BBC programme on Canon JO Hannay – George Bermingham; How will the Churches Remember the Ulster Covenant?; Service to mark centenary of Covenant signing; Standing Room only for Making History Talk event; Exhibition explores key dates of Covenant; Thousands to step out at Covenant event; Irish Times and Carson
‘Prophetic’ Covenant novel in the spotlight
“He will be remembered as an Ulster voice in the world of WB Yeats, George Bernard Shaw and Lady Gregory” – Eamon Phoenix
Did a controversial Belfast novelist predict the political fallout from the Ulster Covenant and the loyalist gun running of 1914?
That is the question being asked of Canon James Owen Hannay who was a Church of Ireland minister and a best selling writer.
Hannay’s book The Red Hand Of Ulster, which was published just months before the Ulster Covenant was signed in September 1912, is still regarded as one of the most remarkable accounts of this period of Irish history.
He wrote about gun running, loyalist meetings and a short-lived uprising on the streets of Belfast.
Published a century ago as the Home Rule crisis took hold, Hannay’s work has been described by the historian Roy Foster as ‘strangely prophetic’.
His book and his career are the subject of a BBC Radio Ulster documentary that marks the centenary of the publication of Hannay’s novel about political tensions in Belfast in 1912.
The book tells the story of unionist opposition to Home Rule through the eyes of a fictional peer Lord Kilmore who unwittingly becomes involved in a conspiracy of loyalist rallies and the smuggling of guns.
The Anglican clergyman, who would become famous world wide, was born in 1865 and spent most of his ministry in the County Mayo town of Westport.
He wrote numerous novels under the pseudonym of George A Birmingham and had a unique popular writing style often satirising the behaviour of politicians and fellow clergymen.
He came from a long line of clerics as his father was an Anglican minister in Belfast and his grandfather was a rector in Moira, County Down.
Educated in Belfast and England he began church life in Delgany in County Wicklow and moved to Westport in 1892.
His work and views often attracted controversy. Although he came from a unionist background he was attracted to the ideals of Irish nationalism and he embraced the Irish language.
Through his involvement with the Gaelic League he would become friends with Douglas
Hyde who would later become the first Irish president.
Rioting
Hannay’s work attracted critics and fans in equal measure. His play General John Regan, which tells the story of an American arriving in a west of Ireland town, became a hit across the world.
He toured America with the production and became a regular columnist with British newspapers. When General John Regan was performed in Westport it provoked a major disturbance as locals believed Hannay was mocking them.
Seven hundred people rioted and 20 were arrested in the most violent riot in the history of Irish theatre.
Hannay, who died in 1950 in England, aged 85, was an industrious writer and penned dozens of novels. At one stage in his long career he was writing a novel a year.
Academic Norman Vance tells the BBC he regards Canon Hannay as one of Ireland’s most important writers.
He said: “At one level he is an Irish PG Wodehouse with a wonderful gallery of beautiful girls and silly asses and bumbling peers.”
Historian Eamon Phoenix says it is important the work of the Anglican cleric is recalled.
“He will be remembered as an Ulster voice in the world of WB Yeats, George Bernard Shaw and Lady Gregory,” he said.
The documentary also hears from the canon’s great grandson, Owen Hannay who is now a successful businessman in Dallas in the United States of America.
He describes his relative as a “great listener and revealer of the human spirit”.
The Red Hand of Ulster is broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster on Sunday 23 September at 1.30pm. It is repeated on Thursday 27 September at 19.30.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-19636180
How will the Churches Remember the Ulster Covenant?
Slugger O’Toole – Gladys Ganiel writes – Given that the Ulster Covenant links the cause of Protestantism and Unionism with the will of God, it will be interesting to see how Northern Ireland’s Protestant churches remember the covenant. In 1912, many Protestant churches opened their doors for …
http://sluggerotoole.com/2012/09/21/how-will-the-churches-remember-the-ulster-covenant/
Service to mark centenary of Covenant signing
At Evensong in St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, at 3.30pm on Sunday September 23the Centenary of the signing of the Ulster Covenant will be remembered. This service is open to all. It will include a time of reflection and silence, prayers, and the lighting of a single candle beneath the Spire of Hope. The Dean of Belfast, the Very Rev John Mann, said: “The service will draw the path travelled over the past 100 years to consider the place of Belfast and Northern Ireland in our own day.”
Standing Room only for Making History Talk event
It was standing room only for the ‘Making History Talk – Understanding the Ulster Covenant’ event at the Clinton Centre, Enniskillen on 13th September. Over 150 people packed the main conference room to hear Prof Brian Walker and Dr Brian Feeney give alternative perspectives on The Ulster Covenant.
The hope of the organizers was that the audience would reflect a broad cross section of the local community in Fermanagh. They were not disappointed as people from every part of Fermanagh and from all sides of the community attended. One village community group even organised a bus in order to attend.
Brian Walker and Brian Feeney are both noted historians and commentators. Their presentations gave a valuable insight into what was going on within the minds of both the unionist and nationalist communities at the time of the signing of the Ulster Covenant.
Professor Walker gave a comprehensive overview of the circumstances surrounding the signing of the Ulster Covenant as well as an insight into the range of signatories and organizations that became involved within the Protestant community. Dr Feeney gave a very clear understanding of the issues and fears within the nationalist community at that time. Both presentations gave a sense of how the actions and reactions of each community effected one another.
In group discussion, facilitated by Doug Baker, the level of engagement amongst the audience was extremely high, with an excellent range of honest and thought provoking questions being asked.
Bishop John McDowell, in closing on behalf of the organizers, identified an important point when he said, “The event is a reminder that understanding our past is at least as unpredictable as understanding the future”. The event was extremely helpful in understanding the complex circumstances, context and reactions that marked not only that period of our history but also served as a reminder of the need for care and understanding as any of us reflect on it. Part of that care includes being willing to listen to alternative perspectives on our history to gain a greater understanding.
The event is the first in a series that will look at key moments in our history on this island. It was designed to give an insight into the hopes and fears in the minds of both the unionist and nationalist community at the time of the Ulster Covenant in 1912. The organizers included the Church of Ireland diocese of Clogher, Enniskillen Presbyterians and Methodists as well as Co Fermanagh Grand Orange Lodge. Bishop John McDowell currently chairs the Church of Ireland Working Group on Historic Commemorations.
Exhibition explores key dates of Covenant
An exhibition on Home Rule and the Ulster Covenant has opened in Belfast. The display, which will run at the Ulster Museum until next year, includes letters, silverware and other items connected to the leading personalities of the time such as the unionist leader Sir Edward Carson.
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/local/exhibition-explores-key-dates-of-covenant-1-4291099
Thousands to step out at Covenant event
AS the countdown towards the Covenant centenary next Saturday continues, the Orange Order has issued final details of how the historic occasion will be celebrated.
The main event on the day will be one of the largest demonstrations seen in the Province, featuring an expected 200 bands and thousands of participants.
On parade will be members of the Apprentice Boys, the Independent Orange Order and the Royal Black Institution as well as a large turnout of Orangemen and women.
The procession is scheduled to leave from Belfast City Hall – venue for the momentous Covenant signing in 1912 – at 11am before participants walk the six-mile route to the Stormont Estate.
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/local/thousands-to-step-out-at-covenant-event-1-4291031
Carson, the uncrowned King of Ulster
Irish Times – For Unionists of his time – and for many unionists today – Edward Carson was the uncrowned King of Ulster, a Dubliner who saved them from Home Rule. Yet, his deeply held wish throughout his life was to maintain all of Ireland within the United Kingdom. He was born at 4 Harcourt Street in Dublin on February 9th, 1854, the son of an architect and from a family who were solid members of the Church of Ireland. His grandfather William Carson left Scotland in 1815 for the Irish capital …
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0425/1224314944051.html
‘The Irish Times’ and Home Rule
Irish Times – From being a privileged part of a majority in a United Kingdom, these unionists would become a minority in a Catholic-dominated local parliament which would be influenced by the powerful Catholic Church. There was still hope, however, …
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0425/1224314943544.html
The day Ulster first said ‘No’
Irish Times – by Jonathon Bardon – February 8th, 1912. Denied the use of the Ulster Hall in Belfast, Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty in HH Asquith’s Liberal government, was forced to address a meeting in favour of Home Rule in a sodden marquee in Celtic Park. To avoid a hostile gathering of indignant loyalists in the city centre, he had no choice afterwards but to take a circuitous route back to get his sea ferry at Larne.
Churchill was experiencing how dangerously fractured society in Ulster had become. More clearly than ever, the inhabitants here seemed divided into two antagonistic ethnic groups with profoundly divergent aspirations. It took little to bring ancient hatreds welling alarmingly to the surface.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0425/1224314943956.html