Carson in Belfast for the ´Twelfth´ celebrations. This time he is inspecting units of the UVF, principally the Lady Signallers and members of the Ambulance Corps. A UVF ambulance - almost certainly passed on soon after to the Ulster Division - is also inspected. Carson is clearly in a hurry, and with good reason: King George V had invited all parties connected with the Home Rule crisis to Buckingham Palace in an attempt to find a way out of the impasse. Carson´s worry was that both of the main political parties in Britain, the Liberals and the Conservatives, were moving towards partition - a solution he did not want. .
Shot List
'Sir Edward Carson in Belfast. The Ulster leader hurriedly inspects the Lady Signallers and Ambulance Corps and departs for London. 151-1' Includes an inspection of a UVF ambulance.
Year
1914
Location
Belfast
Rights Holder
British Film Institute
Courtesy of
British Film Institute
Credits
Source
National Film and Television Archive
Format
35mm, film, black and white, silent, intertitles
Silent
Yes
Length
55sec
Notes
Dublin born Carson was educated at Trinity College before becoming a highly successful barrister, remembered in legal circles for his involvement in two famous cases, the Winslow Boy case, and Oscar Wilde’s first libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry. He was elected MP for Trinity College from 1892-1918. He was leader of the Ulster Unionists from 1911 until 1921. He also served in the British government as Attorney General, First Lord of the Admiralty and in the War Cabinet and was given a peerage in 1921.