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INTRODUCTION

The Uncertainty and Confusion of Partition

The funeral of Dan Doonan came treacle-slow from the church … They approached the new Border Customs Post. From a hut, a-buttoning his coat came Barrington.

‘Good morning,’ he said in that uneasy Civil Servant tone; not so much a greeting to the day as a farewell to personal liberty.

‘A few formalities, sir,’ he continued, thrusting the Customs card at the priest. ‘Read that, will you?’

‘We have nothing to declare, sir, this is a funeral.’

‘What have you got in the coffin?’

‘You must be joking,’ said the priest, his face going purple with anger, and his anger going white with rage.

‘I’m not joking sir, I am merely doing my duty.’

‘Very well. Inside the coffin is the body of 98-year-old Dan Doonan. Now let us pass!’

‘Not quite finished yet, sir. You intend to bury an Irish citizen in what is now British territory?’

‘That is true …’

‘I presume the deceased will be staying this side permanently?’

‘Unless someone invents a remarkable drug – yes,’ answered the priest. ‘Then,’ went on Barrington, ‘he will require the following: an Irish passport stamped with a visa, to be renewed annually for the rest of his –’ Barrington almost said ‘life’ – ‘stay,’ he concluded.

Spike Milligan, Puckoon1

Puckoon is a comic novel written in 1963 by Spike Milligan. It is set in 1924, as the Boundary Commission was deciding on the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State. In the novel, the small town of Puckoon ends up having the border running straight through the middle of it, and ‘through incompetence, dereliction of duty and sheer perversity … Houses are divided from outhouses, husbands separated from wives, bars cut off from their patrons, churches sundered from graveyards.’2 Although a comic novel, such was the confusion and uncertainty surrounding the birth of the border in Ireland that there is more than a hint of real life permeating the novel. In real life, towns, farms and homes were divided by the border. The novel captures the absurdity of drawing lines on a map that divided communities into different political entities.

The creation of Northern Ireland was not a clean-cut operation, and Ireland took a long meandering road on its path towards partition. For a start, there was minimal initial support for two parliaments in Ireland among the Ulster unionists, who wished to remain governed from Westminster, and from nationalists. The vast majority of the people on the island rejected the Government of Ireland Act 1920, including at least one-third of the population of the new northern jurisdiction. There was also significant opposition from politicians in Britain and from the British civil service in Ireland. The process towards and realisation of partition was coloured by bewilderment, rejection, obstruction and constant change. It was also somewhat haphazard in its implementation, with some services remaining in Westminster on the off-chance that an all-Ireland jurisdiction would prevail. The signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 led to increased uncertainty and confusion, superseding the Government of Ireland Act for the south. Both Irish jurisdictions were born at roughly the same time. However, one was granted significantly more powers than the other. There was doubt as to the viability of Northern Ireland for a number of years following its birth, particularly in relation to the size of the area that would remain within its territory. A permanency of sorts was reached in 1925 with the agreement of the British, Free State and Northern Ireland governments to abandon the Boundary Commission report and retain the status quo. Regardless of the maintenance of the status quo, the northern jurisdiction remained a contested entity.

This book does not merely focus on the consequences of partition in terms of politics and security. It also looks at many of the day-to-day implications of it, with chapters exploring areas such as law, business and trade, religion, education, the labour movement, infrastructure and services, and sport. The book follows a rough timeline from 1912 to the tripartite agreement by the British, Irish Free State and northern governments to retain the status-quo in late 1925. In some instances, the timeline extends beyond 1925 to demonstrate the initial impact of partition on different bodies. The first five chapters look at the evolution of partition, from the third Home Rule Crisis of 1912 through to the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. In 1912, partition was seriously considered, for the first time, as a solution to the impasse between Irish nationalists and unionists. Many options were considered thereafter that related to the type of partition, the area to be partitioned and for how long. Up to and during the First World War, a number of attempts were made to solve the Irish question, but all fell short. The concept of creating two Irish parliaments was first introduced in 1919 by the decisive Government of Ireland Bill. It was opposed by almost all, including the Ulster unionists, who had never asked for a devolved government. Eventually, many supporters of Ulster unionism realised the benefits of having their own government and voted in favour of the bill. As the bill was making its way through the houses of parliament, the British government was fighting a war with Sinn Féin and its military wing, the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The Government of Ireland Act was completely rejected by Sinn Féin and almost all citizens in the south and west of Ireland and by one-third of the population designated to belong to the territory of Northern Ireland.

The creation of the machinery and administration of a new jurisdiction is the focus of Chapter Three. With very few templates to work with, Sir Ernest Clark, Assistant Under-Secretary for Ireland and located in Belfast, was primarily responsible for ensuring that a functioning government and administration existed once Northern Ireland came into being in May 1921. Since the Acts of Union of 1800, Ireland had been administered as a separate entity, with almost all government and non-government bodies headquartered in Dublin. The breaking-up of bodies into two was a gargantuan task, often met with resistance. Northern Ireland’s future was still uncertain after it was created. It had very few powers, mainly due to the withholding of the transfer of services by the British until negotiations were completed with Sinn Féin.

Sinn Féin and the nationalist minority in the north boycotted the new entity of Northern Ireland and its institutions. From its rise in popularity after the Easter Rising until the truce of July 1921, Sinn Féin had no clear policy on how to deal with the unionist minority in the north-east of Ireland. The negotiations with the British in late 1921 forced Sinn Féin to realistically address the issue of partition for the first time. The resulting Anglo-Irish Treaty included the establishment of the Boundary Commission to determine the size of Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin naively believed the commission would transfer much of the northern territory to the Irish Free State.

Chapter Six looks at the political make-up of Northern Ireland, the political decisions it made to protect its borders and the relationship between both Irish jurisdictions, culminating with the Boundary Commission decision to retain the status quo in late 1925. The majority of decisions were made by the northern government with security in mind, which is the focus of Chapter Seven. Sectarian violence engulfed the north from 1920 to 1922, particularly in Belfast, where some of the most brutal disturbances in Ireland occurred. Heavily armed loyalists, aided by the British, were pitted against the IRA, who were aided by Michael Collins’s provisional government during the first half of 1922 in a conflict that amounted to a civil war in all but name. The start of the Irish civil war in the south in June 1922, intervened to ease the pressure on the beleaguered north.

Two new justice systems for Ireland were created under the Government of Ireland Act, perfectly illustrating the complexity and confusion surrounding partition. Whilst the Irish Free State inherited justice systems of the past (i.e. the British justice system and the home-grown Dáil Courts), the northern judiciary had to start from scratch, with no courthouses, staff and no books. The one area where there was cooperation – the education of barristers from all parts of Ireland at King’s Inns in Dublin – only lasted for a short period, with both jurisdictions eventually diverging in all aspects of law, as in politics.

It can be argued that the cementing of partition came with the imposition of customs barriers on the border in 1923, a decision made by the Free State government. This decision, following on from the Belfast Boycott of 1920 to 1922, resulted in numerous psychological and physical divisions, including some which had never existed before. Despite the upheavals that led to partition, many organisations and groups continued as before. With no obligation to divide based on the political division, the majority of organisations, trade groups and charities that were all-Ireland bodies prior to 1921 remained so afterwards. Most religious organisations remained all-Ireland entities, regardless of the central role that religion played in the Irish question. They did so, however, under significantly changed circumstances, as they had to operate within two extremely different jurisdictions. This was most clearly demonstrated through the issue of education within both states. Divisions in education that had existed before were worsened by partition. The two jurisdictions adopted very different approaches to education, with the north looking to democratise it whilst the south looked to Gaelicise it. A striking example of Irish nationalism’s non-recognition of the northern jurisdiction was the payment of Catholic teachers based in the north by the provisional government in the south.

The labour movement consisted of a divergent group of people – Protestants and Catholics, nationalists and unionists, and internationalists. The political division of the island led to great pressures on the movement. Many trade unions as well as the Labour Party looked to retain a sense of unity by focusing on areas of common interest and offering degrees of autonomy to northern members. The labour movement was deeply affected by partition, and its influence was diluted by the sectarian divide that engulfed the north.

The disruption caused by partition was clearly seen in the necessary changes made to aspects of Ireland’s infrastructure and services. The creation of the border impacted greatly on railways, roads, fisheries and postal services, as well as many other areas. The necessary changes to Irish infrastructure and services in order to accommodate the creation of two jurisdictions affected people more on a day-to-day basis than almost anything else.

All sports were affected by partition, with some affected more than others. As with trade, charity, labour and religious organisations, many sports remained or became all-Ireland bodies after partition. Soccer and athletics stand out, however, as they were partitioned along political lines. Those that were governed on an all-Ireland basis navigated the difficult political terrain by accommodating diverse interests and compromising on certain areas of symbolic importance, such as flags, anthems and emblems.

This book demonstrates the vast upheaval of partition, which affected everyone on the island in a political, economic, social and cultural sense. It examines the effects that the creation of a border had on many aspects of people’s lives, including how they were affected on a day-to-day basis. It shows the great uncertainty that surrounded Northern Ireland’s status for many years after its birth, with this uncertainty feeding into decisions made by numerous bodies, both political and non-political. A unique feature of the partition of Ireland, compared with other jurisdictions, was the number of organisations across most spheres of Irish life that were allowed to, and chose to, ignore the new international frontier and continue as they had before, as all-Ireland entities.