William Hacket Pain - Ulster Volunteers

Ulster Volunteers

Hacket Pain's retirement from the Army coincided with preparations in the north of Ireland for active resistance to Home Rule. At the beginning of 1912 many Unionists had offered their services and begun drilling with dummy rifles, which were considered ridiculous by their political opponents. According to Timothy Bowman's history, Hacket Pain was among a select group of senior officers specifically recruited by the Unionist establishment. His appointment as Chief of Staff to Lieutenant-General Sir George Richardson, the General Officer Commanding of the Volunteers was announced in September 1913. Hacket Pain was English and a member of the Church of England.

Under Hacket Pain's guidance, the Volunteers were organised and trained in military effectiveness. He insisted, however, that Volunteer units should use their own ranks rather than traditional British Army ones, and reprimanded units which failed to follow this approach. Hacket Pain was fully supportive of the Ulster Volunteers' political agenda, and made a political speech at a smoking concert for a section of the East Belfast Regiment in Ballynafeigh in August 1914.