The Lord Bannside at Craigavon House

Today, as Chairman of the Somme Association and Senior Advisor to the Lord Bannside on History and Culture, I accompanied him with Carol Walker, Director of the Somme Association, to Craigavon House. Strandtown, East Belfast, on this historic Centenary Day, 19th September, 2012.

 Craigavon House was built in 1870 for James Craig, the father of Sir James Craig (later Lord Craigavon), the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. It is where the first Provisional Government of Northern Ireland sat in the Billiard Room of the house, where we are seated above. Before us, on the table, are the sword of William Johnston of Ballykilbeg and the bayonet of Major Fred Crawford, handed down to the Lord Bannside


It was at Craigavon House in September 1912 that Sir Edward Carson and Sir James Craig formed the Ulster Volunteer Force and from the steps of the house 100 years ago today that Carson made public the terms of Ulster’s Solemn League and Covenant. The Lord Bannside, the greatest Ulster political figure of the second part of the Twentieth Century, himself reiterated the Covenant, which he described as Ulster’s birth certificate, on the same steps today.

When it was rumoured that the authorities planned to arrest the leaders of the UVF Craig ordered that the UVF Headquarters be moved from the Old Town Hall in Belfast to Craigavon House, where a special force guarded the UVF leaders twenty-four hours a day. This special force was made up of volunteers from the Belfast battalions North, South, East and West. It was commanded by Captain Percy Crozier, Commander of the West Belfast Battalion of the UVF.

It was also at Craigavon House that the plans to smuggle in guns for the UVF were formulated. The man given the task of carrying out this operation was Major Fred Crawford. The gun-running operation, although hitting a few snags, was successfully carried out on the night of 24th/25th April 1914 when over twenty-five thousand guns and three million rounds of ammunition were landed at Larne, Donaghadee, Bangor and Belfast. They were then distributed to UVF units all over Ulster. As it turned out these guns were never needed.

Just when it looked likely that civil war would break out in Ireland, war was  declared with Germany. Carson informed the Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener, that he would raise a division to fight for Britain in her hour of need. Carson urged the men of the UVF to enlist in the newly formed 36th (Ulster) Division which they did in their thousands.

In 1915 Craig offered Craigavon House to the Board of Management of the UVF hospitals to be used for the treatment of sick and wounded soldiers. A hospital wing containing two wards was added to the house and was officially opened on the 21st July 1917. The house would henceforth be known as ‘The UVF Hospital’, one of three such hospitals which had opened in the province.
The hospital was used mainly for the treatment of sick and wounded soldiers, in particular those suffering from neurasthenia, a nervous complaint, most probably brought on by being under constant shellfire during the war. After the war it was used for the care and treatment of ex-servicemen.

A new wing was added in 1969 called the Somme Wing and in 1991 this wing was extended and upgraded to become, in 1992, ‘The Somme Nursing Home’ and on 16th September 1992 the patients moved into the new extension across from Craigavon House. 

Craigavon House was purchased by, fittingly enough, the Somme Association and it was their Headquarters until 1999 when the two main staff relocated to the Somme Heritage Centre. The Board of Trustees continued to hold board meetings in the house until 2001 until it proved to be impractical. Craigavon House has remained empty since then but the Association has tried tirelessly to raise the funds to restore the house to its former glory.  It has been visited by many politicians over the years in a bid to safeguard its future and the Association has worked on a number of different projects to try and raise the money required but to no avail.  The Association is at present looking at the future of Craigavon House and the way forward.

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