UVF/YCV/RHC/PAF

Female Guardians

Extramural Activity1 Comment

This pair of images — “Deserted! Well – I can stand alone” from the anti-Home Rule campaign that continued during WWI and the other a more contemporary scene of “a protestant farmer’s wife guard[ing] her husband against sectarian attack from across the border” — was previously painted in (what remains of) Moscow Street, next to the Rex bar on the Shankill. (See X00066. See also M00558 lower Shankill | M00621 east Belfast | M02302 east Belfast). The plaque on the right was not originally part of the mural (see J2395) and the mural would later be modified by the removal of the Orange Order and St Andrew’s flags (but not the UVF emblem), replaced by a shamrock-strewn banner reading “Fight To A Finish” (M08026).

Drumtara, Ballymena

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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
M03578

Lamh Dearg Abu

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The UVF’s Red Hand Commando are inspired by the British Army’s SAS and uses a similar image for its emblem: instead of wings on a sword, RHC uses wings on a red hand. [East Belfast] C company mural in Ballybeen. ‘Lamh dearg abu’ = ‘red hand to victory’.

Upper Newtownards Road

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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
M03515 [M03513] [M03514]

Ballybeen Remembers

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The “UVF” on the storage units would be painted over, leaving only the memorial to the 36th (Ulster) Division. The Ballybeen RHC memorial mural on the side would remain until the building was redeveloped and both murals were replaced by a memorial garden.

Craignish Crescent, Davarr Avenue.

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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
M03516 [M03517] [M03518] [M03519] [M03520] M03521

Proud Men

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“Where so ever, how so ever or whenever we are called upon to make our exit, we shall do so as proud men.” (Another UVF mural in east Belfast has “as free men”.) A hooded gunman from the Red Hand Commando stands at the ready. The first of the four crests is the (rare, possibly restricted to the Morven Park murals) “RHC Youth”; then PAF, UVF, and YCV.

Morven Park, Ballybeen

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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
M03480

UVF East Belfast

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“Wheresoever, howsoever or whenever we are called upon to make our exit, we shall do so as free men. – UVF East Belfast.” Three hooded gunmen frame a verse from Laurence Binyon’s For The Fallen.

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Copyright © 2006 Peter Moloney
M03378 [M03379] [M03380] [M03381] M03382 [M03383] [M03491] [M03541] [M03542]

A Few Of The Many

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“Lest we forget. This memorial is dedicated to the men of the Willowfield Battalion, East Belfast regiment, Ulster Volunteer Force, who made the supreme sacrifice in the Great War 1914-1918. It stands on the site of the old Willowfield unionist hall, opened by Sir Edward Carson on May 16th 1913, as a drill hall and rifle range for Willowfield UVF. It was from this hall volunteers marched to Balmoral, from there to the green fields of France, some never to return. Sleep on, dear sons of Ulster, ’til the trumpet sounds again.”

“In memory of our fallen comrades Ulster Volunteer Force East Belfast.”

“In solemn remembrance we salute the brave men of Ulster. Without favour or reward they fought militant republicanism on its own terms. Their courage, dedication and sacrifice we will remember for evermore. Joe Long, Robert (Squeak) Seymour, Charlie Logan, Trevor King, Billy Miller, Tommy McDowell, Joe Shaw, Colin Caldwell, Harris Boyle, Wesley Somerville, Geoffrey Freeman, David Swanson, Sinclair Jonhston, Robin Jackson. This is a few of the many. For God and Ulster.”

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Copyright © 2006 Peter Moloney
[M03364] [M03365] M03366