Editing Edward Carson

{{short description|Irish politician, barrister and judge (1854–1935)}}
{{About|the Irish Unionist leader and barrister|his son, the British Conservative politician|Edward Carson (Conservative politician)}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name                = The Lord Carson
| honorific-suffix    = [[Privy Council (United Kingdom)|PC]], [[Privy Council of Ireland|PC (Ire)]], [[King's Counsel|KC]]
| image               = Sir Edward Carson, bw photo portrait seated.jpg
| caption             = Carson, {{circa}} 1900 <!-- Do NOT remove the spaces between offices in the infobox as they make the code more readable and removing them has no visual impact for the reader -->
| office              = [[Minister without portfolio (United Kingdom)|Minister without portfolio]]
| term_start          = 17 July 1917
| term_end            = 20 January 1918
| primeminister       = [[David Lloyd George]]
| alongside           = {{nowrap|[[Arthur Henderson]] (until Aug 1917)}}, {{nowrap|[[The Viscount Milner]]}}, {{nowrap|[[Jan Smuts]]}}, {{nowrap|[[George Barnes (British politician)|George Barnes]] (from Aug 1917)}}
| predecessor         = 
| successor           = |
| office1             = [[First Lord of the Admiralty]]
| primeminister1      = David Lloyd George
| term_start1         = 10 December 1916
| term_end1           = 17 July 1917
| predecessor1        = [[Arthur Balfour]]
| successor1          = [[Sir Eric Geddes]]|
| office2             = [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]]
| monarch2            = [[George V]]
| primeminister2      = [[H. H. Asquith]]
| term_start2         = 19 October 1915
| term_end2           = 6 December 1916
| predecessor2        = [[Bonar Law]] (May 1915)
| successor2          = H. H. Asquith|
| office3             = [[Attorney General for England]]
| primeminister3      = H. H. Asquith
| term_start3         = 25 May 1915
| term_end3           = 19 October 1915
| predecessor3        = [[Sir John Simon]]
| successor3          = [[Sir F. E. Smith]]|
| office4             = [[Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party]]
| term_start4         = June 1911
| term_end4           = 10 February 1921
| predecessor4        = [[Walter Long, 1st Viscount Long|Walter Long]]
| successor4          = [[James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon|James Craig]]|
| office5             = Leader of the {{nowrap|[[Irish Unionist Alliance|Irish Unionist Parliamentary Party]]}}
| term_start5         = 21 February 1910
| term_end5           = June 1921
| predecessor5        = Walter Long
| successor5          = [[St John Brodrick, 1st Earl of Midleton|The Earl of Midleton]]|
| office6             = [[Solicitor-General for England]]
| primeminister6      = {{plainlist|
*[[The Marquess of Salisbury]]
*Arthur Balfour}}
| term_start6         = 11 May 1900
| term_end6           = 4 December 1905
| predecessor6        = [[Sir Robert Finlay]]
| successor6          = [[William Robson, Baron Robson|Sir William Robson]]|
| office7             = [[Solicitor General for Ireland]]
| primeminister7      = The Marquess of Salisbury
| term_start7         = 20 June 1892
| term_end7           = 11 August 1892
| predecessor7        = [[John Atkinson, Baron Atkinson|John Atkinson]]
| successor7          = [[Charles Hemphill, 1st Baron Hemphill|Charles Hemphill]]|
| parliament8         = United Kingdom
| constituency_MP8    = [[Belfast Duncairn (UK Parliament constituency)|Belfast Duncairn]]
| term_start8         = 14 December 1918
| term_end8           = 31 May 1921
| predecessor8        = Constituency established
| successor8          = [[Thomas McConnell]]|
| parliament9         = United Kingdom
| constituency_MP9    = [[Dublin University (constituency)|Dublin University]]
| term_start9         = 4 July 1892
| term_end9           = 14 December 1918
| predecessor9        = [[Dodgson Hamilton Madden]]
| successor9          = [[Robert Woods (surgeon)|Sir Robert Woods]]|
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=yes|1854|02|9}}
| birth_place         = [[Dublin]], [[County Dublin]], [[Ireland]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=yes|1935|10|22|1854|2|9}}
| death_place         = [[Minster-in-Thanet]], [[Kent]], [[United Kingdom]]
| party               = [[Irish Unionist Alliance|Irish Unionist]] <br /> [[Ulster Unionist Party]]
| otherparty          = [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] (until 1886) <br /> [[Liberal Unionist]]
| alma_mater          = [[Trinity College Dublin]]
| spouse              = {{Plainlist |{{marriage|Annette Kirwan|1879|1913|end=d}} |{{marriage|Ruby Frewen|1914}}}}
| children            = 5
| profession          = Barrister
}}

'''Edward Henry Carson, Baron Carson''', [[Privy Council (United Kingdom)|PC]], [[Privy Council of Ireland|PC (Ire)]], [[King's Counsel|KC]] (9 February 1854 – 22 October 1935), from 1900 to 1921 known as '''Sir Edward Carson''', was an [[Irish unionist]] politician, barrister and judge, who was the [[Attorney General]] and [[Solicitor General]] for [[England]], [[Wales]] and [[Ireland]] as well as the [[First Lord of the Admiralty]] for the [[British Royal Navy]]. From 1905 Carson was both the [[Irish Unionist Alliance]] MP for the [[Dublin University (constituency)|Dublin University]] constituency and leader of the [[Ulster Unionist Council]] in [[Belfast]]. In 1915, he entered the war cabinet of [[H. H. Asquith]] as [[Attorney General for England and Wales|Attorney-General]]. Carson was defeated in his ambition to maintain [[Ireland]] as a whole in union with [[Great Britain]]. His leadership, however, was celebrated by some for securing a continued place in the [[United Kingdom]] for the six northeastern counties, albeit under a devolved [[Parliament of Northern Ireland]] that neither he nor his fellow unionists had sought. He is also remembered for his open-ended cross-examination of [[Oscar Wilde]] in a legal action that led to plaintiff Wilde being prosecuted, gaoled and ruined. Carson unsuccessfully attempted to intercede for Wilde after the case.<ref>John Brown, "Carson, Sir Edward, Baron Carson 1854–1935" in David Loades, ed., ''Reader's Guide to British History'' (2003) 1:227</ref>

== Early life ==

[[File:Teach Edward Carson.JPG|thumb|left|4 [[Harcourt Street]], Dublin, where Carson was born in 1854]]

Edward Carson, the second son of Edward Henry Carson, [[architect]], was born at 4 [[Harcourt Street]], in [[Dublin]], into a wealthy [[Church of Ireland|Anglican]] family.<ref name="autogenerated1">Marjoribanks, ''Volume One: The Life of Lord Carson'', London, 1932, p. 5</ref> The Carsons were of Scottish origin, Edward's grandfather having originally moved to Dublin from [[Dumfries]] in 1815. Carson's mother was Isabella Lambert, the daughter of Captain Peter Lambert, part of an old [[Anglo-Irish]] family, the Lamberts of [[Castle Ellen]], [[County Galway]]. Carson spent holidays at Castle Ellen, which was owned by his uncle.<ref>Marjoribanks, ''Volume One: The Life of Lord Carson'', London, 1932, p. 6</ref> He was one of six children (four boys and two girls). Edward was educated at Arlington House in [[Portarlington, County Laois|Portarlington]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Boyce |first=D. George |date=29 May 2014 |title=Carson, Edward Henry, Baron Carson: (1854–1935) |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/32310 |access-date=7 January 2025 |website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/32310}}</ref> [[Wesley College, Dublin]]<ref>Dickson, Brice Drewry, Gavin The Judicial House of Lords 1876–2009 Oxford University Press page 755</ref> and [[Trinity College Dublin]],<ref name=":0" /> where he read law and was an active member of the [[College Historical Society]]. It was said that he also played [[hurling]] with the college team. Carson graduated [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] and [[Master of Arts (Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin)|MA]].

He spoke Irish and was a regular player of [[Gaelic games]] as a child.<ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-55923100|title=NI 100: Why did Carson give up chance to be NI's first PM?|work=BBC News|date=4 February 2021}}</ref>

He later received an [[honorary doctorate]] ([[Doctor of Law|LL.D.]]) from the [[University of Dublin]] in June 1901.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=University intelligence |date=28 June 1901 |page=10 |issue=36493}}</ref>

== As a barrister ==

In 1877 Carson was called to the [[Irish Bar]] after graduating from [[King's Inns]].<ref name=":0" /> He gained a reputation for fearsome advocacy and supreme legal ability and became regarded as a brilliant barrister, among the most prominent in Ireland at the time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/sir_edward_carsons.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208181845/http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/sir_edward_carsons.htm|url-status=dead|title=History Learning Site<!-- Bot generated title -->|archivedate=8 February 2007}}</ref> He was also an acknowledged master of the appeal to the [[jury]] by his legal wit and oratory.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lawlibrary.ie/About-Us/History-of-the-Bar.aspx |title=Edward Carson |publisher=The Bar of Ireland Law Library |access-date=14 September 2020 |archive-date=29 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929113422/https://www.lawlibrary.ie/About-Us/History-of-the-Bar.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> He was appointed [[Queen's Counsel]] (Ireland) in 1889 and was Called to the English Bar at [[Middle Temple]] on 26 April 1893.<ref name=":0" /> He was twice admitted to the Inn, once on 1 November 1875 and then again on 21 April 1893, and was made a Bencher on 15 June 1900.<ref>Sturgess, H.A.C. (1949). ''Register of Admissions of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple''. Butterworth & Co. (Publishers) Ltd.: Temple Bar. Vol. 2, p. 597</ref>
{{clear left}}

=== Oscar Wilde ===

{{Main|Oscar Wilde#Trials|l1=Oscar Wilde trials}}

[[File:Edward Carson Vanity Fair 9 November 1893.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Carson addressing Parliament as depicted in ''[[Vanity Fair (UK magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' in 1893]]

In 1895, he was engaged by the [[John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry|Marquess of Queensberry]] to lead his defence against [[Oscar Wilde]]'s action for [[criminal libel]].<ref name=":0" /> The Marquess, angry at Wilde's ongoing homosexual relationship with his son, [[Lord Alfred Douglas]], had left his calling card at Wilde's club with an inscription accusing Wilde of being a "posing [[Sodomy|somdomite]]" {{Sic}}. Wilde retaliated with a libel action, as homosexuality was, at the time, illegal.

[[Kevin Myers]] states that Carson's initial response was to refuse to take the case. Later, he discovered that Queensberry had been telling the truth about Wilde's activity and was therefore not guilty of the libel of which Wilde accused him.<ref>{{cite news |first=Kevin |last=Myers |date=20 March 2009 |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/edward-carson-and--oscar-wilde--mythic-rewriting-of-history-drives-me-wild-14237022.html |title=Edward Carson and Oscar Wilde – mythic rewriting of history drives me wild |newspaper=Belfast Telegraph}}</ref>

Carson portrayed the playwright as a morally depraved hedonist who seduced naïve young men into a life of homosexuality with lavish gifts and promises of a glamorous artistic lifestyle. He impugned Wilde's works as morally repugnant and designed to corrupt the upbringing of the youth{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}. Queensberry spent a large amount of money on [[private detective]]s who investigated Wilde's activity in the London underworld of homosexual clubs and procurers.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Wilde abandoned the case when Carson announced in his opening speech for the defence that he planned to call several [[male prostitute]]s who would testify that they had had sex with Wilde, which would have rendered the libel charge unsupportable as the accusation would have been proven true{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}. Wilde was [[bankrupt]]ed when he was then ordered to pay the considerable legal and detective bills Queensberry had incurred in his defence.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Based on the evidence of Queensberry's detectives and Carson's cross-examinations of Wilde at the trial, Wilde was subsequently prosecuted for [[Labouchere Amendment|gross indecency]] in a second trial. He was eventually found guilty and sentenced to two years' [[hard labour]], after which he moved to France, where he died penniless.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

=== Cadbury Bros. ===

In 1908 Carson appeared for the London ''[[Evening Standard]]'' in a libel action brought by [[George Cadbury]]. The ''Standard'' was controlled by Unionist interests which supported [[Joseph Chamberlain]]'s [[Imperial Preference]] views. The Cadbury family were [[Liberalism|Liberal]] supporters of [[free trade]] and had, in 1901, purchased ''[[The Daily News (UK)|The Daily News]]''. The ''Standard'' articles alleged that Cadbury Bros Ltd., which claimed to be model employers having created the village of [[Bournville]] outside [[Birmingham]], knew of the slave labour conditions on [[Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe|São Tomé]], the Portuguese island colony from which Cadbury purchased most of the [[Cocoa bean|cocoa]] used in the production of their [[chocolate]].<ref>{{cite book | title=A civilised savagery: Britain and the new slaveries in Africa, 1884–1926 | author=Kevin Grant | publisher=Routledge | year=2005 | isbn=0-415-94901-7 | page=[https://archive.org/details/civilisedsavager0000gran/page/110 110] | url=https://archive.org/details/civilisedsavager0000gran/page/110 }}</ref>

The articles alleged that George's son William had gone to São Tomé in 1901 and observed for himself the slave conditions, and that the Cadbury family had decided to continue purchasing the cocoa grown there because it was cheaper than that grown in the British colony of the [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]], where labour conditions were much better, being regulated by the [[Secretary of State for the Colonies|Colonial Office]]. The ''Standard'' alleged that the Cadbury family knew that the reason cocoa from São Tomé was cheaper was because it was grown by slave labour. This case was regarded at the time as an important political case as Carson and the Unionists maintained that it showed the fundamental immorality of free trade. George Cadbury recovered [[contemptuous damages]] of one [[Farthing (British coin)|farthing]] in a case described as one of Carson's triumphs.<ref>''Chocolate on Trial: Slavery, Politics, and the Ethics of Business'', by Lowell J. Satre {{ISBN|0-8214-1626-X}}</ref>

=== Archer-Shee case ===

Carson was also the victorious counsel in the 1910 [[Archer-Shee Case]], exonerating a [[Royal Naval College, Osborne]] cadet of the charge of theft of a [[postal order]]. The cadet was from a quite prominent Roman Catholic banking family, and educated, both before and after Osborne, at [[Stonyhurst College|Stonyhurst]] College.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Irwin |first=Francis |title=Stonyhurst War Record |publisher=Stonyhurst College |year=1927 |pages=6-7}}</ref> On this case, [[Terence Rattigan]] based his play ''[[The Winslow Boy]]''.

== Politics ==

Initially a radical Liberal,<ref name="DIB">{{cite web |last1=Jackson |first1=Alvin |title=Carson, Edward Henry |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/carson-edward-henry-a1514 |website=Dictionary of Irish Biography |publisher=Royal Irish Academy |access-date=6 February 2022}}</ref> Carson's political career began on 20 June 1892, when he was appointed [[Solicitor-General for Ireland]], although he was not then a member of the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]]. He was elected as [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for the [[Dublin University (constituency)#House of Commons of the United Kingdom (1801–1922)|Dublin University]] constituency in the [[1892 United Kingdom general election|1892 general election]]<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=26311 |date=29 July 1892 |page=4314 }}</ref> as a [[Liberal Unionist]], although overall the Liberal Party won the election.

Carson maintained his career as a barrister and was admitted to the English Bar by [[The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple]] in 1893<ref name=":0" /> and from then on mainly practised in London. In 1896 he was sworn of the [[Irish Privy Council]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leighrayment.com/pcouncil/pcouncilI.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080607022603/http://leighrayment.com/pcouncil/pcouncilI.htm|archive-date=7 June 2008|title=leighrayment.com Privy Counsellors – Ireland|url-status=usurped|work=leighrayment.com}}</ref> He was appointed [[Solicitor-General for England]] on 7 May 1900,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27192 |date=15 May 1900 |page=3070 }}</ref> receiving the customary [[Knight Bachelor|knighthood]].<ref name=":0" /> He served in this position until the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] government resigned in December 1905, when he was rewarded with membership of the [[Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council|Privy Council]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27862 |date=8 December 1905 |page=8891 }}</ref>

In the [[1918 Irish general election|1918 general election]], Sinn Féin won 73 out of the 105 Irish seats in the House of Commons. In 25 constituencies, Sinn Féin won the seats unopposed. [[Unionism in Ireland|Unionists]] (including [[Ulster Unionist Labour Association]]) won 26 seats, all but three of which were in the six counties that today form [[Northern Ireland]], and the [[Irish Parliamentary Party]] won only six (down from 84), all but one in [[Ulster]]. The [[History of the Labour Party (Ireland)|Labour Party]] did not stand in the election, allowing the electorate to decide between [[home rule]] or a republic by having a clear choice between the two nationalist parties. Irish Republicans regarded these elections as the mandate to establish the [[First Dáil]]. As such, all persons in Ireland elected to Westminster were considered to have been elected to Dáil Éireann. Had he chosen to do so, Carson could have exercised the option of attending the meeting of the First Dáil in the Mansion House on 21 January 1919. Like all of those elected to Irish seats in December 1918, he received an invitation, written [[Irish language|as gaeilge]], to attend. He kept the invitation as a souvenir.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rte.ie/eile/election-1918/2018/1206/1015537-edward-carson-leader-profile/ |title=Edward Carson |last=Dungan |first=Myles |date=7 December 2018 |website=[[RTÉ]] }}</ref> When his name was called out in the first roll call of the new Dáil, it was met by silence, and then laughter, from the Sinn Féin delegates and the audience in the Mansion House.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/articles/dail-eireann-meets-in-mansion-house |title=Dail Eireann Meets in the Mansion House |author=Century Ireland |website=[[RTÉ]] }}</ref> He was listed as "as láthair", or absent.

== Unionism ==

In September 1911, a huge crowd of over 50,000 people gathered at a rally near Belfast where Carson made a speech in which he urged his party to take on the governance of Ulster. With the passage of the [[Parliament Act 1911]], the Unionists faced the loss of the [[House of Lords]]' ability to thwart the passage of the new [[Home Rule Act 1914|Home Rule Bill]]. Carson disliked many of Ulster's local characteristics and, in particular, the culture of [[Orangeism]] (although he had become an Orangeman at nineteen he left the institution shortly afterwards).<ref>Marjoribanks, ''The Life of Lord Carson'', Vol. 1, Camelot Press, 1932 p. 68</ref> He stated that their speeches reminded him of "the unrolling of a mummy. All old bones and rotten rags."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/politics/union/fcchap2.htm|title=CAIN: Issues: Politics: Cochrane, Feargal (1997) 'The Unionists of Ulster: An ideological Analysis'|work=ulst.ac.uk}}</ref>

[[File:Carson signing Solemn League and Covenant.jpg|left|thumb|Sir Edward Carson signing the [[Ulster Covenant]]]]

Carson campaigned against [[Home Rule]]. He spoke against the Bill in the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] and organised rallies in Ireland promoting a provisional government for "the Protestant province of Ulster" to be ready, should a [[third Home Rule Bill]] come into law.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.proni.gov.uk/exhibiti/ulstday/ulstday2.htm|title=Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) – nidirect|date=4 March 2016}}</ref>

On Sunday 28 September 1912, "Ulster Day", he was the first signatory on the [[Ulster Covenant]], which bound 447,197 signatories<ref>The number eventually exceeded 470,000 in England and Scotland.</ref> to resist Home Rule with the threat that they would use "all means necessary" after Carson had established the [[Ulster Volunteers]], the first [[Ulster loyalism|loyalist]] [[paramilitary]] group. From it, the Ulster Volunteer Force was formed in January 1913 to undergo military training and purchase arms.<ref>M McNally, ''Easter Rising 1916: Birth of the Irish Republic'', Osprey, 2007, pp. 8–9.</ref> In Parliament Carson rejected any olive branch for compromise demanding Ulster "be given a resolution rather than a stay of execution".<ref>McNally, ''Easter Rising 1916'', p. 11.</ref> The UVF [[Larne Gun Running|received a large arms cache]] from Germany on the night of 24 April 1914.<ref>known as Operation Lion. Stewart, ''The Ulster Crisis'', p. 88.</ref> Historian Felician Prill says Germany was not trying to start a civil war, for the Ulster cause was not popular in Berlin.<ref>{{cite book|author=Felician Prill|title=Ireland, Britain and Germany, 1871–1914: Problems of Nationalism and Religion in Nineteenth-Century Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k5BnAAAAMAAJ|year=1975|page=133|publisher=Gill and Macmillan |isbn=9780064957298}}</ref> Later that year, a further shipment of arms from Germany was delivered to the pro-Home Rule and IRB-influenced [[Irish Volunteers]] at [[Howth gun-running|Howth]] near Dublin.<ref>[[Asgard (yacht)#cite note-ring95-99-1]]</ref>

The Home Rule Bill was passed by the Commons on 25 May 1914 by a majority of 77 and due to the [[Parliament Act 1911]], it did not need the Lords' consent, so the bill was awaiting royal assent. To enforce the legislation, given the activities of the Unionists, [[H. H. Asquith]]'s [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] government had prepared to send troops to Ulster. This sparked the [[Curragh Incident]] on 20 March. Together with the arming of the Irish Volunteers, Ireland was on the brink of [[civil war]] when the outbreak of the [[First World War]] led to the suspension of the Home Rule Act's operation until the end of the war.<ref name="stewart">[[A. T. Q. Stewart]],  ''The Ulster Crisis, Resistance to Home Rule, 1912–14'', p. 235 (Faber and Faber, London, 1967, 1979), {{ISBN|0-571-08066-9}}</ref> By this time Carson had announced in Belfast that an Ulster Division would be formed from the U.V.F., and the [[36th (Ulster) Division]] was swiftly organised.<ref name="stewart"/>

Brown examines why Carson's role in 1914 made him a highly controversial figure:
{{blockquote|But his commitment was unqualified, both to Ulster unionism and to its increasing extremism. Under Carson's leadership, with [[James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon|Craig]] as his lieutenant, discipline and organization were imposed on their supporters; proposed compromises were rejected; and plans were drawn up for a provisional government in the north, if the bill was passed, with its implementation to be resisted by the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force, which had been armed by illegal gun-running. It is this apparent willingness to carry resistance to virtually any length, even to risk civil war, that makes Carson so controversial.<ref>Brown, ''Carson'', p. 227</ref>}}In 1914, suffragettes [[Flora Drummond]] and Norah Dacre Fox (later known as [[Norah Elam]]) besieged Carson's home, arguing that his form of Ulster "incitement to militancy" passed without notice whilst suffragettes were charged and imprisoned for same action.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oldsuffragette.co.uk/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113154415/http://www.oldsuffragette.co.uk/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-01-13|title=Home – Mosley's Old Suffragette: A Biography of Norah Dacre Fox|date=2012-01-13|access-date=2020-03-03}}</ref>

In a 1921 speech opposing the pending [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]], Carson attacked the "Tory intrigues" that had led him on the course that would partition Ireland, an outcome he opposed almost as strongly as Home Rule itself. In the course of the speech, Carson said: {{blockquote|What a fool I was! I was only a puppet, and so was Ulster, and so was Ireland, in the political game that was to get the Conservative Party into Power.<ref name="Stewart">{{cite book | last = Stewart | first = A. T. Q. | title = Edward Carson | publisher = Gill and Macmillan Ltd | year = 1981 | page = 125 | isbn =  0-7171-1075-3}}</ref><ref name="Murphy">{{cite book | last = Murphy | first = Brian P | title = The Catholic Bulletin and Republican Ireland | publisher = Athol Books | year = 2005 | page = 222 | isbn = 0-85034-108-6}}</ref>}} Later in the speech, Carson said:

{{blockquote|But I say to my Ulster friends, and I say it with all sincerity and solemnity: Do not be led into any such false line. Stick to your old ideals of closer and closer connection with this country. The Coalition Government, after all, is not the British nation, and the British nation will certainly see you righted. Your interests lie with Great Britain. You have helped her, and you have helped her Empire, and her Empire belongs just as much to you as it does to England. Stick to it, and trust the British people.<ref>[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1921/dec/14/address-in-reply-to-his-majestys-most Address in Reply to His Majesty's Most Gracious Speech], HL Deb 14 December 1921 vol 48 cc5–56.</ref>}}

Although considering himself proudly British, Carson also considered himself a proud Irishman stating "I am very proud as an Irishman to be a member of the British Empire".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1929/dec/03/irish-free-state-appeals-to-the-privy|date=3 December 1929|title=IRISH FREE STATE: APPEALS TO THE PRIVY COUNCIL. (Hansard, 3 December 1929)|website=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]}}</ref>

== Cabinet member ==

On 25 May 1915, Asquith appointed Carson [[Attorney General for England and Wales|Attorney-General]]<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29197 |date=18 June 1915 |page=5871}}</ref> when the Coalition Government was formed after the Liberal government was brought down by the [[Shell Crisis of 1915|Shell Crisis]] and the resignation of [[Admiral Fisher]]. He resigned on 19 October, however, citing his opposition to Government policy on war in the Balkans. During Asquith's coalition government of 1915–1916, there was no formal opposition in either the Commons or the Lords. The only party not in Asquith's Liberal, Conservative, and Labour Coalition was the [[Irish Nationalist Party]] led by [[John Redmond]]. However, this party supported the government and did not function as an Opposition. After Carson, the leading figure among the Irish Unionist allies of the Conservative Party, resigned from the coalition ministry on 19 October 1915, he then became the de facto leader of those Unionists who were not members of the government, effectively [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]] in the Commons.

He played a major role in forcing the resignation of Asquith as Prime Minister, returning to office on 10 December 1916 as [[First Lord of the Admiralty]],<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29860 |date=12 December 1916 |page=12118 }}</ref> and elevated to the powerful British War Cabinet as a [[Minister without portfolio (United Kingdom)|Minister without Portfolio]] on 17 July 1917.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.211122/page/n165/mode/2up?q=Carson War Memoirs of David Lloyd George, Vol. III], London: Ivor Nicholson & Watson, 1934, pp. 1175–77</ref>

Carson was hostile to the foundation of the [[League of Nations]] as he believed that this institution would be ineffectual against war. In a speech on 7 December 1917, he said:

<blockquote>Talk to me of treaties! Talk to me of the League of Nations! Every Great Power in Europe was pledged by treaty to preserve Belgium. That was a League of Nations, but it failed.<ref>Henry R. Winkler, "The Development of the League of Nations Idea in Great Britain, 1914–1919", ''The Journal of Modern History'', Vol. 20, No. 2. (June 1948), p. 105.</ref></blockquote>

Early in 1918, the government decided to extend [[conscription]] to Ireland, and that Ireland would have to be given [[home rule]] in order to make it acceptable. Carson disagreed in principle and again resigned on 21 January. He gave up his seat at the University of Dublin in the [[1918 Irish general election|1918 general election]] and was instead elected for [[Belfast Duncairn (UK Parliament constituency)|Belfast Duncairn]].<ref>{{cite web| url=http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=917| title=ElectionsIreland.org: Rt Hon Sir Edward Carson| website=ElectionsIreland.org| access-date=21 September 2014}}</ref>

He continued to lead the Unionists, but when the [[Government of Ireland Act 1920]] was introduced, advised his party to work for the exemption of six Ulster counties from Home Rule as the best compromise (a compromise he had previously rejected). This proposal passed and as a result, the [[Parliament of Northern Ireland]] was established.<ref>Frank Costello, "King George V's Speech at Stormont (1921): Prelude to the Anglo-Irish Truce", ''Eire-Ireland'', (1987), pp. 43–57.</ref>

In January 1921, he met in London over three days with [[Michael O'Flanagan|Father O'Flanagan]] and [[Lord Justice of Appeal in Ireland|Lord Justice]] [[James O'Connor (Irish jurist)|Sir James O'Connor]] to try to find a mutual agreement that would end the [[Anglo-Irish war]], but without result.<ref>[http://www.difp.ie/docs/Volume1/1921/129.htm "Memorandum by James O'Connor of an interview with Edward Carson"]; RIA, Dublin, 1993. [[National Archives of Ireland]] file UCDA P150/1902</ref>

After the [[partition of Ireland]], Carson repeatedly warned Ulster Unionist leaders not to alienate northern Catholics, as he foresaw this would make [[Northern Ireland]] unstable (see [[The Troubles in Ulster (1920–1922)]]). In 1921, he stated: "We used to say that we could not trust an Irish parliament in Dublin to do justice to the Protestant minority. Let us take care that that reproach can no longer be made against your parliament, and from the outset let them see that the Catholic minority have nothing to fear from a Protestant majority."<ref>{{cite news | last = Dudley Edwards | first = Ruth | title = Biography: Carson by Geoffrey Lewis | newspaper = The Times | date = 29 May 2005 | url = http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article526275.ece |access-date=13 July 2009}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> In old age, while at London's [[Carlton Club]], he confided to the Anglo-Irish (and Catholic) historian [[Sir Charles Petrie]] his disillusionment with Belfast politics: "I fought to keep Ulster part of the United Kingdom, but Stormont is turning her into a second-class [[Dominion]]."<ref>Sir Charles Petrie, ''A Historian Looks at His World'' (London: Sedgwick & Jackson, 1972), p. 27.</ref>

Carson did not see himself as an Ulsterman and, unlike many northern unionists, it is thought he had an emotional connection with Ireland as a single entity.<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/>

== Judge ==

Carson was asked to lead the Unionists during the election to become the first [[Prime Minister of Northern Ireland]]. He declined due to his lack of connections with any Northern Ireland constituency (an opponent once taunted him saying: "He has no country, he has no caste"),<ref>Marjoribanks, ''Volume One: The Life of Lord Carson'', London, 1932, p. 8</ref> and resigned the leadership of the party in February 1921.<ref name="CarsonODNB">{{Cite ODNB|id=32310|title=Carson, Edward Henry, Baron Carson|first=D. George|last=Boyce|author-link=D. G. Boyce}}</ref> Carson was appointed one of seven [[Lords of Appeal in Ordinary]] on 24 May 1921 and was created a life peer under the [[Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876]] on 1 June 1921 as '''Baron Carson''', of [[Belfast Duncairn (UK Parliament constituency)|Duncairn]] in the [[County of Antrim]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=32344 |date=3 June 1921 |page=4425 }}</ref>

== Later years ==

[[File:Cathedral St. Anne Belfast.jpg|thumb|[[St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast|St Anne's Cathedral]]; Carson's final resting place]]

Carson retired in October 1929. In July 1933, during his last visit to Northern Ireland, he witnessed the unveiling of a large statue of himself in front of [[Parliament Buildings (Northern Ireland)|Parliament Buildings]] at [[Stormont Estate|Stormont]].<ref name=":0" /> The statue was sculpted by [[Leonard Stanford Merrifield|L. S. Merrifield]], cast in bronze, and placed upon a plinth. The inscription on the base read "By the [[Ulster loyalism|loyalists of Ulster]] as an expression of their love and admiration for its subject". It was unveiled by [[Lord Craigavon]] in the presence of more than 40,000 people.<ref name="CarsonODNB" />

=== State funeral ===

Lord Carson lived at Cleve Court, a [[Queen Anne Style architecture|Queen Anne]] house near [[Minster-in-Thanet|Minster]] in the [[Isle of Thanet]], [[Kent]], bought in 1921. It was here that Carson died peacefully on 22 October 1935.<ref name=":0" /> Britain gave him a state funeral, which took place in Belfast at [[St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast|St Anne's Cathedral]]; he is still the only person to have been buried there. From a silver bowl, soil from each of the six counties of [[Northern Ireland]] was scattered onto his coffin, which had earlier been covered by the [[Union Flag]], which however was removed during the service. At his funeral service the choir sang his favourite hymn, "[[I Vow to Thee, My Country]]". A warship had brought his body to Belfast and the funeral took place on Saturday 26 October 1935. Thousands of ship workers stopped work and bowed their heads as [[HMS Broke (D83)|HMS ''Broke'']] steamed slowly up [[Belfast Lough]], with Carson's flag-draped coffin sat on the quarterdeck.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Lord Carson's Funeral |department=News |date=28 October 1935 |page=11 |issue=47206 |column=A }}</ref> This would be the last state funeral for a non-member of [[British royal family|the royal family]] until the [[funeral of Winston Churchill]] in 1965.

===Memories===

Even before his death, there was an organized effort to portray Carson as the heroic embodiment of the militant unionist spirit. In November 1932, the new Stormont Parliament became the greatest Carson monument, giving his admirers the symbolic endorsement of their state. His statue was unveiled as the speakers excited the audience with triumphalist images of Protestant deliverance from Catholic tyranny.  Carson's funeral in 1935 was attended with pomp and unionist symbolism, as happened again with the dedication of a plaque in his memory in 1938. Calling for unity with Britain, numerous ceremonial rituals, memorials, and anniversaries affirmed the legitimacy of the state, and the Protestant ascendancy.

<gallery>
File:Solicitor General Ceremonial Dress Uniform.JPG|Carson's ceremonial dress uniform, worn on his appointment as Solicitor General for England in 1900.
File:Carson statue, Parliament Buildings (3) - geograph.org.uk - 693337.jpg|Lord Carson's statue at [[Stormont Estate|Stormont]]
File:Northern Ireland Parliament Buildings - Edward Carson statue.jpg|Edward Carson's statue at Stormont
File:Carson Mural.jpg|Sir Edward Carson mural in Belfast in 2006
File:Carson Poster.jpg|Carson Poster, Belfast, August 2007
</gallery>

== Private life ==

Carson married twice. His first wife was Annette Kirwan from [[County Galway]], daughter of Henry Persse Kirwan, a retired County Inspector of the [[Royal Irish Constabulary]]. They were married on 19 December 1879.<ref name=":0" /> He had two sons and two daughters by his first wife (he described them as a "rum lot"),<ref name="CarsonODNB" /> namely:
* [[The Hon.]] William Henry Lambert Carson, born 2 October 1880 (d. 1930)
* The Hon. Aileen Seymour Carson, born 13 November 1881
* The Hon. Gladys Isobel Carson, born 1885
* The Hon. Walter Seymour Carson, born 1890

The first Lady Carson died in 1913.<ref name="CarsonODNB" /> His second wife was Ruby Frewen (1881–1966),<ref>{{cite web |title=Ruby Carson (née Frewen), Lady Carson |url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp100693/ruby-carson-nee-frewen-lady-carson |publisher=National Portrait Gallery}}</ref> a [[Yorkshire]]woman, the daughter of Lt.-Col. Stephen Frewen, later Frewen-Laton MP (1857–1933) and Emily Augusta (Peacocke) Frewen. They were married on 17 September 1914;<ref name=":0" /> she was 32 and he was 60. They had one son:
* [[Edward Carson (Conservative politician)|The Hon. Edward Carson MP]], born 17 February 1920

==Arms==

{{Infobox COA wide
|escutcheon = Argent on a chevron couped Gules between three crescents Sable two fasces chevronwise Or.
|crest = An elephant statant supporting with the trunk a fasces Or.
|torse = Argent and Gules.
|mantling = Gules lined Argent.
|motto = Dum Spiro Spero
|notes = Granted 1931<ref>{{cite book|title=Middle Temple Armory |author=Baz Manning}}</ref>}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==

* [https://www.questia.com/library/109089825/dividing-ireland-world-war-i-and-partition Hennessey, Thomas. ''Dividing Ireland: World War I and Partition'' (1998) (online)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180624093331/https://www.questia.com/library/109089825/dividing-ireland-world-war-i-and-partition |date=24 June 2018 }}
* H. Montgomery Hyde, ''Carson'' (Constable, London 1974) {{ISBN|0-09-459510-0}}
* Marjoribanks, Edward and Colvin, Ian, ''The Life of Lord Carson'', (Victor Gollancz, London, 1932–1936, 3 Vols). 
* A.T.Q. Stewart  ''The Ulster Crisis, Resistance to Home Rule, 1912–14'', (Faber and Faber, London, 1967, 1979), {{ISBN|0-571-08066-9}}
* A.T.Q. Stewart, ''Edward Carson'' (Gill and Macmillan Ltd, Dublin 1981) {{ISBN|0-7171-1075-3}}
* Geoffrey Lewis, ''Carson, the Man who divided Ireland'', (Hambledon and London 2005), {{ISBN|1-85285-454-5}}
* Jackson, Alvin, ''Judging Redmond and Carson'', Royal Irish Academy (2018)

== External links ==

{{Commons category|Edward Carson, Baron Carson}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{EB1922 Poster|Carson, Edward Henry Carson, Baron|Edward Carson, Baron Carson}}
* {{Hansard-contribs | mr-edward-carson | Edward Carson }}
* {{UK National Archives ID}}
* [http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/photo-galleries/article13909724.ece?ino=214 Image: Sir Edward Carson inspecting the U.V.F, 1913]
* [http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/photo-galleries/article13909724.ece?ino=215 Image: Sir Edward Carson at U.V.F rally, 1913]
* {{YouTube|M8fQ6DN4Tts|Video footage of Lord Carson's funeral}}
* {{PM20|FID=pe/003022}}

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| title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Dublin University (constituency)|Dublin University]]
| years = 1892–1918
| with = [[David Plunket, 1st Baron Rathmore|Hon. David Plunket]] 1892–1895
| with2 = [[W.E.H. Lecky]] 1895–1903
| with3 = [[James Campbell, 1st Baron Glenavy|James Campbell]] 1903–1917
| with4 = [[Arthur Samuels]] 1917–1918
| before = [[David Plunket]]<br />[[Dodgson Hamilton Madden]]
| after = [[Arthur Samuels]]<br />[[Robert Woods (surgeon)|Sir Robert Woods]]
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| title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Belfast Duncairn (UK Parliament constituency)|Belfast Duncairn]]
| years = 1918–1921
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| title = [[Solicitor-General for Ireland]]
| before = [[John Atkinson, Baron Atkinson|John Atkinson]]
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| years = 1892
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| title = [[Solicitor-General for England]]
| before = [[Sir Robert Finlay]]
| after = [[William Robson, Baron Robson|Sir William Robson]]
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| title = Leader of the <br />[[Irish Unionist Party|Irish Unionist Parliament Party]]
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| title = Leader of the <br />[[Ulster Unionist Party]]
| before = [[Walter Long, 1st Viscount Long|Walter Long]]
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| years = 1910–1921
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