Crawford McCullagh

Who was Crawford McCullagh?

Sir Crawford McCullagh, 1st Baronet was a Unionist politician in Northern Ireland.

McCullagh was the director of several businesses in Belfast, including Maguire and Patterson, a dry goods firm, and the Classic Cinema at Castle Place, as well as owning McCullagh and Co., a silk mercers, milliners and fancy drapery store taken over by Styles and Mantles in 1927.

He was elected to Belfast City Council for the Irish Unionist Party. In 1911, he was the High Sheriff of Belfast, and from 1914 to 1917 Lord Mayor of Belfast.

McCullagh was not the originator of the 'Two Minutes Silence' to honour the fallen of the Battle of the Somme, as the Newtownabbey historian Bob Armstrong famously claimed in his publication 'Through The Ages To Newtownabbey' in 1979. According to the Belfast Telegraph 1916 report stated that Sir Crawford actually called for a 'Five Minutes Silence' on 1 July 1916 following news of the slaughter of thousands of soldiers from the 36th Division. However, significantly, he was the first recorded person to publicly call for a 'silent' tribute for fallen soldiers regardless of the duration of the tribute being a One, Two or Five Minutes Silence.²