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At The Eleventh Hour

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The portrait on the right is probably William McFadzean, familiar from murals such as in the Caw, Londonderry, and in Cregagh, Belfast (though the photo is unknown). The face on the left is John Travers “Jack” Cornwell, “the boy hero of Jutland”, who was awarded the VC for staying at his post as a sight-setter on the HMS Chester (the picture is from an earlier posting, on the HMS Lancaster) when it was hit by German light cruisers on May 31st, 1916. Cornwell died from shrapnel wounds on June 2nd (Mary Evans).

It’s not clear why Cornwell is included here, as he was from, and is buried in, east London, rather than Belfast or Ireland, and does not seem to be associated with the 36th Division. Please get in touch if you can explain his inclusion here. See also: Battle Of Jutland and HMS Caroline.

Dee Street, east Belfast, on the fence seen previously in My God-Given Right To Rule.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T03875 T03876 at the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them royal irish rifles lest we forget

Remembrance Sunday

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Remembrance Day, formerly known as Armistice Day, commemorates and celebrates the end of hostilities in the first World War on November 11th, 1918. Many ceremonies in the UK take place on the second Sunday of the month, regardless of the date. This practice began in 1945, changing the WWII practice of marking the occasion on the preceding Sunday, to ensure that the holiday did not fall on a work-day (WP).

This large tarp (above) is at the Shore Road memorial garden to the 10th, 36th, and 16th divisions, shown below, along with the nearby Fifes & Drums/Fairhill flute band (Fb)/Pride Of The Shore (Fb) tribute to QEII. The tarp was also seen last year: Remembrance Day.

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Fergie

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The plaque above – “Ormeau Road in memory [of] Fergie” – is now somewhat incongruously above painted signage for a coffee-and-donuts shop (Bunelos | web) on the Ormeau Road, a commercial road which is also at the edge of the Ballynafeigh neighbourhood.

“Fergie” is perhaps Iain Ferguson, who died in 2021 (Belvoir & Ballynafeigh UPRG on Fb) and is remembered in a tarp on the side of the flats in Belvoir, shown below. (UPRG is affiliated with the UDA – hence the red hand and the six-pointed star in the plaque, alongside the flowers of the four nations – rose, shamrock, daffodil, thistle – and orange lily.)

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T01528 T01529 a true loyalist will be missed by all his friends in Belvoir & Ballynafeigh QS Somerset Street Belvoir Drive

Strike Out

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Here is another response to the coronation of King Charles last weekend: (above and last) a Lasaır Dhearg (web) tarp in north Belfast reading “Fuck King Charles”.

Compare previously: England’s Bloody Empire and Not Our King with May The King Live Forever and The Settlement Of The True Protestant Religion.

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May The King Live Forever

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“Ballykeel 1 celebrates the coronation of King Charles III.” The United Kingdom crowns a new monarch today, May 6th, 2023, in the form of Charles III; he acceded to the throne on September 8th, 2022, upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II (see The People’s Queen Is Dead | Now Is The Time To Kneel | Loyal Servants). The ceremony will include a pledge of allegiance that those in attendance and those watching may (voluntarily) make (BBC). The leaders of Australia and New Zealand are among those expected to make the pledge (Reuters); Michelle O’Neill and Alex Maskey of Sınn Féın will be in attendance (BBC).

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Bua Do Na hOıbrıthe

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“Victory to the workers”. Costello House is home to the IRSP (tw) “Advice Hub” with representative Dan Murphy (Mid Falls & Springfield) and Michael Kelly (Lower Falls). Murphy (in Black Mountain) received 2.7% and Kelly (in Court) 3.2% of first-preference votes in the recent local elections (WP).

Falls Road, west Belfast.

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Your Country Needs You

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“The UDA formed in 1971 as an umbrella for Loyalist Vigilante groups being formed. There [sic] role to defend the Protestant community from IRA violence. They remain today. Ask yourself this question: When the battle has been finally won, will I be able to stand and be counted amongst the men won it? Make sure the answer is yes – join your local unit of the UDA. Your country needs you.” This is an addition to the panels shown in Show No Mercy, Expect None Back.

And (on the other side of the street) the tarp is an addition to ‘We Will Never Accept A United Ireland’. “We remember our culture, from the siege of Derry to the battle of the Boyne. ‘No Surrender’.”

For the Varadkar poster, Political Leaders Are Not Listening.

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Political Leaders Are Not Listening

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Left: After a break for the funeral of the Duke Of Edinburgh, the Loyalist Communities Council has resumed its protest of Brexit with a banner campaign (Irish News). The banner seems to be offering viewers the choice of one of four affiliations (“Europe – UK – USA – Ireland – choose one or the other! It’s your decision!) but the “correct” answer is at the bottom (and in the faded background of the Covenant): “Ulster is British and this we will always maintain!” even though “Political leaders are not listening!” (including, perhaps, Arlene Foster and the DUP.) The Belfast Agreement (Good Friday Agreement) allows people in Northern Ireland to identify themselves as Irish, British, or both.

Right: “Peace or protocol – it’s your decision”, aimed at Leo Varadkar on the day that he again became Taoiseach (Irish Times) and repeating his words back to him from a speech in 2018: “The possibility of a return to violence is very real”. At that meeting, Varadkar was anticipating violence by anti-Agreement republicans in response to customs posts on the Ireland-Northern Ireland border, and brought a newspaper describing the death of four customs officials, two lorry drivers, and three IRA volunteers at a Monaghan post in 1972 (BelTel).

The authors of this poster are not known, but the parallel statement (mutatis mutandis) would be that anti-Protocol agents – perhaps the “young loyalists” that the UVF “can no longer contain” (UK Daily; see also RTÉ from November) – might return to acts of violence such as the 1974 “Dublin & Monaghan Bombings” that killed 33 people – in the background of the poster is part of a photograph (included below) of bomb damage in Talbot Street – if the Protocol’s “Irish Sea border” is not removed.

Ballysillan Road and (below) Oakmount Drive (near Mount Vernon), north Belfast.

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