On 13 November 1912, the House of Commons found itself in tumult as tempers flared during the debate over the Third Home Rule Bill. Prime Minister Herbert Asquith declared his intentions on seeing the Bill being put through the Commons. Jeers of "traitor" and other slurs were shouted in the uproar, Conservative and Unionist MP's chanted "resign! resign!" and "civil war!" at Asquith. From the benches, Ron McNeill threw a bound copy of "The Standing Orders" at the Home Secretary, Winston Churchill, striking him in the head. However, despite the strong protestations from some in Parliament, the Home Rule Bill passed in early 1913. Under the pretense of defending Ulster by "any means necessary", the Ulster Volunteer Force was founded shortly after and grew to 90,000 men by the end of that year. Padraic Pearse, an Irish Republican and then head of St. Enda's Boys' School in Dublin, said "personally I think the Orange man with a rifle is a much less ridiculous figure than the Nationalist without a rifle." On the 25 November 1913, Eoin MacNeill formed the Irish Volunteers in Dublin in direct response to the events in Ulster. Twelve of the thirty men in leadership of the Irish Volunteers were also secret members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, dedicated to arm rebellion against Britain. As a result of the formation of both Unionist and Nationalist militias and the heightened political tensions, many observers predicted that civil war in Ireland was imminent.