LORD CARSON DEAD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22247, 23 October 1935, Page 13

LORD CARSON DEAD

FAMOUS STATESMAN PROMINENT ADVOCATE CHAMPION OF ULSTER By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received October 22, 11,15 p.m.) LONDON. Oct. 22 The death has occurred of Lord Carson, aged 81. The late Lord Carson, great lawyer and champion of Ulster, was born in February, 1854. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and called to the Irish Bar, becoming an Irish Q.C. in 1889. He soon deserted it for the English Bar, where he took silk in 1894. His dexterity in cross-examina-tion, masterful logjc, satire, suavity and skill in suggestion combined to give him great success as an advocate. He sat in the House of Commons as a Conservative for Dublin University from 1892 to 1918. In 1900 he was knighted and appointed Solicitor-Gen-eral. and he came "to be regarded as spokesman for the Irish Unionists.

It was when a new Home Rule Bill was imminent in 1911 that he came to the front as a politician. He opposed the Parliament Bill to curtail the power of the Lords, and also opposed the Home Rule Bill. In 1912 and 1913 he spoke ninth against this bill, but was chiefly occupied in organising resistance in Ulster. On January 1, 1913, he moved unsuccessfully in the Commons to exclude Ulster from the bill. In the autumn of that year the Ulster Unionist Council organised itself under his supervision into a provisional Government, of which he was the leading member, and a guarantee fund of £1,000,000 was initiated, to which he contributed £IO,OOO. When the Government suggested a settlement by consent, Carson did not reject the overtures. He was a member of the conference convened by the King in the hope of a compromise, but it broke down at the end of July. Then came the World War. Carson became a recruiting agent in ,Ulster, and in June, 1915, joined the Coalition Cabinet as Attorney-General, but resigned in October to become one of Mr. Lloyd George's "efficiency" group. When that statesman formed his Ministry in December, Carson was made First Lord of the Admiralty. He was succeeded by Sir Eric Geddes in July, 1917. He then became a member of the War Cabinet in charge of propaganda, but as the Irish question was again emerging he once more resigned at the beginning of 1918. Ulster Unionist Movement At the election in that year he for- j sook Dublin University to stand for Belfast. In July, 1919, he demanded the repeal of the Home Rule Act. But when, in the winter, Mr. Lloyd George proposed to set up Parliaments in Dublin and Belfast, and a federal council for all. Ireland, he did not oppose the bill. After it had been passed he did his best to make its working a success, and at the elections Ulster Unionists obtained an overwhelming majority. He declined to sit in the Ulster Parliament himself, or to accept an invitation to succeed Mr. Bonar Law as Unionist leader in the Commons, but quitted politics and accepted a Lordship of Appeal and a life peerage as Baron Carson of Duncairn.

There is a story told that at Paris after the "Armistice Mr. Lloyd George was asked who, next to himself, exercised the greatest power over the House of Commons. " Carson," he replied emphatically, adding with a smile, "but fortunately for me he doesn't know it." A man of striking appearance and personality, Lord Carson has been the subject of many conflicting pen portraits. One writer once recalled that, within the compass of a single day, he had heard Lord Carson compared with Napoleon, Machiavelli and O'Connor. "He is no actor," said the same writer. "He has no 'gift of the gab.' His career has been made by hard work. He is not one of the glib, naturally oratorio type for whose production wo are apt to give special credit to Ireland." Another writer, however, had the following to say: —"The most dramatic apparition to bo seen in the House of Commons is that of Sir Edward Carson at the door when an Irish debate is proceeding. It may be the theatricality of Irish debate or there may be some positive suggestion in the tall, lank iigare, the straight black hair, the hollow cheeks, and the lengthened chin, but one " cannot help thinking of Mephisto in the play at such times." Some Outstanding Characteristics "Photographs of Sir Edward Carson are plentiful enough; but photographs have their limitations," stated another character sketch of Lord Carson written prior to his elevation to the Peerage. "The Ulster leader is a born fighting man. Ho has the long head, the salient jaw, the alert and brooding eye of the tighter. The hands and feet are small; the figuro lean-flanked and pliant; although in middle age it is stiffened somewhat, it is the make of the athlete. The swarthy face has a touch of (.he Dnntesque, singularly commingled with au aspect of the hanging Judge." I Lord Carson was married twice, the first time, in 1879, to Miss Sarah Annette Foster Kirwan, daughter of the late Mr. H. Persso Kirwan. There was one son and one daughter of the marriage. Lady Carson died in 1913. In the following year Lord Carson married Miss Ruby Frewen-Laton, daughter of the late Colonel Stephen Frewen-Laton, a son being born in 1920. He in survived by Lady Carson, and the Hon. Edward Carson. The daughter is the Hon. Mrs. G. W. Carson, R.N., who was born in 1890,