Feetham’s Border, McLaughlin’s Dam
The Boundary Commission was the year’s central political drama. Article 12 of the 1921 Treaty had promised that a three-person commission would determine the boundary between Northern Ireland and the Free State, taking account of inhabitants’ wishes where compatible with economic and geographic conditions. Many nationalists expected substantial areas with Catholic and nationalist majorities, particularly in Fermanagh, Tyrone and south Armagh, to move into the Free State. Such expectations were politically important: they helped make partition appear temporary, or at least corrigible.