37 Day Count Down to War - Day 14

July 11th 1914 - Day 14

The state of Britain's infant air forces concerns The Daily Telegraph. The Royal Naval Air Service, so named only weeks before, is already seen to constitute 'an independent third service' and its structure and organisation are to be admired

Cartoons based on the date 11th July 1914 by John McCrea and Ferg Handley as part of the 14-14 Now . The government is trying to get Home Rule for Ireland through Parliament. Irish nationalists have been campaigning for Ireland to be ruled from Dublin for years. But opposition from the Protestants in Ulster and their supporters in Britain is threatening to derail the process, worse, divide the country... The Protestant Ulster Volunteers are putting on a show of force.

The Daily Express:

‘The West Belfast regiment marched to a stable where the rifles were secreted. Two men climbed into the loft and threw open the upper doors while the volunteers filed into the small cobbled yard from the street. The guns with fixed bayonets were quickly served out. Delight and pride were upon every face when the whole detachment had been supplied.’

The nationalists who want self-government are worried.

The Irish Volunteer newspaper prints a desperate plea:

‘We must have rifles. There is not enough rifles in the country and thousands of trained men are ready for them. We are being taunted with our poverty in being unable to procure sufficient funds to make gun running feasible.’

An article in the Daily Telegraph caught my eye on this day 100 years age- On the 'Page for Women', an interesting argument unfolds about what the modern woman should expect from her husband. If a woman controls the household expenditure, should she really ask for any more power than that?

Information resourced from the following sites:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2PpB7QpnGYxgSVs6m79G3sh/john-mccrea-ferg-handley
http://www.1418now.org.uk/whats-on/1914-day-by-day-cartoons/cartoons/#slide-2