It may be that there are certain setbacks in history of such magnitude and heroism that they serve to sustain and temper a people instead of weakening them. Or else, perhaps the setbacks come to have an energising, emblematic power. Perhaps it may be that the First Day of Battle of the Somme on 1st July1016 has come to symbolise unconsciously the thwarted nationhood of the Ulster People. Perhaps at the level of community consciousness the loss of the sons of Ulster and the founding of Northern Ireland are intertwined. The Battle became Northern Ireland.
This was a statelet which invited the pride in which it was fashioned. The supremely arrogant Stormont Parliament Buildings and the splendidly reassuring Burgher Palace, the Belfast City Hall, came to be seen figuratively as stationary Titanics in danger of sinking by the chilling impersonal iceberg dynamics of Irish nationalism following partition. Such it was that Nationalists in Ulster rejected the emotional appeal of the Titanic story as they did the heroism of the Somme and the other great battles of the Great War. In the case of the Titanic it is doubtful if this was due to the one hundred and thirteen third class Irish passengers the ship picked up on its last stop of Queenstown, now Cobh, two thirds of whom perished.
The Titanic was not primarily an immigrant ship; rather the reason for rejection was ideological. The quarrel was with Ulster Protestants rather than with English policy makers in Ireland – for Nationalists it was caused by the creation of Northern Ireland itself. Thus the importance of the return of the Nomadic, tender to the Titanic and a veteran of both World Wars, and the overwhelming generosity of the Government in purchasing it and Thiepval Wood on our behalf. And the importance also to us of the Ceremonies at the Ulster Tower and Guillemont in France when All Ireland are represented to honour the memories of both the 36th( Ulster) and 16th (Irish ) Divisions at the Somme.
The Somme Association was formed in 1990, with Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester as our President to emphasise the contribution of the Irish soldier, both North and South in the tragedy that was the First World War. We are now looking at the future of Craigavon House, which has such strong associations with the period leading up to such crucially important events as the Signing of the Ulster Covenant and loss of the Titanic in 1912, the Easter Rising and Battle of the Somme in 1916 and the formation of Northern Ireland and establishment of the Ulster Tower at Thiepval in 1921.We must find a way forward to maintain this valuable part of our history and culture..It is therefore poignant that the Unionist Centenary Committee launched their plans there for the forthcoming commemorations of the coming centenary years. And the Somme Association will play a central Advisory role.
As we enter this decade of centenaries therefore, which mark Ulster’s entry on to the World stage and the birth of the Irish nation, the Unionist Centenary Committee will take as its particular Mission Statement the Ulster Covenant itself, for this was the Declaration of the Ulster People of their own right as a free people. So today we must also use this decade to establish in Ulster a cultural consensus, irrespective of political conviction, religion and ethnic origin,using a broader perspective of our past to develop a deeper sense of belonging to the country of our ancient British ancestors. For this land of the aboriginal people, the Cruthin, is our homeland and we are her children.
We have all a right to her name and nationality. We have all a right to belong here, a right to be heard here, and a right to be free; free from suspicion, free from violence and free from fear. We must therefore develop the vision of a new and united Ulster, to which all can give their allegiance, so we may achieve a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people. For only in the complete expression of our Ulster identity lies the basis of that genuine peace, stamped with the hallmarks of justice, goodness and truth, which will end at last the War in Ireland.