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Sir Edward Carson 1854-1935

Born in Dublin. He was called to the Bar in 1877 and was elected MP in 1892. He defended the Marquis of Queensbury in the libel action brought by Oscar Wilde who was a classmate of Carson’s. In 1910, he became leader of the Irish Unionists at Westminster and he encouraged the founding of the Ulster Volunteer Force in 1913 and armed them the following year. He encouraged armed resistance if necessary against the Home Rule Bill if it became law. The war, the Easter Rising, the rise of Sinn Fein and the Treaty intervened. He was given a peerage in 1921. He is buried in Belfast.