45 Facts About Edward Carson

Edward Henry Carson, Baron Carson, PC, PC, from 1900 to 1921 known as Sir Edward Carson, was an Irish unionist politician, barrister and judge, who served as the Attorney General and Solicitor General for England, Wales and Ireland as well as the First Lord of the Admiralty for the British Royal Navy.

From 1905 Carson was both the Irish Unionist Alliance MP for the Dublin University constituency and leader of the Ulster Unionist Council in Belfast.

Edward Carson was defeated in his ambition to maintain Ireland as a whole in union with Great Britain.

Edward Carson's leadership was celebrated by some for securing a continued place in the United Kingdom for the six north-eastern counties, albeit under a devolved Parliament of Northern Ireland that neither he nor his fellow unionists had sought.

Edward Carson is remembered for his open ended cross examination of Oscar Wilde in a legal action that led to plaintiff Wilde being prosecuted, gaoled and ruined.

Edward Carson unsuccessfully attempted to intercede for Wilde after the case.

Edward Carson, the second son of Edward Henry Carson, architect, was born at 4 Harcourt Street, in Dublin, into a wealthy Anglican family.

Edward Carson's mother was Isabella Lambert, the daughter of Captain Peter Lambert, part of an old Anglo-Irish family, the Lamberts of Castle Ellen, County Galway.

Edward Carson spent holidays at Castle Ellen, which was owned by his uncle.

Edward Carson was educated at Portarlington School, Wesley College, Dublin and Trinity College Dublin, where he read law and was an active member of the College Historical Society.

Edward Carson played an early form of hurling with the college team.

Edward Carson spoke Irish and was a regular player of Gaelic games as a child.

In 1877 Edward Carson was called to the Irish Bar after graduating from King's Inns.

Edward Carson gained a reputation for fearsome advocacy and supreme legal ability and became regarded as a brilliant barrister, among the most prominent in Ireland at the time.

Edward Carson was an acknowledged master of the appeal to the jury by his legal wit and oratory.

Edward Carson was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1889 and was Called to the English Bar at Middle Temple on 26 April 1893.

Edward Carson was twice admitted to the Inn, once on 1 November 1875 and then again on 21 April 1893, and was made a Bencher on 15 June 1900.

When he heard that Edward Carson was to lead the defence, Wilde is quoted as saying that "No doubt he will pursue his case with all the added bitterness of an old friend".

Edward Carson portrayed the playwright as a morally depraved hedonist who seduced naive young men into a life of homosexuality with lavish gifts and promises of a glamorous artistic lifestyle.

Edward Carson impugned Wilde's works as morally repugnant and designed to corrupt the upbringing of the youth.

Edward Carson was eventually found guilty and sentenced to two years' hard labour, after which he moved to France, where he died penniless.

In 1908 Edward Carson appeared for the London Evening Standard in a libel action brought by George Cadbury.

Edward Carson was the victorious counsel in the 1910 Archer-Shee Case, exonerating a Royal Naval College, Osborne cadet of the charge of theft.

Edward Carson was elected as Member of Parliament for the Dublin University constituency in the 1892 general election as a Liberal Unionist, although overall the Liberal Party won the election.

Edward Carson maintained his career as a barrister and was admitted to the English Bar by The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple in 1893 and from then on mainly practised in London.

Edward Carson was appointed Solicitor-General for England on 7 May 1900, receiving the customary knighthood.

Edward Carson served in this position until the Conservative government resigned in December 1905, when he was rewarded with membership of the Privy Council.

In September 1911 a huge crowd of over 50,000 people gathered at a rally near Belfast where Edward Carson made a speech in which he urged his party to take on the governance of Ulster.

Edward Carson disliked many of Ulster's local characteristics and, in particular, the culture of Orangeism.

Edward Carson spoke against the Bill in the House of Commons and organised rallies in Ireland promoting a provisional government for "the Protestant province of Ulster" to be ready, should a third Home Rule Bill come into law.

On Sunday 28 September 1912, "Ulster Day", he was the first signatory on the Ulster Covenant, which bound 447,197 signatories to resist Home Rule with the threat that they would use "all means necessary" after Edward Carson had established the Ulster Volunteers, the first loyalist paramilitary group.

In Parliament Edward Carson rejected any olive branch for compromise demanding Ulster "be given a resolution rather than a stay of execution".

In 1914, suffragettes Flora Drummond and Norah Dacre Fox besieged Edward Carson's home, arguing that his form of Ulster "incitement to militancy" passed without notice whilst suffragettes were charged and imprisoned for same action.

Edward Carson played a major role in forcing the resignation of Asquith as Prime Minister, returning to office on 10 December 1916 as First Lord of the Admiralty, and elevated to the powerful British War Cabinet as a Minister without Portfolio on 17 July 1917.

Edward Carson was hostile to the foundation of the League of Nations as he believed that this institution would be ineffectual against war.

Edward Carson gave up his seat at the University of Dublin in the 1918 general election and was instead elected for Belfast Duncairn.

Edward Carson continued to lead the Unionists, but when the Government of Ireland Act 1920 was introduced, advised his party to work for the exemption of six Ulster counties from Home Rule as the best compromise.

Edward Carson did not see himself as an Ulsterman and, unlike many northern unionists it is thought he had an emotional connection with Ireland as a single entity.

Edward Carson was asked to lead the Unionists during the election to become the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.

Edward Carson declined due to his lack of connections with any Northern Ireland constituency, and resigned the leadership of the party in February 1921.

Edward Carson was appointed one of seven Lords of Appeal in Ordinary on 24 May 1921 and was created a life peer under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 on 1 June 1921 as Baron Edward Carson, of Duncairn in the County of Antrim.

Edward Carson had two sons and two daughters by his first wife, namely:.

Lord Edward Carson lived at Cleve Court, a Queen Anne house near Minster in the Isle of Thanet, Kent, bought in 1921.

In November 1932 the new Stormont Parliament became the greatest Edward Carson monument, giving his admirers the symbolic endorsement of their state.

Edward Carson's statue was unveiled as the speakers excited the audience with triumphalist images of Protestant deliverance from Catholic tyranny.