1914 - 1 / January to  June

                                                                                                      "Labour Party Evolved - Curragh Mutiny - Artificial Partition Muted."

1914 AD January: The Dublin area strike, originally begun under the leadership of James Larkin, for better pay and conditions for the "workers" in Ireland, came to an end after 5 months, with a victory once again to the employers.

March: Herbert Asquith, the British Liberal Prime Minister, was now in dire need of the "votes" of the M.P.s in the Irish Parliamentary Party to have any chance of surviving as the Imperial Government in England, and John Redmond the Irish Parliamentary Party leader was still keen on "Irish Home Rule," so he reached an agreement with Herbert Asquith, to allow any of the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province to be "excluded" from Irish Home Rule for 6 years, which was a plan strenuously "objected" to by the "Irish Volunteers," who were totally against any form of "artificial partition" of Ireland, and this only went to show how "out of touch" John Redmond was at this time with the general Irish population. To this end, Herbert Asquith, put forward an "Amendment" to the British Westminster Parliament along the lines to which they had agreed, but even then it was "rejected" outright by Edward Carson the Ascendancy Unionist leader in the Ulster Province while John Dillon, another of the Irish Parliamentary Party members also still supported "rish Home Rule" along with John Redmond, as did Joseph Devlin another Irish Parliamentary Party member whose seat was in the Ulster Province itself, who was also willing to accept that the 6 Counties could be excluded for the "present" to pacify the Ascendancy "Unionists" there. For the very first time ever in Britain's history, there was now an all "British Labour Party," who could take on the Liberals, the Conservatives / Tories and the Liberal Unionists, and this now gave a stronger voice to the "other side" of British politics and it really began to make a "difference" to the lives of the ordinary common people in Britain, giving them an opportunity to be heard, especially countermanding the views of all the Conservatives in the House of Commons and especially the Conservative controlled and "unelected" House of Lords in the Westminster Parliament.   

      John Redmond, the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, began to realise that the Irish National Volunteers in Ireland, had grown much stronger then he had previously anticipated, and he decided to bring it under his "personal" control, by demanding that 25 of the M.P.s from the Irish Parliamentary Party, should be nominated to the "committee" of the Irish National Volunteers, or he would "split" the organization, while at the same time he was also encouraging Irish men to join the British Government's Imperial Army, and many from Co. Clare in the north - west of the Munster Province did. Arthur Griffith, one of the founders of the Gaelic League and the "political" Sinn Fein Party, was "against" their involvement, as he was totally for Ireland to be "self - reliant," and to this end he "opposed" any Irishman joining the British Government's Imperial Army, just as he had done during the Boer War in South Africa, and was to continue this same policy throughout his remaining life. 

March: John Redmond, the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, had tried to reach a "compromise" with Herbert Asquith the British Imperial Liberal Government and the Ascendancy Unionists by allowing the possibility of the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province, being left out out of Irish Home Rule for the present, and remain under the British Imperial Parliament in Westminster, but Edward Carson the leader of the Ascendancy Unionists in Ulster said "no" and Winston Churchill, the British Government's First Lord of the Admiralty, had made arrangements for British Imperial Naval and Military "manoeuvres" to be carried out in the vicinity in the north of Ulster, to offset the threats to the British Imperial Liberal Government from the Ascendancy Unionists there in Belfast in Ulster. Sir Arthur Paget, the British Liberal Government's "Commander - in - Chief" in Ireland, went to England to find out what he was "expected" to do, should his British Imperial Military officers "refuse" to assist in bringing in "Irish Home Rule," and he was advised to either "dismiss" them, or have them "disappear" altogether and on returning to Ireland, he put the question to Sir Hubert Gough and the other 57 British Imperial Military officers of the 5th Cavalry Brigade H.Q at the Curragh, below Dublin, and they all opted for "dismissal" from the British Imperial Army, and this became known in the press reports as the, Curragh Munity.  Sir General Douglas Haig the British Military Commander in Chief in England, informed Herbert Asquith the British Liberal Prime Minister, that the Aldershot Command there in England, would also "refuse" to serve in the Ulster Province, as they supported Sir Hubert Gough's "attitude," so the British Imperial Liberal Government who had been elected by the people, "submitted" to the will of the British Military Army officers. The British Liberal Government then forwarded a letter to the British Military Army stationed in Ireland, stating that they would "not" enforce Irish Home Rule, and despite the British Military Army officers' refusal to carry out their democratically elected representatives policy, they were still all to "retain" their positions, while the general public was in a state of "shock," and the British Liberal Government's "prestige" under Herbert Asquith was to suffer accordingly.      

     William O Brien, the old Irish Labour stalwart from Co. Cork in Southern Munster, had voted "against" the "3rd Irish Home Rule Bill," as he also was against any "artificial partition" of Ireland, and he attended the I.R.B / Irish Republican Brotherhood Conference, regarding the future 1916 Irish Easter Rising in Ireland, which was proposed to be carried out by the Irish Nationalists against the British Imperial Government's "refusal" to bring about any chance of Irish Independence / Freedom.

April:  The Ascendancy "Unionists" in the north - eastern area of the Ulster Province, held a protest meeting in the Ulster Hall in Belfast in Co. Antrim, were they came out strongly against any form of Irish Home Rule, as they were now full of confidence in their attitude towards the British Liberal Government, as they had a Volunteer Force of 100,000 men in Ulster, preparing to establish a "Provisional Government" of their own there in Ulster.

April 25th: The Ascendancy "Unionists" in Ulster were by now also further "bolstered" in their overall attitude following the recent negative results expressed by the British Imperial Army officers, and they now wanted to completely "arm" the 100,000 Volunteers they had in Ulster and had Major Frederick Crawford, the Belfast merchant, who had previously smuggled in guns and ammunition, arrange for an open "gun" running operation into Larne and Donaghdee in Co. Antrim, where their Unionist Volunteer Force, under his direction, was involved blatantly in bringing in 40,000 rifles and 5,000,000 rounds of ammunition purchased originally in Germany, to be used against the British Liberal Government in opposition to Irish Home Rule, and once again "no" action was taken against them by the British Liberal Government. 

      Meanwhile Thomas Mac Donagh, a Professor of Literature, became the "Director of Training" for the "Irish Volunteers," and was responsible for their reports, orders and despatches, and their "Official Organ" that was edited by Laurence de Lacy and Frank Aiken who would also join the Gaelic League (and eventually become the Chief of Staff of the Anti - Treaty I.R.A. in the future) and Robert Childers - Barton, a British Army officer from Co. Wicklow in the south - east of Southern Leinster, who had been educated at Oxford in England, and was a progressive Anglo - Irish Land Lord, was also to make a stand for Irish Independence, as one of their leaders.

    By now John Redmond's authority, as the "leader" of the Irish Parliamentary Party was well and truly "slipping" away from him, and the Irish Republican revolutionary forces in Ireland were also by now well and truly on the march, taking over the Irish Nationalist Movement, and with Ireland on the brink of "Civil War" the Irish Nationalists were preparing now for any "armed" conflict, if it should arise in the future with 80,000 Irish National Volunteers.    

April 29th:  Non - Catholic "Trade Unionists" now also protested at the "alliance" of British Labour and the followers of John Redmond from the Irish Parliamentary Party to bring in Irish Home Rule.

     At this time, Sir Edward Harland, who was English, and the Scotsman Sir George Clark, founded the Harland & Wolfe shipyards in Belfast in Co. Antrim in the north - east of the Ulster Province.

June: John Redmond, the "leader" of the Irish Parliamentary Party, was successful in getting his 25 M.P. nominees added to the "executive" of the Irish National Volunteers, as the Irish Nationalists complied with his request to ensure that there was no "split" in their ranks, as the Irish Republicans / I.R.B. / Irish Republican Brotherhood were still "biding their time," and during this period also, the "Unionist Volunteer Force" in the Ulster Province was still "growing" in strength, with Lord Roberts, chosen to command their 84,000 men, while the British League who were also in support of the "Unionists" were recruiting further recruits in" England," to also go over to Ireland, under Lord Willoughby de Broke and F.E. "Galloper" Smith who was on Willoughby's executive. Milner, who was a British Empire Imperialist, wanted "Dominions" introduced instead, while the Duke of Bedford, Lord Rothschild, and William Astor, supported the Ascendancy Unionists in Ulster, with funds, and Herbert Asquith and the British Liberal Cabinet were negotiating with the Irish Parliamentary Party and the Ascendancy Unionists in Ulster Province. Edward Carson the Unionist leader, stated he could not hold onto 4 Counties of Ireland on their "own," but could handle 6 of the  Counties of Ireland from out of the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province if they were "artificially partitioned" to suite.

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