PUL

Rev Robert Bradford

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

South Belfast MP Robert Bradford was assassinated by the Provisional IRA in Finaghy at a meeting with constituents; the caretaker of the community centre, Ken Campbell, was also killed by the fleeing attackers. In late 1981, with the hunger strikes having ended only a month before, the killing was noted around the world and raised fears of broad civil unrest (BBC | NYTimes).

“Vita, veritas, victoria” [life, truth, victory] is the motto of Londonderry. Here we have “vita, veritas, victa” [life, truth, conquered; perhaps the intended meaning was “conquering” rather than the passive]. The crest is also not quite the crest of the Apprentice Boys, with a ship in the bottom right rather than a skeleton. Get in touch if you can resolve either discrepancy.

Oak Street, Donegall Pass, south Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00424

Mid Ulster UVF

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Pallets are collected for Eleventh night in the Edgarstown estate, in front of the murals on Union Street: from left to right: Portadown True Blues, Mid Ulster UVF, and the Ulster Volunteers. In the final image, “LVPW” [Loyalist Volunteer Prisoners’ Welfare] on the tarmac is modified (by the rival UVF) to become “DVPW” – “D” for “drugs”.

There are shots of Mid Ulster UVF and Ulster Volunteers walls in 2008 at the Peter Moloney Collection – Murals.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00483 X05109 X05110 X05111

Boyle & Somerville

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville were UDR soldiers and UVF volunteers. They were “killed in action” when the bomb they were planting on the minibus of the Miami Showband went off prematurely. Of the pair, only Somerville’s arm, with its “UVF Portadown” tattoo remained identifiable (WP). The plaque is in Princess Way/Gloucester Avenue, Portadown.

Since 2014, the poster erected each year in Moygashel to honour Somerville has drawn criticism: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X05146 X00486

South Belfast UVF

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

South Belfast Ulster Volunteer Force 2nd Battalion “A” Company Donegall Pass, with the flag of England (St. George’s Cross) in one corner and in the other an orange star with “1912” written below, the year the Ulster Volunteers were founded. The colour-scheme is the reverse of the Orange Order’s: its flag has the purple star of the Williamites on an orange field.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00501

Their Name Liveth For Evermore

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The apocryphal book of the Bible ‘Ecclesiasticus’ reads, “their bodies are buried in peace, but their name liveth for evermore” (44:14). The last clause is here applied to 910,000 “British empire casualties” from the Great War, including the Ulster Volunteers and Young Citizen Volunteers raised by “Sir Edward Carson” (here looking like Al Capone) which became the 36th (Ulster) Division and particularly the Royal Irish Rifles and fought at the Somme 1916.

Apsley Street, Donegall Pass, south Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00411 [X00412]

Welcome To Loyalist Linfield Road

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“2009: Welcome To Loyalist Linfield Road. Celebrating Our Culture 1690.” The central panel is a combination Union Flag, Ulster Banner, and free-floating Northern Ireland.

The banner hung on the railings in Linfield Road from 2009 until it was stolen and placed on a 2013 republican bonfire (see Bonfire Flags) which then elicited a comment on the wall just east of this location (see They May Have Stole Our Banner).

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X05103

Gregg & Carson

Extramural Activity2 Comments

John “Grug/Grugg” Gregg and Robert “Rab” Carson of the UDA’s Southeast Antrim brigade were killed on February 1st, 2003, on orders from Johnny Adair of the West Belfast brigade after Gregg and other brigade bosses voted to expel Adair from the UDA (October 2002).

The emblem is of the Royal Irish/Ulster Rifles/Regiment – it’s not clear if there is connection to Gregg or the UDA; the emblem is also used by the Cloughfern Young Conquerors, but again the connection to the RIR is unclear.

Replaces the Cloughfern Eddie. (See also the Visual History page on Eddie.) Gregg was known as “the grim reaper” and had a tattoo of the reaper on his back (Guardian).

The Israeli flag flies from the Watta-Chip in Knockenagh Avenue, Newtownabbey.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02889 X02890