Andrew Bonar Law (1858-1923)
“I can imagine no length of resistance to which Ulster can go in which I should not be prepared to support them, and in which, in my belief, they would not be supported by the overwhelming majority of the British people.”
Andrew Bonar Law
Bonar Law led the Conservative Party for more than a decade from 1911 to 1923; and served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1922 to 1923.
His time at the height of British politics coincided with a period of great national turmoil. Illness ensured that his premiership was the shortest of the 20th century, but his impact on British politics was enormous.
He saved the Conservative Party by ending the coalition with Lloyd George’s Liberals and leading a rejuvenated Party to victory in the 1922 General Election.
His strong, instinctive support during the Home Rule crisis was critical to his fellow unionists in Ulster and helped bring about the foundation of Northern Ireland.
Although born in New Brunswick, he was an Ulster-Scot: his father Rev James Law, a Free Church of Scotland minister, was from Coleraine in County Londonderry.