WWI

May You Live As Nobly As They Died

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Strandtown and District Unionist Club used to be at 4 Belmont Road (Strandtown Hall) and it erected this memorial to local casualties in the Great War in Portland stone on the adjacent wall,(Lord Belmont in NI) which is now part of a Christian Fellowship church. “Hereon are recorded the names of those men and women who in serving voluntarily their King and country, laid down their lives. Pass not this stone sorrow but in pride and may you live as nobly as they died.” The building currently houses Bennett’s On Belmont, a UUP headquarters, and the Victoria Ulster Unionist Association upstairs.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04434

Church & State

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Henry VIII had himself declared head of the church in 1531 and the English monarch has retained this title since then (with the exception of Mary I who briefly restored the Pope and Catholicism). England has “no superior under God, but only your Grace” (Act Concerning Peter’s Pence). The current holder of both crown and office is Queen (“R” for “regina”) Elizabeth II. Shown today is another celebration of the 500th anniversary of “Pro-Testant Reformation” in Tiger’s Bay, next to the workers of WWI mural.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04347

The Poppy Trail 1917

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The 1917 board in the Poppy Trail series (1914 | 1915 | 1916) celebrates female munitions workers as well as making local connections to the battles of 1917: George Cairns of Roden Street and Thomas Fitzpatrick of Cullingtree Road.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04321 X04320 euterpe st

Buster Keenan

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

A new mural to William “Buster” Keenan was unveiled this month – July 8th – coincidentally the anniversary of wife Eileen’s death. Both are listed on the UVF memorial stone (image 3) in front of the mural, along with David Ervine and the Long-Cordner-Bennett-Seymour quartet.

According to ACT, Keenan was involved in the Battle Of St. Matthew’s (in which Bobby Neill and James McCurrie were killed, along with Henry McIlhone). To the left (fourth image) is another “Ulster Volunteers” stone, a “Sydenham roll of honour – to those who gave their lives in the Great War”.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle X04331 X04330 X04332 X04333 [X10340]
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle X10337 X10338 X10339
inverary dr ycv east belfast battalion fusiliers rifles canadian inniskilling rifleman royal navy highlanders

Killed In Action 1st July

Extramural Activity1 Comment

As the plaque in the third images shows, the mural was originally painted in 2006 for the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. The plaque was originally in the plinth below the headstone – see Killed In Action. The side wall was painted last year for the 100th anniversary.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04215 X04213 X04214 X04212 killarn cl

They Sleep Side-By-Side

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Bangor’s Finest (Fb)” the Pride of Whitehill Flute Band marks its 40th anniversary (1976-2016) with a mural and two small boards dedicated to Ulster Volunteers and Young Citizen Volunteers in WWI: “When you go home, tell them of us and say “For your tomorrow we gave our today.” “They fought together as brothers-in-arms, they died together and now they sleep side-by-side. To them we have a solemn obligation.”

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04222 X04223 X04224 Skipperstone Rd

The Sons Of Ulster

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The Ulster Tower at Thiepval “is dedicated to the glory of God in grateful memory of the officers, non-commissioned officers, and men of the 36th (Ulster) Division and of the sons of Ulster in other forces who laid down their lives in the Great War, and of all their comrades-in-arms who, by divine grace, were spared to testify to their glorious deeds.” The boards are next to Warszawiacy Berlinowi.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04189 X04188

To The Memory Of One Million Dead

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

These two wide shots are from the junction of Northumberland and Beverly streets, where the new Kitchener board joins poppies for soldiers of the the 36th (Ulster) Division on the 100th anniversary of the Somme and the (repaired) John Henry Patterson – godfather of the Israeli army – board.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Extramural Activity
X04200 X04203

To All Foreign Nationals Across The Empire

Extramural Activity1 Comment

“Are you one of Kitchener’s own?” asks a new mural in Northumberland Street: “We here pay grateful and everlasting tribute, to all foreign nationals across the empire, who courageously and passionately fought side by side with their British counterparts, for King and country, during the First World War.” The left-hand side (second image) features images of soldiers from the West Indies and India, including “The Flying Sikh”, Hardit Singh Malik and a French lady as she “pins flowers on a regiment containing Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindus.” On the right, images of the “presentation of Colours to the 51st Battalion Canadian expeditionary force” and of Canadian “bluebird” nurses in the Canadian Army Medical Corps.

Replaces (part of) Welcome To The Shankill. See Belfast Live for an image from the launch.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04199 X04201 X04202 India Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and the Union of South Africa. one million dead in the great war rest in France “A la gloire de dieu et a la memoire du million de morts de l’empire britannique tombes dans la grande guerre 191401918 et qui pour la plupart reposent en France.” Greater Shankill ACT

Continuing Conflicts

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here are two panels and a wide shot of the memorial garden in Frenchpark Street. Above is a verse from John McCrea’s In Flanders Fields. Below is a plaque “to the memory of all those Ulster men and women from the south Belfast area who died during the great wars 1914-18 and 1939-45, and to all those who have lost their lives during the recent troubles and continuing conflicts.”

Previously: They Gave A Lifetime

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04159 X04161 X04158