The Scottish UVF

http://www.greengairsthistle.com/uvfscotland.htm

The association between Ulster folk and their neighbours in Scotland are far reaching. But many do not realise how far the association goes back. It is not realised that it goes as far as Sir Edward Carson, and in some instances even further.  Bonds were formed, bonds that still exist to this very day, and are as strong as when they were forged. Those many years ago when Orangemen in Scotland braced themselves to help their Brothers in Ulster in the struggle that lay ahead. 

In 1910, following a second general election that year, the Liberal Party, which was the Government in office, was dependant on the Irish National Party to remain in office.

  And the price of that support was home rule.  The Liberals introduced the government of Ireland bill, and as with previous proposed legislation on this issue, the bill actually represented a limited form of home rule, but nevertheless it was still resisted with vigour by Unionists on both sides of the Irish Sea.  This time the government’s majority in the House of Commons ensured its successful passage in 1912. This action precipitated perhaps the gravest Constitutional crisis of the modern era. The Protestant population in Ireland particularly in Ulster where it formed the majority was determined to maintain the British connection and have nothing whatsoever to do with Home Rule.  Ulster Unionists were prepared to defy the Government and by physical force if necessary. The Orange order also was to play a full and leading part in the drama that was to unfold.  Political opposition to Home Rule was channelled through the Ulster Unionist Council, under the strong leadership of Dublin QC, Edward Carson and Belfast millionaire businessman Captain James Craig. They were a formidable duo and they lead a formidable movement.  The campaign got underway when a special day was set aside for the signing of a document which committed those who signed it to opposing Home Rule by using all means which they found necessary.  This document was known as the Ulster Covenant and it was based on the old Scottish solemn league and covenant of 1580, which established the principals of Presbyterianism in Scotland. This identification with the historical Scottish covenant was not merely symbolic, but representative of the close links existing between many people in both countries since the time of Plantation of Ulster by Scottish settlers.

The Ulster covenant was signed by a total of 471,414 men and women in Ireland and Great Britain. It had been made available for signatures in Scotland in the various Unionist rooms and Orange Halls across the country.  In Edinburgh some signed it on the ‘Covenanters Stone’ in the old Greyfriars Churchyard and Carson embarked upon a serious of meetings and rallies in Great Britain in support.  In June 1913, Sir Edward visited Glasgow and Edinburgh. Although his visit was staged under the auspices of the Scottish Unionist Party, there was a strong Orange presence at all the functions he attended.  He was met at Central railway station in Glasgow by a huge cheering crowd, and a number of leading Unionists and Orange officials including the Grand Master, the Rev. David Ness, and two honorary deputy Grand Masters, the Glasgow businessman Charles Cleland, and Glasgow solicitor Digby S. Brown.  The main rally was held in St. Andrews hall and was attended by a full house of 5000 people. So great was the demand to see and hear Carson that an overflow meeting of 1000 people had to be arranged at the last minute outside the hall.  The rally was also attended by four Scottish Unionist MP’s most of the Irish Unionist’s MP’s and the leading officials of the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland.  The bulk of Carson’s speech was devoted to emphasising the close links between Ulster and Scotland. After the rally he was escorted through the streets of Glasgow by a procession of about 5000 Orangemen and a number of bands. He was not an emotional man, but visibly moved by the enthusiasm and support he had received from the Loyalist community in the second city of the Empire. He told them.  ‘With you behind us, we care not a straw for the Government and it’s allies'.  Later the same year the Grand Lodge of Scotland reiterated it’s position on Irish Home Rule when the following resolution was passed at the annual twelfth rally held in Paisley. 

“We, the Orangemen of Scotland, are satisfied that the proposals of the Home Rule bill are a peril to the Empire, endanger the peace progress, and prosperity of Ireland and gravely menace the liberties of our fellow subjects in that country. We therefore pledge ourselves to aid them to the uttermost in their resistance to these proposals and in their determination to remain within the union”.

 THE ULSTER VOLUNTEER FORCE IS FORMED

  This was not to be mere rhetoric. The situation in Ulster was developing into a crisis.  In January 1913 the Ulster Unionist Council had united the various groups of volunteers, which had been merging into a single body to be know as the Ulster Volunteer Force. This body was, in effect, a private army, which would be mobilised forcibly to prevent Home Rule being introduced in the North of Ireland.  It quickly recruited 100,000 men between the ages of 17 and 65 years, all of who had signed the Ulster covenant. It was initially under the command of a leading Irish Orangeman, Colonel R. H. Wallace, and the Orange Order was its main recruiting ground. The various Lodges in Ireland provided Companies for the U.V.F, and Orange halls were used for drilling and training. A massive a largely clandestine arms smuggling operation was put into place, and eventually the U.V.F. was fully armed and equipped.  It also had a new commander, a retired ex Indian Officer, Sir George Richardson.  A significant number of Orangemen in Scotland also joined the Ulster Volunteer Force.

  In Glasgow, seven companies were formed which were attached to the following District Lodges: Calton, Cowcaddens, Clydebank, Kinningpark, Partick and Rutherglen. These companies were euphemistically described as ‘athletic clubs’ probably for legal and security reasons.  The strength of the Glasgow contingent was put at 1000 fully trained men and about as many again partially trained. They were under the command of a Captain Webb, assisted by Lieutenants H. Gordon, John Forbes and Sergeant Major John Vance. They held a parade in the City in March 1914, at which the Rev. Professor D. Cooper presented them with their colours in the city hall.  About 500 men took part in the parade and it was reported.  ‘The marshalling of the procession in George Square was witnessed by a large crowd. A number of the officers and men wore war medals. Perfect order prevailed and the men, who appeared to be well trained, marched with military precision. A special guard of about 30, armed with rifles protected the colours’ after the parade a meeting was held which was presided over by Digby S. Brown.  The guest speaker was the Marquis of Graham who stated the Unionist position with great clarity. That being.  ‘There are in Northern Ireland thousands of men born under the same flag and bred under the same system of Government as the Scottish people. They are men who are contented with that system of Government, though they are not contented with the present Government. It is now proposed to drive these men out of that flag and from under that system of Government to another system.  The proposal to put these men out of the Union being part of the political bargain.  Have not these Ulstermen a perfect right to protest at being made pawns in this political game? When we in Scotland remember that our own Country pass through for the sake of Religious freedom, our hearts warm to these Ulstermen. So what are these Scottish for? They are out to back up the Ulstermen in their fight. They are men of the right stuff!!!! Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right!!!!!’ The leading figure behind the formation of the U.V.F. in Glasgow seems to have been the Rev. James Brisby. An Ulsterman by birth, he was an independent Evangelical preacher who had established a church in the Calton area of the City. He was very much in the same mould as one of his predecessors and fellow countryman, the Rev. Robert Gault. Brisby had been elected to the Glasgow school board in 1909 as the independent Protestant candidate and had already made a name for himself in Glasgow as a militant Protestant. At the annual twelfth rally, held in Blantyre in 1914 he declared that ‘ In Ulster, every man has the rifle, with one to spare for those who go from

Scotland to assist.’  Whether Brisby had the official sanction as it were, of the Grand Lodge of Scotland for raising companies of the U.V.F., or whether he acted solely on his own initiative, it is not certain. The Irish Grand Lodge had backed the formation of the Ulster Volunteer Force to the hilt, but the circumstances in Scotland were different, on the one hand the Scottish Grand Lodge would want to be seen as reacting responsibly towards what was an extremely grave situation. On the other hand it was equally obliged to be responsive to the pressure from its own rank and file. Many of who were Ulstermen by birth. It was likely that given this difficult dilemma, the Grand Lodge simply turned a blind eye to all paramilitary activity at this time. In any event, whether the Grand Lodge approved or not, it was clear that a number of Orangemen in Scotland were quite prepared to take up arms in defence of Ulster.

Whilst loyalist on both sides of the Irish Sea were making their various preparations the actual Home Rule bill itself was proceeding somewhat tortuously through Westminster. Twice the House of Lords have defeated it in 1913, but the Government was determined to see it become law. This was finally achieved on the 18th September by which time the country was at war with Germany.  With the Empire now at war, the Home Rule legislation was put on ice but the sense of betrayal was felt keenly in Ulster. It had been suggested that the response of the Loyalist and Orange Community in Scotland to the Ulster crisis of 1912-1914 was not as enthusiastic or as significant as in other parts of the country. The evidence however suggests the contrary.  Whilst it is true that a crowd reported to be in the region of 100,000 people greeted Carson on his arrival in Liverpool. That contingent of the U.V.F. only mustered about 1500 in total. This figure compares unfavourably with Glasgow. In addition, units would almost certainly have been formed in other parts of Scotland, most probably Ayrshire and Lanarkshire. Furthermore Loyalists in Scotland were actively involved in elaborate gunrunning operation organised by the Ulster Volunteer Force.  Arms were stored for onward shipment to Ulster in towns across Scotland, including Leith, Clydebank and Renfrew. Apart from political, religious and physical support, financial assistance was also given to the Ulster Unionists to help in their struggle.  Orangemen in Scotland donated at least £612, a not insufficient sum from a large proletarian membership. This contribution compared quite favourably with the £600 donated to the cause by the Scottish Conservative Association.  Orangemen and others in Scotland played their full part in Ulster’s struggle against Home Rule, and many, if necessary, were prepared to fight and die.  When their sacrifice did come it was not in the North of Ireland, but in the bloody battlefields of Belgium and France.