Ulster Unionist Council Archive

Identity Statement

Content & Structure

• Scope & Content: Ulster Unionist Council ↴

  The pre-1905 archive material derives from predecessor and/or associated bodies, some of it running on well beyond 1905. These UUC-related papers include: minutes and accounts, etc, of the Unionist Clubs’ Council, 1893-1919; minutes, etc, of the Unionist Association of Ireland, 1907-1915, with a register of speakers and canvassers, c.1908; accounts for the Unionist Association of Ireland Guarantee Fund, 1908-1913; and minutes, etc, of the Junior Imperial League, 1925-1945, together with minutes of various Belfast branches of the Junior Imperial League, 1925-1944, and correspondence about the formation of a new junior organisation to recruit young people into the Unionist Party, 1944.
  Records within the archive relating to the Ulster Volunteer Force are also fairly abundant. These include: minutes of the Co. Down Committee of the UVF, 1912-1915; minutes of the Headquarters’ Council of the UVF, 1914-1920, with enclosures such as a letter of 6 April 1914 in which the British League ‘for the support of Ulster’ complains to Richard Dawson Bates, secretary to the UUC, of Frank Hall’s harsh criticism of the League; and a file of reports, instructions, details of signals, etc, relating to the gun-running at Larne, Bangor and Donaghadee in April 1914. There are also photographs of a number of UVF reviews and other gatherings, c.1912-1914.
  The UUC archive proper (insofar as this can ever be defined) includes the following minutes and series of minute books: minutes of the Ulster Day Committee, 1911-1912; minutes of the Unionist Defence Fund Committee, 1912-1914; minutes of the Business Men’s Executive Committee which was established to advise on commercial problems arising out of the formation of the Provisional Government, 1913-1914; minutes of the Ulster Unionist delegates to the Irish Convention, 1917-1918; agenda for, and minutes of, meetings of the UUC Executive Committee, 1949-1982, and of the Standing Committee, 1919-1974; minutes of the Officers’ Committee, 1968-1981, and of the Finance Committee, 1941-1974, with gaps; minutes, correspondence, briefing documents, etc, relating to various special committees and sub-committees, 1917-1981, such as the Propaganda Sub-Committee formed in 1938 to consider ways and means of countering adverse propaganda about Northern Ireland, and which later became the Publicity Sub-Committee and then the Political Education and Publicity Sub-Committee, 1938-1973, of the Refugee Committee set up to help loyalists forced to flee from the Irish Free State, 1922, the Employment Sub-Committee, 1923, the Business Committee formed to administer the affairs of the UUC, 1943-1947, the Housing Sub-Committee, 1950-1951, and the committee set up to consider areas of civil unrest, 1968; minutes and notices of annual general meetings and special meetings of the UUC, 1913 and 1930-1974, with agenda, details of motions, etc, for their annual conferences, 1909 and 1943-1981; and minutes of committees set up at different times between c.1940 and c.1980 to review the strength of unionism and make recommendations for improving party efficiency.
  Press cuttings, political cartoons, printed publications, etc, 1886-1982, cannot always be attributed to any one unionist organisation. There is a large section correspondence of Secretaries to the UUC.
  The archive also contains the records of the Ulster Unionist Labour Association (UULA) which was formed in 1917 by Sir Edward Carson to counteract socialism amongst working class unionists.
  There are also: minutes of meetings of the Official Ulster Unionist Parliamentary Party, 1921-1976, together with agenda and related correspondence, 1945-1972; and records of local unionist associations which include minutes, 1958-1971, and accounts, 1965-1971, of Ormeau Unionist Association, minutes, correspondence, etc, 1954-1961, of North Belfast Imperial Unionist Association, minutes of Mid-Armagh Women’s Association, 1929-1955, and of Mid-Armagh Men’s Association, 1929-1944 and 1951-1969, and minutes, 1968-1984, and correspondence, etc, 1968-1986, of North Down Divisional Association.

• Appraisal Destruction ↴

  Permanent Retention

• Arrangement ↴

  The collection is arranged as follows:
  D1327/1 Unionist Clubs
  D1327/2 ‘Ulster Crisis’ material
  D1327/3 Ulster Solemn League and Covenant and Ulster Declaration
  D1327/4 Ulster Volunteer Force
  D1327/5 Officer’s Committee, Ulster Unionist Council
  D1327/6 Executive Committee, Ulster Unionist Council
  D1327/7 Standing Committee, Ulster Unionist Council
  D1327/8 Ulster Unionist Council AGM’s
  D1327/9 Annual Conferences of the Ulster Unionist Council
  D1327/10 Annual Returns for the Ulster Unionist Council
  D1327/11 Ulster Unionist Labour Association
  D1327/12 Organisation and Constitution
  D1327/13 Publicity material
  D1327/14 Finance
  D1327/15 Special Committees and Sub-Committees, Ulster Unionist Council
  D1327/16 Election material
  D1327/17 Ulster Unionist – Conservative links
  D1327/18 Ulster Unionist Council – Secretary’s correspondence
  D1327/19 ‘Topics’, bundles and files involving the Ulster Unionist Council Secretary
  D1327/20 Publications
  D1327/21 Press statements and newspaper cuttings
  D1327/22 Parliamentary Party
  D1327/23 Local Unionist Associations
  D1327/24 Boundary Commissions
  D1327/25 UYUC and UWUC
  D1327/26 Constitutional Policy
  D1327/27 Ulster Unionist Council: Clerkship to her Majesty’s Lieutenant
  D1327/28 Headquarters files and papers, 1980-98

Conditions of Access & Use

Allied Materials

There are no Allied Materials

Descriptive Control Area