Belfast east – Page 15 – Paddy Duffy Collection

Twelve Brave Young Men From Gertrude Street

2022-09-252024-07-24Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The twelve “Gertrude Street Great War Fatalities” are: Robert Harvey; William Duff; James Fagan; Alexander Leckey; George McCune; Hugh Nabney; William Nabney; Matthew Scott; Robert C. Skillen; James Watson; Samuel Wright; James Burns.

This board was originally next to the To France And Flanders mural on the adjacent wall; the mural also named these twelve but which only lasted a year. That mural depicted the damaged basilica tower in the village of Albert and there is a similar mural in the village itself – a photograph of the mural and the rebuilt tower can be seen in the top right of the board; the mural can be seen in full here.

As the map in the top left shows, Gertrude Street was where Wolff Close now is, running north from the Newtownards Road; the original Gertrude Star mural (circa 1989) was on the first gable of what is now called “Freedom Corner” – see D00388.

The emblem of the Gertrude Star flute band serves as a background. The band’s 50th/60th anniversary mural is across the street.

“‘The Legacy Of Gertrude Street. Twelve brave young men from Gertrude Street,/Bravely fought in world war one./They tried their best as legends do./But never returned back home.//They dragged through muddy trenches,/In the darkness of the night./But never once would they give up,/As they bravely continued to fight.//Each year these men will be honoured,/As we stand together taking time to reflect./It’s vital to show these heroes the uttermost respect.//For now they lie in Flanders fields,/Between crosses row by row./They lived, they fought for our country,/And gave their lives many years ago.//Forever we will speak of these men,/Who came from Gertrude Street./Their legacy will always live on,/When we think of their marching feet.’ By Angela McCully”

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
T00996

Boab Kerr

2022-09-252024-07-24Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

UVF Scottish Brigade Volunteer Scott “Boab” Kerr, from the Govan area of Glasgow and Sons Of The Somme FB (Fb), died in 2015 and is remembered with a plaque on the corner of Beechfield Street in east Belfast.

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
T00995

Force

2022-09-252024-07-24Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Masked UVF gunman in Inverary Drive, east Belfast, in a style similar to UVF gunmen in Carrickfergus, Larne, and Millbrook.

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
T00991

Buster Keenan

2022-09-252024-07-24Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This mural to William “Buster” Keenan was unveiled on July 8th (2017), coincidentally the anniversary of wife Eileen’s death. Both are listed on the UVF memorial stone 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 is another “Ulster Volunteers” stone, a “Sydenham roll of honour – to those who gave their lives in the Great War”.

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
T00989 [T00990]

East Belfast UVF On Parade

2022-09-252024-07-24Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The board appears to show a “show of strength” (firing into the air) rather than a parade, by hooded gunmen of the east Belfast UVF. The crowd is gathered on Newtownards Road at Dee Street, date unknown (but prior to 2008).

Newtownards Road, east Belfast.

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
T00986

Lost Volunteers

2022-09-252024-07-24Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This board commemorates the action and deaths of the British Army’s 36th (Ulster) Division in World War I’s Battle Of The Somme, of which Captain Wilfrid Spender wrote, “I am not an Ulsterman but yesterday, the 1st July, as I followed their amazing attack, I felt that I would rather be an Ulsterman than anything else in the world. My pen cannot describe adequately the hundreds of heroic acts that I witnessed … The Ulster Volunteer Force, from which the division was made, has won a name which equals any in history.”

For images of the launch (on 2016-03-08) see Belfast Live.

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
T00985

Scotland, England, Wales

2022-09-252024-07-23Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

After almost fourteen years the long-standing Rising Sons Flute Band mural off Newtownards Road (at the old Bright Street) has been replaced with a mural to the (modern) YCV, the youth division of the UVF. The vine of flowers in yellow includes the shamrock, thistle, and Tudor rose (but not the daffodil of Wales, which is named along with Scotland, England, and the YCV battalions of east Belfast extending to Newtownards and Bangor) .

They Said We’d Never Last

2022-09-252026-04-17Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Ronnie’s hardware shop in east Belfast, vacant for many years and the site of Our Brave Defenders, was finally torn down last year and a pocket park created with murals commemorating east Belfast volunteers who died in the Great War and the UVF Regimental Band (tw), this year celebrating its 50 anniversary (video of the launch).

See previously: 40th anniversary banner at the same spot (next to the Belvoir Bar at the old Newcastle Street in east Belfast).

For Valour

2022-09-252024-07-23Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This is the repainted version of this wall in Pitt Park. Previously (see Peter Moloney Collection) it featured VC winners but now it commemorates WWI soldiers generally.