Ulster Defence Union

The Ulster Defence Union was a unionist organization formed in 1893 to oppose the Irish Home Rule movement, following a rally at the Ulster Hall, Belfast.

The UDU was launched by the publication of a manifesto on 17 March 1893, the signatories of which included Colonel Edward Saunderson, MP.

)[2] The structure of the new Union was set out in a "Plan of Organisation" which was signed by Daniel Dixon, Lord Mayor of Belfast and President of the Provisional Committee.

[4] This committee also included, ex officio, the Ulster Unionist members of both houses of parliament.

[3] In October 1893, at an Ulster Defence Union meeting in Belfast, Saunderson said, celebrating the scale of opposition in the Lords: "Home Rule is dead.