Ulster Volunteers/YCV – Page 5 – Paddy Duffy Collection

36th (Ulster) Division

1996-01-012025-10-17Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“In remembrance of the 36th (Ulster) Division – For God and Ulster”. “1912” (on either side of the UVF emblem) refers to the founding of the Ulster Volunteers, who went on to join the 36th Division of the British Army, fighting at “Albert, Beaucourt, Thiepval, Grand Court, Passchendaele, Somme, Courtrai, Ypres, Cambreai [Cambrai], Rossieres [Rosières], Flanders, Baitleul [Bailleul], St Quentin, Beaumont[-]Hamel, Sch waden [Schwaben] Redoubt, Fricourt, Messines”. The stone in front reads, “At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.”

Cashel Close, Monkstown, Newtownabbey

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Copyright © 1996 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T00241

Still Defending Ulster

1996-01-012025-09-22Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Still defending Ulster – we will always be ready. 1912 – 1969. To the politicians: words are not enough for the peace and freedom of the children and the people of Ulster “deeds and actions”. To our volunteers: the supreme sacrifice is to lay down your life for your country. Some have given everything, others have yet to give.”

The modern volunteer, while hooded, is not in an active pose, reflecting the ceasefire. The word “to the politicians” perhaps express frustration with the peace process (and hint at the continued violence of the LVF, created after the dispute in July at Drumcree).

Kenilworth Place, east Belfast

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Copyright © 1996 Paddy Duffy
T00151

Then And Now

1988-05-012025-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“They fought then for the cause of Ulster, we will fight now.” The 75th anniversary of the Ulster Volunteers is celebrated in this mural in Dover Place, west Belfast. On the left of the Northern Island is an Ulster Volunteer in period (1912) garb standing on a patch of ground, on the right, a modern (1987) paramilitary in hood and fatigues standing on a city footpath. The Ulster Volunteers as such did not fight for Ulster – they instead joined the British Army and fought “for King and Empire” in WWI, after which Home Rule was applied only to 26 counties of Ireland and Northern Ireland was created and remained within the UK.

UVF 75th Anniversary

1988-05-012025-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This mural celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Ulster Volunteers, 1912, with a portrait of Edward Carson and a rifle mounted on the back of a car (based on an image from 1914, included below). The Ulster Volunteers joined the Royal Irish Rifles as part of Kitchener’s Army in WWI, and when the war ended some of the survivors joined the northern RIC and the post-partition RUC, but at that point it is impossible to track them as a cohesive group and the only connection to the Ulster Volunteer Force of 1965 is the name.

Shankill Road (on the wall of the PUP offices, just west of ACT and the Bayardo memorial), west Belfast