CARSON

From 1905 Carson was both the Irish Unionist Alliance MP for the University of Dublin and leader of the Ulster Unionist Council in Belfast. In 1915 he entered the war cabinet of H. H. Asquith as Attorney-General. Carson was defeated in his ambition to maintain Ireland as a whole in union with Great Britain. His leadership, however, was celebrated by some for securing a continued place in the United Kingdom for the six north-eastern counties, albeit under a devolved Parliament of Northern Ireland that neither he nor his fellow unionists had sought. He is also remembered for his open ended cross examination of Oscar Wilde in a legal action that Wilde had brought, but which led to him being gaoled and ruined. Carson unsuccessfully attempted to intercede for Wilde after the case.