moderate. But…there must be no trifling with the Union Jack or Orange sash.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: THE sectarian tone of much of the unionist rhetoric in the runup to the partition election was hardly reassuring to the one-third Catholic minority, trapped in the new state.
William Twaddell MP would be assassinated by the IRA in May 1922.
The appointment of Lord Fitzalan as the first Catholic Viceroy angered loyalists such as TH Burn, a member of the right-wing Ulster Unionist Labour Association.
The UULA was set up by Carson in 1918 to deflect Unionist workingmen from Socialism which was making inroads in ‘Red Clydeside’.
RJ Lynn chaired the ‘Lynn Committee’ into educational reform under the unionist government.)
On This Day – 4th May 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210504
Reference Date
19210504
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 26th April 1921, Unionist speakers denounced the Catholic Viceroy and warned of sectarian struggle while James Craig urged unity and resolve ahead of elections. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Protest at ‘Papist Viceroy’ | On This Day – 4th May 1921
THE appointment of a Catholic as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and the swearing-in of that gentleman at Dublin Castle on the Douai Bible were strongly condemned by Councillor W J Twaddell, one of the [Unionist] candidates for West Belfast at a meeting of women in Shankill Road Orange Hall.
Mr S Cunningham, JR who presided, said they were in very critical times and if they did not win now, they would be ‘done for’ and be under a Sinn Fein Parliament.
Mr T H Burn, MR said it might be held that the struggle was between Unionists, on the one hand, and Nationalists and Sinn Feiners on the other; but he could tell them that the real struggle lay between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism (applause).
Councillor W J Twaddell, another [Unionist] candidate, said: ‘We are as heartily and strongly opposed to Home Rule as ever we were and our opposition is amply justified by the state of Ireland today. …
‘Nevertheless Home Rule has been forced upon the Six Counties.
‘We did not want it; we don’t want it; we prefer to remain an integral part of the UK.
‘Be that as it may, it is our intention to make the best of what we consider a bad bargain.
‘This is a contest for the defence of Protestantism in opposition to an attempt at the conquest of the Six Counties by the Roman Catholics of Ireland’.
He added: ‘One item, I think we will all agree, is contrary to the Constitution of this country and that is the appointment of a Roman Catholic Lord Lieutenant.’
Mr R J Lynn, M.R. the third candidate, described the [Devlinite] Nationalists as ‘Sinn Feiners’ in disguise.
Craig and the Orange Sash
SIR James Craig, speaking at Bangor, said the people of Ulster must not expect miracles because a Parliament was brought to their doors.
His party and his policy were going to be moderate. But…there must be no trifling with the Union Jack or Orange sash.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: THE sectarian tone of much of the unionist rhetoric in the runup to the partition election was hardly reassuring to the one-third Catholic minority, trapped in the new state.
William Twaddell MP would be assassinated by the IRA in May 1922.
The appointment of Lord Fitzalan as the first Catholic Viceroy angered loyalists such as TH Burn, a member of the right-wing Ulster Unionist Labour Association.
The UULA was set up by Carson in 1918 to deflect Unionist workingmen from Socialism which was making inroads in ‘Red Clydeside’.
RJ Lynn chaired the ‘Lynn Committee’ into educational reform under the unionist government.)
On This Day – 4th May 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210504
Reference Date
May 4, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 26th April 1921, Unionist speakers denounced the Catholic Viceroy and warned of sectarian struggle while James Craig urged unity and resolve ahead of elections. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Protest at ‘Papist Viceroy’ | On This Day – 4th May 1921
THE appointment of a Catholic as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and the swearing-in of that gentleman at Dublin Castle on the Douai Bible were strongly condemned by Councillor W J Twaddell, one of the [Unionist] candidates for West Belfast at a meeting of women in Shankill Road Orange Hall.
Mr S Cunningham, JR who presided, said they were in very critical times and if they did not win now, they would be ‘done for’ and be under a Sinn Fein Parliament.
Mr T H Burn, MR said it might be held that the struggle was between Unionists, on the one hand, and Nationalists and Sinn Feiners on the other; but he could tell them that the real struggle lay between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism (applause).
Councillor W J Twaddell, another [Unionist] candidate, said: ‘We are as heartily and strongly opposed to Home Rule as ever we were and our opposition is amply justified by the state of Ireland today. …
‘Nevertheless Home Rule has been forced upon the Six Counties.
‘We did not want it; we don’t want it; we prefer to remain an integral part of the UK.
‘Be that as it may, it is our intention to make the best of what we consider a bad bargain.
‘This is a contest for the defence of Protestantism in opposition to an attempt at the conquest of the Six Counties by the Roman Catholics of Ireland’.
He added: ‘One item, I think we will all agree, is contrary to the Constitution of this country and that is the appointment of a Roman Catholic Lord Lieutenant.’
Mr R J Lynn, M.R. the third candidate, described the [Devlinite] Nationalists as ‘Sinn Feiners’ in disguise.
Craig and the Orange Sash
SIR James Craig, speaking at Bangor, said the people of Ulster must not expect miracles because a Parliament was brought to their doors.
His party and his policy were going to be moderate. But…there must be no trifling with the Union Jack or Orange sash.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: THE sectarian tone of much of the unionist rhetoric in the runup to the partition election was hardly reassuring to the one-third Catholic minority, trapped in the new state.
William Twaddell MP would be assassinated by the IRA in May 1922.
The appointment of Lord Fitzalan as the first Catholic Viceroy angered loyalists such as TH Burn, a member of the right-wing Ulster Unionist Labour Association.
The UULA was set up by Carson in 1918 to deflect Unionist workingmen from Socialism which was making inroads in ‘Red Clydeside’.
RJ Lynn chaired the ‘Lynn Committee’ into educational reform under the unionist government.)
On This Day – 4th May 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.