Ulster Unionist council re-elect Carson as president

Belfast, 1 February 1923 - Lord Edward Carson of Duncairn has been re-elected as President of the Ulster Unionist Council.

Although unable to attend the annual meeting of the Council in Belfast yesterday, a message sent by Lord Carson in advance was read to the gathering by the Secretary of the Council.

In the short message, Lord Carson expressed his delight at the restoration of order in the six Counties, as well as his hopes that the scourge of unemployment would be eliminated. The solution, he believed, would be found in a ‘feeling of mutual confidence between employers and employees.’ Lord Carson added that he never wavered in his belief that a ‘great future of expansion and progress lies before the community of British North Ireland.’

The annual meeting of the UUC was held in the YMCA Hall in Wellington Place and was presided over by the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Sir James Craig, who reiterated his government’s determination to remain removed from the Irish Free State. 

Following the meeting, delegates and members of the Ulster Unionist Council moved to the Ulster Hall  for lunch, which was accompanied by entertainment and more speeches.

Prof. Alvin Jackson, in conversation with RTÉ's Bryan Dobson, explains why Sir James Craig, rather than Sir Edward Carson, became the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland

[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]