Belfast: The Churchill Meeting

Newsreel documenting the infamous 1912 visit to Belfast of Winston Churchill.

Various scenes of the notorious visit, in which the First Lord of The Admiralty, Winston Churchill, was sent to Belfast to argue in favour of Home Rule for Ireland, but was met with a great deal of resistance from Unionists. He was due to speak in the Ulster Hall, but squatting Unionist protestors forced him to deliver his speech to Nationalists in Celtic Park.

The film features Lord Pirrie, Chairman of Belfast shipbuilders Harland & Wolff. Also, appearing is Clementine Churchill who was at the centre of one of the day’s most dramatic incidents. After lunch at a Belfast hotel, Churchill was getting into his car, ready to make his way to his next engagement. He was spotted by some shipyard workers who set upon the car and were intent on trying to tip it over when they noticed that Clementine Churchill was in the vehicle. Upon seeing her, the cry went up, ‘mind the wumman’. The shipyard workers then refrained from putting the car onto its roof.