"Following Harland's death in 1896, William Pirrie's ascension to the 
leadership of Harland and Wolff offered hope that the discrimination against 
Catholics might be curtailed. His pleas for tolerance notwithstanding, Harland 
had been a committed Unionist who had campaigned vigorously against Home Rule 
during his sting as Lord Mayor of Belfast in the 1880's. In contrast, Pirrie 
was a supporter of Home Rule who in 1906 was rewarded with a peerage by the 
Liberal Party. This made him unpopular with Belfast's Prostatnt majority; the 
Times reported that he had 'deserted Unionism about the time the Liberals 
acceded to power, and soon afterwards he was made a peer; whether property hoc, 
or only post hoc I am quit unable to say, though no Ulster Unionist has any 
doubts on the subject.' In Frebruary 1912 as the Titanic neared completion, 
Pirrie chaired a meeting of the Ulster Liberal Association at which Winston 
Churchill presented the case for Home Rule. Originally scheduled for the Ulster 
Hall, where Churchill's father Randolfph had made his famous 'Ulster will 
fight, and Ulster will be right' declaration in 1886, the meeting had to be 
moved to the Celtic Park football ground after Unionists threatened to pack the 
building."

"In this instance, Pirries' pro-Home Rule views had little impact on his 
employees. As Churchill attempted to make his way to the ground, a group of 
shipyard workers surrounded his car and threatened to turn it over; they were 
only dissuade from doing so when they saw Mrs Churchill sitting next to her 
husband…"

Titanic: A Night Remembered
Stephanie Barczewski page 216

The article is anachronistic in a number of ways, not least in that it assumes 
a business as usual state to the work which was simply not present. Rather than 
seeing Churchill as fostering blind ambition, it should be understood his 
tenure as Trade Lord was engaged in preparing the way for some of the most 
sweeping reforms that Britain had seen in economic affairs, and for the 
energetic reorganization of the Admiralty that was to come. 




On Apr 11, 2012, at 12:55 AM, Quinn Bastian wrote:

> True. However, no matter what evidence is presented to the contrary, there 
> will always be those who believe the earth is flat. 
> 
> Best,
> Quinn
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> On Apr 10, 2012, at 2:10 PM, "Editor, Finest Hour" <[email protected]> 
> wrote:
> 
>>>> Seriously, is this even worthy of consideration?<<
>> 
>> Well, somebody DID ask. If we don't refute this stuff, it piles up and
>> stinks, like dead moss bunkers on the beaches of Staten Island.
>> 
>> A fellow managed to write a whole book about it, and to time it with
>> the Titanic Centenary and the magic name of Churchill: A sure ticket
>> to success. I promise you there will be wholly believing, admiring
>> reviews of it on Amazon, if they aren't already, just like the book
>> last year that blamed him for the Bengal Famine.
>> 
>> -- 
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> 
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