Ulster Volunteers - World War I

World War I

The Irish Home Rule Act 1914 was eventually passed despite the objections of the House of Lords whose power of veto had been abolished under the Parliament Act 1911. While Carson had hoped to have the whole of Ulster excluded, he felt a good case could be made for the "six plantation counties." The home rule issue was temporarily suspended by the outbreak of World War I and Ireland's involvement in it. Many UVF men enlisted, mostly with the 36th (Ulster) Division of the New Army. Others joined Irish regiments of the United Kingdom's 10th and 16th (Irish) Divisions. By the summer of 1916, only the Ulster and 16th divisions remained, the 10th amalgamated into both following severe losses in the Battle of Gallipoli. Both of the remaining divisions suffered heavy casualties in July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme, to be largely wiped out in 1918 during the German Spring Offensive.

Although many UVF officers left to join the British Army during the war, the unionist leadership wanted to preserve the UVF as a viable force, aware that the issue of Home Rule and partition would be revisited when the war ended. There were also fears of a German naval raid on Ulster and so the UVF was recast as a home defense force.

World War I ended in November 1918. On 1 May 1919, the UVF was 'demobilized' when Richardson stood-down as its General Officer Commanding. In Richardson's last orders to the UVF, he stated:

Existing conditions call for the demobilisation of the Ulster Volunteers. The Force was organised, to protect the interests of the Province of Ulster, at a time when trouble threatened. The success of the organisation speaks for itself, as a page of history, in the records of Ulster that will never fade.