Sir Richard Dawson Bates (1876-1949) was a solicitor and Norther Ireland cabinet minister. From 1906 until 1921 he served as secretary of the Ulster Unionist Council, he helped to organise the Ulster covenant and Ulster Volunteer Force. In 1921 Sir appointed Bates Northern Ireland minister of home affairs, a post he held for nearly twenty-two years. Edward Carson (1854-1935) was a prominent Unionist Politician. Originally a practicing solicitor from Dublin, Carson's opposition to the proposed third Home Rule bill made him the figure head of Unionism throughout the island. He was the centerpiece of the speaking tour that culminated in Ulster Day (28 September 1912), when just under half a million signed Ulster's solemn league and covenant pledging to use all means which may be found necessary to defeat the present conspiracy to set up a home rule parliament in Dublin. Carson inaugurated the Larne gunrunning in 1914 which armed the UVF, many of whom Carson would encourage to join the British Army throughout the First World War.