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The burning of Belfast Castle in 1708
ONL Y
ÂŁ1.5 0
Bringing Old Belfast To The New
ISSN 1757-7284
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Old Belfast
MEMORIES OF LITTLE ITALY ecently I passed through a part of Belfast that once had been the home to a small Italian community. I pass through this area often but on this particular day I found myself recalling memories of my childhood and my schoolmates. Perhaps it was the total transformation of the place that shot me back to a time so long ago. Only in my memory could I find any trace of the district I knew so well. Little Italy, as it was known, consisted of the city end of Nelson Street, Great Patrick Street, Little Patrick Street, Carolina Street, Academy Street and the lower part of Frederick Street. A few Italian families can be traced in the area
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St Malachy's Church in Alfred Street.
James Doherty as far back as 1816. One of the early families Signor Fabbrini was appointed Drawing Master in the Belfast Academicial Institute, which at that time was in Academy Street. INFLUX Another was Modesto Silo whose son Modesto junior was the first Irish Italian born in the area in 1835. The most famous of the Italians born in Belfast was Peter Piccione, an artist of great renown whose great masterpiece can be seen behind the alter in St Malachy's Church in Alfred Street. The big influx of Italians came as refugees in 1867 as a result of the Garibaldian Wars in Italy and remained in the area for almost 100 years. Many of the names of the early settlers such as Santini, Antonio, Feregione, Pinisi, Fusco, Marsella, Morell, Morelli
Old Belfast
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and Forte could still be found in the area until the break up of the community. MOTHER OF THE COMMUNITY I have more than a passing interest in Little Italy. I was born there on St Valentines Day in 1920 and the mid wife was an Italian lady known in the community as Nurse Morell. Of course she was not a trained nurse but she used her skills for anyone in the community who needed her help. I spoke of this one night at a talk in Waterstones Bookshop when a lady in the audience suddenly stood up and said "Sir, that was my grandmother you were speaking about. I do not remember her but I understand she was a great person." "Yes" I replied, "she was the mother of the community and I loved her very much when I was a young boy." This unexpected interruption was another link in my Italian connection. ORGAN GRINDER My earliest memories of Little italy centre around an old organ grinder and his monkey. He carried his organ strapped to his back. It had a single bar which acted as a stand when he stopped to play. He wore an Alpine hat and the monkey was also dressed in a national costume. He kept the monkey on a stout chain because at times he was far from being friendly. The monkey collected the coins that passers-by threw into the ring. He had a peculiar fashion of biting a coin before putting it in his pocket. Sometimes someone would throw in a dud lead coin or washer. The biting process was his way of separating the wheat from the chaff. On these occasions he would make off in the direction from which Extracts from the 1970 Belfast Street Directory the offending coin was thrown, squealing and listing some of the Italian families straining on the chain which restrained him.
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Old Belfast
SINGING AND DANCING The children went to the local school and in all respects the Italians got along well with their neighbours. During the long summer nights after the ice-cream carts retired and the evening meal was over the district came alive with the sound of music and singing as the Italian women came out and danced while the menfolk played concertinas or accordions.
The monkey and I became good friends. I was only about three years of age and not much bigger than he was. The old organ grinder kept a close watch on him as we played. Monkeys appear to be very playful as we see them frolic about in a zoo or circus but they could savage a person just as seriously as any dangerous dog. GROWING COMMUNITY The Italian community grew in numbers and spread out across the city. Desano's were a well known name in East Belfast for their ice cream. Raffo's established a name for themselves on the Lower Falls Road. The Marsellas moved towards the LMS Railway Station and although long gone, Gerodies ices are still spoken off. A Belfast Cartage and Storage contractors, R. A. Burke acted as the Italian Consul from his office in Frederick Street. For many years the Irish News carried an Italian language page which covered social activities and other topics.
ICE-CREAM The Italians brought with them their skills. They were artists, sculptors, mosaic and terruzo workers as well as ice-cream manufacturers. Many of my fondest memories are connected with ice-cream. Alfie Morelli and I were childhood friends, a friendship which lasted until he died. Alfie and I helped the family prepare the ice-cream at their home in Frederick Street. Our job was to rotate the freezer, which at the time was done by hand. We always got a good helping of ice-cream and when business was good we also got a penny each. But one day an electric motor replaced the manual labour and as I now tell the story I was made redundant at the age of nine by a machine. INTERNED I had an exciting time as a youngster among the Italians and I was always welcome in their workshops. One of my heroes was Dominic Travazaro. Dominic was a powerful young man with boundless energy. I often watched him toss around heavy moulds as if they were balloons. Dominic was a wonderful singer and the harder he worked the more powerful his voice became. The locals always knew that Dominic was working hard when his singing came from the workshop and even passersby stopped to listen. When the war came the
Old Belfast
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Belfast Map of 1888 showing the Little Italy district
Italians were interned in the Isle of Man and during the threat of invasion it was decided to move the German and Italian internees to Canada. Dominic was among the first lot to be moved but for some reason he was placed on a later list. The German's mistakenly took the ship for an army transport and sank it. Dominic survived and returned after the war. During the war the manufacture of ice-cream was prohibited owing to the use of milk fats, sugar and other rationed commodities. My old friend Alfie continued to manufacture a product which he sold under the name of banana Flavour. Ice-cream was all he knew. He was born into the trade and he had no other
means of making a living. Of course the law caught up with him and he was charged, not with producing a low quality product but with producing and manufacturing a high quality ice-cream contrary to Ministry of Food regulations. The taste for ice-cream has never left me. I still eat plenty of the stuff and I can eat it quickly. Some years ago, without my knowledge, a friend of mine set up an icecream eating contest between myself and Freddie Meli who owned an ice-cream parlour on the Springfield Road. The contest arose during a conversation with Freddie as he sat eating a large portion of ice-cream. Paddy said: "I don't think you would count against
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Old Belfast
BELFAST’S HORRIBLE HISTORY You Are Invited to a Unique Evening Exploring the Darker Side of Belfast's History Ranging From Bodysnatching Through to Horrific Executions.
Those Wishing to Take Part Are Asked to Meet at the Gates of Clifton Street Cemetery 6.30pm on Halloween Night Friday 31st October
Includes Surprise Mystery Tour There are only 30 places available for this unique walking tour. Those wishing to take part are asked to register by telephoning
9074 2255 Only those registered can take part - SORRY
Cost ÂŁ5
Strictly No Children
Due to the nature of this tour those with medical conditions such as heart problems are advised that they are on this tour at their own risk and are advised that there may be sudden frights and bangs.
Doc when it comes to eating ice-cream." Freddie was surprised. "No one can beat me when it comes to eating ice-cream and that goes for Italians or anybody else" he boasted. Paddy however persisted: "I still think Doc will beat you." With the understanding that Paddy would not tell me about the contest, everything was arranged for the following week. ONE OF US Early in the week I met Paddy as usual and he said he wanted to see Freddie... "Come along, I'll not be long." When we arrived Freddie suggested that we go to the back of the shop and join him in some ice-cream. He produced a small freezer. "This is good stuff. I generally make a special container for myself and friends." We eat the first large bowls full and Freddie filled them up again. Paddy dropped out after the first helping. Freddie could tell some wonderful stories and we talked and eat. We must have went through five of six bowls but Freddie had only sampled a few spoonfuls of his when I had finished mine. Freddie laughed, put down his bowl and said: "Paddy you're right! Doc can eat ice-cream but why not? Isn't he almost one of us!" The people from Little Italy have left their mark on the world of sport. Gee Morelli was a well known motor racing ace and was killed in a road accident. Baldo Meli was a top motorcyclist both here and in Australia. Another Meli, a nephew of my old friend Freddie represented Northern Ireland in the olympic Games Boxing team. There is no Italian community now in the city. However they are still with us and carry on their crafts although they live as individuals.
Old Belfast
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Old Belfast
Belfast murder trial
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. 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 jail, or in houses that took in these women for money.
the’‘unfortunates’. In early 1912 Minnie moved into number 15 to stay in the Maguire house. 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 her husband.
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
On the 8th July Minnie had been drinking alcohol for many hours and was the worse for wear. She came back to Marshall Street where Mary Jane started to shout at her in the street. She then struck Minnie full on the face, so hard that blood immediately began to spurt from Minnie’s nose. She slumped drunk and slightly dazed from the blow. Mary Jane left her there, lying propped up against the door of Mary
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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
Old Belfast
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.
house in Marshall Street and down through the alley than ran along the back of the house. The alley led out into Marshall Court where they left Minnie propped up against the other drunken woman. The two women thought that no one had seen them but several of the local residents observed what they did. That morning a passing worker, Marcus McMillen had seen the two women leave Minnie lying in the street and Jenny Wright who lived in the area had also seen the two women Mary and Mary Jane carried and she checked on Minnie Minnie out the back of the later that morning. Minnie was barely alive and she decided to call for the local constable who arrived on the scene and
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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. Despite overwhelming evidence of what the two woman had done none of the other lodgers would give evidence against them and when the jury retired 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 carried through to its terrible conclusion under circumstance of terrible cruelty and savage inhuman brutality� that was seen in Belfast in recent years.
www.glenravel.com
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Old Belfast
Old Belfast Photographs Donegal Square North around 1900
The Co-op store on York Street in 1919
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The General Post Office on Royal Avenue around 1960. Castle Court Shopping Complex now stands on the site.
Sandy Row around the turn of the last century
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Old Belfast
HARDENED OLD LAGS, BAD BOYS AND SPLENDED ISOLATION LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN CRUMLIN ROAD JAIL Part 1
any of us have a different view on what life was like in Victorian times and sadly the views held by many of us are totally wrong. Most imagine life as living in grand houses and over the top clothing but the reality of life at this period was one of great hardship and suffering. Yes it is true that the rich lived in grand houses but they made up a tiny percentage of the population and therefore for most life was no barrel of fun. One section of life in Victorian times which is overlooked is that of the prisoner and if life was hard on the outside then it was even harder on the inside. But how do we know what this life was like for those who were imprisoned in say the old Belfast Prison on the Crumlin Road? Well the answer
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is quite simple and that is for those who are prepared to look hard enough then the answers will emerge. Unfortunately we cannot disclose our source of information at the moment as our Project (Glenravel) will be submitting a proposal to conduct future tours of this old prison and don’t wish to disclose details of our source material for others’ but the best way to get a picture of what life was like in our old prisons is from the prisoners themselves. Belfast Jail was one of the first prisons to experiment with the ‘separate system’ whereby prisoners were confined to solitary cells. The system was the result of the authorities’ belief that offenders were corrupted by mixing with fellow inmates.
Old Belfast
Previous attempts to segregate impressionable boys from hardened old lags had failed because of the inadequacies of buildings and the growing prison population. Before segregation young unconvicted prisoners on remand, with no regular cells of their own, were herded together at night in unsupervised separate dormitories where they slept in groups of between fifteen and twenty. Many spent their days in what a chaplain termed the plague spot of the gaol, a room where twenty to forty men and boys from the returned transport to the innocent mingled, without work and without supervision. Non-remand prisoners had shared cells at night where boys regularly slept three to a bed. But conditions for the nonsegregated remand prisoners were far worse, as the following descriptions, made in 1849 by two inmates, amply illustrate:
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E.L. aged 42 years, for trial - acquitted I have been in prison for trial, partly in ‘K’ room, where we had no officer to look after us. The example for the boys is very bad indeed. They learn to curse and steal - and the talk at night is abominable, everything that is bad, disgusting and wicked. They tell tales about their robberies and about women and everything that can be said bad to corrupt the lads, this seems to be their object, and the boys listen most attentively to all that is told them. The men put the boys to fight etc. J.B. aged 47 years, first offender - 14 days I sleep in a room with 14 men, seven beds, two in each bed: they talked ‘sare’ about all sorts of badness, how they ‘sloped’ their lodgings, how they carried on with.bad women and how they would carry on thieving when they went out.
Prisoners on remand, with no regular cells of their own, were herded together at night in unsupervised separate dormitories where they slept in groups of between fifteen and twenty
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Old Belfast
Old Belfast
Under the new regulations women were also ordered to be segregated. In the same year as the above reports, the female block was described as the great evil. Here as elsewhere, old lags, recidivists and young girls were grouped together in a state of near anarchy. Only one prison officer reported for duty during the day, none at night and moreover the matron, having abandoned any attempts to maintain discipline had been sacked the previous year. Following the imposition of the separate system, the increasing prison population made it impossible for all inmates to serve their punishment in solitary cells. These were allocated for a variety of reasons. Prisoners could opt for solitude, while first offenders or those considered to be a bad influence or felons who, in the governor’s opinion, might benefit from the solitary experience, had little choice about serving their time in splendid isolation. Ironically, just as Belfast Prison expanded and became capable of holding more and more inmates in separate cells, prison authorities began to realise the limitations of the new system. For one thing, more and more ex-cons were reoffending after release. As early as 1863 Belfast magistrates observed that confinement in gaol under the present system had little, if any, terror to the evildoer.
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had been settled by their “worships” before the case 1 was so deeply interested in came on... Two of my three companions were old “gaol birds” and in high glee at what they considered a lucky arrangement of their little affair. Society was only to lose their valuable services for a period similar to my own, and they had quite made up their minds before going into the dock that through the “black list” .of previous convictions against each of them they would be “fullied, “ by which they meant fully committed for trial at the sessions or assizes, where in all probability they would have received a much heavier punishment than the magistrates of this court are empowered to inflict... The other prisoner owed his incarceration to conjugal infelicity; he had tinted the “optics” of his “better half,” impaired her vision and general tractability and caused her successfully to seek legal redress. He paced up and down the cell like a hyena, and uttered threats of vengeance to be accomplished on his liberation. The arrival of some cold beef and bread and tea, sent by his relenting wife, however, somewhat mollified his temper, and put him in a better frame of mind. The door of our cell was again opened for the admission of three more victims - all bitten by the brewer’s dog and having to undergo short periods of imprisonment owing to A PRISONER’S LIFE IN GAOL their disability or disinclination to pay I was promptly bundled down the small certain fines and costs which the Bench flight of stairs leading from the dock, and had thought proper to impose. showed into one of the cells where I found CONTINUED NEXT ISSUE three more unfortunates, whose business
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Old Belfast
AN OLD BELFAST MANSION HOUSE hose familiar with the history of Belfast will be well aware that most of North Belfast was once covered in country mansion houses, the name of which still continue in the names of modern streets and areas. But housing requirements soon rendered these house doomed and one by one they slowly disappeared. One such mansion was Parkmount which was the family home of Earl Cairns, an eminent lawyer of his period and who was connected with three families, who were intimately associated with Belfast life and who all lived at Parkmount. Lady Cairns was a sister of Mr H. McNeile who died in 1904. The McNeile’s lived in Parkmount for the
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greater part of the 1800’s, having purchased it from Captain William Cairns, the Earl’s father, prior to which it was the residence of the Cairns family, who succeeded a very old Belfast family called Gregg. The first of the Gregg’s was a Scotsman who settled here in the 17th century. DEFENDER OF DERRY Of the early Cairnses, the best known was Colonel David Cairns, the defender of Derry during the siege of 1689. However, it was in another profession than soldiering that the Earl gained his laurels, and he was also sprang from a different branch of the Cairns house. Hugh McCalmont Cairns, second son of Captain
Earl Cairns William Cairns, of Parkmount, was at first intended for the Church, but at his own wish entered the legal profession. He made rapid progress and soon enjoyed a lucrative practice at the English Bar. In 1852 he became a candidate for election to Parliament, and was returned at the head of the poll as a member for his native town. Further honours were in store for him. Once, in a debate on Indian affairs, he so excelled in oratory that Disraeli, his leader, described his speech as “one of the two greatest ever delivered in Parliament, which charmed everyone by its
LEFT - Parkmount House
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Donegall Place where the Cairns family had their town residence. (This picture is taken from what is now the grounds of the City hall looking towards what is now Royal Avenue)
logic.” Later he became Baron Cairns of Garmoyle, and four years later was advanced to an Earl. He was a second time Lord Chancellor. Had health and years permitted he would have succeeded to the leadership of his party, which fell to the Marquis of Salisbury. EVANGELICAL VIEWS He was a Churchman of evangelical views and great piety, and was a Sunday school teacher all his life. Dr. Barnardo’s Homes and the Y.M.C.A. found in his great legal
luminary a warm supporter. He died in 1885 at Bournemouth. If he had a weakness it was his passion for immaculate tie and bands in court and a flower in his coat at parties.’’The Cairns’ town residence was in Donegall Place. Shortly after the future earl was born in 1819 his father sold Parkmount to Mr John McNeile, a wealthy man and a banker in Belfast (his bank later became the infamous Northern Bank). His son, Mr H. McNeile was a member of the committee of the same bank until his death, and
his daughter became the wife of Earl Cairns. It was his grandson who sold Parkmount to Sir Robert Armstrong at the turn of the last century. He was a local Justice of the Peace and chairman of Anderson & McAuley. SCOTTISH FAMILY The great grandfather of Lord Cairns was the first of the family to live at Parkmount, or in the neighbourhood. In 1780 he was in Whitehouse but soon after moved to Parkmount. It may be asked who the Cairnses
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Old Belfast
Robert Anderson of Anderson & McAuley
were, of where they came from. William Cairns, a cadet of a Scottish house, got a lease of land near
Anahilt in 1716, a year after the rebellion. His son and successor, also called William had three sons by his first marriage. His second wife was daughter of William Gregg who lived at Lowwood in 1780 but is supposed to have owned Parkmount; and on his death it passed to his grandson, Nathaniel Cairns, a merchant of Dublin and Belfast, who died at Parkmount in 1819. It was probably soon after his marriage with Miss
Gregg that William Cairns moved to Whitehouse. Nathaniel had two sons, Daniel and William, the latter being father of Earl Cairns. As previously stated, soon after his father’s death in 1819,’he sold the property to John McNeile, and made Cultra his country house. Demolition work began on the house in 1932 but its name lives on in Parkmount Gardens, Lane, Parade, Pass, Place, Road, Street, Terrace and Way.
Parkmount being demolished
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Mr Isaac Ward
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n October 1916 the death of Mr Isaac Ward was announced. Mr Ward was known to many as ‘Belfastiensis’, the name of his newspaper column, which appeared in local papers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Mr Ward who was 83 when he died, was knocked down in North Street by a pony and trap, and was taken unconscious to the Royal Victoria Hospital where he later died.
recalling the event with great on "The Two Outer Satellites vividness, expressiveness and of Uranus" was well received detail. and respected. The Ward family’s connection with Belfast can be traced back for 300 years. Mr Wards father, Arthur, and his grandfather were born in Belfast and lived and died in the Malone end of the city. Mr Isaac Ward spent all his life in Belfast, apart from three years when he lived in America. He was married to a Miss Kirker of Ligoniel and they lived in Fitzroy Avenue. Isaac Ward used to work for Fenton, Connor & Co, linen merchants, to whom he was apprenticed. He was a lifelong friend of Mr Charles Connor, Mayor of Belfast in 1889-91.
For most of his life Mr Ward had been involved in the linen trade and for 50 years was recognised as the best living authority on local literary, artistic and commercial history, as a prolific and wellinformed writer on many subjects, and also as an He often entertained friends astronomer of great ability. and associates with tales of his boyhood days in Belfast, Under his penname telling them about the old ‘Belfastinensis’ he contributed show places in the town, the countless articles to the local old Linen Hall, Dargan’s press and to various Irish, Island, Ballymacarrett, and the English and American mail coach which used to run magazines and periodicals. between Belfast and Dublin. His diligence, patience and enthusiasm in collecting, from His astronomical abilities were every possible source, facts recognised and he discovered about Belfast were well two stars and a paper known. He had a phenomenal contributed by him to the memory and facility in Royal Astronomical Society
He was a student at the Belfast Art School and was very interested in drama and music throughout his life. It is for his writing in local papers that he is best remembered. He once admitted to spending 20 years trying to find out the date when the old Farset River running through High Street was covered over. Of the many articles he wrote, Mr Ward made reference to the following; The opening of St Anne’s in 1776; the Batt Family, known in Belfast for many years in the commercial like of the town; Belfast Castle in 1690; Dr Joseph Blacks remarkable discoveries between the years of 1750 and 1763; old Belfast’s early theatres; Richard Cox Rowe, a celebrated comedian, buried in Newtownbreda Churchyard; changes to old Belfast business centres; the old House of Correction in Howard Street; Charles Gavan duff, born in 1816; old Belfast signboards; and Duke of Schomberg's proclamation at Belfast on September 1690.
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Old Belfast
Family Money - Family Murder I
n the 1860’s the Herdman family were wealthy linen merchants who owned mills, first at Smithfield and then the Brookfield Linen Company on the Crumlin Road. They were also ship owners connected to Belfast Harbour. The Herdmans lived in the suburbs of Cliftonville, an area where the wealthy and influential had residences. An 82-year-old aunt, Miss Agnes Herdman, lived at Cliftonville Lodge and her nephew John Herdman also lived at the mansion. At that time the Cliftonville Road stretched as far as where Solitude Football Grounds are situated today, and the lands beyond were owned by Mr. Lyons, one of the city’s wealthy landlords. A gatehouse stood at this entrance and just before this gateway were the entrance gates to the Waterworks, much in the same place as they are today. On May 15th 1862, John Herdman was at home entertaining some friends. At about 5.45pm he left in the company of Mrs. Eleanor Thompson to take a stroll through the Waterworks. Since John Herdman was a resident of Cliftonville he had his own personal key to the entrance gate to use at his leisure. As they passed along the road they engaged in quiet conversation. While they were walking along they noticed a man coming from the direction of Mr. Lyons’ estate. That man was Mr. William Herdman, John Herdman’s cousin and a man very much known to him. As he got nearer he asked John for a moment of his time in order to discuss some private matter. John apparently tried to dismiss him and while both he and Mrs. Thompson walked on, a shot suddenly rang out. In terror they both turned to see William Herdman, his hand outstretched, taking deliberate aim. They both tried to flee towards the Lyons’ gate but instead they both fell. Mrs. Thompson had tripped over her dress but John Herdman had been critically injured. As they both tried in vain to rise and escape from the gunman another shot rang out. John Herdman was reported to have cried out - “Oh God, I am killed, call for my wife.” Mrs. Thompson in the meantime had managed to get up and run towards the gate lodge at the Lyons’ estate. Here she met a beggar-woman and the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper ran back to Cliftonville Lodge to alert the family. Mrs Herdman and her servant rushed to the scene and help was quickly summoned to the scene. John Herdman was taken into his own house where he died a short time later. After shooting his cousin William Herdman set the gun down on the ground and walked calmly down the Cliftonville Road towards the town centre. He was arrested later that evening in the Vine Hotel, Corporation Street and was subsequently charged with the wilful murder of his cousin. William Herdman was brought to trial that same July. It transpired that he was supposed to receive money from his ageing aunt. This money was to have been an allowance and its handling and distribution was left in the capable hands of a Mr. Russell who acted as Miss Herdman’s agent. Mr. Russell advised Miss Herdman to hold back some of William
Old Belfast
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The Waterworks where John Herdman was shot dead
Herdman’s allowance until he agreed to do several things, one of which was to leave Ireland for England. William blamed his cousin, John, for influencing his aunt and it was alleged at the time that he murdered his cousin as an act of revenge. He apparently was of the strong belief that it was John Herdman alone who stood between him and the money he felt was rightly his. When he eventually came to trial he used insanity as his line of defence. The defence tried to prove that he laboured under some delusion, which rendered him unaccountable for his actions. Certain eccentricities in his family were highlighted and it was also alleged that he had been a constant source of annoyance to his family and others and that he had been bound over on more than one occasion to keep the peace. The jury considered all the evidence, which had been presented before them and returned the verdict of guilty On the morning of Saturday, July 26th 1862, shortly before 11.00 am, the Right Honourable Justice Fitzgerald took his seat in the Crown Court at the County Courthouse on the Crumlin Road. The judge solemnly addressed the convicted man. “You, William Herdman, be taken hence to the place from which you came and thence on Tuesday the 2nd of September next, to the usual place of execution - there to be hanged by the neck until you are dead and that your body be afterwards buried within the precincts of the prison within which you shall be have been confined after your conviction. The prisoner then bowed to the judge and then to the court and was led away. An appeal was immediately lodged against the sentence and William Herdman successfully cheated the hangman’s noose and was detained in the asylum for life.
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Old Belfast
In these modern times most of us receive excellent conditions in which to work but a look back at our history will show that this was not always the case. Looking through the old Victorian newspapers we can quickly pick up that the number of injuries and indeed fatalities in the workplace were horrendous. On example of this can be seen in the Northern Whig newspaper dated the 8th of December 1849 under the heading:-
MELANCHOLY AND FATAL ACCIDENT AT MR THOMPSON’S MILL, FALLS ROAD Yesterday morning, shortly before six o’clock, an accident occurred, attended with fatal results, at the Clonard Print Works, Falls Road, the property of Mr. Thompson. This establishment is a very extensive one, and employs a large number of hands. Six o’clock in the morning is the hour for commencing work; but, to that time, many of the work-people usually assemble, and, to keep themselves warm, get near the fires, or on the loft above the boilers. On this occasion, it appears, several of them were about the premises at half-past five o’clock, at which period the fireman, Thomas Dornan, was at his post, and attending to his usual duties. A few minutes before six, Dornan was observed with a lantern in his hand, examining the gauge connected with the boiler; and, immediately afterwards, a tremendous explosion took place, which not only killed the fireman, Dornan, but seriously injured ten other individuals. Information was conveyed to Mr. Thompson of the occurrence, and prompt measures were also adopted to rescue the sufferers, most of them whom were at once conveyed to the hospital. On visiting the
premises yesterday, we found that the boiler had burst, and were amazed at the destruction of property which presented itself to our notice. At the rear of the premises were three boilers, over which was a three-story building, the upper part of which was used as drying lofts. This building was razed to the ground, and the timbers of flooring and roof shattered to atoms. The boiler itself was forced over a wall four or five feet where it remains. It has not been examined, nor can it be until it is removed from its present position. At three o’clock, yesterday, T.K. Jackson, Esq., Coroner, and a Jury, held an inquest on the body of Thomas Dornan, at the mill. The following were the only witnesses produced;Robert Foley examined - I am a workman in the employment of Mr. Thompson. I was here this morning, at about half-past five o’clock. I was standing at the fire at about two minutes before the accident occurred. I left for the purpose of going to the office to give in the time. I was about half-way down the yard when the explosion took place. There was a loud report; it was not a continuous one, but a
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sudden crack. When I looked round, I saw the deceased fall before the timbers fell. He was, I think, before the fire with the “clater” in his hand, as if he was going to rake the fire. He was, at this time, standing about five yards from the boiler. His body was found under the timber, bricks, and slates. I found a girl, named Hagan, afterwards, seriously injured at the calendar house door. I saw the deceased shortly before the explosion, take a lamp that is always there, and hold it before the steam gauge which he was always in the
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habit of doing, for the purpose of examining it. I don’t know whether or not anything was found in his hand. The boiler went over the wall into the dam. Henry M’Cagherty, examined - I am employed in this concern. I came here about Six o’clock, this morning. The accident had occurred when I arrived. I attended the cloth boilers. The deceased was found lying in front of the boilers covered with bricks, and I took some of the bricks off him. The coal-rake was lying close at his hand; and it seemed to me, from
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the position of the rake, that the deceased must either have been closing the furnace door or raking the fire up when the accident occurred. I did not examine the boiler after it exploded. The boiler which exploded was not a large one. Of course, I believe the explosion was the cause of his death. Dr. Harkin deposed - I examined the body of the deceased, this morning. The face was all singed over, but the hair was still on the head. There was blood on the board on which the body was lying, which apparently came from the head. The deceased was much injured and burned in other parts of the body. I understand it was an hour and a half before the body was discovered among the ruins. The face and the other parts of the body exposed are all black. I have no doubt but that I would have found a fracture of the skull. The Jury returned a verdict of accidental death. Subsequent to the above proceedings, we have been informed that one of the sufferers, named Jane Hagan, died in the hospital, at half-past six o’clock in the’evening, and that several of the others are in a very precarious situation. One of the injured parties in the hospital states that, about three o’clock in the morning, he and Dornan went on the top of the boiler to rest themselves, that the fireman some time after left him, and that the first thing he recollects, after the explosion took place, was finding himself lying in the dam, from which he extricated himself as speedily as possible. We take this opportunity of stating, that the inhabitants should seriously reflect on this very melancholy occurrence, and imagine how these poor sufferers would have been situated had there been no hospital in town
to receive them. The frequent occurrence of accidents, in this populous community, should induce the inhabitants to contribute liberally to an institution of such importance to the town. A few day later the people of Belfast were kept up to date on the situation when the Northern Whig of the 11th of December 1849 published the following story:INQUESTS - THREE MORE DEATHS FROM THE EFFECTS OF THE BOILER EXPLOSION On Saturday last, Mr Jackson, the Coroner, held inquests on the bodies of Jane Hagan, Ann Lonsdale, Thomas Lonsdale and Isabella Cochrane, who died from the injuries they received at Mr Thompson’s print works on Friday morning. The three first named died in the hospital, the last at her father’s house. No additional facts were were elicited at the inquest as to the case of the accident, and in each case the Jury returned a verdict of accidental death. We have learned that, a few days before the fatal occurrence, Jane Hagan had received a letter from a young man in America, enclosing a remittance, and was making preparations to join him there. We are happy to learn that no further deaths have occurred, and that though the remaining sufferers are still in a precarious state, strong hopes are entertained of their recovery. So next time we are at work complaining that the heating is not warm enough or that the coffee machine is out of order take a quick think at what Belfast’s Victorian citizens had to endure.
FACING PAGE - Advertisement from the 1877 Belfast Street Directory.
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EXPLORING BELFAST’S STREETS Raymond O’Regan
really appreciate the buildings that have survived the ravages of Regiment of Foot which later time, remember to LOOK UP! became the Royal Sussex Numbers 1-5 Regiment). Our tour begins at the Anderson Zara and Moonsoon clothes & McAuley building at the shops (Anderson & McAuleys corner of Castle Street and old building) heading up to the City Hall. To One of the many large department stores that served
DONEGALL PLACE
he street was established in the 1780s in what were previously the gardens of Belfast Castle. (The castle was sited roughly were British Home Stores is today) The street was originally a sought after place to live and was Belfast’s answer to London’s Pall Mall). It was known as Linenhall Street, as at the time it lead up to the White Linenhall. To highlight the fact that it used to be a garden in the old castle grounds there is a plaque in the entrance of the old Anderson and McAuley building. It commemorates that on the 28th. The old White Linen Hall which stood on the grounds of the City Hall. The June 1701 the 3rd. Earl of top photograph was taken from its grounds around 1870 looking towards the Donegall established the 35th modern Royal Avenue which, as the photograph shows, didn't even exist then.
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Cooke’s original name was
Donegall Place in the mid 1880’s showing the original Anderson & McAuly building Macook. Another interesting
Belfast’s growing and prosperous population in the late 19th century and on into the 20th century. The original A & M building no’s1-5 was a simple two storey building when it opened in 1861 The present building, five storeys, dates back to 1895. Before the 1861 building it was the site of the Agricultural Bank.
Friars Bush Graveyard. He was a friend of the Rev. Henry Cooke, the father of Unionism (May Street Presbyterian church was built in 1828 to bring Cooke into Belfast)
Numbers 17-21 Fountain House (1935-37) This building, of the best Portland stone was originally the site of James Moore Stationers and Agent for tea and coffee company John Cassel. Today it is the New Look clothes store Statue of Henry Cooke at College Square (better known as the Black Man)
7-9 (An 1877 building that was originally a warehouse for Lindsay Bros., before it was absorbed into Anderson & McAuley. Numbers 11-15 Donegall Chambers (1932) At no.15 in the 19th. Century Barney Hughes had a bakery here called the Railway Bakery. Barney Hughes is buried in
fact; Barney Hughes married a Presbyterian and Rev. Henry Cooke performed the wedding ceremony. Today these are the Disney Store, NV and Barratt's Shoes.
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Old Belfast Donegall Place in 1888
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Number 25 (c1783) This is the only surviving 18th. Century building left in Donegall Place. It was one of three houses built by Roger Mullholland (Architect of the White Linenhall) in the 1780's. Between 1918 -39 it was the Carlton Café and Restaurant. Today it is the Oasis Shoe Shop. Numbers 27 – 33 Queens Arcade (1880) Originally the Castle Restaurant and Queens Arcade. On the top of the building is a simple representation of Belfast Castle i.e. the old castle. The initials A.R. still survive on the 3rd level of the building they refer to Austin Reed who moved into the building in 1935.
Queen’s Arcade in the mid 1880’s
Numbers 35 - 47 (1974) Today's Boots the Chemist. Besides Boots this building at one time housed a Branch of the Ulster Bank on the upper floor and is now home to the Belfast
Welcome Centre. Also at no. 41 in 1861 on this site was the famous firm of printers Marcus Ward. They were at one time one of the largest printing firms in Europe
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and are famed as the people who made Christmas cards popular and invented the tear off calendar. They eventually moved to a purposed built printing works on the Dublin Road (site of the present day cinema) In 1899 they were declared bankrupt. Today the only reminder of this world renowned company is a street off the Dublin Road called Marquis Ward Street (the family plot is in the upper section of Clifton Street Graveyard and there is a stain glass window to the family in First Presbyterian Church Rosemary Street)
The old printing shop of Marcus Ward which stood on the site now occupied by Boots
Number 49 Brookmount Buildings (1932) From 1860 to 1932 this site was occupied by John Riddel &Co. Ironmongers, hardware merchants and Riddel &Co. house furnishers, watches and clocks. The 1932 building was formerly known as Brands Buildings and
Riddles’ Arcade. Today it is occupied by Top Shop Number 51 (1907) One of the previous tenants was Etams clothes shop and the upper floors were originally known as City Hall chambers. Number 53 In the 19th. Century this was the site of the Northern Club.
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Charles Dickens
Numbers 55 - 61 Donegall House corner of Donegall Square North In 1785 a Mr. John Brown lived in a house on this site. When the 2nd Marquis of Donegall returned from London in 1802 he rented this house as his town residence. He had returned to Belfast under a cloud as he tried to avoid his debtors back in England some of whom followed him to Belfast. His family lived here up to 1820 before moving to their country residence at Ormeau (French for young elms). He continued his reckless attitude to his finances
and again had a reputation for unpaid bills. It was not surprising that he acquired the nickname "Lord Donemall". From 1820 -1898 it was known as The Royal Hotel and it is interesting to note that it was run Daniel O’Connell by a former butler of the Donegall's a Mr. Charles Kerns/ Kearns The hotel had many famous guests including Charles Dickens, Daniel O’Connell William Makepeace Thackery to name just a few. The owner in 1870 was a man called Matthew Bowen and later it was run by a Mrs Sarah Doyle. William Makepeace Thackery
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Donegall Place from the dome of City Hall around 1925
It now time to move back to the Number 12 other side beginning from Castle This building dates back to 1846 Place to the City Hall and is the second oldest building in Donegall Place it was the home of the famous Belfast Number 2 -10 bookseller William Mullan who This corner site was originally were in business from 1865 to called Castle buildings dating 1990. Today the building is back to 1846 and was known as occupied by Aldo's Gibsons Corner as the tenant was a Mr. Gibson a watchmaker and jeweller. The original building was the first commercial development in the previously residential Donegall place. Today the site is occupied by McDonald's and the Original Shoe Co.
preachers house in the back of what was the castle grounds. In 1877 it was used by the firm of Crozier & Co. Silk Merchants. The shops Number 14 Accessorise and Easons are The Union Club met here 1870- based there now. 1940. Today it is JD Sports Number 22 Number 16-20 The Body Shop A five storey In 1840 this was the site of a building dating back to the Methodist Chapel with the 193Os
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The Imperial Hotel. The site is now occupied by Clinton Cards etc (below)
Number 24 (corner of Donegall Place and Castle Lane) Originally Adlestones now Beaverbrook Jewellers this building only dates back to 1987 Numbers 24 -36 Site of the W.J. Jury’s Imperial Hotel Built in 1868. W.J. Jury was also well known for two brands of whiskey"Special Jury" and"Grand Jury" which he sold from his premises at 11 Chichester Street. His hotel had a world wide reputation and prior to the hotel it was the residence of Hugh Montgomery . This beautiful building was replaced by the present non-descript Clintons building in 1960
Number 36 1902-3 This building (left) originally housed the premises of Sharman D. Neill clockmakers. The date on the building 1803 -1903 refers to their premises in High Street where their grandfather Robert Neill had commenced business. Included in the building is a sculpture of Father Time with a scythe and hourglass. Numbers 40 - 46 The previous building on this site was C&A dating to 1955 and c1970. One of the two original buildings on this site dated back to 1871 for Young & Co.
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Donegall Place in 1930
Old Belfast Numbers 42 - 46 This was he Ulster Arcade built in 1858 and destroyed in the Blitz of May 1941.
Numbers 48 - 54 Marks & Spencers This was the site of the Bank Of Ireland since 1858. They were still in the 1966 building on the upper floors sharing it with Marks & Spencers until the 1990s when they moved to their new headquarters. In the old building on the ground floor was housed the famous Thompson’s Restaurant.
Number 56 - Former Robinson &Cleaver building converted to individual shops and offices in 1987 and now called The Cleaver Building) Edward Robinson and John Cleaver had founded the business in Castle Place in 1870.
The Donegall Place building was built on the site of two Georgian style houses one of which was the home of the Crawford family and the widow Mrs Crawford was the last private residence in the street. She died in 1880 and is buried in Clifton Street Graveyard (Her grave can be found in the lower, 1830 section, of the graveyard with the head stone on the dividing wall, to the right of the Ewart Family plot.
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Robinson and Cleavers’ "Royal Irish Linen Warehouse" had gained a worldwide reputation and by 1877 they were sending out one –third of all the parcels that left Belfast. They had many famous customers including Queen Victoria, The Emperor of Germany. The grand staircase, of Sicilian marble, that used to dominate the entrance to this building is now in Eddie Haugheys’ castle.
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Friar’s Bush Cemetery Horror and History Hidden in Belfast Nothing on earth would have persuaded me to enter the place… it was the house of the dead Paul Henry, artist (1876-1958)
riar’s Bush cemetery on the Stranmillis Road may only be two acres in size, but its bloody history includes stories of plague, famine, murder and body snatching. The most famous body snatchers or "resurrection men" were Burke and Hare both originally from Ulster - who claimed an estimated 17 victims between them by the time they were arrested in 1828. Several years before that in 1823, strangers in the night came to Friar’s Bush cemetery, and soon after a barrel was stopped at the docks and found to contain the bodies of a middle-aged female and a child packed tight with sawdust. "Resurrectionist" George Stewart had already made good his escape, but his partner -
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recorded only as Feeny - was found drunk at their lodgings in Academy Street, and the Belfast News Letter on 15 July noted that on searching the room, a box was "found containing a large brass syringe for injecting the veins of dead bodies, also a surgeon’s knife, forceps, needle &c…and five sovereigns". The cemetery gates have been closed to all but established plot holders since 1869, and aside from the graves of noted newspapermen, publicans and Bernard Hughes, the rags-toriches entrepreneur and inventor of the large, flour-covered roll called the "Belfast Bap", there is something ominous on your left as you pass through the gate lodge. Known as the "plaguey pit" it marks the resting place of thousands of
people who perished in cholera and dysentery epidemics in 1832-33 and 1847-48 when bodies - most of them unidentified - were burnt before burial to prevent the spread of infection. By 1852 it was declared as "excessively overcrowded" and closed soon after, but the Belfast News Letter described the area as a "hot bed of fever" when there was an outbreak of fever in the surrounding area in 1863: "The dead have been huddled indecently into reeking graves. They have been denied the cheap covering of a little earth, and the natural consequences follow. The living neglect the dead, and the dead come back in the form of noxious vapours and foul disease to plague, and it may be, destroy the living."
by James Bartlett placed on the pit to honour 800 of the dead that rest there, and a ceremony is being planned to pay tribute to the many others. There are other anonymous dead here too; the cemetery is in the wealthy Malone area of Belfast, and in years past there have been many tragic stories of servant girls, maids and mistresses who, terrified of scandal, threw their babies alive and dead - over the wall. The gatekeeper and gravediggers made more than a few gruesome discoveries at dawn.
The cemetery dates back to the 14th and 15th century, and its distinct name also came out of bloodshed. The 1691 and 1793 Penal Laws made the practice of Mass forbidden, Now covered in exotic though there are many herbs and flowers, a stories of brave men plaque was recently crossing the river Lagan
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to lead services for the faithful. In Penal times, as peasant tell, A friar came with book and bell To chant his Mass each Sabbath morn, Beneath Stranmillis trysting thorn From the poem The Friar’s Bush by Joseph Campbell 1905
A large and twisted thorn tree - the "Friar’s Thorn" - stands in the spot where these secret "Mass Station" ceremonies were carried out, and the story goes that one morning a friar was murdered - some say by a shot to the heart, some say by being hung from the very tree he had been preaching under.
Regardless of which tale is true, the nearby "Friar’s Stone" is the reputed resting place of the murdered friar, although the more likely explanation for the A.D. 485 marking is that it’s the work of a sneaky Victorian antiquarian. Even in modern times
Friar’s Bush has had the power to scare people away; plans to widen the busy Stranmillis Road outside were swiftly quashed when it was rumoured that disturbing the plaguey pit might release something other than dead spirits back into the city.
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Today, thousands of people pass by one of the oldest cemeteries in Ireland without realizing that King William of Orange rode past en route to the Boyne, and St. Patrick himself was rumoured to have built a church here.
IN THE NEXT ISSUE Life in Victorian Belfast The Old Poor House and Cemetery
Streets and Lanes of Old Belfast ... And Much, Much More
ON SALE FEBRUARY 2009
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Victorian Newspaper Oddities Weekly Northern Whig, April 1875
A Man Burned to death A Farmer named Edward Gready went to Banagher and returned home in the afternoon under the influence of drink. Soon after his arrival he quarrelled with his wife and the woman was obliged to retire to a neighbours house for safety. On her return the next day the entire building and out-offices, including her unfortunate husband were turned to ashes. Several sheep and lambs and a quantity of hay, wool and grain were also consumed. Weekly Northern Whig, September 1881
Malicious killing of a horse a strange case Alexander Young, a labourer, was indicted for having on the 12th September, feloniously and maliciously killed a horse, the property of Henry Holland, at Cabra, near Armagh. Head Constable Magee, Armagh, deposed that on the date in question Alexander Young and Henry Holland came to the barracks about eight o’clock in the morning. They stated that they went out that morning to draw hay from a farm from which a man named Watt had been evicted. They said that while passing Watts house they were fired at out of the window and the horse was shot. They also stated that they ran away the moment they heard the shot and did not know at the time whether the horse had been shot dead. The witnesses then went to Cabra and there found the horse lying dead under the cart and between the shafts. They saw three holes in the horse, over the heart, and about an inch apart. He got some "colfin"or wadding which was part of a newspaper lying on the ground just beside the spot where the horse lay. They unloaded the hay and just as they took the last of it off the cart they found piece of a newspaper lying at the bottom of the cart. This piece of paper could
not have been placed where was found after the hay was loaded. On comparing the "colfin" with the newspaper, the scraps were found to correspond exactly with the larger piece. Young shortly afterwards was searched, and four leaden pellets were found in his waistcoat pickets. Young’s hands smelled of, and bore the marks of powder. He accounted for the marks on his hands by saying that he was pushing the cart. The policeman said that a pistol which had been found and the pellets found in the prisoners picket corresponded with the bore of the pistol and also with the two pellets which were found on Young’s person. Henry Holland was examined for the defence and he said he was the owner of the horse and was with the prisoner on the day of the occurrence. He was on the near side leading the horse and the shot was fired from the opposite direction. Young could not have fired the shot. The horse jumped and fell, and witness and Young ran away as fast as they could. At this point a gentleman stood up in court and asked for his pistol back and it transpired that Young had recently worked for this man. The jury retired and quickly returned a verdict of guilty to the charge and Young was sentenced to four months. Weekly Northern Whig, September 1881
Extraordinary Occurrence in Dublin In June 1875 it was reported that a woman named Elisa Cluskey, a poulterer, living in Chatham Street in Dublin fell suddenly in her shop, repeating the words, "I am going". Her daughter, Margaret, aged 21; also fell immediately after her mother. When examined both mother and daughter were found to be dead. Life was extinct before medical aid arrived. It was discovered that several relations of the deceased women died under almost similar circumstances.
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Wife dies from accidental fall
n April 1875, just after Easter, Mary Hamill, died suddenly in her husbands home at 7 Hamill Square near the centre of Belfast. Mary Hamill was around 52 years of age and had been in good health most of her life. On Easter Monday she had complained of a severe headache and a persistent cough, but this would not have been uncommon for the time of year. Despite her illness she decided to go for a short walk with her friend a Miss O’Neill and they returned around six o’clock. Her husband Roger left the house to visit his nephew, leaving his wife with another friend to keep her company. Roger returned just after eight o’clock and found his wife lying on the tiles of the kitchen floor. There was no one there in the house and Roger went to get help from his neighbour Miss O’Neill who had been with his wife earlier. She called in to see his wife and helped him lift her up and then called for the local doctor. When Dr McKee arrived he quickly examined her and pronounced her dead. At the inquest into her death her husband Roger told the coroner that he believed that his wife had spent Easter Monday drinking but although evidence was given that Mary Hamill had had a drink or two of rum on her walk with Miss O’Neill, all her friends
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denied that she was drunk, or was in the habit of getting drunk. The coroner was told that as the women walked towards Ormeau Park, Mary told her friend that she wanted to visit a friend in Eliza Street and there the women had a couple of rums. After the women got home the court was told that Mary had no further drink, which contradicted the evidence given by her husband. The medical evidence confirmed that she was dead by nine o’clock that evening and that the doctor had found a bruise on her forehead and nose, which might have been caused by a fall. His opinion was that death was caused by a fall while labouring under the influence of drink. The jury returned a verdict of the effect that the deceased came to her death from injuries accidentally received despite the evidence given by her friends that she did not have much to drink and that when her friend Mrs Davis came to sit with her that evening she had nothing to drink and did not even smell of drink. It seems in this case the jury believed Roger her husband and not her female friends who again and again denied that Mary Hamill took to the drink on that fateful Easter Monday.
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Castle Place in 1843 (Looking towards what is now Primark)
Ormeau, home of the Marquess of Donegall
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If Terry Can Do It You Can Too! his publication is a ‘tester’ for a new publication and scheme which we at the Glenravel Project are hoping will begin early next year. This new scheme will be called the Belfast History Project and its accompanying magazine will be called Old Belfast. Our aim here is to teach people to do what we do which is to strengthen their own historical project, start a new one or even set themselves up as local historical writers. There are those who may think that this would be a daunting task and would need to be extremely well educated to do this but we want to point out that this is certainly not the case. Take our Project’s co-ordinator Joe Baker for example. He is extremely well known for his local historical work ranging from published books through to his features in the Belfast Telegraph. Joe was kicked out of school barely able to read and write and is entirely self educated! Another example is the late Terry O’Neill. Terry was able to tell brilliant stories but was never able to put them down in writing. He became involved
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in the Glenravel Project and was shown how to put his yarns down in writing and how to present them to a wider audience. Once this was done Terry became a prolific writer on his memories of old Belfast and soon after went on to produce his own book. We have quite a few aims through the Belfast History Project and this is just one of them. The other is the long term creation of a Belfast Historical Society which will meet in the centre of Belfast
free from any sectarian boundaries and which will consist of people with an interest in the history of this city of ours. As previously mentioned this is only an idea at this stage but if you are interested in establishing your own historical project, becoming a local historical writer or becoming involved in the Belfast Historical Society then please feel free to contact us. One of Terry’s articles is printed overleaf.
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Terry O’Neill’s Belfast
PETS
Any pet lovers out there? You know the type who just has to have a dog or a cat, or even both, around the place for companionship. There’s some people I know who I honestly can’t remember not having a dog alongside them every time I meet them even having them in their cars when they are out driving. Ayears ago a hell of a lot of people had cats and the all night howling match’s from the feline choral society on our yard walls at nights were testimony to that. Never hear that hullabaloo at nights now. Perhaps with most homes now being rodent free cats are away down in the popularity stakes these days! There was the time too when almost every household had a pet of some kind. Now it may have been only a goldfish (if you can call a goldfish a pet) but it could have been a dog, rabbit, or even a canary. Big money in fact used to be paid for canaries
that were class singers. The one type that fascinated me when I was a youngster were called Rollers, so called because of their rolling, style of singing. UNUSUAL PET Budgerigars, because some of them were good mimics, were another favourite in many adobes. In fact a there were quite a few homes in our street, including our own, which had one. Of course having a bird was alright unless you had a cat too as the pair didn’t exactly hit it off. I remember hearing a fellow called Billy Flynn who had taken a sudden interest in breeding budgerigars ask a fellow docker why all the birds he was giving him were dying. “The cat keeps killing them” he was told. Now what else did
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our budding Budgie owner expect. I wonder if he ever saw the Tweety Pie cartoons with the perils of grannies canary. Probably not or he would have known better. I know of one man who kept a fox, another who had a lamb and he used to walk along the street with it on a lead like a dog, much to the amusement of the whole district. But the most unusual pet of them all must have been the one owned by ‘Buck’ Alec Robinson, it was........
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weren’t exactly overjoyed to be informed that they had the King Of The Jungle for a neighbour and were demanding action to have it removed to a zoo or something. Of course there couldn’t have been many people in the Docks area who wouldn’t have known of Buck’s unusual pet.
A LION A lad was returning home along York Street at about two a.m. after doing a little bit of after-hours shopping when he inadvertently bumped into an officer of the law. When asked “what have you got in that bag” the lad replied that it was “cats for ‘Buck’ Alec’s lion”.
Of course an examination of the bag confirmed that it contained no provisions of any kind for a lion, unless it was a heavy smoker and ate a lot of chocolates. The court case got a lot of attention from the press and a follow up story claimed that a lot of people in the Sailortown area
I myself personally had met two people who’d had a face to face encounter with it. One of them a man named Peter had went to Buck’s house after a hard nights boozing with him. Assuming Buck Alec had went out to the lavatory he was sitting half sleeping on the sofa when Buck returned from the yard with the lion. Peter didn’t wait for a formal introduction. Thinking he was experiencing the ‘DTs’ from a bad feed of drink he ran screaming from the house. I don’t know what became of Buck’s pet after the furore caused by the newspaper articles, but according to the tales told about it was toothless which if
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true would have made a lie of the rumours that it was fed on a diet of cats. Though I’d never had the pleasure of seeing the beast for myself, I know for a fact that situated in the city centre was a place called ‘Barry’s Amusement Arcade’, where for an admission fee of sixpence you could have witnessed “Buck Alec And His Man Eating Lion” engage in a wrestling match. After the toothless stories and the find in the lads bag would “Mars Bar’s Eating Lion “ not have been more appropriate.
SUNDAY DINNER The ending of the Second World War, brought the false belief that food rationing would end. It didn’t (in fact it lasted until 1954.) But a few families in our street decided nothing was going to deter them from having some of the things they’d been deprived of for years such as chicken for example. And eggs too were in short supply, so it would be nice to have a fresh egg every morning instead of all that tinned dried egg rubbish we’d been getting during the war years. Now the cheeping of little yellow day-old chicks had become a familiar greeting from Mongomery’s and other pet shops in places like Smithfield
market and they were on sale for anyone interested at sixpence a time. So the idea was to buy a number of these fledglings, rear them until they became daily egglayers and again you could always stick one in the pot or oven every so often for a nice Sunday dinner. ROOSTERS A number of families in our district did just that and bought a few dozen of the chicks. A lot of care was needed until they got their feathers and the casualty rate among the birds was pretty high, but eventually our street started to look like an urban chicken ranch. But disappointment was in store for our townee chicken farmers. As the birds got bigger and an empty space where an egg should have been greeted them each morning, realisation dawned that there wasn’t a hen in the bunch. The Ministry Of Food and Agriculture had just dumped their surplus roosters onto the
Old Belfast
open market. So naturally there were no morning fresh eggs and for a couple of years you could expect to be awakened each morning with a loud cock a doodle do. Unscheduled rooster fights were also a daily occurrence and there was trouble too when it came to wringing one’s neck for the cooking pot. Well I mean the household had become so attached to the birds it was like eating the family pet. Anyway after a couple of years the last of the roosters disappeared, never to return. CHEETAH We all love monkeys, don’t we? Well Robbie who lived in Henry Street got one. A chimpanzee. We all called it Cheetah because it looked just like the one in the Tarzan pictures. It was cute and funny and copied all the things it saw us do. We’d gather around it, about a dozen of us, and be awestruck as we watched it smoke a cigarette then drink tea from a cup like a human being. The trouble was it had no manners because
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when it consumed the tea it just dashed the cup to the ground breaking it much to the dismay of the girl who’d brought it out from her mothers prize china collection. The monkey was a great attraction for about a year or two before it started to get a bit of a temper and go buck mad (maybe I guess because of the way we were keeping it going) and started chasing us around the district. Robbie had in a way handed over care of the chimp to a young lad who brought it everywhere with him and whoever he seized it had to get offside fast. Though to my knowledge it never caused injury to any child, it’s owner got so concerned that he finally dispatched it of to the Belfast zoo where I suppose it finished up in what we called the monkey house, but at least it was among it’s own kind. BACKSTABBING In Montgomery pet shop in Smithfield was an Indian mynah bird. Now mynah birds are the worlds greatest mimics. It could imitate exactly the sounds of the traffic passing and even copy the exact voice of the owner and some of his customers, but it’s best one was of the motor cycles from Lindsey’s Motor Cycle shop next door. It could imitate as good as any high quality tape recorder, the roar and revving as the motor-cycles took of. If you’d have closed your eyes you wouldn’t have been able to distinguish between its mimicry and the real thing. In the early seventies, the Browns who lived in Duncairn Parade, also had a mynah bird which they kept outside their door in the summer weather. My son Jim who was a teenager at the
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Old Belfast
time and from his vantage point on our veranda in the high rise flats which was overlooking the Brown residence, taught it to wolf whistle. When he saw a girl approaching he would give one wolf whistle and skip into his bedroom. The mynah would then start wolf whistling and watching through the window Jim would go into hysterics laughing as a bewilder young lady looked around in all directions in a vain attempt to find would greet us with it’s non stop chatter out what gentleman was taken with her whenever we went into it for sweets. I charms. think that was the main reason for us choosing that particular shop. Another human voice mimic was the cockatoo, but the only one of that species I ever encountered was situated on the steps in Belfast Zoo, greeting us as we entered the zoo itself. When to our delight we discovered the talking abilities of this cheeky looking bird, we set about teaching it certain phrase like “What are you looking at you cock-eyed *@//!.” Mynah birds usually didn’t last to long As more effing and blinding phrases in households and like Robbie’s chimp were added to it’s vocabulary, complaints they were packed of to some zoo. The were made and much to the dismay of problem was they were a tape recorder us youngsters, the poor bird was you couldn’t turn of which was very removed, far away from human earshot. embarrassing, especially if you were the Now people have kept all kinds of pets, scandalising type. Not only would the some even snakes and crocodiles, a recipient of your back stabbing find out fellow I know named Joe who lives near they were being talked about, but by who. me has an iguana. Inches long, when he bought it eight years ago, it’s almost four PHRASES feet long and that’s allowing for it having Parrots too were much sought after part of it’s tail removed when an infection because of there ability to copy the set in after an injury The operation was human voice and while not in abundance a costly business, but he has no regrets there were certainly a few to be found in as the iguana is a real hit with his kids homes in Belfast. A shop beside St who play with it when he takes it from Malachy’s school, where I went to as a it’s den for exercise. Looking at it I kid, had one that much to our delight thought, better them than me
Old Belfast
IRISH GREY When I stayed in Glasgow during the last year of World War II a friend of the family we lived with was always inviting me to his house to see, as he called them, his birds. I was pleasantly surprised when I did go discovering that instead of the shed full of pigeons I’d expected, he had a collection of all kinds of tropical birds which he kept in a room purposely built for them. Up to the war he had entered them in shows and he’d the cups and plaques to prove he’d had plenty of success. When I was going back home he made me promise I would get and bring him back a Grey which was a wild bird found in Ireland. He’d always wanted one to add to his collection and said he would pay me well for my trouble. Now he would have been breaking the law (as I would) because it was forbidden to keep these birds in captivity. Anyway I never did keep my promise to him though my aunt Mary’s husband used to catch them for bird fanciers. I don’t know if greys are still around or if they’ve been hunted out of existence. Unfortunately for the grey, they were much in demand by bird fanciers because of their singing qualities. In fact they were often bred with canaries to produce ‘mules’, so called because like their horsy namesake, the offspring of this mating process are infertile. Maybe it’s a bit cruel to keep wild birds locked up in a cage on their own and if people feel they need birds about them for whatever reason maybe they should think along the lines of an aviary.
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PITY As for myself, I don’t have any pets at all now. The last animal we had was a hamster my son Liam dumped on us. It was soft cuddly and lovable but used to go walkabouts exploring the house and would be missing for a day or two, probably down the back of the sofa or some other like place. Fed up with organising search parties looking for it, we found it a new home with a little girl up the Oldpark Road. Last I heard it was doing well and still up to it’s old tricks. I’ve had dogs over the years, the last one being hit by a car and killed. It was as if one of the family had died. Anyone who’s lost a pet will know what I mean. Like I said I don’t have a pet at present, but if I did it would be another dog because a well looked after dog is a friend for life. I remember someone once saying. “If you take in a dog that’s cold and hungry give it a meal and somewhere warm to sleep and treat it with kindness. That dog will never turn on you”. Pity you can’t say the same about people.
Belfast in the War Years A Fascinating Photographic Exhibition Showing Life in the City During the 1940's
FREEMASONS HALL Arthur Square (Cornmarket) Thursday 20th November Friday 21st November Saturday 22nd November 11am - 4pm ADMISSION FREE