WWI

Victoria Crosses

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“Only by remembering these men, and others like them, can we ever repay their memory.” Nine Victoria Cross recipients from the 36th (Ulster) Division in World War I are honoured in this board on the Shankill at the Co-Op (which was previously across the road in Crimea Street).

The nine are (from 1917 and 1918) E[dmund] De Wind, E[rnest] Seaman, C[ecil] L[eonard] Knox, N[orman] Harvey, (from 1916) G[eoffrey] St. G[eorge] S[hillington] Cather, W[illiam] F[rederick] McFadzean, E[ric] N[orman] F[rankland] Bell, R[obert] Quigg, and J[ames] S[amuel] Emerson. 

The illustrations come from Cyril Falls’s book The History Of The 36th (Ulster) Division (from Project Gutenberg).

The poem In Flanders’ Fields is by Canadian John McCrea.

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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Lay Them Away On The Hill Side

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“Lay them away on the hill side/along with the brave and the bold/Inscribe their names on the role [sic] of fame/in letters of purest gold.” The Ulster Tower at Thiepval commemorates the WWI dead of the 36th (Ulster) Division. The words, however, come from a song about James Daly, who was executed by firing squad for taking part in a 1920 mutiny of the Connacht Rangers in India in protest of the activities of the Black and Tans. Above (and below – not shown) are the insignia and names of UVF volunteers from UVF South Belfast 2nd battalion – see Lay Them Away On The Hill Side.

On the side of The Hideout, Pine Street, Donegall Pass, south Belfast

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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Their Name Liveth For Evermore

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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

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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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UVF 3rd Battalion North Belfast

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The UVF memorial garden in Mount Vernon gets a new wall, with poppy crosses on either side of the gate (see the previous wall). On the mural, the battles that the 36th (Ulster) Division took part in are listed on either side of the silhouetted soldier: Ypres, Fricourt, Cambrai, Thiepval, Messines, Beaucourt, Somme, Albert, Flanders, St Quentin, Bailleul, Courtrai. Although the mural is in Mount Vernon, the scroll at the top says “Tiger’s Bay”. The memorial stone is to the “3rd battalion, north Belfast”. A plaque would later replace the poppy cross to the left of the gate.

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Copyright © 2008 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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20th Century Northern Ireland

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This is an in-progress set of images of the original “Wheatfield Project” panels on the Ballysillan Road, depicting the 20th century in loyalism. The crown on the YCV symbol and the tombstones and Ulster tower have not been finished and Carson’s statue will be added to the foreground of Stormont.

Later on, an info board would replace the first two panels, and the order after it would be Ulster Day, then Carson signing the covenant, then a new double-sized panel of Fernhill House, and then the rest as above, but with the order of the Sunningdale and UWC strike panels reversed.

Ballysillan Road, north Belfast

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Copyright © 2005 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Their Sacrifice, Our Freedom

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“As we scrambled over the trench ladders the Y.C.V. flag appeared.” One of the many panels in an extended mural in Thorndyke Street, this one inspired by a drawing by Jim Maultsaid, who joined the YCV in 1914 and kept a diary and sketch-book. More of his sketches can be found as part of the Friends Of The Somme’s account of the war in 1916.

One of fourteen panels in Thorndyke Street, east Belfast. For a list of entries for each panel, see East Belfast Historical And Cultural Society.

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Copyright © 2004 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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