Ulster Volunteers/YCV – Extramural Activity

Ulster & Israel

2023-11-012025-01-08Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Ulster & Israel – brothers in arms”. The Uzi was developed in Israel in the late 1940s and became a general-issue weapon in 1956 (WP). It was used (and copied) by loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland (Balaclava Street has a comprehensive history of loyalist weaponry) and appeared in a both UDA and UVF murals and graffiti: The Elite | Ulster Says No! To The Politicians | Sandy Row 2nd Batt | UFF Uzi.

Here is an article from TheJ.ca interviewing PUL politicians on their support for Israel and an Irish News article revisiting the issue in light of the current conflict. And loyalists have previously (since 2002? Irish Times | OU) flown the flag of Israel — see Gregg & Carson (2011) | View From The North Bank (2012) | The Young Conquerors (2013) | The United Nations (2014) | The Glorious Memory (2014) | Ulster Supports The People Of Israel (2018) | EU Hands Off Ulster (2021). But this is the first time that a symbol of violence has been used as the symbol of solidarity. (In republican muraling, see PLO-IRA (1982) | Women In Armed Struggle (1983).)

Tate’s Avenue, in the Village area of south #Belfast.

The placard in the middle, between Brothers In Arms and “Sir E. Carson K.C., M.P.” was discussed in Stand Firm. The Winning Hand was seen previously in The Red Hand And The Winning Hand.

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What Answer From The North?

2023-05-192025-01-07Extramural Activity1 Comment

These are the boards 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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Our Cause Will Always Remain The Same

2022-09-282025-01-07Extramural Activity2 Comments

“Through the years the uniforms may change, but our cause will always remain the same.” On the left (of the main panel) are the Ulster Volunteers drilling in 1914 (photograph at the Library of Congress) and a UVF show of strength on Newtownards Road (seen previously in East Belfast UVF On Parade).

On a wall along Abbot Drive (Newtownards) with purple and orange coping stones.

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It’s A Long Way To Tullygarley

2022-08-092025-01-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The previous Tullygarley mural on this wall included images of the local area in addition to the emblem of the 36th Division and the Clyde Valley but the new one is devoted solely to the years 1912-1918. On the left is the Ulster Covenant and the Clyde Valley, then an image of Drumalis House, Larne, which was a training ground for the Ulster Volunteers (see silent film from 1914 at BFI and photo of Carson presenting colours at Drumalis) and the base from which the gunrunning was staged, along with Carson acknowledging the troops at Glencairn (in Belfast). In the third image, the 36th (Ulster) Division goes over the top and sits in trenches. Finally, there is a ‘Local Area Roll of Honour’ listing 60 locals who died in WWI.

The odd-man-out image – of paint peeling to reveal a red hand – shows the re-emergence of a mural from 1999 on the side wall.

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The Central Antrim Regiment

2022-05-092025-01-07Extramural Activity3 Comments

As this plaque in the Factory area of Larne indicates, the 2nd battalion of the Central Antrim regiment (of the Antrim division) of the Ulster Volunteers was drawn from Larne. Edward Carson reviewed the entire regiment at Drumalis in Larne on July 11th, 1914, (here is a postcard depicting the review) where he was presented with the colours of the 2nd from a Lady Smiley of First Larne Presbyterian. (The colours of the 1st and 2nd battalions are included below; the colours of the 3rd (Carrickfergus) Battalion can be seen at Sam’s Flags.) In the Royal Irish Rifles of WWI, Central Antrim became the 12th battalion (War Time Memories Project); its members included Larne man Rifleman Robert King.

“The Clydevalley flute band [Fb] proudly remembers all who served in the [Antrim Division,] Central Antrim Regt, 2nd Larne Battalion, Ulster Volunteer Force. Lest we forget.”

The plaque is on the gun-running mural and next to a King Billy mural in Greenland Drive. Both murals were seen previously in 2016; see Amazing Night At Larne and Civil & Religious Liberty.

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Is Your Home Worth Fighting For?

2022-04-202025-01-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“… It will be too late to fight when the enemy is at your door.” In 1914, at the time of the Larne gun-running – see the mural in the second image and (previously) Amazing Night At Larne – the enemy was the threat of Home Rule and its enforcement by British Army forces and RIC that would remain under British control for at least three years after the commencement of home rule (Home Rule And Ulster’s Resistance p. 9). A bill to amend home rule by excluding some or all of the Ulster counties was introduced in July, 1914 (WP), but both Home Rule and the amendment were put aside when the Great War began; the enemy of Unionists then became the Central Powers. The contemporary enemy is the NI Protocol and Brexit, with the powers in Westminster again suggesting a separation of Britain and (Northern) Ireland.

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What We Have We Hold

2021-09-262025-01-06Extramural Activity1 Comment

This Village board celebrates the Covenant, Ulster Volunteers, and the 36th (Ulster) Division, with photographs both vintage and contemporary.

For the photograph of Carson signing the Covenant, and an earlier mural, see Betting Office. For the photograph of the car-mounted gun, and an earlier mural recreating the photo, see UVF 75th Anniversary. For images akin to the contemporary photos, see these BelTel galleries one | two of the 100th anniversary celebrations of the Ulster Volunteers.

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A Soldier Of The Great War

2020-03-162024-12-28Extramural Activity1 Comment

“The Great War (1914-1918) 36th (Ulster) Division. This memorial is dedicated to the memory of those who fell in the Great War. May their names be held in honour and their sacrifice be remembered with pride.” Next to to the UVF Flute Band 50th anniversary mural and the Singer Sergeant painting (Observe The Sons Of Ulster).

Observe The Sons Of Ulster

2020-02-122025-03-25Extramural Activity1 Comment

The 62 year-old painter John Singer Sergeant went to the western front in 1918 to find a scene suitable for painting on the theme of Anglo-American co-operation during the war. On the 21st of August, however, he witnessed at Arras British soldiers blinded by a German mustard gas attack, one following behind the other in a human chain, each group being directed by an orderly towards a dressing station. The War Memorials Committee agreed to change its commission and Sergeant received 600 pounds (about 34,000 in today’s money) for his painting, Gassed (WP).

This copy is in St Leonard’s Crescent, part of the 50th anniversary garden and mural for the UVF regimental band and memorial for east Belfast volunteers who joined the 36th Division (which did not fight at Arras as it had been disbanded in May, 1918). The plaque below list the nine counties of Ulster and reads “To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield. Sons Of Ulster RBP 375.”

Close Yir Een An Remember Me

2019-10-212024-12-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Aye ready they stood, aye ready they fought, through conflict, blood and tears, loyal to the end, every one, the Scottish volunteers.” “Aye ready” was the motto of the 59th Scinde Rifles of the British Indian Army (and later of the Canadian Navy) but is best known from the label of Camp Coffee, in which a Highlander was served a cup of Camp by a Sikh servant (nowadays, they both have a cup of their own). In this new mural and plaque at the newly-christened “Scots Corner” (see final image), a Scottish soldier plays the pipes over a list of the “Battalion Of The Dead”, Scottish volunteers from the (modern) UVF. The list is led by William “Big Bill” Campbell, who has had a small plaque in his memory at this spot since (at least) 2014. Preacher and DUP politician George Seawright (see A Crown Of Life) is also included – he was born in Glasgow in 1951.