11 Belfast’s Local History Magazine
Cornmarket in the mid 1890’s
Glenravel Local History Project
There is perhaps no more fruitful for of education than to arouse the interest of a people in their own surroundings These words were written by Richard Livingstone and appeared in a book by Alfred Moore called Old Belfast over fifty years ago. Looking back its hard to imagine that they are as true today as they were way back then. More and more people are becoming interested in the history of Belfast and it was out of this that the Glenravel Local History Project were born in May 1991. Many could be forgiven for assuming that this name derived from the famous Glens in Co. Antrim and they would be right but in a roundabout way. Glenravel Street was situated directly behind in the old Poorhouse on North Queen Street and contained quite a few beautiful and historic buildings. One of these buildings was situated at its junction with Clifton Street and although it was officially known as the Ulster Ear, Eye and Throat Hospital it was known to most people as the Benn Hospital. This was due to the fact that it was built by Edward Benn (brother of the famous Victorian Belfast historian George). Mr Benn lived in the Glens of Antrim where Glenravel is situated. Although Glenravel Street contained all this history the street itself was totally obliterated to clear the way for the modern Westlink motorway system leaving us to question schemes such as historical areas of importance as well as buildings. The Glenravel Project was established by local historians Joe Baker and Michael Liggett and has now went on to become the main local historical group in the whole of Belfast. Over three hundred publications have been published by the group as well and several web sites, DVDs and countless newspaper and magazine articles. The Project also conducts several walking tours ranging from the Belfast Blitz right through to a walking tour of the historic Cavehill area. One of these tours is also around the historic Clifton Street Burying Ground which is also situated behind the old Poorhouse and which was opened by them in the mid 1790s. Although our original aim was the historical promotion of this site we have now went on to cover the whole of Belfast as well as assist numerous local historical schemes far beyond our city’s boundaries. This magazine is now our main focus for the local and factual history of Belfast and we welcome all articles of interest relating to the history of our city. And our aim:-
To secure a future for our past
5 Churchill Street, Belfast. BT15 2BP
A bus being lifted out of a trench on the Donegall Road after it accidently drove into it. 1960
Junction of the Oldpark Road and Crumlin Road 1960
Houses in Pottinger Court. (Small court at side of Morning Star Bar) 1960
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glenravel@ashtoncentre.com 028 9020 2100 028 9074 2255 2
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Old Belfast Police Reports n January 11th 1930 Constable David Ferguson and his brother James Ferguson appeared in the Belfast Custody court charged with stealing a suit of clothes from John Lewis, a tailor of Fleetwood Street, Belfast. The magistrate sitting during the hearing, Mr P J O’Donaghue described the case as "a great row over very little". It was alleged that James Ferguson visited the Lewis house in December of 1929 and giving his name as Mr Johnston he asked to be shown some patterns and cloth samples in order to have a suit made. He gave his address to Mr Lewis as care of Mr Swan of Hillman Street in the north of the city and the suit was ordered. On December 20th 1929 Ferguson (Johnston) was contacted and he called to try on the suit. He told Mr Lewis that he was waiting for his friend Mr Swan of Antrim Road Barracks and within minutes Constable David Ferguson arrived. James Ferguson at this time left his old suit behind and ran from the premises. Constable Ferguson was going to follow him when Gertrude Lewis, the daughter of John Lewis, tried to stop him from leaving and claimed that she was struck on the head by the constable. A week later Constable Ferguson called again at the house of Mr Lewis and offered Lewis £3 to settle for his brother but this was refused. In court Mr Lewis was cross-
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examined by Mr Graham who represented the Ferguson brothers and he read out to Mr Lewis a letter that he had sent to Lewis asking for repayment of a loan of £5 made by David Ferguson. This letter had been sent to Mr Lewis in June 1929 and Lewis admitted in court that he had ignored the letter. He also stated that he had also received correspondence from Mr Ferguson about a debt of £5 but had also ignored all requests for repayment. Mr Lewis had telephoned Constable Ferguson and asked for the suit to be paid for as well as expenses but in court he could not make up his mind whether the suit had been stolen or not.
excellent example was the story of the Belfast penny. This penny had got embedded in a gas meter in the city and the corporation were called to try to get it out. It took three corporation employees two and half hours to get the penny out – seven and a half hours’ wages in all. False Fire Alarm Alexander Orr of Victor Street was prosecuted in the Belfast Summons Court in January 1930 for having given a false alarm of fire from Royal Avenue. Orr was observed by James Mackie, a tailor of Donegall Street, breaking the glass disc in the fire alarm at the corner of Royal Avenue and
Orr remembered nothing about the incident and admitted that he had been under the influence of drink. Constable Ferguson confirmed that there was a debt of £5 owing to him from Mr Lewis and that no one had tried to stop him or his brother from leaving with the new suit. He vehemently denied striking Gertrude Lewis. The magistrate having heard enough of the counter claims dismissed all the charges against the Ferguson brothers.
Library Street. Orr was drunk and he was arrested by Sergeant William McCappin. Mackie had observed Orr leaning on the lamppost and the alarm being sounded as he left the post. Four fire engines turned out in answer to the alarm. Orr remembered nothing about the incident and admitted that he had been under the influence of drink. Orr was fined 40s for giving the false Fuss about a Penny alarm, with the alternative of one It was reported that there was a month’s imprisonment. For complaint of wasting public having been drunk he was fined resources on trivial matters and an 2s 6d. 3
Mrs Faith Lessels was incarcerated at Armagh Jail
Postal Pilfering Three Belfast post office servants pleaded guilty to charges of stealing postal orders on several dates in 1929 and 1930 from Belfast postal offices. In court it was stated that all three men were on wages above £2 per week but that they all had got involved in betting and that some weeks they were each staking £4 per week at the bookies. They had stolen the money to finance their gambling habits. One of the accused had been acting as a bookmakers’ agent, which was a serious offence in his role as a postman. The sentences were two years hard labour on William McGarvey of Victoria Avenue, three years penal servitude on Thomas Parkinson, the bookies agent, of Madrid Street and nine months hard labour on John Toman of Rockview Street. McGarvey had committed two charges of taking money and 4
Mrs Lessels objected to vaccination on conscientious grounds. Unlike Great Britain, the Northern Ireland vaccination regulations did not include a ‘conscience clause’. There were many protests in support of Mrs Lessels imprisonment, which included a telegram read out at a gathering at Belfast Custom House from George Bernard Vaccination Case Outburst "O Mother of God, O Sweet Shaw who supported the stand of Infant Jesus, my beautiful wife Mrs Lessels. lies in prison; my beautiful baby, torn from its mothers breast, lies crying at home!" These extraordinary words came from Mr John Lessels of Bangor in as strange scene at Kirkpatrick Memorial Church during Sunday worship. Mr Lessels was the husband of Mrs Faith Lessels who was incarcerated at Armagh Jail in January 1930 for failing to comply with the vaccination law For more local crime stories make in Northern Ireland. The mother sure you read Joe Baker’s feature every week in the Sunday Life of eight unvaccinated children, postal orders from postal packets. Parkinson was found guilty of four charges of theft from postal packets and asked for a further 15 to be taken into consideration. Toman was found guilty of opening a postal packet, not belonging to him.
SAVING A DROWNING DOLL, BELFAST INQUESTS AND A MAN FLYING AROUND THE EARTH!
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ast year we were all reminded about the alleged moon landing by the United States as it was the anniversary. Now I use the word alleged because more and more people are now becoming convinced that it actually never happened and was actually staged. Leaving that aside there is no doubt that it was the Ruskies who won the space race as it was the Soviets who put the first satellite into space (Sputnik), the first living creature (Laika) the first living creatures to return (Belka and Strelka) the first man (Yuri Gagarin) and the first woman (Valentina Tereshkova) and many other firsts ranging from the first moon landing (unmanned) right through to deep space satellites. From this issue I plan to begin a new series which will look at what was going on in Belfast during world changing moments and they reason for pointing out the Soviet success above is because I though I would start with Wednesday 12th of April, 1961 when Russia put the first man, Yuri Gagarin, into space. As Mr Gagarin was orbiting the earth 10 year old Susan Malcolmson had a lucky escape when she was saved from drowning at the Belfast docks by a sailor. She fell into the water as she came down the gangway from the Liverpool ship the Ulster Monarch, after a holiday in England with her aunt. Her rescuer was named as local man, William Mitchell of Highcairn Drive, who was a 36 year old seaman and member of the Liverpool ship’s crew. As Susan was leaving the ship she dropped her favourite doll and as she tried to prevent the doll from falling into the water, Susan toppled off the gangway and fell 25ft into the cold water between the Ulster Monarch and the quay. Miss Gladys Malcolmson, Susan’s aunt raised the alarm and Mr Mitchell without thought for his own safety immediately leapt into the water and dragged Susan to safety. Miss Gladys Malcolmson was later treated for shock and Susan suffered a cut on her knee and seemed happy when she was handed her lost doll. Susan was taken on board the ship and
given medical treatment for shock and had a hot bath before being taken with her aunt to Musgrave Street RUC station and then on to hospital where Susan received four stitches. Susan lost her baggage when she fell as well as a shoe but her only thoughts were with her doll. She spent the rest of her eventful day wrapped up in blankets with her doll watching television and was none the worse for her ordeal. An inquest was held in Belfast concerning the death of a child of 19 months who died when she went out for a walk with her grandfather. Janet McMillan of Annadale Flats in Belfast died when she was knocked down by a lorry at the Lisburn Road end of Marlborough Park in South Belfast. Her grandfather, Richard Black of Maryville Avenue, lived not far from where the accident took place, had taken his three young grandchildren out to buy sweets on the Lisburn Road. He stopped at the corner of Marlborough Park and was about to go into the shop when he noticed that Janet was 5
missing. At the same time he heard a dreadful smack and a screeching of brakes and he saw Janet lying on the road. Mrs W Ardery from Banbridge had been driving behind the lorry when the incident occurred. She saw Janet running out on to the road and ran straight into the trailer of the lorry; Mrs Ardery didn’t believe that the driver could have avoided the accident, the child had run out onto the road without looking. A verdict of accidental death was returned. At another inquest into the death of John Andrews of Slievetoye Park, Upper Cavehill Road, Belfast an open verdict was returned. Mr Andrews had fallen off his moped in Corporation Street 12 days before his death. He died from the injuries sustained in the accident and had not left hospital since the incident. Evidence was presented that suggested that Mr Andrews had been speeding at the time of the accident and he then skidded on the road and was thrown from his motorbike. Mrs Jane Clancy who lived on Corporation Street witnessed the accident and it was confirmed by witnesses that the road was under repair at the time and that there were pieces of stone, asphalt and dust scattered on the road. The corporation road squad denied that they had any liability in the accident, saying that the road had been brushed and all road works were completed W&G Baird’s premises in Arthur Street around the early 1860’s Baird’s went on to establish the Belfast Telegraph
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a short time before the accident. All signage indicating that the road was under repair had also been removed from the site of the accident. The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Lord Brookeborough answered questions at Stormont on whether he should appoint an additional cabinet minister to deal with the magnitude and gravity of the unemployment position and the repercussions of this high level of unemployment on the economic and social life of the community. The question was asked by Mrs Dinah McNabb, North Armagh, and she suggested that the extra Minister could deal with ways of attracting new industrial developments and also encourage the expansion of existing industries. A new development agency was also proposed to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister disagreed and replied that he was not convinced that a new development role would attract new industries to Northern Ireland. This he felt was already done by the Minister of Commerce with the Chandos Development Council and the British Industrial Development Office in America. He said; We do not favour the establishment of such a corporation which would seem to have to rely on Government money to initiate manage and control new industrial ventures. Wonder if he would say that if he were on the dole!
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Exploring Belfast’s Old Streets Raymond O’Regan
WARING STREET Waring Street is one of the streets shown on the Belfast map of 1685 (below). It had many names, eg. Broad Street, Wern Street. Its name derives from a tanner called William Waring from Toombridge who was given a lease in 1670. He lived and carried on business in the street that bore his name.
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His daughter Jayne took the fancy of Jonathan Swift, a minister at the time in Kilroot. He refers to Jayne as "Varina" but after two years Swift’s advances were spurned and he headed back to England and eventually to Dublin. It is interesting to note that Swift on his journey in from Kilroot
along the strand to Belfast would have passed the Cave Hill. It is believed that he got the idea of the giant in "Gullivers Travels" from this view. Also to back up this story on an 1860’s map of Belfast were York Road Station Yard I found a farm called "Lilliput Farm". Today we still have a laundry service called LILLIPUT LAUNDRY.
with the words "May God wither the hand of the man who signs that document." Not only did the slaveship company never come about but many people denied that the meeting ever took place; but historical records (The Drennan letters ) exist to confirm that it did.
We start the journey down this historic street from the former Northern Bank building heading towards Victoria Street and Donegall Quay. No. 2 Old Northern Bank (closed 2002) built as the Exchange in 1769 by the Earl of Donegall to celebrate the birth of his son George Augustus. The upper floors (the Assembly Rooms) were added in 1776 by the famous London architect Robert Taylor. It was converted into a bank in 1845 by Charles Lanyon (architect of Queen’s University). This building reflects a lot of the history of Belfast. 1786 - A meeting was held in the assembly rooms by some Belfast merchants with a plan to set up a Belfast Slaveship Company similar to cities such as Bristol and Liverpool . What they had not relied on was the intervention of the Presbyterian United Irishman Thomas McCabe who condemned this vile proposal
July 1792 – A Harp Festival was held in the assembly rooms were Edward Bunting transcribed the music of the nine harpists, one of which was a girl. It was held to celebrate Bastille Day. The festival was attended by many United Irishmen including Wolf Tone and Thomas Russell. Tone was not too impressed with the musicianship of the harpists as he recorded in his dairy at the time. "Strum, strum, strum and be damned."
17th July 1798 – The famous Presbyterian United Irishman Henry Joy McCracken was tried for treason, by a Colonel Montgomery, in the Assembly Rooms. He was found guilty and on the same day was hanged at 5pm at the Market House corner of Cornmarket and High Street
(site of present day Dunnes Store). His body, instead of having its head cut off and placed on top of the market house - as had happened to his comrades, was brought back to the family home in Rosemary Lane (Street) After vain attempts to revive him he was accompanied by a small cortege and was buried in High Street graveyard (site of present day St. Georges Church) his remains were removed in the early 1900’s by Francis Joseph Bigger and now lie with his sister in Clifton Street Graveyard. Henry Joy McCracken was a member of Third Presbyterian Church Rosemary Street. The church was destroyed in the 1941 blitz and a Masonic Hall, built on the site in 1954 The church moved to North Circular Road and retained the connection with it’s former address as it is called Rosemary Church. The Masonic Hall now has at the entrance to their building a plaque honouring
Henry Joy McCracken 9
the memory of Henry Joy Belfast were measured from the of Waring Street and Donegall McCracken corner of the Exchange and Street. The marker was removed Incidentally all distances from Assembly Building, ie. Junction during the Second World War.
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Crossing Donegall Street the block up to Hill Street is dominated by just two buildings Nos. 10-12 This site is part of a new Premier Inn Hotel built at the corner of Waring Street and Donegall Street. On the ground floor of the hotel is the new 4 Corners Restaurant.
where a modern six storey building stands at the corner of Hill Street and Waring Street. On the ground floor is the former Pothouse Bar & Grill.(the name is a reference to a pottery that existed here in the late 17th and early 18th. Century) one of the many tenants on the upper floors is the well known firm of solicitors Jones & Co.
Back in the early 1800s it was the site of the Belfast Bank before they moved across the road in 1845 to the former Exchange and Assembly building. The new owners have lovingly restored the exterior of this nineteenth century building and incorporated it into the new hotel.
introduced into the Poor House by Thomas McCabe, Capt. John McCracken and Robert Joy as a means of employment and training. The cotton industry in Belfast reached it’s peak in the 1820s but due to fierce competition from mills in Lancashire was eclipsed by linen from the 1830s on.
Capt. John McCracken father Michael of HenryAndrews Joy McCracken Cotton Court A restored building that is set back of the street offering managed work spaces. Again this is an acknowledgement to the cotton trade which was carried on in Belfast from the late 18th. Century. It had been
Moving along the street and next door we find the 2 Taps Wine Bar. On the kerbside is a very useful information board highlighting some of the history of the street with a reference to Jonathan Swift stating that at one time he lived there. This is incorrect as Swift,
Nos. 14-24 Longbridge House: Built in 1990 and is the home of the Industrial Tribunals Board and the Fair Employment Tribunal. This now brings us to Hill Street
The old Belfast Poor House (with spire) 11
* This is just a tiny part of the false Quarter’ which is a name given history presented within this area. by the Laganside Business to For example it has in recent years impress would-be investors. been classed as ‘Cathedral who was a minister lived at Kilroot but made many visits to his girlfriend Jayne Waring. * (Incidentally Swifts house at Kilroot had survived up to the 1960s but fell victim to mindless vandalism when it was destroyed and is now only a memory) As we head to the end of this part of Waring Street we come across the long established firm of wholesale jewellers Gardiner Brothers which opened for business in 1938.
Lower Donegall Street in 1831 showing the Commercial Buildings in the distance
Next door is Olo hairdressing salon. Victoria Street intersects Waring The Four Corners in 1841 showing the Commercial Buildings Street at this point (left) and the old Exchange (right) The lower end of Waring Street terminates at Donegall Quay were We now move back to to Waring now have their offices). The a stunning 24 storey building is Streets junction with Bridge Commercial Building was built nearing completion. Street. on the site of four thatched Nos. 1-3 Built in 1819/20 and cottages one of which belonged paid for by public subscriptions, to Samuel Neilson, who like many cost £20,000. It was named Belfast Presbyterians was a "Commercial Buildings" and was United Irishman. He carried on a used by Belfast merchants, it also successful woollen drapery contained an hotel at the corner business before being arrested for of Waring Street and Sugarhouse his membership of the United Entry (were Clanmill housing Irishmen. He was imprisoned in 12
The Commercial Buildings today Dublin for 18 months without bye to his family before leaving being charged and not released for America. He died and is buried until early 1798. After the failure in Poughkeepsie, New York State of the 1798 uprising Neilson in 1803 not long after his release along with 90 other United from Fort George Prison. The Irishmen, deemed too dangerous Commercial Building became the to be allowed to stay in Ireland, home of the Northern Whig when ended up in Fort George prison Francis Dalzell Finlay moved his in the north east of Scotland. After newspaper there In the early 19th. his release in 1802 he was Century. The Northern Whig banished from ever returning to ceased publishing as a newspaper Ireland under pain of death. He in 1959. It is still in business did make a clandestine visit home today but not as a newspaper but to Belfast via Dublin to say good- printers and can be found on the Limestone Road and who actually print this magazine! Today the ground floor of the building is a bar and restaurant still retaining the old name - the Northern Whig. In one of the many offices on the upper floors is the home of Martin Lynch. Martin is a well known playwright with many plays under his belt including "The History Of the Troubles Accord’n to My Da.” This very successful play was back again in the Opera house in 2009. In 2008 he produced that Samuel Neilson in the uniform excellent Marie Jones comedy "Women on the Verge of HRT" of the Irish Volunteers
which played to packed houses and this is also due back in the Opera House. This was a play that had all the excellent comic touches you expect from Marie Jones and in the second half of the play the pathos of a Greek tragedy. It is surely a play that deserves many more runs as it has a universal theme. Martin was also the producer of "A Night In November " (another Marie Jones play) which had a very successful run in Belfast, London and Dublin. Martin had a new play Called "Chronicles of Long Kesh" which had a very successful run in the Studio Theatre at the Waterfront Hall in January 2009 and receives rave reviews and played to packed houses at the Edinburgh Festival. His adaption of the famous SamThompson play "Over the Bridge" was staged in the Studio Theatre at the Waterfront in March and April 2010.
Martin Lynch Continuing on down the street we pass Sugarhouse Entry, famous in the 18th Century for Peggy Barclay’s "Benjamin Franklin Tavern". The United Irishmen met here using the cover name of 13
"The Muddlers Club". There was also a Sugarhouse here, hence the name. The entry has been blocked off since the 1970’s due to the ‘Troubles’ but should be opened up again. The Benjamin Franklin tavern is were the notorious government spy Belle Martin (mistress of Lord Castlereagh) worked. She was able to pass information back to her paymasters leading to the arrest and conviction of many United Irishmen. She was so notorious Castlereagh had her moved away from Belfast to Dublin were she carried on spying on United Irishmen. Watty Cox, who produced a newsheet in Dublin printing the names of people who he claimed were working as spies for Dublin Castle and in one of the issues he gives a detailed descripton of Belle Martin. Nos. 9-13 Built in 1955 as The Northern Ireland War Memorial Building It housed museums and welfare offices. In 1840 on this site stood a hotel and an architectural equipment store. It is interesting to note that the firm of architects H & R have taken over the ground floor of the building
next door the William Hill betting establishment (the bookies) On the gable wall of this building is a striking full length mural well worth having a look at. Here is Skipper Street, named as it was a place were ships Captains would board) On the 17th Century map of Belfast it is only developed on one side.
No. 33 "The Ulster Buildings" a building at the corner of Skipper Street and Waring Street built in 1869 on land that actually Nos. 23-31 Cathederal House belonged to the First and Second (Belfast Business Centre) and Presbyterian Churches in
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Rosemary Street. It was left to them by William Tennant, a well to do merchant and former United Irishmen, in his will of 1832. This small three storey building was once part of the former Ulster Bank Headquarters next door. It along with its neighbour, is now part of a hotel called The Merchant and this part of the new hotel is called the Cloth Ear Public House probably an acknowledgement to the former cotton trade nearby. The former bank has been lovingly transformed into a luxury hotel. The new owners spent a lot of money renovating it and the magnificent chandelier at the entrance is a sight to behold. Nos. 35-39 The main building and the Former Ulster Bank Headquarters built in the late 1850’s, when this area was the commercial heart of the town. (Belfast was not granted city status until 1888). The exterior of the building has not been altered during its transformation into the magnificent Merchant Hotel, Britannia with Justice and Commerce beside can still be seen on top of the building. Take a look at the railings at the entrance to the hotel it features the famous Red Hand of Ulster but it is showing as the left hand when it should be the right. This mistake was again repeated above the main entrance to the hotel but as the architect was from Glasgow he may not have been aware of the significance of his mistake. The Merchant Hotel is a welcome addition to Belfast’s growing hotel accommodation and the new
Nos. 41-43 Nambarrie Tea merchants is at the corner of Waring Street and Victoria Street. This building until recently was where the tea was packed and distributed but is now reduced to an administration office and distribution centre. (Below) Waring Street continues on across Victoria Street right down as far as Donegall Quay where a 24 storey skyscraper is under construction on the banks of the River Lagan. BOTTOM - Waring Street in 1960 showing the old Ulster Bank owners have to be congratulated for a magnificent restoration of this historic building. Parked at the front of the building is the hotels Bentley which if you want to impress your friends can be hired to collect you from the airport. (If you get a chance to visit that "Jewel in the Crown" of historic graveyards - Clifton Street Cemetery you will find the grave of a Mr Heron one of the founders of the Ulster Bank.) Next door to the Merchant Hotel is a building that houses Youth for Justice.
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THEN NOW
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Gordon Street in 1933. This is the small street which connects Hill Street with the modern Dunbar Link or the street up the side of Mynt Niteclub for the younger generation! BELOW - The street today
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North Street in the late 1950’s BELOW - The street today
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Laying new tram tracks on Clifton Street in January 1921. BELOW - The same view today (April 2010)
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British troops on patrol in Castle Junction January 1921. BELOW - The same view today (April 2010)
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BRUTAL BELFAST MURDERS CRUEL MURDER IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS! hroughout the history of Belfast there have been numerous murders, the most common of which during the nineteenth and early twentieth century were what is commonly known today as ‘domestic’ murders. These are murders that occur in the home and in the nineteenth century many of these murders were precipitated by alcohol. Today there is much debate about the health implications of alcohol consumption and in recent years there has been discussion about the social implications of violence carried out due to the over use of alcohol. This story of violence from 1881 shows us perhaps how things have not really changed from Victorian times.
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DEMANDED CHEQUE It was June 1881 and the McClure family, James, Mary and their eighteen month old child were living at 108 Old Lodge Road. Mary McClure ran a small shop at this address helped by a young servant girl named Ellen who lived in the house with the family. Mr McClure was a mechanic in Ewarts Mill and the McClures had been married for three years. Around this time Mr McClure stopped going to work and instead often stayed at home to drink with his wife each day. On the 28th June he stayed at home and the couple began to argue over a cheque which Mrs McClure had hidden. Mr McClure wanted to take the cheque from his wife, as he believed that she would cash it and spend all the money on drink. Mrs McClure refused to give his the cheque and it was then at around 1.30pm that McClure struck her. Mrs McClure fell through a glass door, which separated the shop from the downstairs kitchen, and it was then that she decided that she needed 20
to get cleaned up. Mary went upstairs and was followed by her husband who continued to ask her for the cheque and she refused again and again. BRUTALLY BEATEN It was at this point that McClure seemed to snap and pushed Mary into the bedroom and began to savagely beat her, punching and kicking her and still Mary would not give him the cheque. Then James McClure lifted his walking stick and beat her so brutally with it that it snapped. Mary finally relented and gave him the cheque and called out to Ellen to fetch help, as she could not move. James McClure left the house and went to his sister in laws house in York Street and asked her to come and help him with his wife. Meanwhile Ellen tried to raise help from the neighbours but they closed the door in her face. Finally Mrs Gillespie from 110 Old Lodge Road came to see Mary at the same time as James returned. Mary pleaded for someone to bring her to hospital but her husband refused and a doctor was called instead. MEDICAL REPORT Dr McMurty called at the house and immediately felt that Mary needed to go to hospital and it is understandable why he felt that she should be in hospital when we read extracts from his statement describing Mary McClure’s injuries: One of the bones of the forearm was broken. I found that the fracture was compound and the wound was an inch long. The arm was broken also between the elbow and shoulder…there was a wound of two inches on her head. On the left
James McClure was a mechanic in Ewarts Mill. He had stopped going to work and instead often stayed at home to drink with his wife each day
temple there was a contused wound, the skin being blackened, swollen and abraded..her nose was swollen and blackened, an abrasion on the lower lip and on the right arm I found a great deal of blackness. On the right leg there was a fracture of the larger bone, the leg being swollen and black..there was also a fracture of the bone of the right heel, the skin on the foot and calf was abraded as was much of her arms and abdomen. At just before 4.00 pm, while the doctor was trying to get Mary McClure to hospital, she became so weak that the doctor lay her on the shop counter and a couple of minutes later she died. The police were called and her husband James was charged with the murder of his wife.
manslaughter and he was sentenced to fifteen years penal servitude. The judge told McClure when passing sentence that "the jury have taken a merciful view of your case..there can be no doubt that yours was the hand that deprived this unfortunate woman of her life- of whom it is alleged she provoked you by exceeding in liquor – you deprived her of life under circumstances of certainly very great and very considerable cruelty’. There was no doubt that the judge felt that Mrs McClure had been murdered by her husband however he could not state this in court. If found guilty of murder James McClure would have been executed for his crime but when we look back on this brutal case we must also think of how the neighbours on the Old Lodge Road CONSIDERABLE CRUELTY ignored her screams for help and even when At his trial in Belfast the jury amazingly returned their help was requested by the servant they a verdict of not guilty of murder but guilty of denied this also. The good old days indeed! 21
DOUBLE MURDER IN NORTH BELFAST or many people living in Belfast in the 1930s this era was known as the "hungry thirties". It was a time of great poverty and unemployment as the mills began to close although there was little sectarian violence. The social injustice and poverty of the time united the two communities. Twenty seven percent of the workforce was unemployed and striking was commonplace and the connections between unemployment, sickness and poverty were recognised. The Ardoyne area of Belfast had grown up with the mills and had also suffered as the they closed.
they were doing on the night of the terrible murders. William Mulholland was in bad humour and told John McMullan "didn’t I tell you not to come in again?" and then when he received no answer "I’ll give you three minutes to get out". John McMullan did not reply although we did not hear in court why he did not answer Mulholland when he spoke to him. It was some time later that Mulholland appeared with a revolver he had had at the house since his days as a B Special and told McMullan to leave his house but to wait until 11.20pm when the ‘peeler ‘ would have left the area. When McMullan got up to put on his coat Mulholland suddenly In Rosebank Street, facing the gates of the reappeared and shot John McMullan dead in the Brookfield Mill, one of the largest in the area, Mary hallway. Mulholland and John McMullan were shot dead one night in April 1931. Richard Mulholland ran from the house and went In July 1931 William Mulholland was charged with to Leopold Street Barracks to try and get some help. the murder of his wife and John Mulholland and Meanwhile at the back of the house Mary the whole of Belfast waited to see if the death Mulholland and Willie left the house through the penalty would be handed down to William Mulholland. Several people had been executed in Crumlin Road jail in the previous years, but Belfast was more usually the scene for sectarian murders throughout the previous decade and this domestic double murder received a lot of attention.
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William Mulholland was aged 35 and was a fitter employed at the shipyards. His son, Richard Mulholland aged 19 gave evidence in court that his parents had a poor relationship and had not spoken for two years. Richard Mulholland did not speak to his father either. The Mulholland house at 7 Rosebank Street was the scene of the deaths that were both brutal and unexpected. William Mulholland had returned to his house at around 10pm to find his son Richard in the kitchen with a friend John McMullan, his wife Mary and daughter were also in the kitchen. His son Willie was also in the house. John McMullan was often around at the Mulhollands house where he and Number 7 Rosebank Street where Mary Richard played music and practiced together. They Mulholland and John McMullan were murdered often listened to music on the radio, which is what 22
The entry at the rear of Rosebank Street where Mrs Mulholland fell
yard and out onto the alley, with Mary running towards Ohio Street and Willie in the other direction toward the Crumlin Road. They all feared for their lives as William Mulholland ran out after Mary and Willie. The court was silent as Willie Mulholland gave evidence of how his father ran after him with the revolver in his hand and then suddenly turned to run after his mother Mary Mulholland. The next thing the thirteen-year-old boy heard was a single shot and his mother lay dead in the alleyway behind Rosebank Street. In his evidence Richard Mulholland stated that McMullan was a frequent visitor to the house and that he had been on good terms with his father but on other occasions his fathers behaviour had been erratic when Richard had other visitors. He said that his father would at first appear to be friendly
with the visitor and then would suddenly turn on them and insist that they leave the house. After shooting dead John McMullan and his wife Mary, William Mulholland returned to his house and then he went out into Rosebank Street where he was arrested by two policeman fetched by Richard from the local barracks. Mulhollands defence rested solely on the accused being insane at the time of the murders and that he could not be held responsible for his actions. The Medical Superintendent from the County Antrim Asylum, Dr W J Smyth and Dr O’Flaherty the prison medical officer told the court that Mulholland was "sane on the night of the shooting and that he was still quite sane". The jury however found Mulholland guilty but insane and he was detained as a criminal lunatic at the Governments pleasure. 23
HORRIFIC MURDER OF AN ‘UNFORTUNATE’ n December 1912 the trial of two Belfast women accused of the murder of poor, alcoholic woman concluded. Mary Maguire of Marshall Street and Mary Jane Baillie of Great Patrick Street were charged with the murder of Mary Ann ‘Minnie’ McMullan in Marshall Street on the 9th July 1912.
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Minnie McMullan was what was called in Belfast in those days as an ‘unfortunate’ woman. She was a young woman who was addicted to alcohol and spent her time in either the workhouse, Belfast Prison, or in houses that took in these women for money. Mary Maguire owned two houses in Marshall Street, numbers 15 and 17 and she made a living renting out rooms to women who had fallen on hard times. Her friend Mary Jane Baillie lived just around the corner on Great Patrick Street where she helped her husband Henry run a small grocer shop. Most of her time thought she spent helping her close friend Mary Maguire run her homes for the ‘unfortunates’. In early 1912 Minnie moved into number 15 to stay in the Maguire house.
the door of Mary Maguire’s house and went off to tell any one who would listen what she had done. A short time later Mary Maguire came back to the house and brought Minnie inside and lay her down on the settee of her house. What happened next no one is really sure as the only witnesses were Mary Maguire and Mary Jane Baillie, although it was believed that some of the other residents saw what happened but were too afraid to tell anyone. What we do know is that Minnie was very unwell as she suffered a severe blow to her head, which was of such severity that her head was smashed in, struck from above and splitting the skull right down to the nose. The brain was driven against the frontal bone of the head causing Minnie to lose her ability to move or speak but leaving enough brain activity that she was still alive. Mary Jane Baillie went back to her house on Great Patrick Street leaving Minnie asleep at Mary Maguire’s. Mary Maguire was woken up early on the morning of the 9th July by Minnie moaning and then as she attended to her a rattle was heard in Minnie’s throat indicating that she was close to death. She sent one of the lodgers to fetch Mary Jane and as she arrived a short time later with her husband, Henry. It was decided between them to carry Minnie out of the house and leave her in Marshall Court where they knew there was another unfortunate woman who was sleeping in the street.
In July 1912 Mary Jane Baillie had become suspicious that Minnie McMullan had been messing around with her husband Henry. She had no proof of any relationship between the pair but she told her friend Mary Maguire about her suspicions and also the other residents in Marshall Street about the affair between her husband Henry and Minnie. Many of the people of the area heard Mary Jane threaten to hurt Minnie if she ever caught her with Mary and Mary Jane carried Minnie out the back of her husband. the house in Marshall Street and down through the alley than ran along the back of the house. The On the 8th July Minnie had been drinking alcohol alley led out into Marshall Court where they left for many hours and was the worse for wear. She Minnie propped up against the other drunken came back to Marshall Street where Mary Jane woman. The two women thought that no one had started to shout at her in the street. She then struck seen them but several of the local residents observed Minnie full on the face, so hard that blood what they did. immediately began to spurt from Minnie’s nose. She slumped drunk and slightly dazed from the blow. That morning a passing worker, Marcus McMillen Mary Jane left her there, lying propped up against had seen the two women leave Minnie lying in the 24
street and Jenny Wright who lived in the area had also seen the two women and she checked on Minnie later that morning. Minnie was barely alive and she decided to call for the local constable who arrived on the scene and called for an ambulance that took Minnie to the hospital where she later died. The witnesses told the police what they had seen and the two women were arrested and charged with the murder.
to consider their verdict on the charge of murder they returned a short time later and acquitted the women on the capital charge. No one had seen the blow, which could be confirmed as having killed Minnie, and so they returned a verdict of guilty of manslaughter with a recommendation of mercy to Mary Maguire. Both women were sentenced to jail.
The case was described in court as being one of the most "vicious and wicked acts of revenge and was Despite overwhelming evidence of what the two carried through to its terrible conclusion under woman had done none of the other lodgers would circumstance of terrible cruelty and savage inhuman give evidence against them and when the jury retired brutality" that was seen in Belfast in recent years. 25
EXECUTION BROADSHEETS he execution of a condemned prisoner was the cause of major excitement throughout the community. Since most executions took place outside either the gaol or some other municipal building in full gaze of the general public, such events drew the inevitable large crowds. Most of those who formed the bulk of the crowds were curious onlookers. Some coming to see ‘a hanging’ for the first time. Others however were regulars, travelling from far and near like the bards of old relishing in the scene of misery and despair. Like the bards of old, some of these individuals were the writers and producers of what was known as the Execution Broadsheet. This special broadsheet was
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basically a programme detailing the tragic event. Most people bought the publications as a memento to the dreadful incident. As was pointed out earlier, such public executions attracted huge crowds., sometimes numbering as many as 20,000 people (An estimated 20,000 assembled to witness the execution of Private Robert O’Neill outside Belfast Prison on June 21st 1854) Such gatherings attracted all the usual dealers and hawkers selling food, prayers, tobacco, snuff, alcohol and other drinks. Many of the execution broadsheets were actually produced before the execution and sometimes detailed the death of the prisoner when, in fact, he had received a last minute pardon. Many of the execution
In Belfast the public executions were mainly held in Castle Place and High Street at its corner with High Street 26
ballads and laments have been recorded and are even sung to this very day. These islands have always had a rich oral history and this was augmented by these type of broadsheets. Most broadsheets followed the same pattern. Firstly the prisoner’s trial would be described in brief detail followed by the sentence of the court with the solemn terminology used by the hanging judge - that you, on the 1st day of July in the year of Our Lord 1995, be taken to the public place of execution and there be hanged by the neck until you are dead ...... and may the good Lord have mercy on your soul! Secondly came the confession if one was issued. This confession would have been printed in full. This particular piece of information, the condemned man’s last words, was much sought after. It was said that the confession was a proof of God’s intervention in the affairs of mankind - the vindication of the sentence and the religiously inspired hope of salvation in the afterlife for the criminal. Thirdly came the lamentation or the execution verse. This also became a common ingredient to the broadsheet. The lamentation itself was a description in verse of the life, crimes, apologia and fate of the prisoner about to be executed. Some of these lamentations were set to popular tunes of the day and were sung for many years afterwards. Today many remain in our folk history. Several fictional pieces of prose appeared in broadsheets such
being turned into a carnival with the execution being the main event. As time went on however and more liberal ideas began to develop among society the practice of public execution was slowly abolished. The last public execution was held in England on May 29 1868 of an Irishman, Michael Barrett, for the bungled rescue attempt at Clerkenwell. A new act dictated that future executions would be carried out inside the prison in which the condemned was held at the time of sentencing. The right to attend executions was only The United Irishman Henry Joy McCracken was just one of those extended to local and visiting justices, sheriffs, governors, clergy, hanged at the corner of High Street and Cornmarket the press and several gaol guards. as the dying man’s speech and name of the laws of man. The press were eventually details of the execution itself. Some The crowds attending these prevented from witnessing even had an illustration of the hangings ultimately led to the event executions in 1902. execution making that particular publication ultimately more popular It was commonplace for the authorities to actually encourage people to witness such spectacles. Families went to these gatherings en masse to try and impress upon their children the difference between right and wrong. The Great Moral Preacher was the term used for the hangman and the lesson, unlike today’s more modern day religious lesson was extremely graphic. The impression on the minds of the multitude of the fatal consequences of sin could not have been explained any clearer. Everyone who attended these spectacles must have surely been scarred for life and most certainly left with an indelible impression on the minds of innocent youngsters and adults alike, as they Many of the execution broadsheets were actually produced before the execution and sometimes detailed the death of the prisoner watched the condemned criminal when, in fact, he had received a last minute pardon slowly strangled to death in the 27
PREPARING FOR A SOVIET ATTACK, DANCE HALL FIGHTS AND THE PERILS OF DRINKING ARSENIC!
Members of the Civil Defence in Victoria Barracks prepare for what was thought to an inevitable nuclear attack from the Soviet Union oday it may seem pretty hard to believe but in February 1955 Belfast was being prepared for the real possibility of a hydrogen bomb (H Bomb) attack. Mr George Hanna, the Minister of Home Affairs spoke to the press about the planning and fall out after an attack. The hydrogen bomb had replaced the atom bomb as the great danger to mankind. A hydrogen bomb explosion in Belfast would most likely cause complete destruction of the city and would cause considerable damage to areas within a radius of 12 miles of Belfast. Mr Hanna revealed that 300,000 people would have to leave Belfast in an emergency evacuation and that a detailed plan was underway to enable the public services to deal with such an attack. During the Second World War the services had to deal with the displacement of 75,000 from Belfast so the current figure of 300,000 was an enormous increase. Mr Hanna stated that the object of Civil Defence in the face of "this terrible picture" as "to preserve the life
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of and life in the Province as we now know it", and he added "on the adequacy of our Civil Defence arrangements will depend the period that would elapse after a war before anything approaching our present conception of civilised life in the Province could be restored". He wanted to allay fears that the government were not prepared for a hydrogen bomb attack. Despite this nuclear threat life in the city went on as normal. In the courts three men from the Hardinge area of Belfast were fined after a fight broke out during a dance in the Plaza Dance Hall. The punch-up started when two men began to fight on the dance floor but soon the fighting became widespread throughout the hall with men throwing chairs at dancers, and the scene became quite chaotic. The manager of the Plaza, Mr Pritchard, told the court that he tried to split up the fighting but had great difficulty in pushing through the dancers but he was able to identify two of the men
A two seater sports car which was in collision with a milk lorry at the junction of Donegall Park Avenue and Shore Road. February 1955 in the court as being part of the group of men throwing chairs. All men denied the charges and gave as their defence that they were themselves trying to stop the fighting. Two young men from Valentine Street in Belfast started a fight in the Mistletoe Cafe in High Street, Belfast and when the police arrived to remove them from the cafe the older youth produced a knife and aimed a blow at the police constable. "I put my
hand up" the constable told the court, "and the knife struck me on the back of the hand". Both men denied the charge and one of them told the court "I had the knife in my pocket. You (policeman) must have ran your hand against it. I was not disorderly". Also in February 1955 the N.I. National Playing Fields Association, called on the Belfast Corporation to provide more open spaces for children in the form of playing fields and playgrounds. Building was increasing on bomb sites from the Second World War and there would be no open spaces available for play for the children and the corporation was urged to see if existing sites could be retained and new spaces acquired before children were forced back on to the streets to play. The playing fields associations were continuing to raise money to help on projects and announced that there would be a gala show in Belfast to be held in late 1955 during which it was hoped to hold a football match when a prominent English international would bring over a team of leading English players. Staying with the Corporation the Housing Committee of Belfast Corporation met to publish a special report concerning the housing situation in
Royal Avenue in February 1955
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Belfast. The report was produced by the city architect and the estate superintendent and stated that 14-16000 new houses were needed in the city but there were no new sites left. A leading academic called for all betting shops in Ulster to be closed immediately and that in the future all betting should be done by post. He pointed out that the "traffic" in football pools coupons showed that betting could be done by post and that this new method would solve "Ulster’s gambling problem". Professor Corkey believed that the government should discourage organised agencies which exploited gambling instincts and encouraged people to gamble far beyond their means. Getting back to the courts and staying with the gambling problem a labourer in his thirties from Belfast was fined £2 after it was discovered that the man had been neglecting his four children aged from two to 11. The man broke down in court and told the NSPCC inspector that he could not pass a bookie shop without going in. The man promised the court that he would change his ways and he intended to go to England to get work. The NSPCC arranged for a supply of groceries for the family and a kind and public-spirited citizen had contributed £5 to help them. Moving to the other side of the world we were informed that one thing that Ireland had in common with Russia in 1955 was the number of jay walkers that they had. This interesting fact came from one of the men who recently returned from a cultural visit to Russia along with other men from Ireland. He told a meeting of the Young Ulster Society that his first contacts with the Soviet people had come in an interview at the Soviet Embassy and there he had been struck by the informality of the proceedings and the lack of distinction. Plumbers and doctors met on equal terms and there was camaraderie between bus drivers and passengers. On the two-day train journey from Riga to Moscow five star Russian generals, peasants and diplomats, mingled with each other, all eating out of packages of food they had brought with them. February 1955 ended tragically when a young man from Garnervillle Road in Belfast, William McCracken, died when he drank arsenic while at a 30
February 1955 also saw a very heavy snow fall in Belfast. This photograph shows a family clearing the front of their home at the Horse Shoe Bend where the snow was ten feet deep
Groundsmen clearing the snow from the pitch at the Oval where Glentoran were to play Bangor in an Irish League game dance in Chamberlain Street Hall. McCracken had become obsessed with a young girl who he worked with and he had asked her out but she refused. He had been asking her out for some time and at the dance he asked her to "just speak to him" but she told him not to bother her. He did not appear to be too upset and he was in no way violent but he was very upset and he took a bottle of arsenic and drank some. He friend came up to him to see if he was ok when he fell down and he told his friend what he had done. He was quite unaware of the serious consequences of drinking the week killer and he died a short time later. The girl had given McCracken no encouragement but he was unable to cope with the rejection of his affection. FACING PAGE - Advertisement for the Grand Central Hotel. 1955
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OLD BELFAST PHOTOGRAPHS 1932
Children from the Oldpark PES at a show of Peter Pan in Waring Street being given presents from Santa
Junction of Halidays Road and Antrim Road looking toward the Cliftonville Road. The building on the right is now McLaughlin’s Bar
Knockbracken Road 32
The premises of the Maypole Dairy on the Albertbridge Road after it was gutted by fire
The Friends Provident Buildings at the junction of Howard Street and Great Victoria Street
Mersey Street Presbyterian Mission Church new hall on its opening
The Lativian steamer Latvia with a heavy list to port - she came to Belfast from Finland with a cargo of timber
Delivery vans from Bernard Hughes set off with fresh deliveries 33
The firemen complete their dressing on their way to the fire
A fireman coming down the pole at the headquarters of the Belfast Fire Brigade in Chichester Street while the driver starts the engine
Fighting a blaze at the office of the Ordnance Survey, Antrim Road
1932 was the year which saw the out door relief riots. This picture shows torn up paving stones on the Crumlin Road close to Ardoyne
A burning barricade across Agnes Street with its junction on the Crumlin Road during the ODR riots
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Advertisement for Tate’s Medical Hall on Royal Avenue A Maypole Dance by pupils of the Belfast Royal Academy Preparatory School
Members of the Pawnbrokers’ Association photographed at the City Hall before leaving on their excursion round the Antrim Coast
Flooding on the Laganbank Road
Crash on the University Road
Mr Charles Hurst (second from left) 35
A DESPERADO AND £11,000 FROM THE FAIRIES! eturning to the old Victorian Belfast courtroom we thought we would have a look at a few of the cases which were taking place on Saturday 4th of May 1895
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PAIR OF CRUEL SONS John Kearney jnr was charged on a warrant with having threatened his father John Kearney. Mr Spiller prosecuted in the police cases. The information on which the warrant was issued for the prisoner’s apprehension stated that the Accused was addicted to drink and was in the habit of abusing his father. He worked none and on the Wednesday, April 17th, he came home and commenced to abuse his father and swore he would "knife him." Owing to his violence and threats his father was afraid of him. The accused who had a large number of records against him, was ordered to be imprisoned for three months, in default of finding bail for his good behaviour. John Morrison was charged with being drunk, with assaulting his father and also threatening him. It appeared that the prisoner was under the influence of drink and smashed the door in his father’s house and also the door of a neighbour’s. On being arrested he threw himself down on the ground and became very violent and it was with great difficulty that he could be removed to the police office. When there he also 36
threatened to take the life of his father and also spat in his face. Head-Constable Doyle characterised the prisoner as a desperado and stated that there were thirty-four records against him. The accused was fined 10 shillings and costs for being drunk, 5 shillings and 2 shillingssixpence compensation for the malicious injury and for the assault, two months imprisonment with hard labour and at the expiration of that time, in default of finding bail for his good behaviour in the future, to be further imprisoned for two months. Going back even further a brilliant case occured on the 2nd of March 1861 EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF SUPERSTITION Ann M’Aveeny was indicted for obtaining sums of money from Jane Dawson, wife of a shopkeeper in Brookeborough, on the pretence of procuring for prosecutrix the sum of £11,000 from the fairies! Jane Dawson, the prosecutrix, was examined and deposed to the facts of the case, which was one of a romantic and superstitious character. The witness stated that on various occasions previous to May 1860, the prisoner had urged her to allow her (the prisoner) to obtain for witness a fortune from the fairies, with which august
body she professed to have considerable influence. Yielding to the temptation, witness gave the prisoner, on various occasions, several sums of money, together with shop goods, clothing and articles of furniture, amounting in the gross to about £20, the prisoner in exchange guaranteeing to procure for witness the sum of £11,000 , and a castle in Scotland! The prisoner had gone through several mysterious incantations in witness’s house. She put some powder into the fire, which then gave forth "blue blazes" and "red blazes;" and, on the same occasion, four half-crown pieces were placed on four corners of the room table, unintelligible writing being put over the coins. The home ceremonies ended. Prisoner informed the witness that the latter must proceed to Scotland, where at a given time and place, she would meet with some gentlemen who would conduct her to a house where she would receive the fairy money. Witness had meanwhile, been made by the prisoner to swear on the Bible that she would keep the matter secret. On the 13th of July, prisoner gave witness a bottle of oil to rub on her eyes when in Scotland, by which eye-salve she was to receive a new light, and have a clue to the promised treasure. Witness then went to Scotland and applied the oil as directed. (Loud laughter)
Ann M’Aveeny told Jane Dawson she would obtain her fortune from the fairy’s in Scotland! Baron Hughes - Where did you find yourself then? Witness - Just where I was before. (Laughter) The witness then deposed to her return to Brookeborough, a disappointed, but somewhat wiser, person. In reply to his Lordship, the witness said she really believed she would get the money in Scotland, because the prisoner had previously obtained large legacies for other people in the country. (Laughter) After she returned from Scotland the prisoner artfully persuaded her to sign a clear receipt for all claim against her. The prisoner handed in this document in her defence.
His Lordship said he could not believe that such superstition existed in the North of Ireland The prisoner was convicted and sentenced to twelve months’ imprisonment, with hard labour. It’s hard to beleive that in these times there were no holidays for the courts as they even had to sit on Christmas day! It was on that day in 1866 that the following case appeared. LANDLADY AND TENANT Mary Lamp, a wretched-looking old woman, was charged with assaulting an old man named John Hughes by striking him with a poker. The complainant on being called declined to press the charge.
Head-Constable Lamb - I believe she is his landlady. Mr Orme - I suppose he is a vary bad tenant. He doesn’t pay his rent regularly and she tried to knock it out of him with a poker. (Laughter) Mr Orme (To Hughes) - Are you a married man? Hughes - I am married. Mr Orme - Are you a widow Mrs Lamp? Mrs Lamp - I am, your Worship. Mr Orme - There may be something in that. Now Mr Hughes, you had better take Mrs Lamp home (Laughter) The complainant and defendant left the Courthouse together - a circumstance which created much amusement. 37
The Albert memorial Clock shortly after being completed. Constructed between 1865 and 1870, as a memorial to Queen Victoria's late Prince Consort, Prince Albert, it stands 113 feet tall. A statue of the Prince in robes of a Knight of the Garter stands on the western side of the tower. A two tonne bell is housed in the tower. Designed by William J Barre, who also designed Belfast's Ulster Hall, it is described as a mix of French and Italian Gothic styles. The sculpture of Albert is by S.F. Lynn. Built on wooden piles on marshy, reclaimed land around the River Farset, the top of the tower leans four feet off the perpendicular and is known colloquially as Belfast's "Leaning Tower of Pisa". Being situated close to the docks, the tower was once infamous for being frequented by prostitutes plying their trade with visiting sailors. However, in recent years regeneration has turned the surrounding Queen's Square and Custom's House Square into attractive, modern public spaces with trees, fountains and sculptures. In 1947, the film Odd Man Out was filmed partly in Belfast, with the Albert Clock as a central location, although neither the town nor the clock is explicitly identified. The clock was damaged in an IRA bomb explosion outside nearby River House in the High Street on 6 January 1992. To halt the worsening lean and repair damage caused by the elements and heavy passing traffic, a multi-million pound restoration project was completed in 2002. During the project the wooden foundations were strengthened, the majority of the decaying carvings were replaced and the entire tower was cleaned. Š Wikipeda
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Junction of Duncairn Gardens and Antrim Road
The tramway kiosk at Castle Junction
1929
1926 39
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