When Death Flies Swift

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“Sergeant 14/17063 Thomas George Wortley ‘D’ Company 14th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (Young Citizen Volunteers). Killed in action 7th June 1917 Battle of Messines. Buried C.10 Spanbroekmolen British Cemetery.”

Wortley was born in Carrickfergus and lived in Belfast. He (and James Sharpe, also from Carrick) was killed on the first day of the battle at Messines (findagrave) and 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. He is remembered in Carrickfergus with a parade each year on the date of his death (carrickfergusrollofhonour).

The medals in the top left are Pip, Squeak, and Wilfred (that is, the 1914 Star, for service in France or Belgium, the War (service) medal, and the Inter Allied Victory medal) (Identify Medals). The ‘Dead Man’s Penny’ memorial plaque (WP) appears next to the gravestones.

The Larches, Carrickfergus, replacing a painted version.

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Property Of East Belfast UVF

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This notice is on the outside of the Belvoir Bar in east Belfast: “Property of east Belfast Ulster Volunteer Force – Not for sale” alongside a plaque to “fallen comrades” Robert Bennett, Roy Walker, Joseph Long, James Cordner, and Robert Seymour. It seems that the bar has been shuttered since 2011 (Belfast Telegraph | Irish Times).

Newtownards Road, east Belfast, next to the WWI VCs memorial.

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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If England Drive Us Forth

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Rudyard Kipling’s 1912 poem ‘Ulster’ (Kipling Society) predicts destruction for Protestants under Home Rule and calls for violent resistance, even if it means sacrificing one’s own life: “Believe, we dare not boast/Believe, we do not fear/We stand to pay the cost/In all that men hold dear”.

As is well known, the Ulster Volunteers were founded and smuggled in weapons, but before they could be used, the Great War began and the Volunteers signed up for Kitchener’s Army – the flag on the left includes the battles in which the Central Antrim Regiment of the Royal Irish Rifles (as part of the 36th Division) participated, fighting “For King and Empire”.

The graveside mourner on the right, the 1st East Antrim Battalion UVF, and all of the smaller panels on the right, belong to the Troubles era. There is no information about Jim Curran in 1975; the image of Curran’s funeral appears to be AI-generated.

In The Larches, Carrickfergus, replacing the mural and boards seen in Comply With Your Country’s Demands.

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Our Special Absent Friends

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These are images of the scene in the run-up to the Twelfth in Beechfield Court (near “Ulster” Tower Street in east Belfast), including a small memorial to a local man who died in 2022, Bobby Morrow (Funeral Times).

“The time has come to say goodnight, for every road must end, to the ones who care and they are always there, our special absent friends.”

“In loving memory of our dear friend & neighbour Bobby Morrow 11/07/1960 – 30/10/2022. Our Bobby will always be on his bench/Watching us come & go/We may not hear him sing & shout/But his song will forever grow/”One for the Road””

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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Travel Through Time

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“Bullets do not only travel distance, but also through time.” Five people – Jack Duffin, Willie McManus, Christy Doherty, Peter Magee, and James Kennedy – were shot dead by the UDA in Graham’s betting parlour in February 1992. Their portraits, along with portraits of five others who are “injured, now deceased” – Vincent Armstrong, Jimmy Doran, Mark Hazard, Joe McNally, and Jim McManus – have been (permanently) added to the memorial in Hatfield Street.

The plaque on the far left is to Charles Joseph McGrillen, shot by the UDA/UFF in 1988 at his work in Dunne’s on the Annadale embankment (Sutton). (For a close-up, see the Seosamh Mac Coılle collection.)

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Yes, Yes, BDS

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The UNI Europa mural (Real Say, More Pay) from April is already gone, replaced by “Free Gaza” and a call for “boycott, divestment, sanctions”.

The Civil Rights board (No Apartheid) which was removed for the UNI mural has been re-mounted on the facing wall.

Donegall Street Place, Belfast city centre

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Recovery

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The UVF mural overlooking the entrance to Mount Vernon has been repainted after Storm Darragh back in December (2024) knocked down part of the wall it was painted on (see Taken By Storm) and the remainder of the wall was subsequently knocked down (see Prepared For Space, Ready For Wall).

There were local voices against the repainting of the mural (Sunday World) but after the wall (which is owned by the Housing Executive) was rebuilt, scaffolding went up at the end of March (BelTel) and painting began in June.

The mural will be officially launched at the Twelfth celebrations. The repainting has been criticised by the father of one UVF victim (BelTel). One (very) small mercy is that neither of the gunmen – from the North Belfast UVF – is directly confronting the viewer (including the drivers coming off the M2 at Fortwilliam.

Images of the completed mural are from June 26th; the in-progress images are as dated below.

June 18th

June 11th

June 9th

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prepared for peace ready for war

We Also Serve

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This is a series of ten boards in Craigyhill, Larne about WWII. (It replaces a set of twelve UDA boards – see The Loyalist Executioner.)

From left to right (top to bottom) their subjects are:
the Ulster Defence Volunteers/Ulster Home Guard, formed from the B Specials;
Paddy the pigeon;
submarine HMS Thrasher (using an image from the Seosamh Mac Coılle collection);
HMS Larne, a minesweeper built in Renfrew, Scotland;
the port of Larne through which passed “over 5 million people and Allied forces”;
Kilwaughter Castle, a training ground for UK and American troops;
the royal visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in June 1942;
James Stuart Steele of Ballycarry, who served in both WWI and WWII;
the Larne Spitfire, one of seventeen spitfires funded by a Belfast Telegraph fund-raising drive (Wartime NI | see also the Ballymena spitfire in Per Ardua Ad Astra);
local casualties of WWII – “In remembrance of those from town of Larne that paid the supreme sacrifice during the Second World War”.

Shanlea Drive, Craigyhill, Larne

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Their Amazing Attack

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This is a printed version Wilfrid Spender’s report of the first day of the Battle Of The Somme, replacing a previously painted instance that was in the same style as the adjacent mural.

“‘I am not an Ulsterman but yesterday the First of 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 I witnessed, the Ulster Volunteer Force, from which the Division was made, has won a name that equals any in history. Their devotion deserves the gratitude of The British Empire’ – Captain Wilfrid [not “Wilfred”] Spender, The Somme 1916″

Spender’s words are superimposed upon JC Beadle’s Attack Of the 36th Division (see Over The Top).

Carlingford Street, east Belfast

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