NI centenary: Browsing the Larne Times pages of January 1921

The boardroom of the Town Hall heard various opinions on the subject, promoted by among others George Barton JP, J. A. Moffatt, Miss Greenfield, Miss Gledhill and Mr. Haslett; but sadly the article highlighting the meeting did not divulge which side won the debate.

There can be little doubt, however, that politics was absorbing considerable attention from local people, and they would have been following events in the south of Ireland, where violent attacks were continuing which in the Christmas Week resulted in 25 people being killed.

The Larne Times reported extensively on these incidents, which included an attack on two police patrols in Ballybay, County Monaghan, where one constable died and two others were injured.

Further south, in County Cork, an attack by republicans on a military convoy was successfully repulsed in part of the area under martial law, while a Sinn Fein MP, J. J. Walsh, was arrested by the military in Cork city in the early hours of a morning.

Closer to home unionists were preparing to flex their political muscles in the planned elections to the Northern Parliament, as was highlighted by a speaker at Whitehead.

Thomas McComb, a solicitor who was secretary of East Antrim Unionist Association told the local women’s branch that “In their own Northern Parliament they would be faced with not only a strong but a deadly opposition and if they were going to make a success of their own parliament they must see to it that they returned a large majority of unionist candidates.”

However the report on the meeting underlined that the local unionist Association was under pressure from supporters of George B. Hanna, who had been elected MP in 1919 after standing against the official Unionist candidate.

When asked about the situation, McComb said that Hanna was not a member of East Antrim Unionist Association, leading to the comment from Nathanial Campbell that “how can we have unity when you do not recognise Mr. Hanna” whom he described as “as good a unionist as anyone in the hall.”

Hanna, who protested against a lack of democracy within the Association, was eventually welcomed within the official fold, alarm bells sounding as to the potential division within East Antrim unionism otherwise.

Meanwhile in London a delegation had called on Sir Edward Carson MP, to ask him to accept the role of leadership in the Northern Parliament. This would effectively have made Carson the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.

However the news from London was not going to warm the hearts of local unionists, as the Larne Times reported. Carson had declined the position, saying that he felt it was “a task for a man in the prime of life.” We know, however, that the Unionist leader was deeply disappointed in the outcome of the campaign against Home Rule, believing he had failed in his aims and that southern unionists had been betrayed by the government.

The shaping of the Northern Parliament would have to wait, however, and there was plenty of other news for local people. A major talking point would have been the failure of the electricity supply in the town, provided by William Crawford and his Larne Electric Light and Power Company. A nasty storm caused what was reported as a serious electrical burn-out at the Point Street works, the repair of which was expected to take a considerable time.

In the meantime there were obviously complaints in the town about the issue, causing Crawford to take a large front page advert in the Larne Times. The advert details that while there was capacity at the Larne Harbour plant, cables which had been ordered to connect to Point Street and keep everyone on the grid had been delayed. Crawford had a solution, however, which was the erection of a temporary cable to connect the two plants and bring the power back to the town. The setbacks were not over, sadly, because the Larne Times of January 22, 1921 reported on a fire at the Larne Harbour site which gutted the wooden structure housing the machinery. Cost of replacing each of the two batteries lost in the blaze was £20,000, it was reported. And further bad news was that William Crawford did not have the plant insured.

Other news included that the names were ready to be inscribed on the town’s war memorial and on January 22 a full list was published, with amendments to be forwarded to the Town Hall by the end of the month.

The first annual dinner of the Old Boys Association of Larne Grammar School had been held in the Kings Arms Hotel and among those who attended were several of the original scholars of nearly 33 years before.

Local people in the news included retiring RIC Constable Glass, who had joined the police force in 1890 and served in Kings County as well as Portglenone and Ballymoney, spending the last years of duty in Larne; “all his friends wish him a long life, good health and all prosperity in the town in which he has made his home,” the newspaper reflected.

J. McHugh, a retired head constable in the RIC, was in 1921 the librarian at the Carnegie Library in Larne and the Editor’s Notebook of the paper expressed sympathy to him on the death of his brother-in-law, Right Rev. Monsignor O’Doherty, the parish priest of Omagh and a distinguished scholar and educationalist.

A visitor to Larne was renowned Shakespearean actor Sir Frank R. Benson, who came to the town to deliver a well-attended lecture on Shakespeare on and off the Stage on January 14, 1921.

Meanwhile sport played an important role for many, with Larne Athletic Club one of the groups featuring, having staged a successful 60 minute cross-country run from the Comrades Club at Inver through Ballyloran, Millbrook and back home.

Among the soccer matches was that between Magheramorne and Larne Shipyard, in the Larne Junior League. It was played at Magheramorne and referred by James Stone. The end result was an embarrassing 4-1 defeat for the home side.

Click here to read: Northern Ireland centenary: Armed Forces Day to the fore in Mid and East Antrim’s plans