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The governor of Northern Ireland was the principal officer and representative in
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
of the British monarch. The office was established on 9 December 1922 and abolished on 18 July 1973.


Overview

The office of Governor of Northern Ireland was established on 9 December 1922 under letters patent to: The governor was the successor to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in Northern Ireland, itself established on 3 May 1921. The office of the governor was abolished on 18 July 1973 under Section 32 of the
Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 The Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which received the royal assent on 18 July 1973. The Act abolished the suspended Parliament of Northern Ireland and the post of Governor and made ...
. The secretary of state for Northern Ireland, a
cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...
office that had been created in 1972, took over the functions of the governor on 20 December 1973 under Letters Patent. Analogous to the governor-general of a Commonwealth
Dominion The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 1926 ...
, the governor's formal power was ceremonial, exercised on the "advice" of the Government of Northern Ireland.Torrance 2020 p. 38 The government was technically an "executive committee" of the governor's Privy Council of Northern Ireland, which was ceremonial and rarely met. The governor summoned and
prorogued A legislative session is the period of time in which a legislature, in both parliamentary and presidential systems, is convened for purpose of lawmaking, usually being one of two or more smaller divisions of the entire time between two election ...
the Parliament of Northern Ireland (latterly at Stormont Castle) and delivered the speech from the throne at the Parliament's annual State Opening (except for the first such in 1921, delivered in person by
George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother ...
). The governor had possession of the Great Seal of Northern Ireland, and exercised the
prerogative of mercy In the English and British tradition, the royal prerogative of mercy is one of the historic royal prerogatives of the British monarch, by which they can grant pardons (informally known as a royal pardon) to convicted persons. The royal prero ...
. The governor gave
royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in oth ...
to bills passed by Stormont. While he had the formal power to disallow or reserve legislation, this was never exercised. The only instance of reservation in relation to Stormont was made by Viscount FitzAlan, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, shortly before the office was replaced by that of Governor of Northern Ireland. FitzAlan referred the
Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1922 Local Government Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Ireland and the United Kingdom, relating to local government. The Bill for an Act with this short title may have been know ...
to the Home Office in London from concern that its abolition of
single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...
in
local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct v ...
would violate the 1920 act's prohibition of
religious discrimination Religious discrimination is treating a person or group differently because of the particular beliefs which they hold about a religion. This includes instances when adherents of different religions, denominations or non-religions are treated u ...
. The Home Office agreed with FitzAlan but the Law ministry advised FitzAlan to assent regardless, after James Craig threatened the resignation of his ministry in Stormont. This precedent dissuaded later London governments from interfering in Northern Ireland, although newly enacted Stormont bills were sent to the
Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all nationa ...
for review as a matter of course. A 1951 visit by the governor to Londonderry Corporation was the focus of a
nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
protest led by Eddie McAteer against gerrymandering by the unionist corporation against Derry's nationalist majority. When
Viscount Brookeborough Viscount Brookeborough, of Colebrooke in the County of Fermanagh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1952 for the Ulster Unionist politician and Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Captain The Rt. Hon. Sir Bas ...
resigned as prime minister in 1963, governor Baron Wakehurst was active in choosing Terence O'Neill as his successor. O'Neill in his memoirs compared this to
Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states durin ...
's appointment by
royal prerogative The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy, as belonging to the sovereign and which have become widely vested in th ...
of
Alec Douglas-Home Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel (; 2 July 1903 – 9 October 1995), styled as Lord Dunglass between 1918 and 1951 and being The 14th Earl of Home from 1951 till 1963, was a British Conservative politician who s ...
as UK prime minister the same year. Ken Bloomfield, a leading Stormont civil servant in the 1960s, "never had any sense of the Governor as a significant factor in orthern Ireland prime ministers'plans or calculations".Bloomfield 2007 p. 13 While the Governor might in theory have been a channel of communication between Stormont and London, in practice the Stormont Cabinet Office talked directly to the Home Office in Whitehall. In 1966, an early sign of Northern Ireland's impending troubles came with the unpopularity among loyalists of Governor
Lord Erskine The Lordship of Parliament of Erskine (Lord Erskine) was created around 1426 for Sir Robert Erskine. The sixth lord was created Earl of Mar in 1565, with which title (and the earldom of Kellie) the lordship then merged. Lords Erskine (c. 1426) * ...
, who had successfully lobbied for a new Belfast bridge to be named after
Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states durin ...
rather than loyalist hero Edward Carson. A crowd led by Ian Paisley jostled and heckled Erskine and his wife as they left the
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland is the sovereign and highest court of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, and is thus the Church's governing body. The General Assembly normally meets annually, during the first full wee ...
.


Official residence

The official residence of the governor of Northern Ireland was
Hillsborough Castle Hillsborough Castle is an official government residence in Northern Ireland. It is the official residence of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland,
in County Down. Following refurbishment of the Castle, the Duke of Abercorn took up residence in 1925. It remained the official residence until the abolition of the office of governor in 1973; henceforth it has been the official residence of the secretary of state for Northern Ireland.


Governors of Northern Ireland (1922–73)

The Governor's standard term of office was six years, renewable without limit, and with no dependency on general elections to the Stormont Parliament. These provisions were carried over in 1922 from those applied by the 1920 act to the office of Lord Lieutenant. The Duke of Abercorn, whose third term as Governor expired in December 1940, agreed to stay on until the end of the Second World War, at which point Earl Granville served out the balance of Abercorn's term and a full term of his own. In 1968, Lord Erskine resigned owing to his wife's ill health. His successor Lord Grey's term was cut short by the 1972 imposition of direct rule.


Deputies

The 1922 "Instructions" sent alongside the letters patent establishing the office required the governor of Northern Ireland to get the monarch's permission to leave Northern Ireland, and empowered the governor in such cases to issue letters patent under the Great Seal of Northern Ireland appointing a "Deputy or Deputies, Justice or Justices" during his absence. This emulated the practice of appointing
Lords Justices of Ireland The Lords Justices (more formally the Lords Justices General and General Governors of Ireland) were deputies who acted collectively in the absence of the chief governor of Ireland (latterly the Lord Lieutenant) as head of the executive branch ...
when the lord lieutenant was absent from Ireland. Each new governor upon taking office would select a slate of eligible deputies from among the Privy Council of Northern Ireland, and at each of his subsequent absences a subset of these would be sworn in for its duration.Quekett 193
Vol.2 pp.70–71
/ref> Many were Lord Chief Justice or
Lord Justice of Appeal A Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, the Crown Court and other courts and tribunals. A Lord (or Lady) Justic ...
:
Denis Henry Sir Denis Stanislaus Henry, 1st Baronet, (7 March 1864 – 1 October 1925), was an Irish lawyer and politician who became the first Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland. Henry was born in Cahore, Draperstown, County Londonderry, the son of ...
,''
The Belfast Gazette ''The Belfast Gazette'' is a newspaper of record (Government gazette) of the Government of the United Kingdom, along with ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Edinburgh Gazette''. It is published by The Stationery Office (TSO), on behalf of His Majes ...
'
No. 81 p.17
William Moore, James Andrews,
Anthony Babington Anthony Babington (24 October 156120 September 1586) was an English gentleman convicted of plotting the assassination of Elizabeth I of England and conspiring with the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots, for which he was hanged, drawn and quarte ...
, John MacDermott, Baron MacDermott,''The Belfast Gazette'
No. 1577 p.219
Samuel Clarke Porter. Others were
Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
s and/or county lieutenants: Robert Sharman-Crawford,''The Belfast Gazette'
No. 161 p.880
Robert David Perceval-Maxwell, Henry Armstrong,''The Belfast Gazette'
No. 579 p.403
Sir Thomas Dixon, 2nd Baronet,''The Belfast Gazette'
No. 705 p.451
Maurice McCausland Maurice Marcus McCausland (1872–14 January 1938) was a landowner and political figure in Ireland. McCausland was born in Drenagh, County Londonderry, the grandson of St Andrew St John, 15th Baron St John of Bletso. He studied at Eton College ...
, Francis Needham, 4th Earl of Kilmorey.''The Belfast Gazette'
No. 1265 p.217


See also

* Lord Lieutenant of Ireland *
Governor-General of the Irish Free State The Governor-General of the Irish Free State ( ga, Seanascal Shaorstát Éireann) was the official representative of the sovereign of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1936. By convention, the office was largely ceremonial. Nonetheless, it wa ...


Notes


References


Sources

* * * *


Further reading

* * {{cite book , last1=Lowry , first1=Donal , year=2020 , chapter=A 'Supreme and Permanent Symbol of Executive Authority': The Crown and the Governorship of Northern Ireland in an Age of 'Troubles' , editor1-first=Harshan , editor1-last=Kumarasingham , title=Viceregalism: The Crown as Head of State in Political Crises in the Post-War Commonwealth , location=London , publisher=Palgrave-Macmillan , pages=93–126 , isbn=978-3-030-46282-6 , doi=10.1007/978-3-030-46283-3_4, s2cid=226590405 , chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hgPyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA93 , chapter-url-access=limited


External links

* Donal Lowry
"The office of Governor as the Crown’s representative, symbolising `the permanence both of the authority of the Northern Ireland Government and the union with Great Britain’, 1921-1973"
'' The History of Parliament'' blog Government of Northern Ireland History of Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
1922 establishments in the United Kingdom 1973 disestablishments in the United Kingdom