PUL

What Answer From The North?

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These are the board at the chip shop (formerly a Spar and before that a Mace) in the centre of the Mourneview estate, Lurgan.

Above, in Mourne Road, a gallery of photographs of the Craigavon Protestant Boys (Fb) past and present, with a plaque in memory of Victor Stewart. “Our only crime is loyalty.”

Below are the images from the front of the shop, in Pollock Drive:

First/right: “When injustice becomes law resistance becomes duty.” The same panel was seen in Ballyclare, though for the 1st East Antrim battalion rather than the Mid Ulster brigade.

Next: A company, 1st battalion, Mid Ulster brigade UVF – Lurgan as well as Broxburn (outside Edinburgh) and Thornliebank (near Glasgow).

Next: A tribute to the Ulster Volunteers from the area: the 9th battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers joined the 108th brigade in the 36th (Ulster) Division; the 5th battalion joined the 31st brigade and the 10th (Irish) Division. This board goes back to (at least) 2011.

Next: “Believe, we dare not boast,/Believe, we do not fear/We stand to pay the cost,/In all that men hold dear.//What answer from the North?/One Law, one Land, one Throne/If England drive us forth,/We shall not fall alone!” Kipling’s poem Ulster.

The first stanza also appears in a Belfast RHC mural, and other lines from the poem have been used elsewhere: We Perish If We Yield | The Terror, Threats, And Dread.

All of the preceding pieces are UVF/PAF, but the last, high up on the left, is a UDU board in the top left of the wall, to 1 company, D battalion, South Belfast.

With thanks to Jackie Findon for today’s images.

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John “Grugg” Gregg

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“South East Antrim Brigade UFF. In proud memory of Brig. John “Grugg” Gregg and all fallen comrades. 4th Batt. A B C Coys. Lest we forget.” Gregg is known for the attempted killing of Gerry Adams and for being killed on the orders of Johnny Adair, which led to the expulsion of Adair’s company from the lower Shankill (WP).

Orkney Drive, Ballykeel 2, Ballymena. Seen previously in 2010: M05987.

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy

COVID-19 Memorial

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“This memoiral was unveiled by The Worshipful The Mayor, Councillor Jim Montgomery [tw], in memory of those from Antrim and Newtownabbey who list their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. May 2021. Always remembered.” According to the COVID dashboard for NI (NISRA), deaths did plateau in the spring and summer of 2021 – perhaps explaining the timing of the plaque above – before increasing again in the autumn. As of May 5th, 2023, 5,283 deaths in NI were attributable to COVID-19, including 463 in the Antrim & Newtownabbey borough area.

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The Passing Of Queen Elizabeth II

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A traffic cone provides a makeshift flower holder in front of this board Clara Street board: “Grove Community Group [Baptist Church (web | Fb)] mourns the passing of Queen Elizabeth II 1926-2022″. Charter NI has images from last September of more bouquets and a piper at the board (tw).

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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The Men From Ballyclare

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This is an update to The Men From Ballyclare & District which was launched without the board along the low wall in front of the mural. The two info boards profile Edward Girvan and John Erskine, whose portraits are featured in the larger mural, and the emblems of the branches of the British Army: Merchant Navy, Navy, Army, and Air Force.

Our previous post shows “UDA reserved” graffiti on the wall to the right. In 2021, there was some South East Antrim lettering to the right: see A0835. (For the SEA UDA in Ballyclare, see previously the companion WWI mural and 100 Loyal Men. Also, Belfast Live, Bel Tel.) There is currently a Union flag with “1939-1945” on it (not shown in the image above) painted for the 75th anniversary of VE Day.

Erskine Park, Ballyclare.

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Pass Not This Spot In Sorrow

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There has been a 36th Division board on this wall since 2003 (see Steeple Defenders) and this second one is now more than a decade old – see the 2013 post on Peter’s site. It is accompanied by two quotations:
“Pass not this spot in sorrow but in pride/That you may live as nobly as they died.” These lines are also used in a WWI memorial mural in Carlingford Street, Belfast.
“They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old./Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn./At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.” from Binyon’s For The Fallen.

The mural below, with YCV and 36th Division emblems and a “South Antrim 1st Batt” flag was added in 2016. There’s no mention on-line of “Vol. Jimmy Fee” of the 1st (and only) battalion of the South Antrim brigade.

The board and mural are on the gable next to the Steeple memorial mural to Denver Smith; between the two gables is the UVF flag shown below.

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The Settlement Of The True Protestant Religion

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“God save the King.” When Charles acceded to the monarchy last September upon the death of Elizabeth II, he also became head of the Church Of England. Among the first oaths he took as king was one to preserve the Church Of Scotland, which is Presbyerian rather than Anglican. There does not appear to be any oath relating specifically to any denomination in Ireland, and so the Shankill mural above borrows from the Church Of Scotland oath. It stops short of the references to Scotland:

“I, Charles the Third, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of my other Realms and Territories, King, Defender of the Faith, do faithfully promise and swear that I should inviolably maintain and preserve the Settlement of the true Protestant religion …” [… as established by the Laws made in Scotland in prosecution of the Claim of Right and particularly by an Act intituled “An Act for securing the Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Church Government” and by the Acts passed in the Parliament of both Kingdoms for Union of the two Kingdoms, together with the Government, Worship, Discipline, Rights and Privileges of the Church of Scotland.] (Royal UK)

For more on the UK monarch’s roles as head of the various churches, see Gentle Reformation and Constitution Unit.

At yesterday’s coronation, Charles swore an oath similar to the above, but referring to the Church Of England, and swore that he was a faithful Protestant (Country Life).

See previously: May The King Live Forever.

“King’s corner” because across the Shankill from the QEII mural in Crimea Street. Also in imitation of Conor’s Corner.

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May The King Live Forever

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“Ballykeel 1 celebrates the coronation of King Charles III.” The United Kingdom crowns a new monarch today, May 6th, 2023, in the form of Charles III; he acceded to the throne on September 8th, 2022, upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II (see The People’s Queen Is Dead | Now Is The Time To Kneel | Loyal Servants). The ceremony will include a pledge of allegiance that those in attendance and those watching may (voluntarily) make (BBC). The leaders of Australia and New Zealand are among those expected to make the pledge (Reuters); Michelle O’Neill and Alex Maskey of Sinn Féin will be in attendance (BBC).

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Harryville Says No

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Here is a gallery of six boards from Harryville (four from Larne St/Larne Rd and two from Queen Street). The newest one is shown above; it celebrates Colonel Saunderson, a founder of the Ulster Defence Union, and organisation formed in 1893 to resist the second Home Rule bill. As mentioned on the board, the UDU initially met in Belfast in March and Saunderson was among the signatories of the UDU manifesto (see page 5 of the [Sydney] Freeman’s for 1893-04-29). For more on Saunderson, see Union Is Strength. The second bill was passed by the Commons but defeated in the Lords. The champions of resistence against the third Home Rule bill were Carson and Craig, shown in the penultimate image with the “Ulster Covenant” of September, 2012.

The name “Ulster Defence Union” is being used by some anti-Agreement factions of the UDA as a name for the organisation (starting in 2007 – see WDA on Peter’s site). The second board, just below, is a 4th Battalion South East Antrim UDA/UDU board. The UDA was formed in September 1971 and hence was 50 years old in 2021. The remaining two images show the UDA on parade at Harryville Bridge and in front of Pentagon House.

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Lethal Combination

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A tribute to motorcyclist William Dunlop who died practicing for the Skerries road race in 2018 (RTÉ).

Abetta Parade, Belfast

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