Edward Carson (9 Feburary 1854-22 October 1935) was the British Leader of the Opposition from 19 October 1915 to 6 December 1916, succeeding Bonar Law and preceding H.H. Asquith. He was a member of the Irish Unionist Alliance party.
Biography[]
Edward Carson was born in Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland on 9 February 1854, and he was educated at Portarlington School and Trinity College, Dublin. He qualified as a lawyer and was called to the Irish Bar in 1877. For his legal skill, he was awarded the distinction of Queen's Counsel in Ireland in 1889 and England in 1894. He was elected as the Conservative Party MP for Dublin University in 1892, and he held this seat until 1918, when he became MP for Belfast Duncairn. He was Solicitor-General for Ireland in 1892 and England from 1900 to 1906. During H.H. Asquith's premiership, he served as Attorney-General from 1915 to 1916, and he served as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1917 and a member of the War Cabinet from 1917 to 1918. He was remembered principally as a formidable opponent of Irish Home Rule, and later as an advocate of Ulster remaining part of the United Kingdom. In 1912, at Belfast, he organized the signature of a covenant, in which thousands pledged that Ulster would not recognize the authority of any Dublin parliament. This gave backing to the Ulster Volunteer Force, a private army of 80,000, whose threat of civil war was only averted by the outbreak of World War I. Thereafter, he reluctantly agreed to Homne Rule for southern Ireland as long as Northern Ireland remained under the British crown. He entered the House of Lords in 1921, and he died in 1935.