Warrant Officer Class II Job Stott was a complex character, a veteran of the Second World War and a founding member of the Ulster Fascists group in the 1930s.
Warrant Officer Class II
S/125050
Warrant Officer Class II Job Stott (S/125050) served in the Royal Army Service Corps during the Second World War. Born in 1883, he was the son of Job Stott Sr. and Lucy Ann Elizabeth Stott (née Eastgate) of Monk Bretton, South Yorkshire, England.
In 1901, at the age of 18 years old, Stott enlisted in the British Army and served during the Second Boer War. With 21st Lancers, his service was in the United Kingdom until 6th February 1906. During this time, he received a promotion to the rank of Lance Corporal by August 1903. However, a demotion followed in February 1905. Some records suggest he continued in service until 1913, but the 5 years from 1901-1906 are all that contributed to his military pension.
It was during this spell with the British Army, that Stott first came to Ulster in 1902. The following year, on 16th October 1903, he married Ann Jane “Jennie” Smyth of Belfast. Around this time he also converted from the Wesleyan faith to Catholicism. In Belfast, Job followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming a police officer in the Belfast Harbour Police. In 1908, aged 25 years old, Stott returned to England, serving with the police in Yorkshire.
Birth records, baptisms, and census documents suggest that Stott split his time between England and Ireland during this period. Ernest John Stott was born in Middlesex, England. Siblings James Anthony Stott and Lucy Jane Stott were both born in the Shankill area of West Belfast.
The outbreak of The Great War in 1914, saw Job Stott rejoin the military. He served in the British Army with distinction, seeing action at the Somme, at Ypres and Loos. For his role during the Battle of the Somme between July and October 1916, he received the Meritorious Service Medal.
Following the 1914-1918 conflict, Stott became a member of the Comrades of The Great War. The organisation would later become part of the British Legion. In his role within the Comrades, Stott was one of four delegates to represent Irish service personnel at the burial of the unknown soldier. Stott also found time to become a renowned amateur boxer, a ju-jitsu instructor, and a member of the Royal Antediluvian Order of the Buffaloes.
In 1919, having once again left the army, Stott became secretary of the Ulster District Selective Committee of the Appointments and Training Branch of the Ministry of Labour. This role saw him place 700 officers and 3,200 men into work following The Great War. He completed his service in this role in October 1922. During this time, he also volunteered as a member of the Ulster Special Constabulary.
After leaving the military, Stott became a vocal opponent of the prohibition movement. He acted as Secretary of the Ulster Anti-Prohibition Council based at 43 Waring Street, Belfast. Stott regularly wrote letters to newspapers and gave speeches against what he saw as a state imposition on people’s choice.
Prohibition is alien and unpatriotic to the British Empire.
The 1930s saw Stott swayed by the rise of fascism across Europe. The rhetoric of Oswald Moseley attracted his interest. Of particular note, given Stott’s previous role, was the treatment of ex-servicemen in post-war Britain and Ireland. Along with Captain T.W. Armstrong, Stott helped establish the Ulster Fascists group in Northern Ireland in the early 1930s. Stott remained a leading figure in the Ulster Fascists until 1935.
Following the collapse of Ulster Fascists, Stott established the Ulster Centre of Fascist Studies. At their headquarters at 107 Donegall Street, Belfast, he appointed himself Director of Studies. The centre aimed to promote education within fascist circles and move away from the reputation of street fighting. Reports from the time suggest that Stott was never going to be a charismatic leader like Hitler, Mussolini or Moseley. However, it seems that this is not a role he wished to have either. Written accounts describe him as 5’8, heavy-set, and with an “uninspiring voice”. Already advanced in years, he was not likely to inspire the fascist youth of Northern Ireland. What Stott lacked in leadership qualities, he made up for with his use of print media and propaganda.
In 1935, he also sought to establish a Belfast branch of the “Thirty-Two Clubs”. This organisation sought to bring about Irish unity under fascism. They viewed the Irish border as a state infringement. The key to their beliefs was to have both Britain and Ireland under fascist rule. Ireland would then have an independent monarchy giving it equal footing with Britain within the Commonwealth of Nations. The failure to establish this branch of the club, combined with Stott’s response to the Loyalist street violence of Mayday 1935, marked the beginning of the end of his time as the face of fascism in Ulster. He briefly attempted to set up the “Ulster Blackshirts”. This group would have no connection to Oswald Moseley’s organisation and some in Northern Ireland viewed it as Stott’s “one-man-band”.
There is little record of Stott’s activities between 1935 and the outbreak of the Second World War. Following on from his service during the Boer War and The Great War, he once again enlisted. Warrant Officer Class II Stott died in Nigeria while serving in the Royal Army Service Corps on 3rd April 1943 aged 58 years old. His grave is in Plot 4, Row D, Grave 8 of Yaba Cemetery, Lagos, Nigeria. His headstone bears the inscription:
Will those who think of him today, a little prayer to Jesus say. May he rest in peace.