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
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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
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Side-by-side in Parkhall Road, Antrim, are board to the 36th (Ulster) Division at the Battle of the Somme, and the local Steeple Defenders flute band (Fb) (and modern UVF and YCV).
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Copyright © 2003 Peter Moloney
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The apocryphal book of the Bible Ecclesiasticus reads “their bodies are buried in peace, but their name liveth for evermore” (44:14), which is here applied to 910,000 “British empire casualties” from the Great War, including the Ulster Volunteers and Young Citizen Volunteers raised by “Sir Edward Carson” which became the 36th (Ulster) Division and particularly the Royal Irish Rifles and fought at the Somme 1916.
Apsley Street, south Belfast
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Copyright © 2001 Peter Moloney
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Paint-bombed mural to members of the Ulster Volunteer Force, Belfast Brigade, in the 36th (Ulster) Division, with (anachronistic) Ulster Banner and Union Flag: “they arose in the dark days to defend our native land for God and Ulster”, “And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, though shalt smite them and utterly destroy them, thou shalt make no covenant with them nor show mercy unto them – Deuteronomy 7 verse 2”.
Blythe Street, Sandy Row, south Belfast
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Copyright © 2001 Peter Moloney
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Flags of the 1912 Ulster Volunteers and of the YCV in Adam Street, Tiger’s Bay, north Belfast.
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Copyright © 1993 Peter Moloney
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Silhouette of a reflective WWI soldier in Adam Street, Tiger’s Bay, north Belfast.
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Copyright © 1993 Peter Moloney
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Mural to the memory of soldiers in the 36th (Ulster) Division and the Young Citizen Volunteers (whose emblem involves the shamrock and the words “In God our trust”) who died in World War 1.
City Walk (off Rowland Way), Sandy Row, south Belfast
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Copyright © 1990 Peter Moloney
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An ornate regimental (WWI) coat of arms, for the East Belfast regiment, with the emblem of the Ulster Volunteers symbol on an Ulster banner shield, topped by a crown and surrounded by an arrangement of roses, thistles, and shamrock. “Contemporised” by masked volunteers with weapons pointed, in front of Union flag and St Andrew’s Saltire. Chelsea Street, Belfast
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Copyright © 1989 Alan Gallery, All rights reserved alan@alangallery.com
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The West Belfast Ulster Special Service Force (USSF) was a local Shankill unit within the West Belfast regiment of the Ulster Volunteers. It lost 90% of its men at the battle of Albert on July 1st, 1916. For more of its history see BygoneDays.
Craven Street, lower Shankill, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1988 LC
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