On this day one hundred years ago, 7th December 1922, the Northern Ireland Parliament gathered for a historic sitting to decide whether to remain within the United Kingdom or join the Irish Free State.
The Anglo-Irish Treaty had allowed for a month, but Ulster didn’t need a month to decide. All 40 MPs present voted to stay in the UK (the 12 nationalist MPs didn’t attend).
The Prime Minister, Sir James Craig, wasted no time and personally carried the resolution of Parliament to London for delivery to King George V.
The resolution was the final act of a decade long campaign, led by the Ulster-Scots community, to maintain the Union.
It was therefore fitting that the man described as ‘the archetypal Ulster-Scot’ should be the one to deliver the people’s decision.