Belfast

The Dead Man’s Penny

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“The Memorial Plaque (Death Penny [or Dead Man’s Penny]) was issued after the First World War to the next of kin of all British and Empire Service personnel who were killed as a result of the war.” The “penny” was in fact five inches in diameter and cast in bronze. It showed Britannia with a trident and two dolphins swimming around her, and a lion on oak, along with the name of the deceased (here, Ronald Mitchison) without indication of rank. (Here is a close-up of a plaque from WP.) The board shown above contains other information about WWI, centrally including the statement that “The 16th Irish Division, the Connaught Rangers [7th battalion] and the Irish Rifles [7th battalion], all fought side-by-side throughout World War I.”

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Lost Duppy

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Two pieces by TLO. Above, “Have you seen Duppy?” Ian Paisley Jnr gets a strange mouse make-over, with a pink nose and Irish harp ears. Below, a sprung skull.

Previously by TLO: Demonizing Paisley, Three Studies Of Ian Paisley, and Ian Jong-un, Wee Angel, Taking The Hump, Derryrhoea.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Wider Conspiracy

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Here are two more images related to The Muddlers’ Club (see previously God Approves Our Undertakings), featuring an ouroboros (snake eating its own tail) in the shape of the symbol for infinity, on an eight-pointed star/compass, by VisualWaste.

“Members of the Muddler’s Club included leading United Irishmen such as Thomas Russell, Thomas Neilson & Henry Joy McCracken. Secret meetings held at Peggy Barclay’s inn would allow the Belfast United Irishmen to welcome messengers & visitors to coordinate the wider conspiracy.” For more information on the history of the location, see this BBC-NI article on the (canvas) paintings in Warehouse Lane.

In the second image: an unknown (FGB?) piece of tangled arms and legs, and, Lost Duppy by TLO.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Ulster Tower Street

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For the anniversary of the Battle Of Albert and the start of the Battle Of The Somme, Tower Street in east Belfast became Ulster Tower Street and residents reproduced the Western Front, with huts of sandbags, canvas coverings for all the front walls, and headlines from the News Letter (“Ulster’s Sacrifice”) and Times (“Britain At War”) of the period. Images of the new murals can be found in A Thought Is Not A Lot.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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