Old Belfast 10

10 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

028 9035 1326

glenravel@ashtoncentre.com 028 9020 2100 028 9074 2255 2

www.glenravel.com

Stealing babies, visiting the Soviet Union and the rights to I Buy Anything egular readers will be aware that in recent times we have taken an in-depth look into life in Victorian Belfast.

From this issue on we thought we would use the same idea but bring it a bit more up to date – well just over fifty years ago anyway!

On looking at the old newspapers for the beginning of 1955 we are told on the first front cover of the new year that 1955 was the gayest since the war. It went on to inform us that New Year’s celebrations across the world were the happiest since 1938. Fireworks played a big part in the festivities from China to Rome and the usual large gathering of people were reported in London at St Pauls Cathedral and several thousand attended celebrations at the

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Albert Clock in Belfast. The party was not celebrated in Berlin, which was divided, after fireworks were banned in an incident when they started an air raid scare.

Also in January 1955 the Irish-Soviet Friendship Society invited two men from Belfast to be the guests of the Soviet Government. Mr John Boyd, a writer and broadcaster, and Mr Cathal McCrystal, a leading figure in the Irish language revival movement travelled with four other Irish men for a month’s visit to the Soviet Union. The men travelled extensively in Russia, meeting people identified with Soviet culture, including several of the Asiatic and Caucasian areas of the Union.

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In the local press we were informed that a Belfast woman had been charged with bigamy.

Mary Harris aged 24 was arrested at Wallasey Police Station, Cheshire in England and charged with bigamously marrying a Samuel Traynor in August 1954 while she was still married to her husband Gerald Harris who she had married in 1948.

On the legal front the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by Peter Maginn who was a trader of Smithfield Market. Mr Maginn had started to use the slogan "I Buy Anything" at his premises at Smithfield and another Smithfield trader, Joseph Kavanagh had taken an injunction restraining him from using this slogan. Maginn had appealed against the injunction, claiming there was no evidence

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which would prove that he had made any money from using the slogan and that the injunction should be lifted but the judge agreed that Kavanagh had used the slogan first and for some time. Fifty years later this shop is still using the same well known slogan.

Staying with the courts only this time across the water a 23 year old Belfast man called Peter Gulston who was living in the West Kensington area of London was imprisoned for 15 months when he was found guilty of stealing 98 pairs of nylon stockings. It was revealed in court that Gulston had broken into a shop on the Hammersmith Road in London and had stolen the stockings. He had been drinking heavily with friends and as he passed the shop he saw the nylons and decided that he would steal some for a girl he wanted to impress. He took the stockings back to his house, stole a car and drove to Blackpool to find this girl. He ended up in a fight with the girl and a young man she was with and was arrested in Blackpool. He was found in possession by the police in Blackpool of the large amount of stockings. He told the court that he thought he had stolen two pairs of stockings but when he was arrested he discovered that the boxes contained a large number of stockings. He admitted that it all was quite ridiculous but asked the court for leniency but he had five previous convictions and received this custodial sentence.

Back at the local court room a woman from the White City area was jailed for two years for stealing babies. Mrs Barbara McGeehan, aged 40, had stolen two children, Patrick Berrigan and Elizabeth Browne, in order to fill a desire that she had to have children. The disturbed woman was unable to have children after she had an operation, and had been a consistent offender until she got married and settled down. She then became obsessed with having a child and had duped her husband in

Clearing show in High Street in January 1955

to believing that she was pregnant. At the appropriate time she travelled to Dublin and stole Patrick Berrigan from his pram and returned to Belfast with the baby. Elizabeth Browne was also abducted with no regard for her birth parents, and Mrs McGeehan and her husband looked after the children as if they were their own. Eventually Mrs McGeehan was identified during a huge search for the children and she admitted immediately what she had done. The judge in his sentencing took into account her mental state and also the great consideration that was taken with the children while they were in her care.

In other news police broke into a house in Bloomfield Park in Belfast and discovered the bodies of Mrs Barbara Johnston aged 37 and her 8 year old son John. Both had died as a result of coal gas poisoning and the police had been called when neighbours reported that Mrs Johnston and her child had not been seen for three or four days.

Mrs Wilson, a member of the Transport Committee called for Bellevue Zoo in Belfast to be closed as it was losing tens of thousands of pounds each year. She told the committee that "it was often said that every city had a zoo, but why couldn’t Belfast be the first city to dispense with a zoo".

Alderman Harcourt retorted that the zoo was in a period of redevelopment with thousands of money being invested in larger pens for the animals and also that the zoo was being properly modernised and that visitor figures would increase enormously when the alterations were completed. Today, Belfast zoo is still with us, modernised and very popular.

Councillor T Henderson of Belfast City Council complained that privately owned sites within the city were being allowed to lie derelict.

Since the Second World War sites had been allowed to lie derelict while the developers waited to realise their investment. Meanwhile, Belfast was neglected and the city looked terrible. The council discussed if there was any way that they could force these private owners to improve or build on these sites, in the same way in which Italy had rebuilt its cities after the war. These vacant sites were also losing the city thousands of pounds in lost rates.

Advertisement from January 1955 5

Advertisement from 1897 6

THE OLD POORHOUSE Part 6 AND GRAVEYARD FINAL RESTING PLACE Henry Joy was born in October 1754. He was son to Robert Joy and grandson to Francis Joy, who was the founder of the Belfast Newsletter. He was the proprietor of this newspaper until 1795, and was the owner of the Cromac Paper Mills which stood near the present Ormeau Avenue.

He was also an active member of the committee of the Belfast Charitable Society, a Society which his father helped to begin.

His aunt was Ann Joy, who married Captian John

McCracken, and among their children were Henry Joy and Mary Ann McCracken.

Henry Joy lived in a large stately home, which stood near the top of the present Cliftonville Road, named ‘The Lodge’. It was from this house that the New Lodge got its name, after the road which was built to lead to it. He later moved from ‘The Lodge’ to a large house in Donegall Place and it was here that he died on the 15th of April, 1835.

The Ward family were the owners of a business in Belfast which went on to become one

of the largest printing firms in the British Isles, which was called Marcus Ward & Co., and which had offices in London and New York. Apart from printing, the company also manufactured artistic books, pictures, leather goods, colour printing and various sorts of stationary.

One of their inventions is still very much in use to this day the Christmas card!

Dr Andrew Marshall began his medical career as a naval surgeon. In 1805 he came to Belfast and entered into partnership with James Drummond as an apothecary

The Lodge

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The firm Dunville & Co. Ltd was a leading whiskey distillery in Belfast for much of the 1800’s and early 1900’s.

It was all started by John Dunville who began his career by being apprenticed to William Napier, who owned a distillery in Bank Lane. John Dunville later became a partner with Napier in 1808, and in 1825 the firm became Dunville & Co. The firm was also a leading tea merchants in Ireland, but this was given up in the 1860s as more space was needed for whiskey. John Dunville died on the 21st of March, 1851, at the age of 65 years.

in High Street. He was the first secretary and treasurer of the Belfast Medical Society which was founded in 1806, and soon after he became surgeon to the Fever Hospital and later the Poor-house.

Andrew Marshall also took an active part in the founding of the General Hospital in Frederick Street, and was its first consulting surgeon. This hospital later moved and changed its name to the Royal Victoria Hospital.

Thomas Mulholland and his son Andrew started business as manufacturers of calico and muslin at the beginning of the 1800s. They later purchased a 8

cotton mill which stood in Winetavern Street and soon after bought ‘McCracken’s Mill’ which stood in Francis Street. By the 1820’s Andrew had built a cotton mill in York Street which, after being burnt down in 1828, was rebuilt as a linen factory.

This factory went on to become the world famous York Street Flax Spinning Company Ltd, which remained the property of the Mulholland family until it was destroyed by the German Luftwaffe during a bombing raid in 1941.

This vault is the burying place of the Dunville family.

John Ritchie came to Belfast in January, 1807, to carry on the shipyard which had been started in the town by his younger brother, Hugh, and which stood on the south side of Pilot Street. It appears that John Ritchie did not enter into any of the public movements and on his death a short announcement appeared in the local press.

His brother Hugh is also buried in this graveyard (next to the grave of Henry Joy McCracken). He is buried along with his brother William who, it is said, brought shipbuilding to the town of Belfast around the year 1792.

He died in 1834.

William Ritchie

STRANGERS GROUND. (CHOLERA GROUND ) This is a large stretch of ground at the lower part of the Upper Ground. It was used for the burial of paupers, strangers and epidemic victims. It is unknown how many people are buried in this ground, but given the fact that it was used as a ‘mass grave’ twice in the mid- nineteenth century, the numbers are, without doubt, into the thousands.

This ground is the burying place of Jane and Mary McClement, both of whom died as a result of suffocation by gas in their home in June, 1878.

The following newspaper report is from the Belfast Newsletter of July 1st 1878.

DEATH OF TWO SISTERS FROM SUFFOCATION. Dr. Dill, Borough Coroner, held an inquest on Saturday evening, in Mr. McIlheaney’s

public-house, Old Lodge Road, on the bodies of Jane and Mary McClement, aged respectively 82 and 77.

The deceased persons were unmarried, and resided at 100, Crumlin Place, Crumlin Road, the only other occupant of the house being a servant girl.

They slept together in the attic of the house for some days previous to this occurrence, and on Friday night went to bed at the usual time. About four o’clock the following morning the servant, who slept in an adjoining apartment, heard one of the deceased moaning. She went to the bedroom door and asked what was wrong, and the younger sister replied, “Jane won’t speak to me.” She then attempted to open the door, but was unable to do so, it being locked according to the habit of the ladies. She again retired to bed, and at six o’clock got up to admit some workmen who were painting and papering the premises. About half an hour afterwards she went to the deceaseds’ room to awaken Miss Mary, who usually arose at seven o’clock.

The other sister was in the habit of sleeping till eleven o’clock. The servant knocked at the door for some time, and failing to get admission of any answer, she endeavoured again to force the door, but her 9

Strangers Ground

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efforts were fruitless. Fearing that something was wrong, she at once went to the Landscape Terrace Police Barracks, and there gave information to the matter. Sub Constable O’Brien proceeded to the house, and on forcing an entrance into the deceaseds’ bed-room found them both dead. They were lying together in the bed, one body was cold and the other quite warm, as if death had taken place within a few minutes. It was also given in evidence that a gaslight in the front room had been removed a day of two previous by one of the workmen, and on putting it up again the pipe had not been properly connected, thus allowing a considerable escape. Dr. John Moore deposed that he had examined the bodies of the deceased. He belived that they had suffocated by an escape of gas, accelrated by a want of ventilation and the closeness of the atmosphere in the bedroom. The jury returned a verdict to that effect. The deceased ladies were old inhabitants of Belfast, and were greatly respected and esteemed.

Micheal Andrews began business in 1810 as a linen manufacturer in York Street.

As he prospered he secured land in the townland of

Michael Andrews

Edenderry, and later he built a large mill on the site with houses for those who worked in it. Soon after he bought a large house from Edward Smith, in the same area which he named ‘Ardoyne’, in remembrance of a townland near his native Comber, and it was from this house that the area around his mill got its name. After his death the mill was taken over by his son, Thomas. Thomas died in 1875, and his brother George then took over the running of the mill.

The mill continued work until around 1923, and in 1934 the mill and the buildings around it were demolished to make room for the building of a new housing estate which today is known as ‘Ardoyne’.

Erected by the shipwrights of [ ] In memory of Robert Morrison, shipwright who was assasinated by a Portuguise sailor 22nd of April 1810 in the 23rd year of his age 11

The name of the sailor who murdered Robert Morrison was Antonio De Silva, who was later hanged for his crime.

The following report on his hanging is taken from George Benn’s History of Belfast which was published in 1880: “A trial, followed by a conviction for murder, caused much commotion in Belfast in 1810. A ship carpenter called Morrison had a dispute with a Portuguese sailor, one of the crew of an American ship in the habour. The Portuguese, whose name was Antonio de Silva, stabbed him to the heart with a dagger near Prince’s Street. He was tried and condemned for the crime at the Summer Assizes. He was conveyed to the place of execution, which was at that period about a mile from Carrickfergus, attended by an immense concourse of spectators. So great was the crowd, as was the custom of the time, that though the distance was so short, it required an hour to reach it.

The apparatus then consisted of three tall columns, with a cross beam to which the rope was attached. They stood on the bare sea-shore, and were familiary known by the name of the Three Sisters. The criminal was dressed in a white surplice, by his own particular desire, and accompanied by 12

two Roman Catholic priests.

Through Mr. Redfern, of Belfast, who spoke his language, and who had been interpreter for him at his trial, he denied his guilt.”

William Courtney was born in Belfast in 1809. He later left Ireland and settled in America, where he became a leading merchant in New Orleans. He died in England on the 1st of November, 1848, and the following is recorded in the registry book on his cause of death: ‘Came from America to England for the benefit of his health and died there’.

Edward Benn lived in ‘Glenravel House’ which stood in Glenravel, in the Glens of Antrim. Over the years he had developed an iron ore workings as well as a brewing business. In Belfast he was responsible for a lot of charitable work which included the building of two extensions to the poor-house (which remain to this day at Clifton House) as well as the building of the Samaritan Hospital on the Lisburn Road, the Ear, Eye and Throat Hospital on Clifton Street and the skin hospital on Glenravel Street (a street named after his home). Born in Co Armagh in 1798, he died at Glenravel on the 3rd of August, 1874.

His brother, George Benn (1801-1882), was a wellknown Belfast historian who wrote a number of books on Belfast history; books which are still being used to this day.

The following report on the funeral of Edward Benn is taken from the Belfast Newsletter 0f August 8th, 1874: FUNERAL OF THE LATE EDWARD BENN, ESQ. The remains of this muchrespected and deeply lamented gentleman were conveyed from his late residence; Glenravel House, Ballymena, and interred in the New Burying Ground, Clifton Street, yesterday morning. At about half past ten o’clock, the coffin, which was of very fine French-polished oak, with massive brass enrichments, bearing the following inscription:EDWARD BENN Died 3rd August 1874, Aged 76 years. arrived at the Northern Counties Railway Terminus, York Road, and was conveyed to a hearse in waiting. Shortly after eleven o’clock the funeral cortege started from the station for the place of interment. The hearse,which was drawn by four horses, was followed by a large number of mourning coaches and private carriages.

In the foremost of the former

The old Benn Hospital at the junction of Clifton Street and Glenravel Street around 1895 sat the chief mourners, George Benn, Esq, brother of the deceased, John F. Hodges, Esq, M.D. brother-in-law of the deceased; and Frederick Hodges, Esq. The attendance was very large and highly influential, and represented the committees of the several charities to which the deceased had so generously contributednamely, the Committee of the Ulster Eye and Ear Hospital, which was built entirely at his expense; the Committee of the Hospital for the Treatment of Skin Diseases, at present being built at his expense; the Committee of the Charitable Institution, to which has been added two new wings, the cost of one of which was defrayed

by Mr. Benn; the Committee of

the Belfast General Hospital, to which he bequeathed ÂŁ1,000; the Committee of the Samaritan Hospital for Women and Children, now being erected on the Lisburn Road at his sole expense; and the Committee of the Royal Academical Institution, to which he left a collection of antiquities said to be the best private collection in the North of Ireland, together with ÂŁ1,000 to erect a suitable building for their reception. Other charities which had shared his benevolence in the same uncatentatious but truly practical manner showed their appreciation of the more than ordinary ( ) they had sustained in the person of Mr. Benn by following his remains

to their last resting place.

The town and Corporation were represented by the Mayor (James Alexander Henderson, Esq, J.P.) and several members of the Council. Sir James Hamilton represented the Harbour Board. There was also present a large number of the leading merchants and clergymen of the town to pay the last tribute of respect to the memory of the departed gentleman. The funeral cortege passed through York Street, Donegall Street, and Clifton Street. On arriving at the burying ground the coffin was borne to the grave. The remains of the departed gentleman having been consigned to their last resting place.

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Advertisement from the mid 1890’s 14

BRUTAL COUNTY DOWN MURDER Miss Ellen Maguire, aged 78, was found strangled, bound and gagged in her lonely cottage at Drumadoney near Dromara in February 1931. Miss Maguire, who was an old age pensioner, had a large sum of gold and cash in her house when her house was broken into, ransacked, and her body left in a passage behind the front door. Her body was not found until the next day when a neighbour’s daughter called to deliver some bread for the old woman and when she could not get anyone to answer the door she ran home and alerted her father.

When he also could not gain entry he climbed through a small window and found the woman dead.

Immediately the police were called and they arrived at the house finding Miss Maguire fully dressed, with the exception of a slipper, which was near the kitchen fire. In her bedroom the police found that a trunk had been opened and clothes which were in it had been tossed around the room. The bed was disarranged, the clothes being turned down as if someone had been looking under the pillows.

Within days it came to the notice of the local police that two men had been seen in the area between five and seven o’clock. The men had no money on them but it was reported that by 10.15 that evening they were flush with money.

No one had seen the men between seven and ten o’clock and they soon became the chief suspects. The men at 10.15pm on the night of the murder were offering three sovereigns for a pound in order that they could make their escape to Dundalk. The men travelled to Dundalk were they were arrested in a house by the Civic Guards. When the men were arrested the police found two bundles of stolen gold, 21 sovereigns and six half sovereigns each.

The men arrested were Francis Morrison aged 20 from Ballynahinch and Gerald Kennedy aged 25 from Athlone, and it was decided that the men would be tried separately due to confessions and statements made by Francis Morrison. Morrison came to trial first and it took the jury at his trial only 55 minutes to return a verdict of guilty. Morrison stated his innocence that he was not guilty of murder, he had admitted going to her house to steal from her, had only intended to tie her up, but she had died when she suffocated due to the gag that they had put in her mouth. The judge would not consider that the charge be reduced to manslaughter and he was sentenced to hang on 23rd April 1931.

In April of 1931 Kennedy appeared in court charged with the murder of Eileen Maguire but after one hour the jury returned to the court stating that it would be useless for them to give further considerations to the evidence put before them, as there was no hope of them agreeing. Kennedy then had to stand trial again at the Summer Assizes of 1931. At his second trial it took the jury less than 30 minutes to return a verdict of guilty, accompanying it with a recommendation to mercy. When the Lord Chief Justice asked Kennedy of he had anything to say why sentence of death should not be passed upon him there was a deadly silence, which seemed to last for minutes and then Kennedy replied:I will say this my Lord, I have been found guilty of a crime which I never committed, If you do sentence me to death I would sooner the death sentence was carried out. I hope I will get better justice in the next world.

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There was a stunned silence in the court as the actual crime scene. The jury accepted that two Judge fixed the date of execution for August footprints found at the house of Miss Maguire 5th 1931. belonged to the two men despite the police being unable to match the prints to the men’s This case was a sensation in its time due not footwear. only to the fact that the men were tried independently, with evidence from each trial Before Kennedy came to trial the death being used in the other, but also due to the lack sentence given to Francis Morrison was of forensic evidence available to the commutated to one of penal servitude for life. prosecution. The police were able to prove that Again, in the case of Kennedy, the Cabinet of the two men knew each other and had spend Northern Ireland, advised his Grace the the night together before the crime but really Governor of Northern Ireland to commute the all the police had to work on at the time was sentence to one of penal servitude for life. that the crime had been committed by two men. Without a doubt it would have been a travesty Morrison and Kennedy had the money but the of justice had Kennedy been executed after police were unable to link the two men to the Morrison had his sentence commuted.

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A melancholy accident at Carrickfergus Elaine Hogg

n Monday the 22nd April 1889 a very sad accident occurred in Carrickfergus. The freak accident caused the death of a young woman and her male companion was seriously injured.

On the morning of the 22nd of April Margaret O’Donnell rose late, as it was her day off. She planned to take a day trip to Larne with a number of associates. The group of friends left for Larne around 10am on the holiday seeker special train. Among them was a man, Robert McClure, a stonemason by trade and, in recent months a close companion of Margaret O’Donnell. Margaret worked as a domestic servant in the home of a well-known Carrickfergus family, the Sproulls. The group had a great day out and they all returned by the special train which was timed to leave Larne around nine o’clock that night, but which did not reach Carrickfergus until well after ten o’clock. The group had had a long day, were all tired from their short holiday and keen to get home.

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The train came to a standstill outside the station at Carrickfergus to allow a train coming from Belfast to get out of the way so that it could pull into the station. Margaret and Robert were impatient to get home and as it was getting late they decided to get out of the train before it continued on to the station. They were hoping to save some time by walking along the line in the direction of the station and to reach the station before the train. As they were walking along the side of the line, just before the station, they accidentally walked over the wall, which supports the Larne end of the railway bridge that spans the North Road in Carrickfergus.

It was very dark along that stretch of the track and the couple fell around 20ft on to the road below.

road. Mary dragged Margaret over to the side of the road and while she was doing this Robert came to, and managed to get up but he was disorientated and moaning in pain. He set off down the road as if he was continuing on his journey, and then stopped, as if remembering where he was and came back looking for Margaret. He saw Mary watching him and asked her if she had seen a young lady, and Mary showed him where she had laid Margaret, her head resting in a pool of blood.

Margaret was unconscious and breathing heavily and Mary decided to go and find help.

She quickly made her way into town where she met two men that she knew. Mary went straight to the police station where she alerted the police and one of the men set off the A local lady, Mary Boyle, was get the local doctor. walking down the North Road shortly after 10.30pm when The police arrived at the after passing below the bridge location of the accident a short she heard the sound of time later but Margaret died something falling heavily before the doctor got to the behind her. She went back and scene. Robert was lucid found Robert and Margaret enough to be able to identify lying on the left side of the Margaret to the police but he 17

was almost passing out with the pain in his back and hand.

Margaret was carried to the nearest pub where Dr Patrick immediately examined her and declared her dead. Her body was then brought to the Carrickfergus courthouse where an inquest was held.

At the inquest the coroner heard from another witness, William McFerran. McFerran had come across the couple lying in the road after Mary had gone for help. Robert had told him what had happened and that he thought he had broken his back and hand.

Margaret was barely alive and Robert was very shaken. He stayed with Robert and sent away a couple of drunks who had arrived to see what was 18

going on as they were on their way home from a night out in Carrickfergus.

Dr Patrick was then called to give evidence and stated that when he arrived Margaret was already dead. He examined her body and found a contused wound on her left temple but there was no fracture of the arch of the skull. He believed that there was a fracture on the base of the skull, which was the cause of death. The injury was such as would be caused by the body falling 20ft.

Margaret’s employer Mrs Sproull was called and formally identified the body for the coroner. She told the inquest that Margaret was aged 30 and was single. She had worked for her family for over

two years and usually got Mondays off. On that day she had left the Sproull house in the morning after breakfast and they expected her back before 11pm. She did not return and it was the next day before they heard of what had happened to her. Mrs Sproull told the inquest that Margaret was a conscientious and loyal employee.

The witness statements concluded and the jury retired to consider all the evidence.

They quickly returned a verdict to the effect that Margaret died from the injuries she accidentally received when she fell from the railway line.

Robert McClure made a complete recovery from this tragic accident.

Big Explosion in Belfast n the 13th January 1937 a huge explosion caused buildings to shake, windows and doors of houses to rattle, and pictures to fall from the walls of houses throughout Belfast. At first no one seemed to know where the blast had happened as the strength of the explosion seemed to centre in the Donegall Road, Lisburn Road and Malone Road areas.

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So severe was the blast that many people throughout the city contacted their local fire brigades and police stations to report the explosion. The blast was heard from Dunmurry to Bellevue but no one could say in which direction the sound came from.

Alarmed residents on the Malone Road reported that the sound came from the Donegall Road and Lisburn Road residents concurred but nothing was found. A railwayman on duty at the Adelaide halt had been so alarmed by the explosion while sitting in the dining room at the G.N.R. sheds that he thought the roof of the

building was going to collapse.

Attention was drawn to the Bog meadows area between the Donegall Road the Lisburn Road by the significantly large numbers of reports form that area.

Recently police raids had taken place in this area as the police were looking for arms and one theory was that someone in possession of explosives had become worried as a result of the raids and had attempted to dispose of their illegal items in the Bog Meadows. Another theory was that someone had set off a rocket. Sound rockets gave off a deafening report which could have been heard for over 15 miles and so this was another theory that was investigated by the authorities.

Elaine Hogg

The mystery was finally solved a few days later with the discovery of a huge cavity in a field in the Bog Meadows.

The actual location could not be examined for fear that other explosions would be set off. The hole was 30ft in circumference, the sides scarred and irregular, and there was a considerable amount of loose soil still covering the newly disclosed surface.

Large slabs of earth and stones were strewn on the ground and shrubs and trees in close proximity were burnt.

A number of used cartridges were found nearby by the police and it was believed that the explosion was caused by an ammunition dump being The police thought that it was set off. either a gas explosion or else that work that was being The official police report carried out at the Glen Road stated that during raids in the Quarry had continued into the Rodney Parade area of the night when local residents Falls they had alerted men would not have been used to with ammunitions and the sound of explosives and explosives who got rid of the that the blast was intensified remaining items by exploding by the quiet of the night. them in the Bog Meadows.

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Pisa Street Tragedy

On April 6th 1911 the inquest took place into the sudden death of Richardson Allen and his wife Alice, who lived on the corner of Pisa Street and Turin Street where they ran a small grocery business and lived above the premises.

The couple were found dead by the local police who been alerted by neighbours when their local shop hadn’t been open for business for two days.

The couples last hours were related to the coroners court by neighbours and family. The first witness called to the court was Annie Henry, Alice Allen’s sister. She was from Coolnasallagh, near Maghera in County Derry and had travelled up to Belfast to give evidence. She confirmed that the female body found in the house was that of her sister and she verified that she was around 36 years of age. She had not seen her sister for about a year before her death but she kept in contact with her sister. She told the court that her sister and brother in law Richardson were on good terms, they had been married for 7 years and neither of them took any alcohol. Annie added in her evidence that she had received a friendly St Patricks 20

Day card from her sister just a few weeks earlier.

The couple who were originally from the country, had moved to Belfast after their marriage, and set up the grocery business from which they made their living. Both of them had in the past worked in hotels and in the service industry. Mrs Mary Bell, the sister of Richardson Allen was the next witness called and she had seen the couple on the day before they died. Mrs Bell lived in Boxburgh Street and had spent the evening with her brother and sister in law. She had noticed that the couple were both happy and jolly but that the front room of their house was ‘stoven’ with gas and when Mary Bell went to turn down the screw to adjust the gas level she seemed to have fixed it. Mrs Allen told her that she would put some soap on it until Monday when she could get someone to look at it from the Corporation.

Mary Bell also told the court that all the keyholes in the house were stuffed with paper, to keep outs the draughts which were very strong.

Mary Bell left the Allen house just before 10pm and at 11.15pm the last person to see

Elaine Hogg the couple alive came into their shop to buy some vegetables.

Mrs Ellen Stewart lived on Pisa Street and she shared a few jokes with the couple before leaving with her purchases; the shop was then closed up.

Mrs Stewart went back to the shop the next day but it was closed, and when it remained closed for another day she alerted the local police who called out to the scene and procured a key and let themselves in.

The first thing they noticed was a strong smell of gas.

Constable Bernard Doherty was the first on the scene and realising immediately that there was something wrong he rushed to cut off the gas supply. He then went upstairs and into the back room where he found the couple, lying dead on the bed.

When the police looked around the house they discovered that the brackets which controlled the flow of gas into the house were missing, and the police found the use of recent papers

crumpled up and used to close off all holes in doors and key holes was a little strange. On further investigation they found that a large sum of £19 had been withdrawn from the couples bank account a few weeks earlier but they could find no evidence that either someone would want to harm the pleasant and popular couple or that either of the Allen’s were in a state of mind to take their lives.

In summing up all the evidence the coroner said that it was very sad case, and he tendered his sympathy to their families.

He thought that the jury should agree with him that it was an extraordinary case of accidental poisoning. The only explanation he could come to, under advice from the Corporation Gas expert was that the gas had been turned on the wrong way and he recommended that in the future the Corporation should supervise on all fittings concerning gas and that regular checks should be made to ensure, in particular in rented premises each new tenancy should go with a gas inspection, that there were no faults in the system.

The jury returned a verdict of accidental death from coal gas poisoning as a result of fumes escaping from imperfect gas fittings in the Allen’s bedroom.

Mystery Man in Belfast A man claiming to be James Whittaker, a successful author, wandered into Donegall Pass Barracks on 13th October 1936.

He had cuts on his hands and was in a hungry and weary condition and appeared to be suffering form partial loss of memory.

Mr Whittaker had given many talks in London about the question of unemployment in the 1930s and the global depression.

He gave a London address to the police and this address was verified. A number of people of Belfast volunteered help to Mr Whittaker such was his fame and assistance was given to enable him to return to England. He was unable to tell the police how he came to be in Belfast and they could not find out how he had travelled from London to Belfast.

It was later confirmed that it was indeed the famous author James Whittaker.

Barman gassed in scullery Paul McKenna, a 23 year old barman of Forfar Street in Belfast was found dead in the scullery of his house by his young wife.

Mr McKenna had been attending a meeting of barmen in Victoria Street in the city after been made redundant four weeks earlier. He had been in good spirits and looking forward to a night out with his old friends and his wife had not been over duly worried about him. Since he had lost his job he had been a little depressed but he had perked up as he looked forward to a night out with the boys.

When his wife awoke at around 4.40am on the 7th October 1936 her husband was not in bed beside her and she became concerned. She got up went downstairs to see if he had fallen asleep in the kitchen but when she did not find him there she went into the scullery and was shocked to find him dead with the gas stove turned on. There was a note pinned to the wall which bid farewell to his mother and wife. Death from coal gas poisoning while temporarily insane was the verdict recorded at the inquest. At no time had his wife heard her husband threatend to take his life.

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OLD BELFAST IN PICTURES

ABOVE - An unthinkable sight today. Children playing in the river in the Belfast Waterworks on the Antrim Road. 1975 RIGHT - Telford's at Donegall Quay in 1976

Two ladies (Masie and Rebecca) pictured in Rowland Street during its demolition in 1976. Both lived here for most of their lives 22

Two Morris Minors collide on the Sydenham By-Pass with one driver A crane becomes a victim of high getting first aid (right) 1976 winds in Howard Street in 1975 Shankill Road 1976

The old Queen’s Quay Railways Station shortly before being demolished 23

Women operating power looms in the Brookfield Linen Co., Crumlin Road. 1911

Women operating plain looms in the Brookfield Linen Co., Crumlin Road. 1911 24

Wet spinning in William Ewart and Son, Crumlin Road.

10th October 1930

Women preparing power looms for plain weaving in the Brookfield Linen Co., 10th October 1930 25

1902 POLICE REPORTS

Assault and Robbery In March 1902 Matthew Adams was convicted of assault and theft on Thomas Bryson near Limavady. Adams had assaulted Bryson by beating him about the head causing severe wounds, intimidating Bryson and then he stole over £32 from him. Adams had pleaded not guilty but the jury returned their verdict of guilty within one hour and he was sentenced to seven years penal servitude.

Matthew Adams was convicted of assault and theft on Thomas Bryson Linen Robbery John Harvey and John Neill were charged with breaking and entering the premises of Thomas Sullivan on Great Victoria Street in Belfast in February 1902 and stealing a large hamper containing a quantity of linen cambric to the value in excess of £22. James Donnelly and Robert Morrison were also charged with receiving the goods knowing them to have been stolen. The goods in question had been sent to Mr Sullivan for finishing; the work had been 26

completed and then the linens were packed into the hamper which was taken from the premises by the accused. Harvey and Neill had been seen in a pub in Wellwood Street near to Great Victoria Street with the stolen hamper. They had unpacked the goods and were redistributing the linen into packages and some were put back into the hamper. They then hired a hack car which they took with the hamper to Townsend Street where they were left off at Morrison’s home who owned a second hand clothes shop nearby. The police were alerted to the theft and after a tip off they searched the home of Donnelly where they found the bulk of the stolen linen, still in the hamper. A search of Morrison’s shop resulted in more of the stolen linen being recovered but much of the linen had already been sold on. When Donnelly was arrested he claimed that he had bought the linen from Morrison and he was unaware that it had been stolen, he claimed that he often bought linen from Morrison; he had a number of clients who he sold the linen to in what he claimed was a legitimate business. Neill and Harvey pleaded guilty to the theft of the goods and were sentenced to three years in jail; both men implicated Morrison and Donnelly in the offence. Morrison and Donnelly pleaded not guilty and evidence was given to the previous good character of Donnelly and Morrison and that they had bought the goods believing them to be bona fide. Neither of the men had been in the court before and the police had not received any complaints about the men. The judge in his summing up believed that Morrison’s guilt was more evident that Donnelly but he believed that both men had received the goods knowing them to be stolen.

The judge also passed his opinion that there

was an alarming amount of systematic thieving going on in Belfast at that time and that it all seemed to centre on the act of duplicate keys being passed around the city. In conclusion the judge said the worst criminals in cases of this kind were the ‘fences’ or men who made the receiving of stolen goods a business, without them there would be no demand for stolen goods. The jury after a very brief consultation found both men guilty and they were sentenced also to three years in jail.

A Galway boy in the dock Thomas Murphy was charged for stealing a pair of boots which belonged to David Cassels. The boots were taken from the door of Cassel’s shop in Sandy Row on the night of the 22nd February 1902. The jury convicted Murphy who said he came from Salthill in Galway and had belonged to the Dublin Fusiliers Militia. The boy was only 21 years old and he had no previous convictions and he appeared to have been stranded in Belfast without any money. The magistrate said he would deal with Murphy under the First Offenders Act and allow him out on his own recognisance. The judge directed that the boy was to be sent back to his family in Galway.

Housebreaking Alexander Major and Martha Fraser were charged with breaking and entering the home of Samuel Hynes of 7 Major Street in January 1902 and stealing a watch and other articles and Martha was charged with receiving the goods knowing them to have been stolen.

Samuel Hynes had returned home with his wife on the evening the robbery took place and discovered the goods missing. There was no sign of a break in and he concluded that the thief had used a false key. He knew Alex Major as he had helped him move his furniture when

he moved into the house in Major Street. Mr Hynes daughter who had been in the house when the robbery took place was able to identify Majors voice which she heard during the robbery; she had met him before at their home. Hugh McKillen who was a pawnbroker’s assistant in Belfast was able to identify Martha Fraser as the woman who had come to the shop to pawn a watch, identified in court as belonging to Mr Hynes. The judge directed the jury by stating how he did not like the use of false keys in Belfast. People could not always be on the lookout he told them, and it was very alarming and serious that the humble premises of decent workmen should be invaded by thieves working with false keys, their little property being stolen. The jury found both Major and Fraser guilty and Major was sentenced to six months in jail with hard labour.

Martha Fraser who had a very long record with the court for drunkenness and stealing received a four month sentence.

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During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Irish papers closely followed the crime trials of Irish emigrants to America. The papers were full of accounts of Irish people who were murdered as well as those with Irish connections who had carried out such savage acts.

Matricide of Irish woman in New York State Mrs Ann Morrissey was about fifty-five years of age and had lived many years in Buffalo. She was a small, slightly built woman, and although her hair had not gone grey, her face showed signs of ageing and a life of hard labour. She was a hard-working woman, thrifty and was at times slightly addicted to drink and of a rather irritable nature; but generally she kept a clean and peaceful house and was popular with the people that she and her family depended on for success in her business of maintaining a boarding house. She had three daughters, and one son, Patrick, at whose hands she met her death. Two of the daughters were married, and were very respectable people in their community. The third daughter was young and unmarried. These were all her offspring by her first husband. After his death she married another man, John Holey, who left her in around 1870, she reassuming the name of Morrissey when he had gone.

Patrick Morrissey was about twenty-nine years of age. He was born in County Tipperary, Ireland and came to America and to New York, with his mother when he was six years old. In his younger days his occupation was that of a ferry boy on the creek; when old enough he became a sailor. He was a strongly-made, thick-set fellow, about five feet and three inches in height. He had dark hair and a smooth red face which was due to his addiction to drink - these features made people fearful of him. Pat Morrissey's reputation had for a long time been very bad. Previous to this episode he was

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considered capable of almost any badness. Commencing his career of crime early in life, he was convicted of stealing when he was twelve years of age; and he spent some time at the local the New York State House of Refuge where young criminals of the day were sent. In 1869 he was convicted of burglary and larceny, and was sentenced to the state prison for three years and six months. After serving just seven months in Auburn prison he was pardoned by the governor. About a year previous to this terrible crime he was implicated in a robbery, and to escape the law he fled from the city. At New York he shipped and sailed to South America, then to Liverpool, and then back again to the USA, just one week before he murdered his mother Mrs. Morrissey’s boarding house occupied a part of the rear portion of Pratt & Co's building in the city of Buffalo, her premises fronting the footpath. The place accommodated a dozen boarders, respectable labouring men and women.

At noon on the day of the murder, Patrick Morrissey returned to his mother's house, and stayed a little while he had something to eat. No trouble occurred between mother and son and Pat soon went away. At two o'clock Mrs. Morrissey was preparing the dinner table for her boarders. She had in her hand for the purpose of cutting meat, a carving knife with black wooden handle and a blade six and a half inches long, receding to quite a sharp point. An old woman named Angeline Springston, employed as cook was in the kitchen, the door connecting it with the dining room being open. In the bar-room were seated Robert Blackledge, John Burke, John O'Brien, and another man, all boarders.

At this time Patrick again entered. He was seemingly drunk and in a very ugly humour. Entering the dining room he began abusing his mother. She told him to go away or she would send for the police, and then, he knocked her down when she refused his requests for money. Undaunted she got to her feet screaming; "you had better kill your mother and be done with it." Morrissey then seized the carving knife from her hand and with a blow delivered with savage strength drove it in her left breast. No one saw the blow delivered, but the cook coming out of the kitchen saw him throw the bloody knife on the table. The mother uttered a cry and staggered as far as the door where she fell into the arms of Blackledge. Blood came from her mouth and blood from her wound left a trail across the floor, but the haemorrhage was mostly internal. Standing at her side Patrick exclaimed, "My God, I've killed my mother; I've done it, I've done it." Not yet knowing the nature of her injury Blackledge and Burke carried her upstairs. The young man O'Brien ran to the police station. Noticing the unusual excitement about the place patrolman Boyle entered to find out what all the noise was about. He was told that it was only a family quarrel, but he went upstairs to see what was the matter with Mrs Morrissey and found her dead. She died in less than five minutes after the blow was struck.

While Boyle was upstairs, O'Brien returned with a policeman who arrested Patrick Morrissey.

On September 6th 1872, Buffalo sheriff — and future U.S. President — Grover Cleveland personally sprang the trap to hang Patrick Morrissey.

Morrissey’s drunken altercation with his widowed mother, that led to a stabbing, that led him to the gallows, would obviously be lost to history but for his accidental association with the man who would become a US president 12 years later. It was the duty of the local sheriff to hang Patrick. The young sheriff went home to his mother Ann, widow of a Presbyterian parson, in Holland Patent; N. Y., to ask what he should do. She advised him to pay a deputy $10 to act as hangman. He replied that he would not ask another man to do a dirty job like that.

He went back to Buffalo, had a gallows built in the jail yard, a canvas stretched overhead to prevent 29

the curious from seeing from neighbouring housetops. After taking unusual precautions to have the execution go off swiftly and without a hitch, he took a stand where he could not see Patrick Morrissey, and sprung the trap.

Eight years later the same young sheriff was elected Mayor of Buffalo, nine years later Governor of New York, twelve years later, on March 4, 1885, he, Stephen Grover Cleveland, became the first hang man President of the U.S.A.

Murder of a Belfast Man This account first appeared in the Troy Times, a local newspaper in New York State on May 29th 1908 and was subsequently picked up by the Weekly Northern Whig in Belfast in June 1908. The Troy Times account was very graphic and much of the gory details were omitted from the Belfast report. The crime was the murder of a Belfast man named Gilmore who was working in America.

He was the foreman of a gang of labourers who worked for the Schenectady Power Company at Schnaghticoke and he lost his life when he was stabbed by an Italian employee. This employee was called Angelo Giovannetti and he had been sacked on the morning of the murder and been given his wages up to 7.00am on that day. He had worked until 7.15am and he felt that he was due an extra hours pay for the extra 15 minutes he had worked but it was refused. He hung around the power plant for a while and then he disappeared. He returned again, in poor humour and demanded that his request for extra pay be met. Heated words with Gilmore followed and then the men began to physically fight. During this fight Giovannetti stabbed Gilmore twice and Adam Muckle, one of the foremen on the site grabbed a club and tried to get the Italian off Gilmore who at this stage was lying flat on the ground and was not moving much. Muckle tackled Giovannetti and knocked the knife out of his hand but the threatening attitude of another Italian man who had come on the scene alarmed Muckle and he ran off to get help. When Muckle returned with an engineer and fireman Giovannetti had gone into the nearby wood and Gilmore died a short time later after receiving two more stab wounds. The foreman called for a search of the woods by the men and they found Giovannetti half an hour later and mile and a half away. Mr Gilmore, who was only 30 years old, died from a severed blood vessel and was buried the day after his murder in New York. He was originally from Belfast and had been in America for just over a year. He was the son of Mrs Gilmore of 55 Rainey Street and was married to a Belfast woman. His widow was still living in Belfast when he was killed and lived in Abingdon Street off the Donegall Road.

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Exploring Belfast’s Old Streets Raymond O’Regan

HIGH STREET Part 2

In this issue we will conclude our look at Belfast's High Street by looking at the section between Lombard Street and Victoria Street.

High Street around 1870 Nos. 2-10 - This 1960's block houses Office Shoe store and the Bank of Ireland.

No. 2 - The present building replaced an 1868 building

which housed an insurance company and before that it was occupied by the chemists J & W Marshall.

Nos 4-10 - The Middleton Building. This houses the Bank of Ireland but the building was originally the home in 1961 of the Northern Bank. There are still some old photographs showing some of the 19th century shops on this site including the famous ‘Sawyers’, in business here in 1900. Sawyers eventually moved to the corner of Fountain Street and Castle Street (on the ground floor of Norwich Union House) They are now to be found in a much 31

Blitz. The Block from Washington House to corner of Bridge Street houses three businesses. It is of no particular interest except to say that one of the many entries that have been lost over the years, i.e. Orr’s Entry between Nos. 20 & 22 was lost in the 1941 Blitz. Present day shops: The former Francis Curley store, now the Bed Linen shop, the Pound shop, Mace Express, Cash Converters.

Here is Bridge Street

smaller establishment in College Street but still offering a fantastic selection of foodstuffs and is a tourist attraction all of its own.

Here is Wine Cellar Entry which dates back to the 17th century and home to Whites Tavern (above) Washington House, 1888 Some of the buildings on this site were destroyed in the 1941 32

Nos. 42-46 (on the corner of High Street/Bridge Street) Was at one time a cinema opened in 1912. It closed due to bomb damage in the 1941 Blitz and was rebuilt as Arnott's Department Store. In 1840 John Magee had premises at no. 46 that sold " best London hats". Magee was also the originator of a heavy overcoat in the 1860's called the ‘Ulster’. The Linenhall Library have a painting of this part of High Street dating from the 1830s and it features the famous MAGEE shop showing the Royal Crest above the entrance.

Bridge Street following the German blitz of 1941 looking towards High Street Here is the historic Sugarhouse the blitz in 1941. The entry that of a Joseph Lee, a jeweller Entry (below) which is where itself was blocked off during who would check the dates of the Samuel Neilson, William the recent conflict and there are chronometers using Drennan and Henry Joy now calls for it to be re-opened ‘Astronomical Charts’. The McCracken met to establish shops on the ground floor are the Society of United River House - Built on the site Sony, Wickerman, Johnston Irishmen. All its buildings of buildings destroyed in the Nursery, Hidden Hearing, were totally destroyed during 1941 Blitz. In one of the shops Open & Direct Insurance.

High Street around 1910 showing the whole section of the street which was destroyed in the 1941 blitz (left) 33

River House No. 62 - The National Bank Building; Built in the 1890's this beautiful building somehow avoided being destroyed in the Blitz of 1941.

The National Bank at the turn of the last century the Kabosh Theatre Co. and Here is Skipper Street (17th.

Tinderbox Theatre Co. Century ship’s captains lodged here) On the 1685 map of Belfast the street was only developed on one side.

The corner building backing onto Skipper St. and the buildings from 76 -. 90 were demolished in 2008 and the site is being redeveloped as Nos. 70-74 - Imperial Building dates back to 1906 and was partially damaged in the Blitz.

The former buildings on this site dated back to the 1700's.

On the ground floor is Jackson Sports and on the upper floors can be found amongst others 34

No. 100 - Destroyed in the Blitz Here is High Street Court (previously called George Mitchell Entry named after a 19th.century banker and not Firemen fight a blaze at the Imperial Building during the the famous Senator George Luftwaffe Blitz of 1941 Mitchell the architect of the part of the Merchant the upper floors and on the Good Friday agreement fame.

Hotel.This part of Skipper ground floor Grafton Street and High Street dates Recruitment (Between 1870 No. 102 - Transport House (at back to the 17th. Century and to 1941 it was the site of the the corner with Victoria Street) The 1959 masterpiece by the in November 2008 Albert Hotel.) archaeologists were on site Nos 96-98 Ulster Sports Club architect J.J. Brennan for the carrying out a dig.

(1935) A favorite haunt of the Transport and General No. 92-94- Andrew Higgins late George Best and his dad Workers Union. It contains the Solicitors and Thos.Cooke on when George paid one of his famous murals running the full many visits home to his native height of the five storey city. The club was established building depicting workers, in 1927 and moved here in cranes, etc.

1935. Before that the previous building on this site was the This completes this trip down well-known china shop of W. historical 17th century High Street.

Crawford & Sons.

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Looking up High Street in the 1930's from the Albert Clock. BELOW - The same view today

THEN NOW

36

&

Junction of High Street and Skipper Street after the Luftwaffe Blitz of 1941 BELOW - The same view today (March 2010)

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Belfast map of 1932 showing High Street

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If you were unfortunate enough not to get one of Joe Baker’s book Hooligan to Historian then no need to worry as you can download it completely free of charge from his website listed below. This publication gives a remarkable insight into Joe’s life growing up at the height of the Troubles, how he went from a hood turned good and into the remarkable local historian he is today.

It is a ‘chalk and cheese’ publication as one minute you will be near to tears and moments later laughing your head off. It really is worth the read and with it being available free then you’ve simply nothing to lose!

You can also keep up to date with Joe on his Facebook page which is open to everyone. Here you can read lots of material by Joe and also follow him on his travels which range from the battlefields of the Somme right through to his funny tales inside the tomb of Lenin!

www.joebaker.ie

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