After Britain’s declaration of war against France in 1793, the United Irishmen – who hoped for French support for a rebellion in Ireland – could no longer meet openly. In Belfast, meetings were held at Dr [Benjamin] Franklin’s tavern, also called “Peggy Barclay’s” after its owner, under the guise of a social group called the Muddlers’ Club.

The true nature of the group was betrayed to the authorities in 1796 by Isabella “Belle” Martin, a serving girl in the tavern (Romanticsm Anthology | Belfast Entries | Belfast Media | Joe Baker). As the text in the Peter Strain mural above concludes, “Half a dozen of them saw the inside of a Scottish prison as a result” and the club dissolved. (The text surrounding Martin’s profile is from Glenn Patterson’s book, A Mill For Grinding Old People Young – this was the name of Peggy Barclay’s inn when she left the city centre for the Buttermilk Loney (now Skegoniell Avenue) on the Shore Road in north Belfast.

The tavern, in Sugarhouse Entry, later become a hotel before eventually being destroyed in the WWII blitz. Sugarhouse Entry still exists but has been impassable since 1972 when it was closed off as part of the “ring of steel” securing Belfast city centre (DC Tours).

There is today a restaurant called The Muddlers’ Club, named after the society, in Warehouse Lane. Two of its murals are shown in The Eye Of Providence; for others see also God Approves Our Undertakings and The Wider Conspiracy in the Seosamh Mac Coılle Collection.

See also the Visual History page on the Belfast Entries.

Crown Entry, Belfast

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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“Where is our Alternative Ulster? – download paused.” Alternative Ulster was a fanzine (Fb | Musical Revolutions) and later a magazine (Issuu) and radio show covering the Belfast music and arts scene until March 2012; the name was then used for the Stiff Little Fingers’ song (youtube) in 1978.

By Verz (Fb) and Belfast One (web) in Fountain Street, Belfast.

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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In 1789, Olaudah Equiano published a memoir to 311 subscribers describing his early life in west Africa, his kidnapping, transport via Barbados to enslavement in Virginia, then in London, England, and then in Montserrat in the Caribbean. He bought his own freedom in 1766 and went back to England and joined the burgeoning abolitionist movement. His memoir detailing the treatment and conditions he had experienced made him famous. He toured Britain and Ireland in support of his book: “I found the people extremely hospitable, particularly in Belfast [in 1791-1792]” (BBC Sounds 17m 58s). He stayed with Samuel Neilson, a founding member of the United Irishmen (Clifton Belfast | WP | see also yesterday’s post on Belle Martin). Ten years after his death in 1797, the trans-Atlantic slave trade was abolished in both the UK and the States.

The mural in Joy’s Entry, by London artist Dreph, is based on a portrait painted by William Denton and engraved for the book by Daniel Orme (Dreph | National Portrait Gallery).

For an overview of the anti-slavery movement in Belfast, including Thomas Russell, Olaudah Equiano, and Frederick Douglass, see this William Orr speech (at Slugger).

See also the Visual History page on The Belfast Entries.

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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If the ice melts, we’re all in the drink – an environmental message from Spacer (Shane Sutton tw) for Friends Of The Earth (NI) (ig | tw) in High Street, Belfast.

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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