The ‘best and most forward-looking’ in Ulster unionism: the Unionist Society (est. 1942)

Abstract

During the premiership of Captain Terence O’Neill, from 1963 to 1969, an inclusive, liberal unionism for the first time guided the policies of the Northern Ireland state. Liberal roots in the Unionist Party, however, were never deep, and liberal unionism was effectively destroyed by the onset of the ‘Troubles’. It was an ambiguous creed, more pro-British than anxious to conciliate Irish nationalism. Liberal unionism’s aversion to overt and offensive anti-Catholicism struck a chord with perhaps the majority of the Protestant population. However, it did not encourage a proactive stance; rather a passive reciprocation of nationalist ‘goodwill’, defined, in effect, as acquiescence. It was an ideology of comfortable superiority. This can be illustrated by the fate of the Unionist Society. Uniquely for any unionist organisation of the post-war era, this association has left all its records open for inspection. The weaknesses and strengths of liberal unionism over a thirty-year span can thus be elucidated by a case-study examination of the Unionist Society.