Edward Carson, Baron Carson

The Lord Carson  PC, Pc (Ire), QC
Solicitor General for Ireland
In office 20 June 1892 – 11 August 1892
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by	John Atkinson
Succeeded by	Charles Hemphill
Solicitor General for England and Wales
In office 11 May 1900 – 4 December 1905
Monarch	Victoria Edward VII
Prime Minister	The Marquess of Salisbury Arthur Balfour
Preceded by	Sir Robert Finlay
Succeeded by	Sir William Robson
Attorney General for England and Wales
In office 25 May 1915 – 3 November 1915
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	H. H. Asquith
Preceded by	Sir John Simon
Succeeded by	Sir F. E. Smith
First Lord of the Admiralty
In office 10 December 1916 – 17 July 1917
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	Arthur Balfour
Succeeded by	Sir Eric Geddes
Minister without Portfolio and member of the War Cabinet
In office 17 July 1917 – 20 January 1918
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	None
Leader of the Irish Unionist Parliamentary Party
In office 1910 – 1921
Preceded by	Walter Long
Succeeded by	None
Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party
In office 1910 – 1921
Preceded by	Walter Long
Succeeded by	Sir James Craig, Bt
Born	9 February 1854 (1854-02-09) 4 Harcourt Street, Dublin, Ireland
Died	22 October 1935 (1935-10-23) Cleve Court, Minster, Kent
Nationality	Irish
Spouse(s)	(1) Annette Kirwan (d. 1913) (2) Ruby Frewen (d. 1966)
Alma mater	Trinity College, Dublin

Edward Henry Carson, Baron Carson PC, Pc (Ire), Kt., QC (born 9 February 1854, Dublin, Ireland – died 22 October 1935, Kent, England), often known as Sir Edward Carson or Lord Carson, was an Irish and British barrister, judge and politician. He was leader of the Irish Unionist Alliance and Ulster Unionist Party between 1910 and 1921, held numerous positions in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom and served as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary. Upon his death, in 1935, he was one of the few non-monarchs to receive a United Kingdom state funeral.

Early life

An Irishman and a Briton, Edward Carson was born at 4 Harcourt Street, in Dublin. He was from a wealthy Anglican family;^[1] his father was an architect. The Carsons were of Scottish origin, Edward's grandfather having originally moved to Dublin from Dumfries in 1815. Carson's mother was Isabella Lambert, the daughter of Captain Peter Lambert, part of an old Anglo-Irish family, the Lamberts of Castle Ellen, County Galway; Carson spent holidays at Castle Ellen, which was owned by his uncle.^[2] He was one of six children (four boys and two girls). Edward was educated at Portarlington School, Wesley College, Dublin and Trinity College, Dublin, where he read law and was an active member of the College Historical Society. He also played with the college hurling team.^[3] Carson graduated BA and MA.

As a barrister

In 1877 Carson was called to the Irish Bar at King's Inns. He gained a reputation for fearsome advocacy and supreme legal ability and became regarded as a brilliant barrister,^[4] one of the leading ones in Ireland at the time.^[5] He was also an acknowledged master of the appeal to the jury by his legal wit and oratory^[6] He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1889.

Oscar Wilde

Mr. Edward H. Carson (as he then was) addresses Parliament. From Vanity Fair, 1893.

In 1895, he was engaged by the Marquess of Queensberry to lead his defence against Oscar Wilde's libel action. The Marquess accused Wilde of consorting with rent boys. Wilde retaliated with a libel action.

Carson's involvement in the case is often portrayed as a de facto prosecution of Wilde. Other interpretations of Carson's actions credit his strong sense of honour. Kevin Myers for example, states that Carson's initial response was to refuse to take the case. Later, he discovered that the Marquess of Queensberry had been telling the truth about Wilde's activity and was therefore not guilty of the libel of which Wilde accused him. ^[7]

Cadbury Bros.

In 1908 he appeared for the London Evening Standard in a libel action brought by George Cadbury. The Standard was controlled by Unionist interests which supported Joseph Chamberlain's Imperial Preference views. The Cadbury family were Liberal supporters of free trade and had, in 1901, purchased the Daily News. The Standard articles alleged that Cadbury Bros Ltd., which claimed to be model employers having created the village of Bournville outside Birmingham, knew of the slave labour conditions on São Tomé, the Portuguese island colony from which Cadbury purchased most of their cocoa for the production of their chocolate.^{[citation needed]}

The articles alleged that George's son William had gone to São Tomé in 1901 and seen for himself the slave conditions, and that the Cadbury family had decided to continue purchasing the cocoa grown there because it was cheaper then that grown in the British colony of the Gold Coast, where labour conditions were much better, being regulated by the Colonial Office. The Standard alleged that the Cadbury family knew that the reason cocoa from São Tomé was cheaper was because it was grown by slave labour. This case was regarded at the time as an important political case as Carson and the Unionists maintained that it showed the fundamental immorality of free trade. George Cadbury recovered one farthing in damages in a case described as one of Carson's triumphs.^[8]

Archer-Shee case

Carson was also the victorious counsel in the 1910 Archer-Shee Case, on which Terence Rattigan based his play The Winslow Boy. He was the model for the barrister Sir Robert Morton in the play.^{[citation needed]}

Politics

Carson's political career began on 20 June 1892, when he was appointed Solicitor-General for Ireland, although he was not then a member of the House of Commons. He was elected as Member of Parliament for the University of Dublin in the 1892 general election^[9] as a Unionist, although as a whole the party lost the election to the Liberals.

Carson maintained his career as a barrister and was admitted to the English Bar by The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple in 1893 and from then on mainly practised in London. In 1896 he was sworn of the Irish Privy Council.^[10] He was appointed Solicitor-General for England on 7 May 1900,^[11] receiving the usual ex officio knighthood. He served in this position until the Conservative government resigned in December 1905, when he was rewarded with membership of the Privy Council.^[12]

Unionism

With the passage of the Parliament Act 1911, the Unionists faced the loss of the House of Lords' ability to thwart the passage of the new Home Rule Bill. Carson disliked many of Ulster's local characteristics and, in particular, the culture of Orangeism, although he had become an Orangeman at nineteen.^[13] He stated that their speeches reminded him of "the unrolling of a mummy. All old bones and rotten rags."^[14]

Sir Edward Carson signing the Ulster Covenant

Carson campaigned against Home Rule. He spoke against the Bill in the House of Commons and organised rallies in Ireland. At one rally, Carson told a crowd of 50,000 that a provisional government for "the Protestant province of Ulster" should be ready, should a third Home Rule Bill come into law.^[15]

On 28 September 1912 he was the first signatory on the Ulster Covenant, which bound its signatories to resist Home Rule with the threat that they would use "all means necessary" after Carson had established the Ulster Volunteers, the first loyalist paramilitary group. From it the Ulster Volunteer Force was formed in January 1913, and received a large arms cache from Germany in April 1914. Imperial Germany was very eager to promote political tension in the United Kingdom at the time, and readily allowed the delivery of arms to both sides of the political divide in Ireland.^{[citation needed]}

The Home Rule Bill was passed by the Commons on 25 May 1914 by a majority of 77 and due to the Parliament Act 1911, it did not need the Lords' consent, so the bill was awaiting royal assent. To enforce the legislation, given the activities of the Unionists, Herbert Asquith's Liberal government had prepared to send troops to Ulster. This sparked the Curragh Incident on 20 March^[16] Together with the arming of the southern Irish Volunteers, Ireland was on the brink of civil war when the outbreak of the First World War led to the suspension of the Home Rule Act's operation until the end of the war.^[17] By this time Carson had announced in Belfast that an Ulster Division would be formed from the U.V.F., and the 36th (Ulster) Division was swiftly organised.^[17]

Cabinet member

Edward Carson's statue at Stormont

On 25 May 1915, Asquith appointed Carson Attorney-General^[18] when the Coalition Government was formed after the Liberal government was bought down by the Shell Crisis. He resigned on 19 October, however, citing his opposition to Government policy on war in the Balkans, which had left two British and one French division in Salonica instead of being dispatched to support the Serbs who were being attacked by Austria from the north and Bulgaria from the east.^{[citation needed]}

Carson then became the leader of those Unionists who were not members of the government, effectively Leader of the Opposition in the Commons. When Asquith resigned, he returned to office on 10 December 1916 as First Lord of the Admiralty,^[19] becoming a Minister without Portfolio on 17 July 1917.^{[citation needed]}

Carson was hostile to the foundation of the League of Nations as he believed that this institution would be ineffectual against war. In a speech on 7 December 1917 he said:

Talk to me of treaties! Talk to me of the League of Nations! Every Great Power in Europe was pledged by treaty to preserve Belgium. That was a League of Nations, but it failed.^[20]

Early in 1918, the government decided to extend conscription to Ireland, and that Ireland would have to be given home rule in order to make it acceptable. Carson disagreed in principle and again resigned on 21 January 1918. He gave up his seat at the University of Dublin in the 1918 general election and was instead elected for Belfast Duncairn.^{[citation needed]}

He continued to lead the Unionists, but when the Government of Ireland Act 1920 was introduced, advised his party to work for the exemption of six Ulster counties from Home Rule as the best compromise (a compromise he had previously rejected). This proposal passed and as a result the Parliament of Northern Ireland was established.^{[citation needed]}

After the partition of Ireland, Carson repeatedly warned Ulster Unionist leaders not to alienate northern Catholics, as he foresaw this would make Northern Ireland unstable. In 1921 he stated: "We used to say that we could not trust an Irish parliament in Dublin to do justice to the Protestant minority. Let us take care that that reproach can no longer be made against your parliament, and from the outset let them see that the Catholic minority have nothing to fear from a Protestant majority." His warnings were largely in vain.^[21]

Judge

Edward Carson's statue at Stormont

Carson was asked to lead the Unionists during the election to become the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. Carson declined due to his lack of connections (an opponent once taunted him saying: "He has no country, he has no caste")^[22] with Ulster and resigned the leadership of the party on 4 February 1921.^{[citation needed]} Carson was appointed one of seven Lords of Appeal in Ordinary on 24 May 1921 and was created a life peer under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 on 1 June 1921 as Baron Carson, of Duncairn in the County of Antrim.^[23]

Private life

Carson married twice. His first wife was Annette Kirwan from County Galway, daughter of H. Persse Kirwan, a retired County Inspector of the Royal Irish Constabulary.^[24] He had two sons and two daughters by his first wife (he described them as a "rum lot"),^[25] namely:

• The Hon. William Henry Lambert Carson, born 2 October 1880
• The Hon. Aileen Carson, born 13 November 1881
• The Hon. Gladys Isobel Carson, born 1885
• The Hon. Walter Seymour Carson, born 1890

The first Lady Carson died on 6 April 1913.^[26] His second wife was Ruby Frewen, a Yorkshirewoman, the daughter of Lt.-Col. Stephen Frewen. They were married on 17 September 1914; she was 29 and he was 60. They had one son:

• The Hon. Edward Carson MP, born 17 February 1920

Later years

St Anne's Cathedral; Carson's final resting place

Carson retired in October 1929. In July 1932, he had witnessed the unveiling of a large statue (sculptored by L. S. Merrifield) of himself in front of Parliament Buildings at Stormont. The statue was unveiled by Lord Craigavon in the presence of more than 40,000 people. The statue was cast in bronze and placed upon a plinth. The inscription on the base read "By the loyalists of Ulster as an expression of their love and admiration for its subject". This was the final time he visited Belfast.^{[citation needed]}

State funeral

Carson lived at Cleve Court, a Queen Anne house near Minster in the Isle of Thanet, Kent, bought in 1921. It was here that Carson died peacefully on 22 October 1935. The United Kingdom gave him a state funeral, which took place in Belfast at St Anne's Cathedral; he is still the only person to have been buried there. From a silver bowl, soil from each of the six counties of Northern Ireland was scattered on to his coffin, which had earlier been covered by the Union Flag. At his funeral service the choir sang his own favourite hymn, "I Vow to Thee, My Country". A warship had brought his body to Belfast and the funeral took place on Saturday 26 October 1935. Shops and factories closed down and the shipyards were silent as HMS Broke steamed slowly up Belfast Lough.^{[citation needed]}

Video footage of Lord Carson's funeral can be viewed here.^[27]

Titles from birth to death

Sir Edward Carson mural in Belfast in 2006

• Edward Carson, Esq. (9 February 1854-1889)
• Edward Carson, QC (1889-1892)
• Edward Carson, QC, MP (July 1892-7 May 1900)
• Sir Edward Carson, QC, MP (7 May 1900-December 1905)
• The Rt. Hon. Sir Edward Carson, KC, MP (December 1905-1 June 1921)
• The Rt. Hon. The Lord Carson, Kt. PC (1 June 1921-22 October 1935)

Notes

References

• H. Montgomery Hyde, Carson (Constable, London 1974) ISBN 0-09-459510-0
• A.T.Q. Stewart The Ulster Crisis, Resistance to Home Rule, 1912-14, (Faber and Faber, London, 1967, 1979), ISBN 0 571 08066 9
• A.T.Q. Stewart, Edward Carson (Gill and Macmillan Ltd, Dublin 1981) ISBN 0717110753
• Geoffrey Lewis, Carson, the Man who divided Ireland, (Hambledon and London 2005), ISBN 1-85285-454-5

External links

• Archival material relating to Edward Carson, Baron Carson listed at the UK National Register of Archives
• Image: Sir Edward Carson inspecting the U.V.F, 1913
• Image: Sir Edward Carson at U.V.F rally, 1913