The Ulster Volunteer Force was an adverse and complex organisation spanning
rural and urban protestant Ulster, stretching from the shipyard communities
of East Belfast in the Unionist heartland to isolated loyalist outposts
on the Atlantic coast of Donegal.
One of the most dedicated groups of men, at first quite separate from
the UVF, was the Young Citizen Volunteers of Ireland (YCV).
The inaugural meeting of this organisation had been held in Belfast City
Hall on 10 September 1912, just prior to the signing of the Solemn League
and Covenant.
Each member was to pay 2s.6d on joining the YCVs and a further 6d each
month; he was to attend weekly drills to learn ‘modified military
and police drill, single stick, rifle and baton exercises, signalling,
knot-tying and other such exercises”. If possible he was also to
gain some knowledge of ‘life-saving and ambulance work’.
The constitution of the YCVs insisted that members should not take part
in any political meeting or demonstration. They were stated as being ‘non-sectarian
and non-political’ and their objectives were considered to be :
“..... to develop the spirit of responsible citizenship
and municipal patriotism by means of lectures and discussions on civic
matters.... to cultivate, by means of modified military and police drill,
a manly physique, with habits of self control, self-respect and chivalry....to
assist as an organisation, when called upon, the civil power in the
maintenance of peace”.
Regimental
Band YCV 1914
Membership was open to anyone aged between eighteen and thirty-five who
was over five feet in height and could present ‘credentials of good
character’.
Where as the UVF was totally made up of Protestants, some catholics did
join the YCVs, but recruitment was overwhelmingly protestant.
The YCVs had planned to extend their membership further afield than Belfast,
but growth was limited as a result of the membership fee and costly uniform
which meant that most of the young men who made up the YCV came from fairly
comfortable backgrounds. An application was made for financial assistance
in return for the placing of the YCV at the governments disposal, but
the YCVs were not recognised as a ‘territorial’ unit the application
was refused. So by May 1914 with the gathering momentum of the Home Rule
crisis and with many Young Citizens feeling betrayed by the government
the YCVs applied for membership of the UVF and became a battalion of the
Belfast regiment.
On Saturday 6 june the Young Citizens marched to the Bamoral showgrounds
with their new comrades, to be reviewed by Sir Edward Carson. A stream
of people who had been thronging the Lisburn Road poured into the grounds
when the gates opened at four o’clock and at 4.45 when the YCVs
marched past a roar went up from the 25.000 strong crowd.
Despite the addition of the Young Citizens to the UVF and all the organisation
of back-up facilities and despite it modernity, the UVF would pose an
empty threat without guns and ammunition for the 90,000-100,000 men who
had enrolled by the time entry was closed on the last day of February
1914.
Having
dropped their 'non-political' image - The Young Citizen Volunteers parade
for
Sir Edward Carson at Balmoral
on 6 June 1914
Y.C.V.
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