James Craig 1st Viscount Craigavon Early life
James Craig was born in Sydenham, Belfast, 8 January 1871. He was son James Craig Senior. Who was a wealthy whiskey distiller. He was the sixth son and seventh child in total. Military life
He enlisted in the 3rd (militia) regiment of the Royal Irish Rifles in 1900 to serve in the Second Boer War. He enjoyed military life but became impatient at the lack of professionalism and efficiency in the British Army. He made lieutenant and then captain but was taken prisoner in May 1900, but was released for medical reasons. On his recovery he became deputy assistant director of the Imperial Military Railways. During this he showed qualities of organization which were to mark his involvement in British and Ulster politics. In 1901 he was sent home because he suffered from dysentery, and by the time he was healthy again, the war had ended. Political career
In the General Election of 1906, Craig entered parliament as the MP for East down. He proved to be a very energetic parliamentarian, taking a keen interest in a wide range of issues, namely social, educational and reform of the army.
As the third Home Rule Bill of 1910 unfolded, Craig formed a very effective partnership with Sir Edward Carson. They worked together to mobilize Ulster Unionist resistance. Sir John Greene Ervine, Carson and Craig’s biographer wrote ‘Each had what the other lacked. Pooling their resources, they became a third and undeniable person. Effective apart, they were irresistible together’.
Recognising Carson’s outstanding skill set which he would bring to the Unionist cause, Craig himself in 1910 suggested that Carson should be invited to become the Unionist leader.
On 29th July 1911, Carson wrote to Craig outlining his fear of uprisers in the South and among Unionists. Craig reassured Carson that Ulster Unionists would resist. On 23rd September 1911, Craig organized a demonstration at Craigavon in which he was introduced to the people he would lead over the next decade.
It was Craig who masterminded the Unionist campaign. Carson provided the speeches and Craig provided the organization. Craig organized the Balmoral demonstration on Easter Tuesday 1912 and the pre-Covenant demonstrations in September 1912. Originally Craig was responsible for the drafting of the text of the Covenant but that duty ultimately fell to Thomas Sinclair. However, Craig choreographed the signing of the Ulster Covenant. Afterwards, Carson admitted ‘It was James Craig who did most of the work, and I got most of the credit.’ During the signing of the Covenant, Craig showed support toward a discriminatory regime. He believed Southern Irish should stay in the South and Unionist Protestants should be employed above Catholics and Nationalists. He said “We are a Protestant Parliament and a Protestant State”.
Craig sacrificed a promising political career in London to become Northern Ireland’s first Prime Minister, a position he held until his death in 1940.
Craig defended Northern Ireland against external and internal threats. The birth of the State of Northern Ireland was violent as the IRA sought to destroy the new state.
Other threats appeared during the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 when Craig was pressurized into agreeing to an eventual emergence with the Southern Irish parliament and possible threat to new Northern Irish boundaries. Established by the Boundary Commission. Craig successfully saw off all of these threats. Historian Bryan A. Follis observed ‘the successful birth of Northern Ireland was due to the iron will of the Ulster unionist government and the resolute leadership of Sir James Craig’.
Craig died on the 24th November 1940 where special legislation was rapidly passed to enable the burial of his remains in the grounds of Parliament Buildings at Stormont.
Although Craig was an important opponent of Home Rule and spent almost half his political career opposing it, he went on to spend his remaining years as a very effective Prime Minister of a Home Rule administration.