Information plaques were added (in 2007?) to the 14 panels in Thorndyke Street originally launched in 2004. They were originally off to the side of each panel (see e.g. the entry for this panel in Peter Moloney’s Collection), but have now been placed at the bottom of each panel on top of the illustration – three examples are given in this entry.
The paintings themselves do not appear to have changed, though there is one small change to the Jim Maultsaid WWI panel (compared to 2004) – Maultsaid’s name has been painted out.
The plaque for the Maultsaid panel reads: At the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914, when Lord Kitchener, the War Minister, was desperately looking for men, he had asked Sir Edward Carson for a brigade consisting of four battalions. Carson offered him a division consisting of twelve battalions, uniformed and equipped at Ulster’s expense. The UVF was transformed rapidly into the 36th (Ulster) Division. On the 1st July 1916 the 26 (Ulster) Division took part in the Somme Offensive. Nine Victoria Crosses were awarded for acts of valour on that day. Men of the 36th (Ulster) Division won four of these. Of those, three were awarded posthumously. Of the 9,000 men of the Division who took part in the attack, scarcely 2,500 answered roll call on 3 July; while of 400 officers, more than 250 were killed or wounded. The Division lost 5,500 officers and other ranks killed, wounded and missing as a result of the first two days of the Somme offensive. The illustration depicted is derived from a drawing by Jim Maultsaid, an American citizen. He joined the 14th Royal Irish Rifles, which was drawn from members of an organisation called the Young Citizen Volunteers (YCV). – East Belfast Historical And Cultural Society”
For a list of entries for each panel in their original (2004) form, see East Belfast Historical And Cultural Society.
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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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