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This Topical Budget item, along with its companion 'Viceroy at Limerick', depicts the first official visit to Ireland by Lord Wimborne, six months after his appointment as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland on 17 February 1915 following the end of Lord Aberdeen's ten-year stint in the post. Despite this apparent tardiness in actually visiting what was then a British province, Wimborne was determined to play a more hands-on role than his predecessor, and the following year would be instrumental in authorising the crackdown on the participants in the Easter Rising, declaring martial law on 24 April. He was subsequently pressured into offering his resignation, since the Rising happened on his watch. However, during the subsequent Royal Commission investigation, the New York Times of 7 August 1915 noted that "[Lord Wimborne] with some spirit disclaimed any responsibility for the failure of the authorities to guard against [the Rising]", complaining that "[his] powers had been entirely usurped by the Chief Secretary [for Ireland] and the Under Secretary, his own functions being confined to unsolicited advice and energetic representation, which he said had been ignored." As a result, the Commission completely exonerated him, and Wimborne was re-appointed, continuing in the post until his retirement in 1918. Michael Brooke
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Complete item (0:48)
