This is a mural in his home town to rear admiral Sir Edward Bingham, OBE, born in Bangor and recipient of the Victoria Cross (featured in the apex of the roof) for service in WWI.
“Rear Admiral Edward Bingham VC OBE, son of Lord Clanmorris, was born in Bangor and served in the Royal Navy during the First World War. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in engaging the German fleet during the battle of Jutland. The Bingham family name adorns various settings in the town where he is remembered with pride. Rear Admiral Bingham’s Victoria Cross was purchased by North Down borough council and is on display at the North Down museum.”
A “historical wall feature” was unveiled in January (BBC) by the Shared History Interpretive Project (SHIP) (web | Fb) on the outside of the Dockers’ Club in Pilot Street in Sailortown. The new piece is a montage of about 60 images of vintage photographs, a census form, and posters of industrial life. In the top-middle there can be seen an image of the board this one replaces, which featured two carters pulling away a heavy load.
Another addition in the work is the inclusion of Billy McMullen (1888-1982) and John Quinn (1876-1935) alongside Winifred Carney (1887-1943), James Connolly (1868-1916), and Jim Larkin (1876-1947). Both McMullen and Quinn are Belfast trades-unionists. Quinn’s headstone in Milltown Cemetery can be seen in Forgotten In Life, Remembered In Death.
Hugh Smyth OBE was born in the Woodvale area and represented the upper Shankill as an Independent Unionist and then a Progressive Unionist in Belfast City Council for forty-one years, until the year before his death in May 2014, including a term as Lord mayor in 1994-1995 – he is pictured in the main image (above) in his mayoral robes.
The portrait on the right (shown solo below) was taken by Bobbie Hanvey and is kept in a Boston College archive; more from the archive can be seen at BC.edu.
As the quote (shown in the second image) indicates, his politics were oriented towards the working class: “Historically, Unionist politicians fed their electorate the myth that they were first class citizens … and without question people believed them. Historically, Republican/Nationalist politicians fed their electorate the myth that they were second class citizens… and without question the people believed them. In reality, the truth of the matter was that we all, Protestant and Catholic, were third class citizen, and none of us realised it!” The board was officially launched on June 19th.
“There can be no dignity in labour, till labour knows no master.” The statue of Jim Larkin in Donegall Street Place has been augmented with a massive mural celebrating the many unions which have membership in Ireland. 2013 marks the 100-year anniversary of the Dublin lock-out, which ran from August 1913 to January 1914. The three female figures in the border to the right of Larkin are Winifred Carney, Inez McCormack, and ?Betty Sinclair?.
For the statue without the mural, see James Larkin.
“Mol an óıge agus tıocfaıdh sí” – “youth responds to praise”, such as when playing in the annual Easter Gaelic games tournament, now in its eighth year. Joe Cahill (WP) holds the cup aloft.
The group in the bottom left corner are Pat O’Hare, Frank Cahill, Tom Cahill, (the three Cahills were featured in the previous mural) Ned Maguire, Jr., Ned Maguire, Sr., Alec Crowe, Paddy Meenan, Tommy Crowe, Dal Delaney, and Hugh Elliot.
In the crook of Cahill’s arm are Rita McParland, Sean Wallace, Paddy Corrigan, John Pettigrew, and John Stone. None of these adults is still alive; all were from the local area.
The chalet bungalows in the background on the left are gone, but you can see images of them on the Belfast Forum.
The plaque on the left names others in addition “who assisted, resourced and gave selflessly to the republican cause”: Billy Kelly, Alice Cush, Kate Campbell, John Mulligan, Mary Mulligan, David Mulhern, Margaret Mulhern, John Clarke, Margaret Farrelly, Marie Williams, Kevin Sullivan, Michael Rock, John McColgan, Bridget Maguire, Martin Maguire, Sally Corrigan, Sonny O’Reilly, Maggie McArdle, Jimmy McArdle, Kathleen Wallace, Maragret McGuinness, John Flanagan, Maisie McGuckian, Charlie McGuckian, Anthony Muldoon, Jim Logue, Ellen Weir, Liam Mackie, Oliver McParland, Sadie McMahon, Tommy Crowe, Maddie Holden, Sarah Doyle, Jimmy Doyle, Kathleen Pettigrew, Mary Cushnihan, Bell Cosgrove, Gerry Campbell.
This is a late-life shot of the mural at the corner of Hugo Street. There are now two windows in the mural, graffiti has been blacked out across the lower third, and the mural on the side wall (to the left of image) has gone completely.
You can track its history to this point by comparing this image with those from 2006 | 2002 | 2001.
“A soldier standing at heaven’s gates/To St. Peter he did tell/I’m here to enter heaven now/I’ve served my time in hell.” 36th (Ulster) Division mural by Dee Craig in The Larches, Carrickfergus.
“Ag aontú Caıtlıceach, Protastúnach agus Easaontóırí.” – “Uniting Catholic, Protestant, and Dissenter.” In An Argument On Behalf Of The Catholics Of Ireland (1791), Wolfe Tone of the United Irishmen wrote, “To subvert the tyranny of our execrable government, to break the connection with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils, and to assert the independence of my country, these were my objects. To unite the whole people of Ireland, to abolish the memory of past dissensions, and to substitute the common name of Irishman, in place of the denominations of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter, these were my means.”
With portraits of Bobby Sands, Wolfe Tone, and in the centre, Winifred Carney.
“1912-2002 Ulster Volunteer Force – 90 years” linking the Ulster Volunteers of 1912 and WWI with the Carrickfergus company of the contemporary UVF’s 1st East Antrim Battalion.
Peter Moloney Collection 