Belfast west – Page 41 – Paddy Duffy Collection

Executed

2022-09-132024-07-20Extramural Activity1 Comment

On October 18th, 1922, the third Dáıl/second Provisional Government Of Southern Ireland approved – in the absence of anti-Treaty members – a bill entitled the “Army Emergency Powers Resolution” which introduced martial law, including martial courts with the death penalty for anyone found in possession of an illegal firearm – “illegal” meaning not sanctioned by the nascent pro-Treaty Free State. Under these powers, seven IRA volunteers were executed on November 17th and 19th, followed on the 24th by Erskine Childers (a member of the team that negotiated the Treaty but subsequently against it). In response, the IRA declared that TDs who had voted for the bill were fair game, and on December 7th Seán Hales of Cork was shot and killed. In reprisal, the government ordered the execution of four more volunteers, one from each province: Liam Mellows, Joe McKelvey, Dick Barnett, Rory O’Connor. The four had been arrested five months earlier, on June 30th, 1922, at the start of the Civil War, after surrendering the Four Courts. By the end of the war, 81 executions had taken place. (An Phoblacht | Irish Times | The Irish Story | WP | WP)

For the left-hand side of the wall, on the shipyard clearings and the McMahon murders, see Belfast Butchery.

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Beechmount Remembers

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This board was mounted in AMCOMRI Street for the fortieth anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike, with photographs from the area in the background, including the Revolution mural at the bottom of Beechmount Avenue in 1996-1997.

“Everyone, Republican or otherwise, has their own particular part to play. No part is too great or too small, no one is too old or too young to do something.”

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Let No Man Pull You So Low As To Hate Him

2022-09-132026-08-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This Sınn Féın Youth/Maıréad Farrell Youth Committee banner uses Martin Luther King to advocate for non-violent protest (featured previously in Always Avoid Violence). Below is a call to attend a 41st-anniversary commemoration of the 1981 hunger strike.

Beechmount Street, west Belfast

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Ireland Stands With Catalonia

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Visca Catalunya Lliure – Ireland stands with Catalonia” – tarp above the newsagents at the junction of Springfield Drive and Springfield Road, west Belfast.

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The People’s Queen Is Dead

2022-09-112026-08-28Extramural Activity1 Comment

Upon news of Queen Elizabeth’s death, the platinum jubilee mural at the bottom of Crimea Street became a memorial, with hundreds of bouquets being laid before it and a “wall of condolences” set up. (For the mural itself, see The People’s Monarch.) In addition, to the right-hand side has been added a small commemoration of her passing, with a quote from her son, the newly acceded King Charles:

“We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished Sovereign and a much-loved Mother. I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world”; “Long live the king!”

The fifteen commonwealth “realms” (previously called “dominions”) share a monarch – formerly Elizabeth II and now Charles III – while the commonwealth comprises 41 additional nations, including some which are now republics: Barbados, for example, became a republic on November 30th last year (2021) but is still in the Commonwealth (WP). Additional countries might take the passing of Elizabeth as a suitable juncture at which to sever ties (Edinburgh News has a round-up | for the Bahamas see Caribbean National Weekly | for Canada see Toronto Star).

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The Missing Of The Somme

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Paintings of two WWI memorials are side-by-side across from the Bayardo bombing memorial.

Above: “Menin Gate, Ypres, Belgium.” “To the armies of the British empire who stood here from 1914 to 1918 and to those of the dead who have no grave.” “Pro patria, pro rege.” Almost 55,000 names are inscribed on the memorial.

Below: “Thiepval Memorial – to the missing of the Somme”. The names of over 72,000 dead are inscribed on the memorial (WP | travelfranceonline).

Aberdeen Street, Shankill, west Belfast

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.

Welcome To The Shankill Road

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The red hand of Ulster in three configurations: “We are proud, defiant, welcoming.” The polaroids show images of the blitz, the Twelfth, sports, murals. The location of the mural is designed to be seen by tourists travelling between the International Wall and the Shankill.

Mural by Blaze FX on Northumberland Street, west Belfast