James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon
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James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon Bt (8 January 1871 - 24 November 1940) was a prominent Irish unionist politician, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.
James Craig was born at Sydenham, Belfast, the son of a wealthy whiskey distiller.
He was educated at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh, Scotland, and after working as a stockbroker served with the British Army in the Second Boer War. On his return to Ireland he was Member of Parliament for East Down from 1906-1918. From 1918 to 1921 he represented Mid Down, where he was also Parliamentary Secretary to both the Ministry of Pensions (1919-1920) and the Admiralty (1920-1921).
In the 1921 Northern Ireland general election, the first ever, he was elected to the newly created Northern Ireland House of Commons as member for County Down.
Craig rallied the Ulster unionist opposition to Irish Home Rule in Ulster before the First World War, organising the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force and buying arms from Imperial Germany. He succeeded Edward Carson as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party in February 1921.
In June 1921 Craig became the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. A dedicated member of the Orange Order and staunchly anti-Catholic, he famously said in 1934:
"I have always said I am an Orangeman first and a politician and Member of this Parliament afterwards ... The Hon. Member must remember that in the South they boasted of a Catholic State. They still boast of Southern Ireland being a Catholic State. All I boast is that we are a Protestant Parliament and Protestant State."[1]
He was made a baronet in 1918, and was in 1927 created Viscount Craigavon, of Stormont in the County of Down. He was also the recipient of honorary degrees from the Queen's University of Belfast (1922) and Oxford University (1926).
Craig was still prime minister when he died peacefully at his home at Glencraig, County Down, in 1940. He was buried on the Stormont Estate, and was succeeded as leader of the Northern Ireland Government by the Minister of Finance John Miller Andrews.
[edit] References
- ^ Sir James Craig, Unionist Party, then Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, 24 April 1934. This speech is often misquoted as: "A Protestant Parliament for a Protestant People", or "A Protestant State for a Protestant People". See CAIN project quote listing here
[edit] See also
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Newly Created Title |
Prime Minister of Northern Ireland 1921-1940 |
Succeeded by John Miller Andrews |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by Newly Created Title |
Viscount Craigavon 1927-1940 |
Succeeded by James Craig |
|
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 |
|---|---|
|
James Craig | John Miller Andrews | Basil Brooke | Terence O'Neill | James Chichester-Clark | Brian Faulkner |
Categories: 1871 births | 1940 deaths | Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom | Leaders of the Ulster Unionist Party | Members of the United Kingdom Parliament from Irish constituencies (1801-1922) | Members of the United Kingdom Parliament from Northern Ireland constituencies | Merchistonians | People from Belfast | Orange Order | Prime Ministers of Northern Ireland | Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
