Craig, James (1871-1940)

Ulster Unionist politician; first prime minister of Northern Ireland 1921-40. Elected to Westminster as MP for East Down 1906-18 (Mid-Down 1918-21), he was a highly effective organizer of the Ulster Volunteers and unionist resistance to home rule before World War I. In 1921 he succeeded Edward Carson as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, and was appointed prime minister later that year. As leader of the Northern Ireland government he carried out systematic discrimination against the Catholic minority, abolishing proportional representation in 1929 and redrawing constituency boundaries to ensure Protestant majorities.

Although a stockbroker by trade, Craig took part in the Boer War as captain of the Royal Irish Rifles in South Africa 1900-01. He saw active service in World War I, before serving for a period as a parliamentary secretary 1917-21 in Lloyd George's coalition government. He was knighted in 1918 and made Viscount Craigavon in 1927.