Belfast: The Churchill Meeting

From the collection of

Northern Ireland Screen's Digital Film Archive
Launched in 2000, Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive spans from 1897 to the present day and currently contains an ever-expanding catalogue of 13,000 items. It comprises material from a variety of depositors including feature films, sport, documentaries, animation, amateur footage, light entertainment, and a significant proportion of broadcast material from the UTV Archive.

Belfast: The Churchill Meeting


Newsreel documenting the infamous 1912 visit to Belfast of Winston Churchill.

Various scenes of the notorious visit, in which the First Lord of The Admiralty, Winston Churchill, was sent to Belfast to argue in favour of Home Rule for Ireland, but was met with a great deal of resistance from Unionists. He was due to speak in the Ulster Hall, but squatting Unionist protestors forced him to deliver his speech to Nationalists in Celtic Park.

The film features Lord Pirrie, Chairman of Belfast shipbuilders Harland & Wolff. Also, appearing is Clementine Churchill who was at the centre of one of the day's most dramatic incidents. After lunch at a Belfast hotel, Churchill was getting into his car, ready to make his way to his next engagement. He was spotted by some shipyard workers who set upon the car and were intent on trying to tip it over when they noticed that Clementine Churchill was in the vehicle. Upon seeing her, the cry went up, ‘mind the wumman'. The shipyard workers then refrained from putting the car onto its roof.


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