How revolutionary were the Irish Volunteers?

The Irish Volunteers were formed in 1913 to protect the Home Rule bill then going through parliament from the threat posed by the unionist leader Edward Carson and his newly […]

Home Rulers on the provisional committee

One enthusiastic supporter of the new Volunteer movement was Maurice Moore, a retired colonel of the Connaught Rangers. Moore was more concerned with the military than with the political aspect […]

A soldier of the queen: General J.P. Redmond

In March 1902, Lieutenant General J.P. Redmond was buried with full military honours in Guildford cemetery. Officers past and present of his old regiment, the Glosters, sent a ‘magnificent wreath’, […]

‘For God and Ulster’: accoutrements of the UVF

The Ulster Volunteer Force (1913–20) was a paramilitary organisation created in January 1913 in response to the campaign against Home Rule. The UVF soon had 90,000 members; it was mainly […]

Larne, Howth and the First World War

Sir,—I welcome the call, from the historians at the 16 May History Ireland ‘Hedge School’, for critical analysis of the ‘decade of centenaries’ events from 1912–22. I have been reflecting […]