James Hanna McCormick

McCormick was born in Belfast,{{Nbsp}}Ireland to Thomas{{Nbsp}}McCormick and Elizabeth{{Nbsp}}Hanna{{Nbsp}}McCormick. He self-described his religion as "Irish{{Nbsp}}Protestant".

He moved to Canada in 1903, to take part in the colonisation of Lloydminster, Saskatchewan.

By 1909, he had become the deputy mayor of Lloydminster, where he also owned 1,200 acres of land and worked as an estate auctioneer.{{cite book|last1=Peel|first1=Bruce Braden|title=Peel's Bibliography of the Canadian Prairies to 1953|publisher=University of Toronto Press|page=811}}

McCormick served in the Boer{{Nbsp}}War in the Imperial{{Nbsp}}Yeomanry,{{cite news|title=First Surprise In Nominations For GJB. Election|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/lethbridge-herald-feb-07-1950-p-3/|work=Lethbridge Herald|date=7 February 1950|quote=After serving in the Boer war with the Ulster Yeomanry}} and later joined the 22nd{{Nbsp}}Saskatchewan Light{{Nbsp}}Horse of the Canadian militia.

At the outbreak of the First{{Nbsp}}World{{Nbsp}}War, McCormick enlisted as a commissioned officer in the Canadian{{Nbsp}}Expeditionary{{Nbsp}}Force.{{cite web|title=Officer's Declaration Paper: Canadian Over-seas Expeditionary Force|url=http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?op=pdf&app=CEF&id=B6656-S038|accessdate=16 October 2017|date=3 May 1916}} As the deputy{{Nbsp}}sheriff of Saskatchewan, he raised a band of men at his own expense - the Corps{{Nbsp}}of{{Nbsp}}Western{{Nbsp}}Canadian{{Nbsp}}Cowboys, nicknamed "McCormick's{{Nbsp}}Devils". They joined the 197th{{Nbsp}}Battalion (later absorbed into the 11th{{Nbsp}}Battalion) and crossed the Atlantic in January{{Nbsp}}1917.

In August{{Nbsp}}1917, he led the 17th (City of Winnipeg) Battalion during the final assault on Lens. He won the Distinguished Service Order medal for his actions at Vimy Ridge. He had been recommended for the Victoria Cross and was wounded five times throughout the war.{{cite web|title=The historic Belfast house that was turned into a hospital for wartime|url=http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/the-historic-belfast-house-that-was-turned-into-a-hospital-for-wartime-1-6220733|website=Belfast News Letter|accessdate=10 October 2017}}

He returned to Canada in October 1919.

After the war, McCormick returned to Belfast to pursue a political career in the newly partitioned government of Northern{{Nbsp}}Ireland.

He was the chairman of the Court{{Nbsp}}of{{Nbsp}}Appeal from 1921 to 1924, and of the appeal{{Nbsp}}courts of the Ministry{{Nbsp}}of{{Nbsp}}Labour from 1928 to 1929.

In 1929, McCormick campaigned as the Ulster{{Nbsp}}Unionist{{Nbsp}}Party candidate for Belfast{{Nbsp}}St{{Nbsp}}Anne's in the Northern{{Nbsp}}Ireland House{{Nbsp}}of{{Nbsp}}Commons. Following a successful campaign, he became the new constituency's first member of parliament.{{cite web|url=http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/belfast.html|website=election.demon.co.uk|title=Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election Results: Boroughs: Belfast|accessdate=2017-10-10|archive-date=2018-07-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722074311/http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/belfast.html|url-status=dead}}

Despite his senior position in the UUP, he became a leading member of the controversial anti-Catholic Ulster{{Nbsp}}Protestant{{Nbsp}}League during its formation in 1931.Graham Walker, A History of the Ulster Unionist Party: Protest, Pragmatism And Pessimism He also travelled to Scotland to speak on behalf of its sister organisation, the Scottish Protestant League.{{cite book|last1=Gallagher|first1=Tom|title=Glasgow, the Uneasy Peace: Religious Tension in Modern Scotland, 1819-1914|url=https://archive.org/details/glasgowuneasypea00gall|url-access=registration|date=1987|publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=9780719023965}}

In 1933, he complained about Protestants giving jobs to Catholics, accusing those that did of being "traitors" to their country.

McCormick was also alarmed at the rate of population growth of the Catholic demographic. At an Orangemen rally, he proclaimed that some Protestant majorities had become minorities, saying that could lead to the Catholic Church being in power.{{cite book|last1=Hattersley|first1=Roy|title=The Catholics}}

In October 1933, McCormick was attacked by two assailants outside his home. After defending himself with his walking stick, he was shot in the arm. The press linked the incident to Irish republicanism, of which McCormick was a well-known opponent.{{cite news|title=Ulster MP wounded. Perhaps by Republicans|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/11581246/|accessdate=10 October 2017|work=Helena Daily Independent|date=27 October 1933|quote=Major J. H. McCormick, a member of the Ulster parliament was shot and severely wounded tonight by two assailants. Major McCormick is well known In Canada, where he was sheriff of Lloydministor and raised a force known as McCormick's Devils in the World War.It was assumed the Belfast assault was connected with a recent outburst of republican activity. Major McCormick was conspicuous as an anti-republican.}}{{cite news|title=Ulster M.P. Wounded In Struggle With Two Men|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/36452903|work=The Advertiser|date=28 October 1933|page=22|quote=Major J. H. McCormick, a member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, was held up by two men while on his way home in Belfast. He was ordered to put up his hands. Instead, he struck one of his assailants on the head with his walking stick. In the struggle which followed three shots were fired. Major McCormick was wounded in the arm, but the injury is not serious.}}

In 1938, at the end of his second term, McCormick retired from political office.

He renamed his house to Vimy, after the battle in which he was decorated for gallantry.

He was nominated as an independent unionist candidate for Belfast West in the 1950 UK general election, but the seat was won by James Godfrey MacManaway of the UUP. In a column for the Londonderry Sentinel, MacManaway accused McCormick of splitting the vote, saying he wasn't a unionist "of any kind".{{cite news|last1=MacManaway|first1=James Godfrey|title=Independent will lose his deposit|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0001480/19500209/056/0005|accessdate=11 October 2017|work=Londonderry Sentinel|date=9 February 1950}}

McCormick continued to reside in Northern{{Nbsp}}Ireland until his death in 1955.

McCormick authored two books about the colonisation of Saskatchewan:

• The Greater Saskatchewan (1910){{cite book|last1=McCormick|first1=James Hanna|title=The Greater Saskatchewan|date=1910|location=Lloydminster}}
• Lloydminster, or 5,000 miles with the Barr Colonists (1924){{cite book|last1=McCormick|first1=James Hanna|title=Lloydminster, or, 5,000 miles with the Barr colonists.|date=1924|location=London}}

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{{s-par|ni}}

{{s-new | constituency }}

{{s-ttl

| title = Member of Parliament for Belfast, St Anne's

| years = 1929–1938

}}

{{s-aft | after = Edmond Warnock}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:McCormick, James Hanna}}

Category:Ulster Unionist Party members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland

Category:Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1929–1933

Category:Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1933–1938

Category:Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for Belfast constituencies

Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order

Category:Canadian Expeditionary Force officers

Category:People from Lloydminster

Category:1875 births

Category:1955 deaths