Ulster Covenant

Ulster's Solemn League and Covenant,commonly known as theUlster Covenant,was signed by nearly 500,000 people on and before 28 September 1912, in protest against theThird Home Rule Billintroduced by theBritish Governmentin the same year.

Signing

The Covenant was first drafted byThomas Sinclair,a prominent unionist and businessman from Belfast.^[1]Sir Edward Carsonwas the first person to sign the Covenant atBelfast City Hallwith a silver pen,^[2]followed byThe 6th Marquess of Londonderry(the formerLord Lieutenant of Ireland), representatives of theProtestantchurches, and then bySir James Craig.The signatories, 471,414 in all,^[3]^[4]were all against the establishment of aHome Ruleparliament inDublin.The Ulster Covenant is immortalised inRudyard Kipling's poem "Ulster 1912".On 23 September 1912, theUlster Unionist Councilvoted in favour of a resolution pledging itself to the Covenant.^[5]

The Covenant had two basic parts: the Covenant signed by 237,368 men and the Declaration signed by 234,046 women. Both the Covenant and Declaration are held by thePublic Record Office of Northern Ireland(PRONI). An online searchable database is available on the PRONI website.

In January 1913, theUlster Volunteersaimed to recruit 100,000 men aged from 17 to 65 who had signed the Covenant as aunionistmilitia.^[6]

ABritish Covenant,similar to the Ulster Covenant in opposition to the Home Rule Bill, received two million signatures in 1914.

September 28 is today known as "Ulster Day" to unionists.^[7]

The Covenant(for men)

BEING CONVINCED in our consciences that Home Rule would be disastrous to the material well-being of Ulster as well as of the whole of Ireland, subversive of our civil and religiousfreedom,destructive of ourcitizenship,and perilous to the unity ofthe Empire,we, whose names are underwritten, men of Ulster, loyal subjects of His Gracious MajestyKing George V.,humbly relying on the God whom our fathers in days of stress and trial confidently trusted, do hereby pledge ourselves in solemnCovenant,throughout this our time of threatened calamity, to stand by one another in defending, for ourselves and our children, our cherished position of equal citizenship in theUnited Kingdom,and in using all means which may be found necessary to defeat the presentconspiracyto set up aHome RuleParliament in Ireland. And in the event of such a Parliament being forced upon us, we further solemnly and mutually pledge ourselves to refuse to recognise its authority. In sure confidence that God will defend the right, we hereto subscribe our names.
And further, we individually declare that we have not already signed this Covenant.

The Declaration(for women)

We, whose names are underwritten, women of Ulster, and loyalsubjectsof our graciousKing,being firmly persuaded that Home Rule would be disastrous to our Country, desire to associate ourselves with the men of Ulster in their uncompromising opposition to theHome Rule Billnow before Parliament, whereby it is proposed to drive Ulster out of her cherished place in theConstitution of the United Kingdom,and to place her under the domination and control of a Parliament in Ireland.
Praying that from this calamity God will save Ireland, we hereto subscribe our names.

Demographics

The majority of the signatories of the Covenant were fromUlster,although the signing was also attended by several thousandsouthern unionists.

Acknowledging this, Carson paid tribute to "my own fellow citizens fromDublin,fromWicklow,fromClare[and], yes, fromCork,rebel Cork, who are now holding the hand of Ulster ", to cheers from the crowd.^[8]

Robert James Stewart, a Presbyterian fromDrum,County Monaghan,and the grandfather ofHeather Humphreys,the Minister for the Arts, Heritage and theGaeltachtin theRepublic of Ireland,was one of around 6,000 signatories in County Monaghan, where one quarter of the population was Protestant before the establishment of theIrish Free State.^[9]Almost 18,000 people signed either the Covenant or the Declaration inCounty Donegal.^[10]

By county signed in

Dublin: 768^[11]
Waterford: 56^[11]
Meath: 13^[11]
Limerick: 1^[11]
Mayo: 1^[11]
Louth: 43^[11]
Leitrim: 33^[11]
Kilkenny: 3^[11]
Kildare: 2^[11]
Wicklow: 31^[11]
Not recorded: 84^[11]

Signed-in-blood dispute

The signature ofFrederick Hugh Crawfordwas claimed by him to have been written in blood. However, this is disputed. Based on the results of aforensictest that he carried out in September 2012 at PRONI, Dr. Alastair Ruffell ofQueen's University Belfasthas asserted that he is 90% positive that the signature is not blood. Crawford's signature was injected with a small amount ofluminol;this substance reacts with iron in blood'shaemoglobinto produce a blue-white glow. The test is very sensitive and can detect tiny traces even in old samples. Crawford's signature is still a rich red colour today which would be unlikely if it had been blood. Nevertheless, some unionists are not convinced by the evidence.^[12]

Solemn League and Covenant

The term "Solemn League and Covenant"recalled a key historic document signed in 1643, by which the ScottishCovenantersmade a political and military alliance with the leaders of the EnglishParliamentariansduring theFirst English Civil War.^{[citation needed]}

Natal Covenant

The Ulster Covenant was used as a template for the "Natal Covenant", signed in 1955 by 33,000 British-descendedNataliansagainst thenationalist South Africangovernment's intention ofdeclaring the Union a republic.It was signed inDurban's City Hall – itself loosely based on Belfast's, so that the Ulster scene was almost exactly reproduced.^[13]

Being convinced in our consciences that a republic would be disastrous to the material well-being of Natal as well as of the whole of South Africa, subversive of our freedom and destructive of our citizenship, we, whose names are underwritten, men and women of Natal, loyal subjects of Her Gracious Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, do hereby pledge ourselves in solemn covenant, throughout this our time of threatened calamity, to stand by one another in defending the Crown, and in using all means which may be found possible and necessary to defeat the present intention to set up a republic in South Africa. And in the event of a republic being forced upon us, we further solemnly and mutually pledge ourselves to refuse to recognise its authority. In sure confidence that God will defend the right, we hereto subscribe our names. GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.

References

^Hourican, Bridget (2009). "Sinclair, Thomas". In McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.).Dictionary of Irish Biography.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
^PRONI."The Ulster Covenant: Ulster Day".Retrieved29 September2012.
^"The Ulster Covenant".Government of Northern Ireland.December 2015.Retrieved28 September2020.
^PRONI–Historical Topics Series: 5
^"The 1912 Ulster Covenant by Joseph E.A. Connell Jr".6 March 2013.
^"Ulster Volunteer Force".South Belfast Friends of the Somme Association.Retrieved29 September2012.
^"18,000 loyalists expected for 'Ulster Day' march to commemorate UVF formation".Belfasttelegraph– via belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
^Dooley, Chris (2015).Redmond, A Life Undone: The Definitive Biography of John Redmond.Gill & Macmillan.ISBN 9780717165803.
^"My grandfather signed the Ulster Covenant, Minister says".The Irish Times.21 January 2016.
^John Tunney, 'The Marquis, The Reverend, The Grandmaster and The Major: Protestant Politics in Donegal, 1868–1933', in William Nolan, Liam Ronayne and Mairead Dunlevy (editors),Donegal: History and Society,p. 688. Geography Publications,Dublin,1995 (reprinted 2002).
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k"PRONI Ulster Covenant Search".Public Records of Northern Ireland.[Must search by Parliamentary division to see the numbers]
^"Fred Crawford 'blood signature' legend challenged".BBC News Website.27 September 2012.Retrieved29 September2012.
^Jeffery, Keith (1996).An Irish Empire?: Aspects of Ireland and the British Empire.Manchester University Press. pp. 199–201.ISBN 9780719038730.

External links

BBC History – Ulster Covenant
Friends of the Somme – Ulster Loyalty
Ulster 1912by Rudyard Kipling on Wikisource
Ulster Covenant

[DIB-1] Hourican, Bridget (2009). "Sinclair, Thomas". In McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.).Dictionary of Irish Biography.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[proni-2] PRONI."The Ulster Covenant: Ulster Day".Retrieved29 September2012.

[3] "The Ulster Covenant".Government of Northern Ireland.December 2015.Retrieved28 September2020.

[proniht-4] PRONI–Historical Topics Series: 5

[5] "The 1912 Ulster Covenant by Joseph E.A. Connell Jr".6 March 2013.

[6] "Ulster Volunteer Force".South Belfast Friends of the Somme Association.Retrieved29 September2012.

[7] "18,000 loyalists expected for 'Ulster Day' march to commemorate UVF formation".Belfasttelegraph– via belfasttelegraph.co.uk.

[8] Dooley, Chris (2015).Redmond, A Life Undone: The Definitive Biography of John Redmond.Gill & Macmillan.ISBN 9780717165803.

[9] "My grandfather signed the Ulster Covenant, Minister says".The Irish Times.21 January 2016.

[10] John Tunney, 'The Marquis, The Reverend, The Grandmaster and The Major: Protestant Politics in Donegal, 1868–1933', in William Nolan, Liam Ronayne and Mairead Dunlevy (editors),Donegal: History and Society,p. 688. Geography Publications,Dublin,1995 (reprinted 2002).

[pronisearch-11] ^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k"PRONI Ulster Covenant Search".Public Records of Northern Ireland.[Must search by Parliamentary division to see the numbers]

[12] "Fred Crawford 'blood signature' legend challenged".BBC News Website.27 September 2012.Retrieved29 September2012.

[Jeffery-13] Jeffery, Keith (1996).An Irish Empire?: Aspects of Ireland and the British Empire.Manchester University Press. pp. 199–201.ISBN 9780719038730.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]