Buckingham Palace Conference
Encyclopedia
Peace conference
A peace conference is a diplomatic meeting where representatives of certain states, armies, or other warring parties converge to end hostilities and sign a peace treaty....
called in Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
in 1914 by King George V of the United Kingdom
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
to which the leaders of Irish Nationalism
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
and Irish Unionism were invited to discuss plans to introduce Home Rule
Home rule
Home rule is the power of a constituent part of a state to exercise such of the state's powers of governance within its own administrative area that have been devolved to it by the central government....
to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and avert a feared civil war on the issue. The King's initiative brought the leaders of Nationalism and Unionism together for the first time in a conference.
Background
Since the 1870s a concerted campaign had been made by Irish Nationalist leaders at WestminsterPalace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
, in particular by Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell was an Irish landowner, nationalist political leader, land reform agitator, and the founder and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party...
, to have Home Rule (regional self-government) introduced into Ireland. This demand however was opposed by the leaders of Irish Unionism, who feared being placed under a Catholic-Nationalist
Rome Rule
"Rome Rule" was a term used by Irish unionists and socialists to describe the belief that the Roman Catholic Church would gain political control over their interests with the passage of a Home Rule Bill...
dominated Irish parliament in Dublin. For Unionists the ultimate safeguard to prevent home rule had been the existence of the power of the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
to veto
Veto
A veto, Latin for "I forbid", is the power of an officer of the state to unilaterally stop an official action, especially enactment of a piece of legislation...
legislation. The Lords, with an inbuilt pro-Unionist Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
majority, had exercised its veto in 1893 to block the Second Home Rule Bill.
As a result of a dramatic change in powers under the Parliament Act 1911
Parliament Act 1911
The Parliament Act 1911 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is constitutionally important and partly governs the relationship between the House of Commons and the House of Lords which make up the Houses of Parliament. This Act must be construed as one with the Parliament Act 1949...
, the Lords lost the ability to veto Bills. In 1912 the government of Herbert Asquith introduced the Third Home Rule Bill. Under the Parliament Act, the Lords could only block a Bill for three sessions. As a result the Bill finally completed its passage and received the Royal Assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
in mid-1914.
The threat that the Bill would this time become law led to protests among Unionists. The leaders of the opposition Conservative Party opted to play the "Orange Card", with leader Andrew Bonar Law threatening to support for whatever actions Unionists took, whether legal or illegal, to prevent home rule. Lord Randolph Churchill
Randolph Churchill
Major Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer-Churchill, MBE was the son of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine. He was a Conservative Member of Parliament for Preston from 1940 to 1945....
told a rally "Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right".
Illegal gun-running occurred among both Unionists (at Larne) and Nationalists (Dublin port
Asgard (yacht)
The Asgard is a yacht, formerly owned by the English-born Irish nationalist, and writer Robert Erskine Childers and his wife Molly Childers. It was bought for £1,000 in 1904 from one of Norway's most famous boat designers, Colin Archer...
), and both sides had openly organised mass militia movements (the Ulster Volunteers and the Irish Volunteers
Irish Volunteers
The Irish Volunteers was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists. It was ostensibly formed in response to the formation of the Ulster Volunteers in 1912, and its declared primary aim was "to secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to the whole people of Ireland"...
respectively). Faced with what seemed to be imminent civil war, King George, a strong hibernophile since his days as a Naval officer based in Cork
Cork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
, intervened to stop what be believed was the slide to civil war and took the unprecedented step of inviting the leaders of both communities, along with the British government, to the Palace for a conference.
The Conference
The conference assembled in Buckingham Palace between 21 and 24 July 1914. Though the issue of home rule had been on the political agenda since the 1870s, the 1914 conference was the first time that a formal peace conference had been called involving both Nationalists and Unionists. Those who attended were the Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, Lloyd GeorgeDavid Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
, the Irish Parliamentary Party
Irish Parliamentary Party
The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at...
leader John Redmond
John Redmond
John Edward Redmond was an Irish nationalist politician, barrister, MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party from 1900 to 1918...
, his deputy, John Dillon
John Dillon
John Dillon was an Irish land reform agitator from Dublin, an Irish Home Rule activist, a nationalist politician, a Member of Parliament for over 35 years, and the last leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party....
, across the table the leader of the Irish Unionist Alliance, Edward Carson together with Bonar Law, James Craig
James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon
James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, PC, PC , was a prominent Irish unionist politician, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland...
and Lord Lansdowne
Henry Petty-FitzMaurice, 6th Marquess of Lansdowne
Lieutenant-Colonel Henry William Edmund Petty-Fitzmaurice, 6th Marquess of Lansdowne DSO MVO , styled Earl of Kerry until 1927, was a British soldier and politician.-Background:...
. The Speaker of the House of Commons presided.
By the second day Asquith saw that no solution as to which counties were to be temporarily excluded was going to emerge. He wrote to an associate:
”I have rarely felt more helpless in any particular affair, an impasse with unspeakable consequences, upon a matter which to English eyes seems inconceivably small and to Irish eyes immeasurably big. Isn’t it a real tragedy?
The conference broke up after three days without agreement. All sides however argued that it had been a useful engagement, with Unionists and Nationalists for the first time having meaningful discussions on how to allay each other's fears about the other. A limited understanding emerged between Carson and the Nationalists, that if Ulster were to be excluded, then in its entirety, that the province should come in or out as a whole. Jackson, Alvin Home Rule: An Irish History 1800—2000 p.159-163, Phoenix Press (2003) ISBN 0-75381-767-5
The conference was overtaken by developments in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. In little over a month the First World War had begun, leading to the suspension of the Home Rule Act for its duration. A further attempt to reach an understanding with Ulster was to prove equally unsuccessful during the 1917–18 Irish Convention
Irish Convention
The Irish Convention was an assembly which sat in Dublin, Ireland from July 1917 until March 1918 to address the Irish Question and other constitutional problems relating to an early enactment of self-government for Ireland, to debate its wider future, discuss and come to an understanding on...
.
This conference was seen to be a 'waste of time' due to the lack of outcome it produced. Many people saw it as a time for each party to slander each other.
Long-term impact
The King's idea of hosting all-party talks on Ireland had echoes in later negotiations that produced the power-sharing executive in the Sunningdale AgreementSunningdale Agreement
The Sunningdale Agreement was an attempt to establish a power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive and a cross-border Council of Ireland. The Agreement was signed at the Civil Service College in Sunningdale Park located in Sunningdale, Berkshire, on 9 December 1973.Unionist opposition, violence and...
in the 1970s, and in the negotiations that produced the Belfast Agreement
Belfast Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement , sometimes called the Stormont Agreement, was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process...
in the late 1990s.
Later interventions by George V on Ireland
King George himself intervened on a number of subsequent occasions on Ireland. In 1920 he made clear his opposition to the behaviour of the Black and TansBlack and Tans
The Black and Tans was one of two newly recruited bodies, composed largely of British World War I veterans, employed by the Royal Irish Constabulary as Temporary Constables from 1920 to 1921 to suppress revolution in Ireland...
paramilitary force being used by the British Government during the Irish War of Independence
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...
, while unsuccessfully intervening to try to save the life of hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
r Terence MacSwiney
Terence MacSwiney
Terence Joseph MacSwiney was an Irish playwright, author and politician. He was elected as Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork during the Irish War of Independence in 1920. He was arrested by the British on charges of sedition and imprisoned in Brixton prison in England...
. After the passing of the Government of Ireland Act 1920
Government of Ireland Act 1920
The Government of Ireland Act 1920 was the Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which partitioned Ireland. The Act's long title was "An Act to provide for the better government of Ireland"; it is also known as the Fourth Home Rule Bill or as the Fourth Home Rule Act.The Act was intended...
he made a passionate appeal for reconciliation in Ireland at the opening of the Parliament of Northern Ireland
Parliament of Northern Ireland
The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended...
in 1921 which led directly to a truce between the Irish Republic
Irish Republic
The Irish Republic was a revolutionary state that declared its independence from Great Britain in January 1919. It established a legislature , a government , a court system and a police force...
and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
, paving the way for the Anglo-Irish Treaty
Anglo-Irish Treaty
The Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the secessionist Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of...
.
In 1932 he defused a row between the President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State
President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State
The President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State was the head of government or prime minister of the Irish Free State which existed from 1922 to 1937...
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...
and the Governor-General of the Irish Free State
Governor-General of the Irish Free State
The Governor-General was the representative of the King in the 1922–1937 Irish Free State. Until 1927 he was also the agent of the British government in the Irish state. By convention the office of Governor-General was largely ceremonial...
James McNeill
James McNeill
James McNeill was an Irish politician and diplomat, who served as first High Commissioner to London and second Governor-General of the Irish Free State....
by getting de Valera to withdraw a request for McNeill's dismissal, and then getting the McNeill to take early retirement.
Sources
- Geoffrey Lewis, Carson, the Man who divided Ireland (2005), ISBN 1-85285-454-5
- Alvin Jackson, HOME RULE, an Irish History 1800-2000, (2003), ISBN 0-7538-1767-5.
- Thomas Hennessey, Dividing Ireland, World War 1 and Partition, (1998), ISBN 0-415-17420-1.
- Jeremy Smith Bluff, Bluster and Brinkmanship: Andrew Bonar Law and the Third Home Rule Bill pages 161-174 from Historical Journal, Volume 36, Issue #1, 1993.
- Robert KeeRobert KeeRobert Kee CBE is a British broadcaster, journalist and writer, known for his historical works on World War II and Ireland....
, The Green Flag: A History of Irish Nationalism (2000 edition, first published 1972), ISBN 0-14-029165-2. - W. S. Rodner eaguers, Covenanters, Moderates: British Support for Ulster, 1913-14 pages 68-85 from Éire-Ireland, Volume 17, Issue #3, 1982.
- A.T.Q. StewartATQ StewartAnthony Terence Quincey Stewart was a historian, teacher, academic and a best-selling author on the politics of Ulster and Northern Ireland...
The Ulster Crisis, Resistance to Home Rule, 1912-14, (Faber and Faber, London, 1967, 1979), ISBN 0-571-08066-9 - Dorothy Macardle, The Irish Republic (Corgi, 1968)
- Harold Nicolson, King George V
- Frank Packenham, Peace by Ordeal
- Government of Ireland Act 1914, available from the House of Lords Record OfficeHouse of LordsThe House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....