During this time, he was instrumental in the events of Ulster Day and in the formation of the UVF, organised the Larne gun-running and supported the formation of the Ulster Unionist Labour Association to counter socialism.
Flanked by his PUP colleagues Jim McDonald and William "Plum" Smith, as well as Ulster Democratic Party members Gary McMichael, John White and Davy Adams, Spence read out the statement from Fernhill a former Cunningham family home on their former Glencairn estate in Belfast's Glencairn area, an important training centre for members of Edward Carson's original Ulster Volunteers.
After World War I, the British Government agreed to set up two self-governing regions in Ireland: Northern Ireland (made up of six Ulster counties with Protestant/unionist majorities), and Southern Ireland.
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Both of the remaining divisions suffered heavy casualties in July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme and were largely wiped out in 1918 during the German Spring Offensive.
The Ulster Volunteers started in 1912 and organised as the Ulster Volunteer Force in 1913
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Criticism followed however as many of the devices were crudely home-made or very old, including a Steyr-Daimler-Puch weapon that had belonged to the original Ulster Volunteers.