James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, PC

James Craig from Ireland Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881

Name: James Craig Event Type: Christening Event Place: Castlereagh No 3, Down, Ire Event Place (Original): Castlereagh No 3, Down, Ire Gender: Male Birth Date: 8 Jan 1871 Birthplace: Castlereagh No 3, Down, Ire Father's Name: James Craig Mother's Name: Eleanor Gilmore Brown

Under British rule, the Irish executive government based at Dublin Castle was led by the Lord Lieutenant, or Viceroy, the king’s representative in Ireland. His immediate subordinate was the Chief Secretary, and directly below this post, a resident Under Secretary was responsible for the day to day running of the administration. After the Act of Union in 1800, despite the abolition of the Dublin parliament, Ireland retained its own executive government; an anomaly which emphasised ‘Ireland’s incomplete integration into the enlarged United Kingdom’. Moreover, in the years after 1800, the power dynamic between Lord Lieutenant and Chief Secretary altered fundamentally. With all Irish parliamentary business henceforth conducted in London, Dublin ceased to be the hub of the Irish political scene: resident in Dublin for much of the year, the Lord Lieutenant found himself increasingly cut off from decision-making. By contrast, the Chief Secretary, travelling regularly to London for parliamentary sessions, liaising with the British cabinet, and representing Irish matters in the House of Commons, found himself exercising the real influence in Irish affairs, as a participating member of the British government. Date: Dec 1917-Jan 1918 Creator: Chief Secretary's Office

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