As the plaque indicates, the mural was originally painted in 2006 for the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. The side wall was painted for the 100th anniversary.
The plaque was originally in the plinth below the headstone – see Killed In Action.
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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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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
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“The dead we honour here made the noble sacrifice for a cause that should never be forgotten.” A new board has been added to the memorial to the Ulster Volunteers on the Newtownards Road at St Leonard’s Crescent (the old Newcastle Street) over the bricked-up windows of the Belvoir Bar (see previously Not For Sale). The annual parade of the Belvoir Somme Association took place at the end of September (youtube)
The portrait of Carson was previously on the corner of Welland Street. The UVF Band mural is to the right of the memorial: see The Great War and They Said We’d Never Last.
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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Ulster’s VC Heroes david nelson ernest wright alexander william mcfadzean edmund de win richard annesley west hugh colvin james somers jams duffy robert morrow edward barry stewart bingham thomas hughes robert hill hanna robert quigg john spencer dunville eric norman frankland bell james crichton geoffrey st. george shillington cather james anson otho brooke john alexander sinton dedicated to the women of east belfast that served in wwi and wwii
Dee Craig updated the Victoria Crosses mural in Cregagh, honoring G[eoffrey St. George Shillington] Cather, W[illiam Frederick] MacFadzean, R[obert] Quigg, and E[ric] N[orman] F[rankland] Bell. Five more were included in a board on the Shankill and another in Willowfield Street. (For the previous Cregagh version, see M03390)
Cappagh Gardens, Cregagh, Castlereagh
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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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The Battle Of Assaye (India) took place on September 23rd, 1803, and the 74th regiment of the Royal Highland Fusiliers became known as the Assaye regiment in recognition of their performance (WP). By the time of WWI, the regiment had been merged into the Highland Light Infantry, whose 2nd battalion fought at the Somme in 1916 alongside the 36th (Ulster) Division (WP). The Highlanders’ emblem (which still includes the word “Assaye”) is on the right, the Ulster Volunteers’ on the left. In the apex are the flags of the UVF and YCV (14th battalion Royal Irish Rifles). This new mural commemorates the UVF volunteers of both WWI and the Scottish brigade: J. Rankin, Br. Creer, B. Wilson, B. Creer, A. Steele.
“Ulster and Scotland did answer the call/Together in battle they bled and fall/Shoulder to shoulder their lives they did give/It’s to them we give thanks/For the lives that we live.”
“We are the dead. Short days ago/We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow/Loved and were loved/And now we lie/In Flanders Fields.”
Disraeli St
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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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This memorial to Brian Robinson (unveiled March 2, 2013) was sponsored by the Shankill Star Flute Band, in Disraeli Street – where Robinson grew up – and is replete with images from the first World War such as soldiers (both British and German), trenches and poppies.
Robinson was killed on 2 Sept., 1989 by an army undercover unit moments after he had shot and killed a Catholic named Patrick McKenna (WP). This is the second mural on the street to Robinson. The piece is not paint, but printed laminate, which is now cracking and peeling.
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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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The main battles of the 36th (Ulster) Division (“XXXVI”) are listed – Somme, Thiepval, Messines, Ypres, Cambrai, Somme (1918), St. Quintin [St. Quentin], Lys, Courtrai – and those who died are commemorated on this new board. The main board is surrounded by smaller boards, part of the Poppy Trail, bearing the names, ages, addresses, ranks, and units of deceased soldiers. For example: William Lyttle, aged 18, 16 Tenth Street, 9th batt. Royal Irish Rifles, Rifleman 13044.
The same (main) board has also been mounted on the Shankill: see Improving Your Environment.
Replaces: They Haven’t Gone Away and Welcome To The Shankill.
The info board above reads: “Thousands of brave Shankill men marched down our road and off to war, over 1500 of them never returned, with over 150 losing their lives on the 1st day of July 1916.”
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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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The Ulster Volunteers were formed in response to the Home Rule bill of April 1912 and the Covenant signed in September 1912, first by Edward Carson and then by almost half a million others. Guns were smuggled into Larne on the Clyde Valley in April 1914 but the advent of the World War saw the volunteers instead joining the British Army, specifically the 36th (Ulster) Division, and went over the top at the Somme.
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Copyright © 2000 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
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These two murals are side-by-side in Blythe Street.
On the left, a particularly violent rejection of the peace-process: “they arose in the dark days to defend our native land for God and Ulster”, “And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, though shalt smite them and utterly destroy them, thou shalt make no covenant with them nor show mercy unto them – Deuteronomy 7 verse 2”.
On the right, a UVF roll of honour: “In memory of fallen comrades. Lest we forget. John Hanna, Billy Millar, Noel Little, Bunter Davidson, Billy Stewart, Davy McNaught, Sammy Mehaffy, Dicky Richardson [later removed], Geordie Norris [later added]. Their duty demanding, their courage outstanding. Here lies a soldier, murdered by the enemies of Ulster.”
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Copyright © 1997 Paddy Duffy
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Homage to the 36th (Ulster) Division and the Ulster Volunteers/YCV. The UVF emblem is cut off at either end.
St Patrick’s Walk, east Belfast
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Copyright © 1997 Paddy Duffy
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Paddy Duffy Collection 