Somme Battle solemnly commemorated in Belfast
Belfast, 2 July 1918 - The second anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Somme was solemnly marked in Belfast and across the province of Ulster.
On 1 July 1916, the first day of the Somme offensive, the 36th (Ulster) Division suffered horrendous losses, sacrificing half of its number upon the French battlefield. Yesterday, in their memory, memorial services were held under the auspices of the County Grand Orange Lodge of Belfast in three of the largest halls in the city.
The late Prof. Keith Jeffery discusses Ulster and the Somme with RTÉ's David McCullagh
At Belfast Cathedral, Rev. Dean Grierson preached to a large congregation, the service opening with the playing of the Chopin’s stately ‘Funeral march’. Similarly, at the city YMCA, there was a large turnout with four Orange Lodge districts represented, three of them marching from Clifton Street and the last from Ballynafeigh Hall. They were gathered, Rev. William Maguire informed them, so that they ‘might do honour to the noble dead’.
Perhaps the most striking commemoration, however, was the presentation to the Lord Mayor and Corporation of Belfast of a painting by James Prinsep Beadle which captures the Ulstermen’s advance at Thiepval. Mr Beadle’s representation of the scene was lauded for its ‘truth and fidelity’, for being ‘devoid of sensationalism’ and for capturing the ‘reality, as well as the atmosphere of the historic battle’.
[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.]
