The Northern Ireland Command Papers – A conversation with George Woodman
George Woodman began working with official publications three years preceding his appointment to Stormont where he was the Librarian before retiring on 31st March 2011. His career spanning 37 years establishes him by his contemporaries as the authority on Northern Ireland official publications, and this is matched with his depth of understanding and experience of official papers emanating from the wider jurisdictions of the UK and Ireland. His papers, “A Century of Partition”, (Church of Ireland Clougher Diocesan Magazine 2021) and “Official Publications – 30 years of change”, (published in Refer Summer 2012), explain the establishment of Northern Ireland and the changes in official publishing during his career. Both provide valuable context for this piece, which focuses on the Northern Ireland Command Papers (NI Cmd. Papers). Relating to a wide range of topics, most Command Papers were published during George’s lifetime and bore influence in the memories from his childhood.
A brief summary to place the Papers in context; The first issue of Belfast Gazette, Tuesday 7th, June 1921, provides detail of the departments set up following the establishment of Northern Ireland. The NI Cmd. Papers, represented the topics of discussion, investigation and development of government policies at the time, much of which led to legislation. They also included important series of annual reports, e.g. on Home Offices Services and of the Ministry of Education. Today they remain key historic documents providing insight to the foundations and development of Northern Ireland society from 1921 to 1975. Spanning 54 years the final paper was numbered 588 with only a few numbers unaccounted for.
The first Command Paper was the Interim Report of the Departmental Committee on Reorganization. The NI Government’s final statement before resigning and start of direct rule was Cmd. 568, Political Settlement, published on 24th March 1972.
While there are papers outlining the establishment of Northern Ireland Government through committees; such as Lynn committee on education, (Interim Report Cmd. 6, Final Report Cmd. 15), the series also includes the reports which in some form or another remain topics of discussion. These include the Railways Commissioners’ Report, Cmd. 10, signed November 1922. This committee was chaired by Mr Justice T.W. Brown and the remit was to advise on changes in administration of railways undertakings. Cmd. 160 Transport Conditions: Report by Sir Felix J.C. Pole had the remit co-ordinate road and rail services. Cmd. 24 Lough Neagh Coal Basin, was one of a number of reports of the Committee on the Natural and Industrial Resources of Northern Ireland. A number of papers emanated from committees chaired by figureheads with interesting backgrounds.
The publication of the Command Papers:
By the start of the 20th century the practice of presenting a series of official papers to Parliament ‘by Command of Her/ His Majesty’ and numbering them in a sequence extending over many years with the number preceded by initials suggesting ‘Command’ was well established. The NI sequence of Cmd. papers must not be confused with the GB sequence that ran from 1919 to 1956, which was of course much longer!
The wording of the formula on the cover and title pages reflects historical developments. The early NI Cmd. Papers were ‘Presented by Command of His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant’ (of Ireland). This forms a useful reminder that the partition of Ireland was not a single event but a process extending over several years. This went on until 1922 when, after the establishment of the Irish Free State, the post of Governor was established in Northern Ireland. After this, the statement read ‘by Command of His Excellency the Governor of Northern Ireland.’
During the war publication of Command Papers and other official publications was greatly reduced. The post-war years and the establishment of the welfare state saw a great rise in the number of papers, reflecting a great period of interventionist government.
The start of direct rule in 1972 meant that there was no Government of Northern Ireland to issue NI Command Papers. However, reports that appeared in series as Cmd. Papers continued to be published in this way, so that Cmd. papers continued to appear during the following years until 1975. Even though the last Parliament of Northern Ireland did not meet after 29 March 1972, it continued to exist until July 1973, so papers could still be presented to it. Subsequently they were presented to the Northern Ireland Assembly, elected in July 1973. The Northern Ireland Executive that existed from January to May 1974 did not issue any Command Papers, although annual reports, which it had been the custom to publish as Command Papers continued to appear in this form. After the post of Governor of Northern Ireland was abolished in July 1973, the papers were published ‘by Command of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.’
The NI Cmd. Papers stopped appearing almost by accident. After the dissolution of the Northern Ireland Assembly in April 1975 there was no longer an elected body in Northern Ireland for them to be presented to.
Administration of the papers:
George provides detail on the daily process:
“The contents of the Command papers were prepared and issued by the sponsoring government department. A main author e.g. Benson would have had civil servants assigned to work with him. While a department sponsored the Command Paper, the actual publisher and distributor was HMSO. For many years their distribution point was their office and shop in 80 Chichester Street.
Significant figureheads are noted throughout this piece and another, Lord Hunt, formerly Sir John Hunt, chaired the Advisory Committee that produced the report ‘Police in Northern Ireland’ (Cmd. 535, 1969). He is famous as leader of the expedition who first climbed Everest in 1953.
A great many types of publications were sent to Members by departments. For many of them, especially those such as the HC Papers and Cmd. Papers, which were officially laid before Parliament there was an embargo on wider circulation until after formal presentation.
The Vote Office was responsible for delivering publications to Members. Its staff would do this by leaving the publications in Members’ pigeonholes. These were close to the Chambers. When a publication was ready, either departmental or HMSO staff would deliver it to the Vote Office who were then responsible for its distribution to Members. The time could vary as often a new report was launched by a ministerial statement to the House.
HMSO and the department would see putting a publication into the hands of the Vote Office staff as placing it in the public domain, so that they could comment on it or, in the case of HMSO, sell it commercially. Hence Vote Office staff had to have turnarounds not on the same day but within seconds! As soon as they received a publication staff would race down to the pigeonholes, less than a minute away from the Vote Office itself, and insert their copies. All this was many years before today’s means of instant textual transmission and communication.
One could come across historical echoes all the time. Shortly after I came I found a large supply of foolscap envelopes sitting on a shelf, all addressed to Rt. Hon. Harold Wilson, Prime Minister, 10 Downing Street! They dated from, at the latest, 1974 and were left over at his resignation in 1976! Eventually thrifty staff recycled them! Much later I came across several boxes of copies in mint condition of a pamphlet summarising the Beveridge Report on Social Insurance and Allied Services, the foundation document of the welfare state- a testimony to the interest this British Command Paper aroused in Northern Ireland.”
Recalling the pertinent topics
Railways
As a young child from six weeks old, George would be taken by his mother by train to visit his aunt Kathleen and as such was a regular traveller between Portadown and Omagh. Subsequent working with the Papers led to his interest in the report by H. Benson on railways, Cmd. 458 which resulted in the closure of many lines. George refers in his reflections:
“Benson was a London accountant, recommended to the NI Government by Dr Beeching. In fact I was keenly interested in the whole controversy from the publication of the report. All this was going on at the same time as Matthew. The Benson Report was the first ever official publication, indeed the first Command Paper, I ever handled. It was only years later that I encountered it again as a librarian. The controversy was around the line from Portadown to Londonderry (the ‘Derry Road’) and it was closed in 1965. The line from Goraghwood to Warrenpoint was also closed. Benson recommended the closure of the other line to the northwest through Ballymena and Coleraine but this was not done. This closure followed the closure of most railways in West Ulster in 1957.”
The railways remain another current topic of discussion, which the papers provide legacy to.
George adds; “Railway buffs will recognise the name of Sir Felix J.C. Pole (Report on Transport Conditions, Cmd. 160, 1934). He was the very dynamic General Manager of the Great Western Railway. This has personal significance for me as my great-great uncle Dan (from whom, through my grandfather, I derive my second name) was a GWR driver!”
Education
In 1965, the Lockwood report, Cmd. 475 and the subsequent Government statement on the report, Cmd. 480, recommended that a second university be established in Northern Ireland. There was much controversy on the issue of its location with Armagh was lobbying for its position. The choice of Coleraine was seen as another blow to Derry, where there was strong lobbying for the university to be based at Magee. Lockwood recommended the closure of Magee! Remembering that this was being played out simultaneously with Benson and the closure of the railways, George recalls the two issues almost being conflated.
In his early career days at Stormont, George met many people who would have been engaged in some way with writing or ‘signing off’ official documents. One such person was J M Benn who was secretary to the Examination Board and George recalls; “I encountered his name on the pass I needed to produce to sit the Junior Certificate exam. (‘Junior’ won’t even be a memory to younger generations.) He went on to be Permanent Secretary of the Department of Education. He was well into his eighties when I met him. He told me he had enjoyed working with my father, who was Headmaster of Portadown College”.
Craigavon
Being a Librarian of official publications presents all sorts of engaging muses on the papers passing across the desk. For George, who grew up in Portadown in the 1960s there was a natural curiosity in Sir Robert Matthew’s report, Belfast Regional Survey and Plan: Recommendations and Conclusions, Cmd. 451. This was aimed partly at moving people from Belfast to stop the city becoming over populated. At the same time a stop line was introduced for Belfast, which became known as the ‘Matthew stop line’. The development of this new town, indeed a new city, Craigavon, happened at the end of the bitterly cold winter of 1963, and its naming became very controversial. George recalls how it attracted all sorts of proposed names. Located between Portadown and Lurgan, PortLurg was one that was muted.
More specifically George notes; “For the last 40 years I have lived almost on the Matthew stop line! That I would be in Matthew’s debt for being able to enjoy green space round me was something I could never have imagined as a 12 year old schoolboy.”
George notes further, “I have another link with Sir Robert Matthew. From 1977 to 1981 I worked in the library of the New University of Ulster at Coleraine- a building he designed!”
It is interesting to note, Sir Robert Matthew was a distinguished architect, who played a major role in post-war planning and was responsible for the Royal Festival Hall.
Health
Portadown’s lack of its own hospital was a bone of contention throughout George’s childhood and he recalls:
“The main hospital for the town was in Lurgan. The Matthew report gave added impetus to a campaign for improved hospital provision, another live issue in Northern Ireland at the time, as it continues to be. In 1966 the Ministry of Health and Social Services produced the Hospital Plan 1966-75 (Cmd. 497). This recommended four area hospitals for Northern Ireland, including one at Craigavon. At last Portadown had its hospital site, in land on the edge of the town in the land vested for the new city. Its progress can be traced through the Review of the Hospital Plan 1968- 78 (Cmd. 524), which appeared in 1968, and the Second Review, covering 1970-75 (Cmd. 556), from 1971. There was great excitement in Portadown when Craigavon Area Hospital finally opened in 1972. The employment opportunities it created were much appreciated and there were eager volunteers to do jobs like looking after flowers on the wards!”
Libraries
In 1929, Cmd. 101, Report of the Departmental Committee on the Provision of Libraries was chaired by Robert Lloyd Praeger, examined the condition of libraries and recommended the establishment of a state library, to be called the Ulster Library, one of whose functions was to compile a union catalogue of NI library holdings. This was a unique example of an NI committee chaired by a significant literary figure.
Cooperation with the Republic of Ireland
In the 1960s the Eccles Report exemplifies cross border work. Relating to electricity supply, the same text was issued in two series of official documents by two governments.
Possibly the best example is the setting up of the Foyle Fisheries Commission under Foyle Fisheries Act (NI) 1952 and identical Oireachtas legislation of the same year. A good study of this area is Tannam, Etain Cross Border Co-operation in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland Macmillan, 1998.
The final papers:
The Parliament and Government of Northern Ireland celebrated their 50th anniversary in June 1971. No one anticipated that they had less than a year to live and Brian Faulkner, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, and as it turned out the last holder of the office, proposed to develop Parliament through Cmd. 560, The Future Development of the Parliament and Government of Northern Ireland, published at beginning of July 1971. This was a Green Paper. Opposition parties initially expressed interest in the proposals. However, in response to the failure to investigate a shooting, SDLP and Nationalist members withdrew from Stormont later the same month. This, and the deteriorating situation after the introduction of internment in August 1971 effectively buried these proposals. However, they were a prelude to further initiatives in the years after Direct Rule.
The Scarman Report “Violence and Civil Disturbances in 1969: Report of Tribunal of Inquiry”. Cmd. 566, 1972, is among the most important of the Command Papers, as it was the definitive statement on the outbreak of the Troubles in 1969. In later years, Lord Scarman, a High Court Judge and Law Lord, a long standing expert in the field of human rights, spoke more publicly about them as an issue after he retired.
Official publications present a structured evidence of history. It takes time to understand their publishing process. However, when George started working at Stormont, the people who he had work with the previous system were still there and through understanding of the past and building on it with his ongoing experience, linking content of the Papers to current government information requirements, he became a lynchpin in deconstructing and answering any question.
George continues to give generously of his knowledge and time and remains an authority of Northern Ireland official publications for which Queen’s Library continues to be grateful.
The Library at Queen’s University Belfast is pleased to announce the digitisation of the NI Command Papers. If you are interested in finding out more or need access to them or the wider collection of official materials, please get in touch by emailing niopaenquiries@qub.ac.uk
Norma Menabney (Subject Librarian, Queen’s University Belfast)
and George Woodman
OfficialPapersUK 