Letter from David Lloyd George to Edward Carson, 14 October 1916

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Letter from David Lloyd George to Edward Carson, 14 October 1916

1 October 14th., 1916 My dear Carson, I enclose copy of a letter which the Adjutant
General has just received from the General in Command of
the Ulster Division. You can if you like communicate it
privately to the Ulster representatives. Ever sincerely, D Lloyd George The Rt. Hon. Sir Edward Carson., K.C., M.P. 2 H. Q.
36th. Division
B.E.F. October 6th., 19 My dear General, You may remember telling me that Carson had said he
would prefer to see the Ulster Division absorbed in a Highland
Division instead of seeing them amalgamated with the 16th. I have thought this over, and I am sure it would
be disastrous from the point of view of Ireland. It would mean the complete disappearance of 2
Irish Divisions and it would be read as an admission that
the two Irish Divisions could not combine, that Irish creeds
andpolitics were carried into the fighting line. It would be a libel on both Divisions. There are
no politics whatever and I am sure there could be no better
cure for Irish home troubles than that Protestants and
Catholics should fight together in the same unit. If we do get compulsory Service in Ireland, I
sincerely hope the Ulster Division will not be exclusively
supplied from one creed. I hope that all creeds and politics
will be drafted into it. It will then be really representative 3 and not as at present with too much flavour of t which
is I hope dead and buried. If however the question of amalgamation becomes
imperative, I hope the 16th. and 36th. will be amalgamated so
that there may be at least one Irish Division. I am sure that this will be the view of Officers and
men of both Divisions and I have written to Carson to tell
him so. Believe me,
Your sincerely,
(ad) O.S. Nugent.

Letter from David Lloyd George (1863-1945) to Edward Carson (1854-1935). Carson 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.. Lloyd George served as Minister of Munitions during the Shell Crisis of 1915. His role as Minister won him wide-spread support across Britain. He took over the role of Secretary of State for War on 6 June 1916, after the death of Horatio Herbert Kitchener, (1850–1916) who died on board the cruiser HMS Hampshire when it was sunk by a German mine on 5 June 1916, while on course to Russia. Following the collapse of Asquith's government, Lloyd George became Prime Minister of the coalition government in December 1916.

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How to cite

Letters 1916, published by the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities, Vienna, 2026 (https://letters1916static.github.io/letters1916-static/item__4373.html)