Seventh anniversary of Ulster’s Somme sacrifice marked across six counties
Belfast, 3 July 1923 - A special meeting of Belfast Corporation was to mark the seventh anniversary of the Battle of the Somme yesterday.
A resolution was moved by the Lord Mayor expressing gratitude to the officers and men of the Ulster Division who fought and died in huge numbers at the battle of the Somme in July 1916 was passed and later read out at a ceremony at the City Hall grounds where the Last Post was sounded by buglers of the 1st Battalion Somerset Light Infantry.
Wreaths were then laid at a cenotaph, including an ‘Ulster Division’ wreath to the memory of the late Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, which was placed by Coy Sergt. Major M. Glover (R.U.R). Throughout the afternoon crowds continued to visit the cenotaph, taking time to inspect the many floral tributes.
Similar commemorative events were held through the six counties in such locations as Ballymoney, Coleraine, Dromore, Dungannon, Enniskillen, Fivemiletown, Gilford, Stewartstown, Keady and Derry.
In Ballymena, flags were flown at half mast on a number of buildings and a service was held at the Memorial park, attended by clergy from all the Protestant churches, members of the urban council and small groups of RUC and ‘B’ Specials. In Bushmills, meanwhile, a service was held at Dunluce Parish Church to which over 200 members of the Orange Order marched. Orangeman from Portrush, Ballinatoy and other nearby towns attended.
The late Prof. Keith Jeffery recalls the sacrifice of the 36th Ulster Division at the Battle of the Somme in 1916
A feature of the landscape of Ulster towns and villages in recent years has been the proliferation of Great War memorials, a new addition to which has appeared in Bandbridge. Bearing the names of 249 men from the town and district who were killed in WW1 and a further 882 names of those who served and survived, the monument was unveiled on the eve of the Somme anniversary by the Right Honourable R.D. Perceval-Maxwell in the presence of the Northern Ireland Minister for Labour, Mr. J.M. Andrews MP and several thousand others.
Addressing the gathering, Colonel Perceval-Maxwell saluted the courage and bravery of the men whose actions, he said, had preserved the independence of the British Empire. The Banbridge monument, standing thirty feet high, is situated on Newry Street on the main road from Belfast to Dublin and features, at the top of a long hill, the figure of a soldier cheering on his comrades.
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
