COUNTY     LOUTH

1912

County Louth People who opposed Home Rule.

According to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) the archive of the Ulster Unionist Council, held by PRONI, contains just under half a million original signatures and addresses of the men who, on 28 September 1912, signed the Ulster Covenant, and of the women who signed the parallel Declaration. In total, the Covenant was signed by 237,368 men, and the Declaration by 234,046 women.

Besides the province of Ulster many of those who signed resided elsewhere in Ireland and abroad. In the case of County Louth the Covenant could be signed in Dundalk and in Ballymascanlan Parish Church. But some residents signed elsewhere. In addition it is possible others, because of their occupation or profession such as British army personnel, could not sign such a declaration.
One of the genealogical values, however, of such a record is that for some it gave both a former and a current  address.
 

More information on this record, its background and aftermath, can be found on PRONI website at http://www.proni.gov.uk
 

The wording to the Ulster Covenant signed by men only was:

        'Being convinced in our consciences that Home Rule would be disastrous to the material well-being of Ulster as well as of the whole of Ireland, subversive of our civil and religious freedom, destructive of our citizenship, and perilous to the unity of the Empire, we whose names are underwritten, men of Ulster, loyal subjects of His Gracious Majesty King George V., humbly relying on the God whom our fathers in days of stress and trial confidently trusted, do hereby pledge ourselves in solemn Covenant, throughout this our time of threatened calamity, to stand by one another in defending, for ourselves and our children, our cherished position of equal citizenship in the United Kingdom, and in using all means, which may be found necessary to defeat the present conspiracy to set up a Home Rule Parliament in Ireland.  And in the event of such a parliament been forced upon us, we further solemnly and mutually pledge ourselves to refuse to recognize its authority.
In sure confidence that God will defend the right, we hereby subscribe our names.
         And further, we individually declare that we have not already signed this Covenant.'
 

That signed by women only read:

        'We, whose names are underwritten, women of Ulster, and loyal subjects of our gracious King, being firmly persuaded that Home Rule would be disastrous to our Country, desire to associate ourselves with the men of Ulster in their uncompromising opposition to the Home Rule Bill now before Parliament, whereby it is proposed to drive Ulster out of her cherished place in the constitution of the United Kingdom, and to place her under  the domination and control of a Parliament in Ireland.
            Praying that from this calamity God will save Ireland, we hereto subscribe our names.'

 

Among those who signed, where County Louth address (i.e. postal) is given, were the following: