Contributor:

Dr Cormac Moore

Talk Title:

Sir Ernest Clark - 'Midwife to the New Province of Ulster'

Talk Synopsis:

This talk explores the role of Sir Ernest Clark in creating the administrative structures for the Northern Ireland government. It describes the background to his appointment as Assistant Under-Secretary to Ireland in September 1920, his relations with civil service colleagues in Dublin and unionist politicians and the challenges that he faced in establishing ‘government departments… at a time when the political environment in Ireland was extremely volatile’. It suggests that whilst Sir Ernest Clark is now a ‘largely forgotten figure’ he was ‘one of the main architects in giving the new Northern Ireland entity tangible form.’ It also looks at some of the security risks that Clark faced during his time in Belfast, his efforts to deal with community tensions and the affection that he came to feel for Northern Ireland – a place that he later described as having become ‘written across my heart and life’.

Short Biography:

Dr Cormac Moore is an historian with Dublin City Council’s Decade of Commemorations Programme.

Further Reading:

Birth of the Border: The Impact of Partition in Ireland – Cormac Moore
British Policy and the Irish Administration 1920-22 – John McColgan
A State Under Siege: The Establishment of Northern Ireland, 1920-25 – Bryan A. Follis.
The Civil Service and the Revolution in Ireland 1912-1938 – Martin Maguire