printed board/placard

Young Citizen Volunteers

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These Kilburn Street boards commemorate the “Young Citizen Volunteers Of Ireland” and the battle of the Somme. The text in the side-wall board (shown below) is from the diary of a Somme soldier: “We surge forward. Bayonets sparkle and glint. Cries and curses rent the air. Chums fall, some without a word … and others … Oh, my God! May I never hear such cries again! There goes the YCV flag tied to the muzzle of a rifle. That man had nerve! Through the road just ahead of us we had crossed the sunken road. We could see khaki figures rushing the German front line. The Inniskillings had got at them.”

The larger board, on the right, describes the transition from rebels in 1912 to British Army soldiers in 1914: “On the 17th May 1914 the Young Citizen Volunteers became a battalion of the Belfast regiment of the Ulster Volunteer Force. This formed part of the Ulster Division authorised on 28th October 1914 which officially became the 14th battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles, part of the 109th brigade. The 14th saw action throughout the First World War.”

It includes a quote from Edward Carson, “You will find in your ranks men with the same ideals, men with the same loyalty and the same determination to uphold the rights of their country”, and a quote from VC winner William Fredrick McFadzean, “You people at home make me feel quite proud when you tell me I am the soldier boy of the McFadzeans. I hope to play the game and if I don’t add much lustre to it I certainly will not tarnish it.”

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
M10804 M10803 M10802
[M10805] [M10806] [M10807] [M10808] [M10809] [M10810] [M10811] [M10812]

25 Years On & No Truth

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This board at the junction of the Falls and Glen roads (on the site of the former Andersonstown RUC station) commemorates the death of Pat Finucane (on February 12th, 1989), alleging collusion between the MI5, the UDA, the UDR, and the RUC, and asking for an inquiry.

“25 years on & no truth. Why no public inquiry? Time for justice, time for truth!”

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
M10788 [M11138]

Progression Requires Inclusion

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“Progression requires inclusion” of UVF paramilitary gangs.

The painting of King Billy is by John Darren Sutton and was produced on a grand scale in Tavanagh Street, Village, south Belfast – see Hang Out Our Banners.

“It’s dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.” “Loyal Carrickfergus – then, now and always!”

Davy’s Street, Carrickfergus

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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Woodvale Defence Association

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The gable wall at the end of Columbia Street (on Ohio Street) has been rebuilt and the old WDA/Duke Elliott mural has been replaced. The right side of the piece describes the transition from the Woodvale Defence Association to the Ulster Defence Association to the Ulster Freedom Fighters, and grounds all three in the Ulster Defence union of 1893. Ernie “Duke” Elliott was killed in 1972, at age 28, in a dispute with other UDA members; he lived one street over from the site of these new boards, in Leopold Street (WP).

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
M10751 [M10752] [M10753] [M10754] [M10755] [M10756]
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M10739

A Poisonous Legacy

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“British Army/RUC impunity – a poisonous legacy. 40+ years of British Army/RUC impunity, 351 dead, 4 prosecutions of soldiers. A police force that didn’t investigate, a prosecution service that didn’t prosecute, a judiciary that didn’t convict, an army that re-admitted convicted murderers, and successive governments that denied the murder of hundreds of [?interned?] civilians.”

The Poisonous Legacies conference was held in Derry’s Guildhall on June 14th and 15th 2013, organised by the Pat Finucane Centre and the Bloody Sunday Trust (pdf report).

This board is on the rear of Free Derry Corner.

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
M10668 [M10669] [M10670]

No 4 Platoon

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“This memorial is dedicated to the memory of the fallen Officers, NCOs and Volunteers of Number 4 Platoon, A Company, 1st Belfast Battalion, Ulster Volunteer Force. It serves as a tribute to those who fell while actively engaging the enemy from service having fulfilled their duties to the end. Their names and deeds are eternally venerated by their comrades in arms who continue to serve humbly in their honour. ‘They went with songs to battle, they were young,/Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow,/They remained staunch to the end against odds uncounted,/They fell with their faces to the foe.’ [Binyon’s ‘For The Fallen’]”

In the top left Carson is shown reviewing the Ulster Volunteers (and on top of the weapons beneath it, a cloth cap and WWI helmet) and in the top right are an old show of strength photograph and the former mural in this spot (with paramilitary cap and balaclava beneath).

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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
[M10587] M10588 [M10589] [M10590] [M10591] [M10592] [M10593] [M10594] [M10595] [M10596] [M10597] [M10598] [M10599]

Fight To A Finish

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“Éamonn Ceannt quote, Kilmainham Jail 1916. “I leave for the guidance of other revolutionaries, who may tread the path which I have trod, this advice: never treat with the enemy, never to surrender to his mercy but to fight to a finish.” East Tyrone remembers.”

This is a 1916 Societies (.ie) placard on the disused barracks in Plater’s Hill/Lineside Coalisland Plater’s Hill, Coalisland. See previously: Never Treat With The Enemy.

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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
M10577

Gach Vóta Luachmhar

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“Important/Tábhachtach – Faıgh do vóta/Get your vote. Is everyone in your house on the electoral register? Gach vóta luachmhar…/Every single vote counts …” This is a generic electoral board encouraging voter registration (for Sınn Féın voters, at least) as there are elections scheduled until the local and European votes in May, 2014.

For the mural above, see The Final Salute.

Whiterock Road, west Belfast.

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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
M10522
Also 2014 M10787 at Falls Rd/Glen Rd

For Me There Will Be No More War

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Here are three of twenty new panels on the Donegall Road bridge over the railway.

The post on the mural to James Magennis in Tullycarnet provides background information on him.

A letter home from the Somme: “How I love you all. I wonder what you are doing at home. I must not do that. It is hard enough sitting waiting. We may move at any minute. When this reaches you for me there will be no more war, only eternal peace and waiting for you.” July 1st, 1916 saw the start of the Battle Of The Somme. The 36th (Ulster) division lost over 5,000 men in an initial successful attack near Thiepval Wood, but were driven back that evening.

Ulster suffragettes: “Women have been trained to speak softly and carry a lipstick. Those days are over.” (Bella Abzug). The board shows a picture of women drumming up an audience for a suffragette meeting in the Ulster Hall in November 1912. The image in the bottom right is of Emmeline Pankhurst being arrested in London in 1914; the top image is of Pankhurst on tour in the US in 1913 (LoC; see Pieces Of History for a description of the tour; she gave a speech entitled ‘Freedom Or Death’). Pankhurst spoke in Belfast at the 1912 meeting, though the speakers advertised on the placards are “Mrs Charlotte Despard, Miss Irene Miller, Mrs Edith How-Martyn, Miss Alison Neilans“. The first suffrage group in Ireland was the North Of Ireland Women’s Suffrage Society, founded in Belfast in 1872 by Isabella Tod. See also Belfast’s Infamous Prison for information about suffragettes held in Crumlin Road Gaol.

For a complete set of panels, see north side and south side.

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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
M10517 M10516 M10515

100th Anniversary Of The Formation Of The Ulster Volunteer Force

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“100th Anniversary Of The Formation Of The Ulster Volunteer Force 1913-2013”, flanked by two large emblems, reading “Last Post Great War Society – 36th (Ulster) Division” and “Ulster Volunteer Force, west Belfast”.

Above the courtyard of the Rex Bar, Moscow Street, west Belfast.

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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
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