WWI – Page 16 – Paddy Duffy Collection

Thomas George Wortley

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“Sgt. Thomas George Wortley , “D Coy” 14th Btn. Royal Irish Rifles, Service No. 14/17063, Died Messines 07-06-1917, Spanbroekmolen British Cemetary Grave C10″. Wortley was born in Carrickfergus, lived in Belfast, died on the first day of the battle at Messines (findagrave), buried in a small cemetery of British soldiers, many from the 36th (Ulster) Division, in Spanbroekmolen on the Ypres Salient in Flanders (WP) – shown in the mural – and is remembered in Carrickfergus with a parade each year on the date of his death (carrickfergusrollofhonour).

Maple Gardens, Carrickfergus

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Copyright © 2012 Paddy Duffy
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Time In Hell

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A dead WWI soldier in the scorched Belgian countryside is comforted by an ethereal figure who will convey him to heaven: A soldier standing at heaven’s gate/To St. Peter he did tell/I’m here to enter heaven now/I’ve served my time in hell – a variation on James Donahue’s WWII Soldier’s Poem (WP). The poem was previously used of Republicans in a 1981 mural in Derry (see I Refuse To Change/M00151).

The Larches, Carrickfergus

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Copyright © 2012 Paddy Duffy
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14th RIR

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The bravery of two Carrickfergus natives, which won each of them the VC, is recounted on the side-wall to a larger 14th Royal Irish Rifles (YCV) mural. Pte. James Crichton served with New Zealand infantry in France (in WWI) and Sgt. Daniel Cambridge served in Crimea.

The Larches, Carrickfergus

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Charge Of The 36th At Thiepval

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“The charge of the 36th (Ulster) Division at Thiepval, 1st July 1916. By the end of the battle, five thousand five hundred Ulstermen lay dead. ‘At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.’”

Inniscarn Drive, Rathcoole, Newtownabbey

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Copyright © 2011/2012 Paddy Duffy
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Comradeship, Unity & Discipline

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A mixture of modern and latter-day Ulster Volunteers: the names of WWI dead are listed on both sides, while six modern volunteers are portrayed above the central panel of soldiers in a trench. J1835 lists the men (in the previous version of the mural) as J. Shaw, T. Mawhinney, J. Cordner, C. Logan, S. McCrea, W. Millar.

Inniscarn Drive, Rathcoole, Newtownabbey

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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

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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 © 2011/2012 Paddy Duffy
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Ulster Tower

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“The Ulster Tower is a memorial to the men of the 36th (Ulster) Division. It was officially opened on 19th November 1921 by Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson. The tower is located close to the Schwaben Redoubt, a German stronghold at the edge of Thiepval Wood, France, which the Ulster Division attacked at 7.30 am on the 1st July 1916.”

“This mural was dedicated to the men of the 36th (Ulster) Division on 31st July 2010 by the West Belfast Athletic And Cultural Society. ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends’ – John 15:13”.

Conway Street (“Somme Street”), Shankill, west Belfast

Charge From Thiepval Wood

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The nameplate on the lower corner of Northland Street now reads “Thiepval Street” and the Thiepval board above adorns the end wall (replacing an earlier mural to UVF A Company 5th platoon). On the other side of Conway Street is/was North Howard Walk where a plate now reads “Passchendaele Court“. The names are unofficial (as of November 15th, 2012). (See also “Somme Street”.)

The memorial stone is dedicated to the UVF company (and not to the WWI soldiers from the 36th (Ulster) Division who died in the charge from Thiepval Wood, July 1st, 1916): “This stone is dedicated to the memory of the fallen volunteers of No. 5 platoon A company 1st Belfast battalion Ulster Volunteer Force. ‘As poppy petals gently fall/Remember us who gave our all/Not in the mud of foreign lands/Nor buried in the desert sands//In Ulster field and farm and town/Fermanagh’s lanes and Drumlin’d Down/We died that violent death should cease/And Ulstermen might live in peace’ Lest we forget.”

The Conway Walk mural was produced by the “Shankill 1st Somme [Association]” with support from the “Govan Somme Association, Grapes Bar, Glasgow”.

Northland Street and Conway Walk, west Belfast

Our Brave Defenders

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The four main panels of the mural (above) show
the men of the 36th going over the top on the first day of the Somme (1st July 1916),
the “angel of Mons” (WP),
Ulster Tower (“This tower was dedicated to the glory of God. In grateful memory of the officers, non commissioned officers and men of the 36th (Ulster) Division, and of the sons of Ulster in other forces who laid down their lives in the great war, and of all their comrades in arms who, by divine grace, were spared to testify to their glorious deeds. ‘Throughout the long years of struggle …. the men of Ulster have proved how nobly they fight and die’ – 16th November 1918 King George V”),
and
Thiepval Memorial (“Dear men and brothers, going out/to fight for Ulster’s need/we hail you with a mighty shout/brave friends, and true in deed.//Your country holds you in renown/your names will never be dead/and some sweet angel has a crown/for each dear, manly head.”)

The memorial garden features the Victoria Cross winners from the 36th (Ulster) Division. For close-ups, see the Peter Moloney Collection.

St Leonard’s Crescent (the old Newcastle Street) in east Belfast