‘The principles of British honour’: the memoirs of Sir Douglas Savory, M.P., and the intersection between Ulster unionism and European minorities, 1939–1969

ABSTRACT

This article examines the autobiographical works of Sir Douglas Savory, M.P., an Ulster unionist politician in the pre-Troubles period, primarily from the 1940s through the 1960s. Savory used these writings to disseminate a unionist perspective on Northern Irish history and to construct unionist identity. The article particularly focuses on the intersection between his engagement with European minorities and Ulster unionism, arguing that his autobiographical accounts of his advocacy for marginalised groups helped to justify his portrayal of unionism as a threatened group. His work further helped to shape post-war narratives of unionism. These narratives elided nationalist grievances and encouraged an inflexible response to such issues on the part of unionist policy-makers, which would have far-reaching consequences in later periods. This article will conclude that Savory’s autobiographical works were used in deeply political ways, drawing on his involvement with European minorities and Ulster unionism to idealise the unionist community and justify its political position in Northern Ireland.

KEYWORDS:

• Ulster unionism
• Northern Ireland
• minorities
• autobiography/life-writing
• Sir Douglas Savory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Lord George Lloyd (1879–1941) was a Liberal Unionist and later Conservative politician. He served as governor of the Bombay presidency from December 1918 to 1924 and as high commissioner for Egypt and the Sudan from 1925 to 1929. Lloyd described the Second World War as the ‘defence of Christian civilization against atheistic totalitarianism’, and he travelled around Europe to cultivate support for the Allies among neutrals prior to the war. He served as leader of the House of Lords in 1941 until his death later that year (See Tomes, 2004).

2 The main exception to this rule is his advocacy for Poland against the Soviet Union, which seems to have been motivated by his conservative, anti-Communist beliefs (See Savory 1941–1955).

3 Known as Queenstown from 1849 until 1920.

4 Gray was notoriously opposed to de Valera’s government and advanced a strongly pro-unionist view of Ireland, citing some of Savory’s work in his own writings (See Gray, 2012).