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January: The Dublin area strike, carried out under the leadership of James Larkin, for better pay and conditions for the workers, came to an end after 5 months, ending with another victory once again to the employers.

March: Herbert Asquith, the British Liberal Prime Minister, was now in dire need of the votes of the members in the Irish Parliamentary Party to have any chance of surviving, as the government in England, and John Redmond the Irish Parliamentary Party leader was still keen on Irish Home Rule, so he reached an agreement with Herbert Asquith, to allow any of the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province to be excluded from Irish Home Rule for 6 years. This plan was strenuously objected to by the Irish Volunteers, who were totally against any form of Artificial Partition of Ireland, and this only went to show how out of touch John Redmond was at this time, with the Irish population. To this end, Herbert Asquith, put forward an Amendment to the British Westminster Parliament along the lines to which they had agreed, but even then it was rejected outright by Edward Carson the Ascendancy Unionist leader in the Ulster Province. John Dillon, another of the Irish Parliamentary Party members, also still supported Irish Home Rule along with John Redmond, as was Joseph Devlin another Irish Parliamentary Party member, whose seat was in the Ulster Province itself, who was also willing to accept that the 6 Counties could be excluded, for the present to pacify the Ascendancy Unionists there. At this time, for the very first time ever, in Britain's history, there was now an all British Labour Party, who could take on the Liberals, the Conservatives / Tories and the Liberal Unionists, and this now gave a stronger voice to the other side of British politics, and really began to make a difference to the lives of the ordinary common people, giving them an opportunity to be heard, especially countermanding the views of all the Conservatives n the House of Commons and the unelected House of Lords in the Westminster Parliament.

John Redmond, the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, began to realise that the Irish National Volunteers in Ireland, had grown much stronger then he had anticipated, and he decided to bring it under his personal control, by demanding that 25 of his members from the Irish Parliamentary Party, should be nominated to the committee of the Irish National Volunteers, or he would split the organization. At the same time he was also encouraging Irish men to join the British Imperial Army, and many from Co. Clare in the north - west of the Munster Province did. Arthur Griffith, one of the founders of the Gaelic League, and the Sinn Fein Party, was against their involvement, as he was totally for Ireland to be self - reliant, and to this end he opposed any Irish man joining the British Imperial Army, just as he had done for the Boer War in South Africa, and was to continue this approach throughout his remaining life.

1914 March: John Redmond, the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, had tried to reach a compromise with the British Imperial Government, and the Ascendancy Unionists by allowing the possibility of the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province, being left out out of Irish Home Rule for the present, and remain under the British Imperial Parliament in Westminster, but Edward Carson the leader of the Ulster Ascendancy Unionists said no. Winston Churchill, as the British First Lord of the Admiralty, had made arrangements for British Naval and Military manoeuvres to be carried out in the vicinity in the north of Ulster, to offset the threats to the British Imperial Government from the Ascendancy Unionists there in Belfast in Ulster. Sir Arthur Paget, the British appointed Commander - in - Chief in Ireland, went to England to find out what he was expected do, should his British Imperial Military officers refuse to assist in bringing in Irish Home Rule, and he was advised to either dismiss them, or have them disappear altogether. On returning to Ireland, he put the question to Sir Hubert Gough and the other 57 British Imperial officers of the 5th Cavalry Brigade H.Q at the Curragh, below Dublin, and they all opted for dismissal from the British Imperial Army, and this became known in the press reports as the, "Curragh Munity." Sir General Douglas Haig the British Commander in Chief in England, informed Herbert Asquith the British Prime Minister, that the Aldershot Command there, would also refuse to serve in the Ulster Province, as they supported Sir Hubert Gough's attitude, so the British Imperial Government who had been elected by the people, submitted to the will of the British Army officers. They then forwarded a letter to the British Army stationed in Ireland, stating that they would not enforce Irish Home Rule, and despite the British Army officers' refusal to carry out their democratically elected representatives policy, they were still all to retain their positions, while the general public was in a state of shock, and the British Liberal Government's prestige was to suffer accordingly.

William O Brien, the old Irish Labour stalwart from Co. Cork in Southern Munster, had voted against the 3rd Irish Home Rule Bill, as he also was against any Artificial Partition of Ireland, and he attended the I.R.B / Irish Republican Brotherhood Conference, regarding the future 1916 Easter Uprising in Ireland, which was proposed to be carried out by the Irish Nationalists, against the British Imperial Government's refusal to bring about any chance of Irish Independence.

April: The Ascendancy Unionists in the north - eastern area of the Ulster Province, held a protest meeting in the Ulster Hall in Belfast in Co. Antrim, were they came out strongly against any form of Irish Home Rule, as they were now full of confidence in their attitude towards the British Liberal Government as they now had a Volunteer Force of 100,000 men in Ulster, preparing to establish a government of their own in Ulster. April 25th: The Ascendancy Unionists in Ulster, were by now also further bolstered in their attitude following the recent events by the British Imperial Army officers, and wanted to completely arm the 100,000 Volunteers the had in Ulster. They had Major Frederick Crawford, a Belfast merchant, who had previously smuggled in their guns and ammunition, arrange for an open gun running operation into Larne and Donaghdee in Co. Antrim, where their Unionist Volunteer Force, under his direction, was involved blatantly in bringing in 40,000 rifles and 5,000,000 rounds of ammunition. These particular arms, were purchased in Germany, to be used against the British Liberal Government in opposition to Irish Home Rule, and once again no action was taken against them by the British Liberal Government.

Meanwhile Thomas Mac Donagh, a Professor of Literature, became the Director of Training for the Irish Volunteers, and was responsible for their reports, orders and despatches, and their Official Organ was edited by Laurence de Lacy, and Frank Aiken who would eventually become the Chief of Staff of the Anti - Treaty I.R.A., and also join the Gaelic League. Robert Childers - Barton, a British Army Officer from Co. Wicklow in the south - east of Southern Leinster, who had been educated at Oxford in England, and was a progressive Anglo - Irish Landlord, was also to make a stand for Irish Independence, as one of the leaders.

By now John Redmond's authority, as the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party was well and truly slipping away from him, and the revolutionary forces in Ireland, were also by now well and truly on the march, taking over the Irish Nationalist movement, and with Ireland on the brink of Civil War, the Irish Nationalists were preparing now for any armed conflict, if it should arise with 80,000 Irish National Volunteers.

April 29th:Non - Catholic Trade Unionists, now also protested at the alliance of British Labour and the followers of John Redmond the Irish Parliamentary Party, to bring in Irish Home Rule.

Sir Edward Harland, who was English, and the Scotsman Sir George Clark, founded the Harland & Wolfe shipyards in Belfast in Co. Antrim in the north - east of the Ulster Province.

June: John Redmond, the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, was finally successful in getting his 25 nominees added to the Executive of the Irish National Volunteers, as the Irish Nationalists did this so as to ensure that there was no split in their ranks, as the Irish Republicans / I.R.B. / Irish Republican Brotherhood were still biding their time. At the the same time, the Unionist Volunteer Force, in the Ulster Province was also still growing in strength, with Lord Roberts, chosen to command their 84,000 men, and the British League in support of the Unionists were recruiting support in England, to also go over to Ireland, under Lord Willoughby de Broke and F.E. "Galloper" Smith who was on Willoughby's executive. Milner, who was a British Empire Imperialist, wanted Dominions introduced instead, while the Duke of Bedford, Lord Rothschild, and William Astor, supported the Ascendancy Unionists in Ulster, with funds. Meanwhile, Herbert Asquith and the British Liberal Cabinet was negotiating with the Irish Parliamentary Party and the Ascendancy Unionists in Ulster, and Edward Carson the Unionist leader, stated he could not hold onto 4 Counties on their own, but could handle 6 out of the 9 Counties, if they were Artificially Partitioned from the Ulster Province.

+On to 1914 / 2 - July to December

Situated on the western bank of the Hunter River, midway between Muswellbrook and Denman the doorway to the Heart of Australia's "Horse Capital" in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales., Australia.

John & Sue Markham

RAINBOW FARMS 603 Roxburgh Road., Muswellbrook., 2333.

02 65 479 100 - Fax: 02 65 479 102 E - Mail: www.rainbowfarms@bigpond.com