PUL

James Buchanan

Extramural Activity3 Comments

James Buchanan was “15th US president 1857-1861.” Buchanan’s father, also called James, was born in Ramelton, Co Donegal, and was living in Co Tyrone when he emigrated to the United States from Derry in 1783, (one of the “250,000 Ulster-Scots [who] emigrated to America in the 1700s”). James junior was born in 1791, the second of eleven children.

The confusion over the wording of the quote – “My Ulster blood is my most priceless [or simply: a priceless] heritage … [and I can never be too grateful to my grandparents from whom I derived it.]” – is matched by confusion over who said it (Buchanan junior or senior?); the source of the quote is unknown. Likewise we do not know where in Scotland the grandparents might have come from and perhaps the move to Ireland happened much earlier.

There is a similar mural to Buchanan in west Belfast. See also the Visual History page on Ulster-Scots murals.

Ebrington Street, Londonderry

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Copyright © 2003 Peter Moloney
M02022

Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense

Extramural Activity3 Comments

For the fiftieth anniversary of her coronation in 1953, a portrait of Elizabeth the second, Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. She is surrounded by the flowers of Ireland (shamrock), England (rose), Wales (daffodil), Scotland (thistle). “Shame to he who thinks bad of it” is in Anglo-Norman French.

Bond’s Place, Waterside, Londonderry.

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Copyright © 2003 Peter Moloney
M02021

1st July 1916

Extramural Activity3 Comments

The Battle of the Somme began on July 1st, 1916, which was also the date (in the Julian calendar) of the Battle of the Boyne. The 36th (Ulster) Division of the British Army lost more than 5,000 men in the initial attack and counter-attack. The battle lasted until November 18th.

Parkhall Road, Antrim

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Copyright © 2003 Peter Moloney
M01930

Denver Smith

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“In memory of a dear friend.” UVF volunteer Denver Smith was killed in the early morning of January 1st, 2000 by a gang of six men with machetes and pikes; the incident was perhaps drugs-related (Guardian | BBC-NI. For the wider picture An Phoblacht | Irish Times).

Parkhall Road, Antrim with kerbstones in the colours of the UVF.

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Copyright © 2003 Peter Moloney
M01926 M01928 M01927