On this day… 13th March 1918 Master William Henry Riding of 28 Colvil Street, East Belfast died in the Great War. Ryding, aged 46, was the Master/Captain of the Merchant Navy vessel SS Castlebar. He was a member of the Orange Institution LOL 1161, the Royal Black Preceptory RBP 226, and the Masonic Order. Today […]
Read more "On this day… 13th March"On this day… Gunner William Atkinson (5844) of 13 Douglas Street, East Belfast died in the Great War. William served with the Royal Garrison Artillery. He died of wounds on 9th March 1917. He was a member of the Willowfield Unionist Club. Gunner William Atkinson is buried at Asserviller British Cemetery, France and is commemorated […]
Read more "On this day… 9th March"On this day in 1916 Sergeant William J. Mullholland (13419) died in the Great War. William resided at 18 Castlereagh Road, East Belfast and served with the 7th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (16th Irish Division). He was Killed in Action on 6 March 1916 and is buried at Philisophe British Cemetery, Mazingarbe.
Read more "On this day… 6th March"On this day in 1915 Private James (Jim) Scott (PLY/16410) of 42 Cheviot Avenue, East Belfast was killed at Gallipoli. Aged just 19, James Scott was an apprentice joiner before he enlisted at the beginning of the Great War. He served with the Plymouth Battalion (Royal Naval Division) Royal Marine Light Infantry. Died on 4 […]
Read more "On This Day…"On 22 July 1920 William Dunning from the Shankill Road had ‘practically the left side of his head blown off’ during sectarian violence in Belfast, he died instantly. Dunning was a Protestant who had served during the First World War (FWW). Two years later on 1 April 1922 Joseph Walshe was shot dead in his […]
Read more "Battle of Messines: Irish Brothers In Arms?"RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner, and briefly the world’s largest passenger ship. She was launched by the Cunard Line in 1906, at a time of fierce competition for the North Atlantic trade. In May 1915, she was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat, causing the deaths of 1,198 passengers and crew. However […]
Read more "Belfast Experiences of the Lusitania Disaster"NEWSPAPER REPORTS FROM 29th & 31st MAY (IRISH NEWS) REGARDING A CHARITY FOOTBALL MATCH: ‘IRISH BRIGADE’ Vs BELFAST CELTIC. (Saturday 29 May) Considerable local interest centres in the meeting this evening, at Celtic Park, of Belfast Celtic and a team drawn from the Irish Brigade at Fermoy Camp. This interesting match has been organised with […]
Read more "WW1 Charity Match: Belfast Celtic vs 16th Irish Division"Book launch: Ballymacarrett and the First World War – A Sacrifice Shared On Wednesday 7 February I was delighted to be the guest speaker at the launch of the Ulster Historical Foundation’s new publication Ballymacarrett and the First World War. In the course of my talk I introduced some new statistics into the public domain […]
Read more "Book launch: Ballymacarrett and the First World War"Recently I was kindly invited to Cregagh Cricket Club to help investigate a lesser-known aspect of the club’s long and distinguished history. The club grounds at Gibson Park were first opened in 1904 when Linfield Swifts visited to play in a glamour friendly, though it wasn’t until 1906 when cricket was eventually played here and […]
Read more "Cregagh Cricket Club: A Living, Breathing, First World War Memorial in Belfast"The recent controversy over statues in the United States of America has opened up a discussion in Northern Ireland about our own memory landscape. The content of such discussion has served as further proof (if any more was needed) that memory and commemoration in the form of statues is more about the politics of the […]
Read more "A Game Of Political Statues"