James Craig, organisational genius behind Ulster’s determined resistance to Home Rule

James Craig spent almost half his political career opposing Home Rule and, paradoxically, the remainder of his political life as the premier of a Home Rule administration.

James Craig was born on January 8 1871 – the year after Isaac Butt launched the Home Rule movement in a Dublin hotel – in Sydenham, in east Belfast. He was the sixth son of James Craig, a millionaire Presbyterian whiskey distiller, and Eleanor Gilmore Browne. Both parents were of Scottish descent. He was educated at Merchiston Castle School, a Church of Scotland foundation, in Edinburgh.

Craig became a stockbroker but his heart was not in buying and selling shares. It was his love of yachting and sailing which made life tolerable.

He jumped at the opportunity to serve in the South African (or Boer) War, joining in the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles and, subsequently, the 29th Imperial Yeomanry. He proved to be a good and popular officer and first exhibited that organisational flair – which would be placed at the disposal of the unionist cause – as deputy assistant director of the Imperial Military Railways. The war also gave him a heightened appreciation of the Empire and Ulster’s role in it.

Before the Boer War Craig had been briefly honorary secretary of the Belfast Conservative Association but his interest in politics was renewed by the election of Charles Curtis Craig, his elder brother, as MP for South Antrim at a by-election in February 1903. A month later James Craig contested an unexpected vacancy in North Fermanagh but was narrowly defeated by a Russellite land candidate.

Edward Mitchell, the Russellite candidate, won by polling the full nationalist electorate vote in the constituency and by securing a tiny segment of the unionist vote. This experience may have exerted a disproportionate influence on Craig’s later political career: as Unionist leader, Craig feared division within the unionist community and sought to preserve – at almost any price – the unity of the unionist bloc.

In the general election of 1906 Craig entered Parliament as the MP for East Down, defeating James Wood, the sitting Russellite MP. Craig proved to be a very energetic parliamentarian, taking a keen interest in a wide range of issues, social, educational (especially with respect to teachers’ salaries and the upkeep of national schools) and reform of the Army.

Craig possessed, as Patrick Buckland has noted, ‘in larger measure than most Ulster Unionists a marked administrative ability, ample reserves of determination, energy and patience and, surprisingly, an eye for the dramatic’. As the third Home Rule crisis unfolded after 1910, Craig formed a very effective partnership with Sir Edward Carson in mobilising Ulster unionist resistance.

‘Each had what the other lacked. Pooling their resources, they became a third and undeniable person. Effective apart, they were irresistible together’.

Carson brought his charisma and his great powers of advocacy to the Unionist cause. Craig brought his formidable organisational skills (which Carson lacked) and provided Carson with the constant reassurance which he needed.

Recognising the outstanding skill set which Carson would bring to the Unionist cause, it was Craig who at the beginning of 1910 suggested that the Unionist MPs should invite Carson to become their leader, a point evidenced by Lord Leitrim’s letter to Mrs Craig in which he observed: ‘It was certainly a capital idea of your husband’s, getting Carson to lead us’.

On July 29 1911 Carson wrote to Craig: ‘What I am anxious about is that the people over there really mean to resist. I am not for a mere game of bluff, and unless men are prepared to make great sacrifices which they clearly understand, the task of resistance is of no use. We ... will be confronted by many weaklings in our own camp who talk very loud and mean nothing and will be the first to criticise us when the moment of action comes.’

It was Craig who reassured Carson that Ulster unionists did mean to resist. To underscore the point, Craig organised the great demonstration on September 23 1911 at Craigavon, Craig’s home on the outskirts of Belfast, at which Carson was introduced to the people whom he would lead over the next decade.

It was Craig who masterminded the unionist campaign. Carson provided the speeches and Craig provided the organisation. Craig organised the Balmoral demonstrations on Easter Tuesday 1912 and the pre-Covenant demonstrations in September 1912. Originally Craig was deputed to draft the text of the Covenant but that task ultimately fell to Thomas Sinclair, Ulster’s leading Liberal Unionist, Presbyterian layman and a superb wordsmith.

However, Craig did choreograph the signing of the Ulster Covenant.

In January 1913 he was disproportionately responsible for the creation of the Ulster Volunteer Force. He was one of those who sanctioned the Larne gun-running. On the night of April 23/24 1914 Craig was present at Donaghadee to oversee the unloading and distribution of the Clyde Valley’s cargo.

Craig was also at the forefront of establishing the provisional government in July 1914.

Carson afterwards candidly admitted: ‘It was James Craig who did most of the work, and I got most of the credit.’

At the outbreak of the Great War Craig recruited and organised the 36th (Ulster) Division, becoming a lieutenant colonel and the new division’s assistant adjutant and quartermaster-general.

In the years after the war he sacrificed a very promising political career in London to become Northern Ireland’s first prime minister, a position that he held until his death.

Craig had been appointed parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Pensions in January 1919 and by April 1920 he had been promoted to the position of financial secretary to the Admiralty.

Walter Long, the first lord of Admiralty, was ‘gravely ill for much of the latter part of 1920’ so Craig was in effect first lord.

His handling of business underscored his real administrative ability. Craig was probably on the cusp of entering the British Cabinet.