On Ulster Day - 28 September 1912 - over 218,000 men signed the Ulster Covenant and over 228,000 women signed the parallel Declaration across Ulster in opposition to Home Rule. The signatories to these documents were drawn from across the whole spectrum of Unionist society from labourers to aristocrats. The aim of this paper is to detail the impact of women from Ulster’s country houses - big houses - who acted as agents in organising the signing of the Declaration throughout the province. For most of these privileged – yet still disenfranchised - women this was the first time that their skills and influence would be utilised as they adopted local political leadership roles, which had hitherto been the preserve of their husbands, fathers, brothers and sons reflecting the changing status of women and the fear amongst Unionists that Home Rule would be introduced. While important female figures in early Unionism such as Theresa, Lady Londonderry have received academic attention, many others remain hidden and this research aims to shed some light on their impact and influence.
The digitised files of the Ulster Covenant and Declaration hosted online by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland have been searched in ascertaining the names of the agents. Those of aristocratic or landed gentry status have been identified using the Census of Ireland, 1911 and detailed biographical sketches of each have been compiled using Burke’s Landed Gentry of Ireland (1912 edition), Burke’s Peerage (1914 edition) in addition to estate and family papers. The locations of the signings and the number of signatories at each have also been mapped using GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to illustrate regional variations in influence across the province. Case studies of several contrasting counties and examples of individual agents will be presented.