The Ulster Covenant - Dublin signatures 2

Given that the Dublin parliamentary division has some addresses outside the Dublin area, I tried "Dublin" in the address field of the PRONI Covenant database and up popped just under 200 entries. A number of these are Dublin addresses. Still a very small number though.

Next task is to put together a list from the 200 that are Dublin addresses and cross check these against the 1901 and 1911 census websites.

A couple of matches

William Clement McKee

Thomas John Curtis

Thomas D Barnett

Arthur Henry Bates (put as W Bates on the database but writing is difficult to work out - looks like A H)

Robert James Black

Robert Henry Calvert

David M Carson

William Clarke

David James Colter


Some that do seem to have gone into the armed forces during WW1 are :

R H Plews (Robert Henry Cunningham Plews)
Served with the Army Service Corps.
Mentioned in Despatches.
Reached rank of Major.

Otto Hamilton Jones
Born in Dublin 20th July 1889
Working in London in the 1911 census as a Warehouseman
Commissioned as 2nd Lt on 2nd September 1916 having been a Cadet (not sure at which unit yet)
His medal index card shows he originally enlisted as a Private, number 19/360, in the 19th Battalion the Royal Irish Rifles.
Died in France 22nd/23rd November 1917 with the 15th Battalion the Royal Irish Rifles

Alec Haines
Son of a Guinness Brewery Manager
Killed in 1915 whilst serving as a 2nd Lieutenant with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers.

Hugh Victor Moore
Killed in 1918

Harry Jeffrey
From Belfast, living in Rathgar, Dublin. Served as a Sapper with the Royal Engineers. Enlisted January 1915.

Claude Braddell
Commissioned into the Royal Irish Rifles in December 1915.
Medal index card shows Royal Ulster Rifles.

He worked for the Northern Bank and apparently had the surname Burbridge originally.

Alfred Caffrey
Born in Dublin 16th March 1871. Father Edward Caffrey; mother Mary Wilkin. Alfred Caffrey joined the Royal Munster Fusiliers in 1888 and served through to 1901, number 2695. Then in the Royal Garrison Regiment, number 4366.  Appears to have re-enlisted during WW1 as 6/303, Sgt Alfred Caffrey. Discharged October 1916 due to sickness.


Two Roman Catholic signatories are :

Alphonsus Jeannette and William Lawrence Vize.

William Vize had joined the Royal Engineers in 1902; rejoined the Royal Engineers during WW1.

The Ulster Covenant - Dublin signatures

In trying to trace members of the "Loyal Dublin Volunteers", a Dublin affiliate of the Ulster Volunteer Force, I've had a look at the Ulster Covenant and Declaration database available to view from the PRONI website. The Covenant was signed by men; the Declaration by women.

A search selecting the Parliamentary Division Dublin produces a list of 768. All women. Not a single male signature. Very odd.

A search with Not Recorded for Parliamentary Division gives 1 Dublin address,

H Brown 57 Percy Place, Dublin

The At Sea entry for Parliamentary Division gives a return for Thomas Gee of Rathgar aboard ship.

In the 1911 census, there is a 13year old Herbert Brown living in Percy Place. Surely not the signatory of the Ulster Covenant?

The signatures of the ladies are a bit inflated with multiple signings and with addresses from outside Dublin e.g.

Ethel Hamilton Wilson gives signs 5 times with addresses in Dublin,  Derry, Belfast, Lurgan and Co Down.

Edith Alexander's address is Derry.

Sarah Apsley's address is Co Antrim

Sarah Jane Armstrong's address is Co Fermanagh

and so on, reducing the actual number of Dublin signatures further.

Why so low? What's happened to the signatures of Dublin men?

A recent leaflet expounding the "Loyal Dublin Volunteers", gives the number of Protestants in the County and City of Dublin as over 100,000. The Loyal Dublin Volunteers was supposed to have had a membership of 2,000 men.

Thankfully, not all Protestants were Unionists and and there were attempts to protest against "the lawless policy of Carsonism".