Annual Apprentice Boys Booklet 2018

ANNUAL
APPRENTICE BOYS
OF DERRY BOOKLET
2018
£3
SUBSCRIPTION
2 Contents
CONTENTS
Club of Research .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 3
Club of Research Officers ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 7
Important Parade Dates 2018 / 2019 . ... ... ... ... ... 8
Governor’s Foreword . ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 9
Lieutenant Governor’s Preface .. ... ... ... ... ... ... .. 13
A Word from the President.. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. 15
A Word from Bro. Dr Andrew Charles ... ... ... ... .. 17
Ulster on the brink of war, 1914 ... ... ... ... ... ... .. 21
Major General Oliver Nugent (1860–1926). ... ... .. 34
The End of the Great War: 11 November 1918 . ... .. 44
The Apprentice Boys and WWI ... ... ... ... ... ... .. 49
Fighters of Derry .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. 54
The bicentenary of the birth of
Cecil Frances Alexander, April 2018.. ... ... ... .. 60
The 1718 Migration from Ulster ... ... ... ... ... ... .. 65
Club News . ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. 70
Club of Research 3
CLUB OF RESEARCH
T he Club of Research is the Historical Society of the Ap-

prentice Boys of Derry and its Charter was granted by the
Association's Governing Body, the General Committee, in 1990.
The Club is directly answerable to General Committee. There are
70 plus members on the books drawn from Parent and Branch
Clubs from across the British Isles.
The Club’s primary purpose is to research and investigate the

Siege of Derry, the Apprentice Boys Association and other points
of interest relating to this period of history. This, of course, does
not exclude other important historical events that have helped
shape our Association both at home and worldwide.
4 Club of Research
The Club meets four times a year in various locations, with

three meetings being held in the spring and one in the autumn.
The March meeting is held in either England or Scotland to
facilitate members living in those jurisdictions and is held over
a weekend with wives, friends and guests taking part.
Any Brother who is in good standing with his own Branch
Club can apply for membership. There is a nominal subscription
fee of £10.00 per year. Brethren, this is your Club of Research,
it does not belong to a group of academics but to the rank and
file membership of our association.
Do any of you have any history relating to the Siege or the
Apprentice Boys Association? Do you have a story to tell about
your Branch Club?
Can the Club of Research help? Maybe your Club is holding
a special event, the Club of Research can provide guest speakers,
power point presentations, etc., on a range of topics relating
to the Siege and other key events in that period of our history.
For further information, please contact:

The Secretary
Apprentice Boys of Derry - Club of Research
Apprentice Boys Memorial Hall
13 Society Street
Londonderry
BT48 6PJ
MAJOR T
EXHIBITION
EMPORA
RY
HIGHLIG
CONTRIBHTING THE
ORANGEMEN
UTION O
F
FROM 12 APRIL to AND W

15 DECEMBER 2018 F
OMEN
TO THE
IRST WORLD W
AR
s:
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– 5pm
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(4pm last entr
ailable
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Museum of Orange Heritage,

368 Cregagh Road, Belfast, BT6 9EY
Contact: 02890 701122

info@orangeheritage.co.uk
Find Us On Facebook @OrangeHeritage w w w.orangeheritage.co.uk

Club of Research Officers 7
CLUB OF RESEARCH OFFICERS

President: Bro. John Hunter – Mitchelburne Parent Club
Vice President: Bro. Trevor Anderson – Moneymore Walker

Club
Lay Chaplain: Bro. John Hall MBE – Omagh No Surrender

Club
Secretary: Bro. Worthington McGrath – Walker Parent Club
Treasurer: Bro. Ian Carser – Woodburn Browning Club
Tyler: Bro. Marc Miller – Belfast Browning Club
Booklet Committee
Chairman: Bro. Dr Andrew Charles
Committee: Bro. John Hunter, Bro. John Hall, Bro. Worthington

McGrath
8 Important Parade Dates
IMPORTANT PARADE DATES

2018 / 2019
11th August 2018 Relief Celebrations Londonderry
30th September 2018 Ulster Day Service Newry
10th November 2018 Remembrance Parade Belfast
18th November 2018 Remembrance Parade Enniskillen
1st December 2018 Shutting of the Gates
Commemoration Londonderry
8th December 2018 Shutting of the Gates
Commemoration Glasgow
22nd April 2019 Easter Monday Parade East Belfast
1st June 2019 Scottish Amalgamated
Annual Parade Motherwell
8th June 2019 Liverpool Clubs
Annual Parade Southport
Governor’s Foreword 9
GOVERNOR’S FOREWORD
A s Governor of the Appren-

tice Boys of Derry, it gives
me great pleasure to contribute
to the Club of Research booklet
for 2018.
Can I first of all offer my
sincere thanks to the Officers
and Brethren of the Club for
producing a publication pro-
moting our unique and very
special Association.
This venture is long overdue
and will enable our Clubs and
Members the opportunity to promote their events, parades and
meetings, resulting hopefully in attracting new members into
our organisation.
We have an Association with a proud history and the re-
markable story of the 105 day Siege of Londonderry is one for
all Protestants to be rightly proud of.
I would like to offer my grateful thanks to the booklet com-
mittee of the Club of Research for all their hard work and com-
mitment to ensure that this, the 2018 Apprentice Boys of Derry
booklet, is one that the Association can take pride in. Can I also
thank all the contributors and advertisers without whom this
10 Governor’s Foreword
venture would not have been possible.

Wishing everyone who purchases this booklet an enjoyable
read and I trust that this new venture will be an annual success
for the Association.
I remain yours in the Colour Crimson.
Bro. Graeme Stenhouse
Worthy Governor
Associated Clubs of the Apprentice Boys of Derry

Lieutenant Governor’s Preface 13
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR’S PREFACE
I am delighted as Lieutenant
Governor of the Association
to contribute to this, the Club
of Research’s first 12th August
Booklet. May I congratulate the
publication team, Chaired by
Bro. Dr Andrew Charles for all
their efforts to ensure the success
of this new venture by the Club
on behalf of our Association.
It is important as Apprentice
Boys that we know our history
and to be proud of it. In the
Old Testament Scriptures God
reminds and indeed instructs his people of Israel to remember
and to celebrate the victories and deliverances given to them
and their forefathers over their enemies. Therefore Brethren, it
is important that we have a firm knowledge of our own history
and appreciate it accordingly when it comes to the events of 1688
and 1689. This great Association to which we all belong was in-
stituted for the purpose of celebrating the Shutting of the Gates
each December and the Relief of Londonderry each August.
That is why we are to be found in St Columb’s Cathedral every
December and August thanking Almighty God for deliverance
14 Lieutenant Governor’s Preface
during those dark days of 1688 and 1689.

There are a number of significant dates in 2018 that we should
also remember, the 100th anniversary of the ending of the Great
War, the 300th Anniversary of the Presbyterian Migration to
America from the North West of Ulster, the 400th Anniversary
of the completion of the building of Londonderry’s City Walls.
In remembering the past, we will face the future with confi-
dence. Look at what has been achieved in recent years – a world
class award winning visitor museum, a magnificent refurbished
Memorial Hall and an Organisation that is growing numerically
not only in Ulster but throughout England, Scotland and the
Republic of Ireland.
In closing, I quote the opening words of that lovely hymn
“To God Be The Glory, Great Things He Hath Done.”
May everyone have a safe and enjoyable Relief of Derry Parade
on the 11th August.
Vita Veritas Victoria
Brother Worthington McGrath
Lieutenant Governor
Associated Clubs of the Apprentice Boys of Derry

A Word from the President 15
A WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT
I t gives me great pleasure and

honour to present and endorse
this Apprentice Boys Club of Re-
search Booklet. This is a welcome
initiative which demonstrates
the wealth and strength of our
Club and that of our Institution.
This Booklet was an initia-
tive of our worthy Lt. Governor,
Bro. Worthington McGrath, our
Club Secretary. It is intended to
be an Annual publication, con-
sisting of articles of interest to
our Brethren.
It has not however come about without hard work put in by
the Booklet Committee. On initiating this project, I appointed
our esteemed Bro. Dr Andrew Charles as Chairman and Editor.
My thanks go to him and the other Committee Members, Bro.
Worthington McGrath and Bro. John Hall MBE.
I also wish to express my thanks to the General Committee
for permitting this publication and endorsing it. I also thank
our recently appointed Governor, Brother Graeme Stenhouse
for his support in its conception and publication.
I also wish to thank our Sponsors, namely those who have
16 A Word from the President
taken adverts out; without them the publication of this Booklet

would not be possible.
I thank Derek Rowlinson from Books Ulster for the design
and Peninsula Print for printing it.
Above all, I thank you for purchasing this booklet, as all
proceeds will be going to Apprentice Boys Charities, including
the Siege Museum and the ABoD Benevolent Fund – two very
worthy and just causes.
I trust that the articles contained within are of interest to our
Brethren, and indeed further afield. This is the first of what I
hope to be an annual publication, the first for our Institution,
established to glorify the memory of those who defended the
City of Londonderry from the Jacobites.
Yours sincerely and fraternally,
Worthy Bro. John Hunter
Club President
A Word from Bro. Dr Andrew Charles 17
A WORD FROM BRO. DR ANDREW

CHARLES
T his Booklet was the idea of our highly esteemed and worthy
Bro., Worthington McGrath, Secretary of the Club of Re-
search. I wish to thank him for proposing this initiative and to
those who volunteered to join the Booklet Committee, namely
our Worthy President, John Hunter and Bro. John Hall MBE.
This first edition focuses on Ulster and the Great War, this
year being the centenary of the Armistice of 1918. Also included
are articles by eminent Ulster Historian, Gordon Lucy, on Sir
Oliver Nugent, the Commander of the 36th (Ulster) Division,
noted proudly leading the Division on the 1st July 1916 at the
Battle of the Somme, and the Armistice on the 11th November
1918. Brother Jack Greenald has provided a most interesting
piece on the Apprentice Boys and the Great War – for which I
thank him.
A piece on the Fighters of Derry is also included. This period in
our history is a reminder to us all of the reasons for our existence
and the article should prove an interesting read for our Brethren.
Following the articles outlined above there are Club con-
tributions from across the United Kingdom, including a piece
provided by Belfast Browning on their 125th Anniversary.
In closing I wish to thank all contributors, and above all our
advertisers, for without them this publication would not have
18 A Word from Bro. Dr Andrew Charles
been possible. All proceeds raised from the publication will go

to our worthy charities, being the Siege Museum and the ABoD
Benevolent Fund.
May I thank you for purchasing this Booklet, commend it to
the Glory of God and in memory of the fighters of Londonderry.
Sincerely yours and fraternally,
Dr Andrew Charles
Chairman, Booklet Committee

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Ulster on the brink of war, 1914 21
ULSTER ON THE BRINK OF WAR,

1914
Andrew Charles
T
he outbreak of war in August 1914 changed the political
landscape of Europe and further afield as it was then
known. The events of August 1914 however overshad-
owed a crisis which had reached boiling point in Ulster in 1914.
Ulster stood in defence of the principles it sought to defend at
home and abroad in a war which was to cost many lives in the
defence of those freedoms under threat from rule from Dublin.
The Great War of 1914-18 witnessed the establishment of many
new states of former Empires. Ulster, however, was victorious in
defending the birth right of those men who paid the supreme sac-
rifice in the fields of France. In the words of the General Officer
Commanding, Richardson, on ‘standing down’ the UVF, he said:
Existing conditions call for the demobilisation of the

Ulster Volunteers. The Force was organised, to protect
the interests of the Province of Ulster, at a time when
trouble threatened. The success of the organisation speaks
for itself, as a page of history, in the records of Ulster that
will never fade.
22 Ulster on the brink of war, 1914
The following will cover the formation of the Ulster Volunteer

Force (UVF), its transformation into the 36th Ulster Division
in 1914 and its contribution to the war effort.
However, at this point, let us examine an overview of what
led to the UVF's formation:
• In 1885 the Liberal Party, led by William Gladstone

MP, indicated that they would support Home Rule in
exchange for the support of the Irish Parliamentary
Party (IPP), led by Charles Stewart Parnell MP, an
Anglo-Irish Protestant.
• In 1886 the First Home Rule Bill was introduced into
the House of Commons but failed to pass against a
strongly Unionist House, made up of Tories, Irish
Unionist MPs and Members of the Liberal Party.
• In 1893 the Second Home Rule Bill was introduced
under a Liberal Government, again led by Prime Min-
ister William Gladstone. This time the Bill passed the
House of Commons, but was defeated in the House
of Lords.
• In 1910 the Liberal Party found itself, again, in need
of Irish Nationalist parliamentary support, and intro-
duced the Third Home Rule Bill in April 1912. The Bill
passed through the Commons, but was again defeated
in the Lords. The 1911 Parliament Act had however
curtailed the powers of the Lords, permitting it the

power to merely delay legislation for a maximum of
two years.
• Home Rule was therefore destined to happen, with the
establishment of a Home Rule Parliament in Dublin
come 1914.
Ulster in 1914 was not a place that stood still at the thought
of war in Europe, in fact, Ulster and the threat of civil war in
Ireland was thought to be a distraction for Britain even entering
the war by Imperial Germany.
The assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand
and his wife in Sarajevo on 28th June 1914, were not marked
with protests or outrage, because the Balkans, a region which
has been the source of tensions ever since, were not relevant to
British interests. Instead, this was a war which was a result of
other European nations' making and interest. However, when
Germany invaded Belgium on August 4th, 1914, Britain was
to find itself committed to war with Germany in defence of
the Empire.
In hindsight what occurred in the run up and outbreak of
war in 1914 might not come as a surprise, but then, it was
unexpected. Instead the focus was on Ulster itself, with a severe
threat of civil war.
In April 1914 the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), established
on 30th January 1913 by the Ulster Unionist Council (UUC),
had been mobilised and armed for war in defence of Ulster and
the Empire. Similarly, the Irish Volunteers (which became known
as the Irish National Volunteers), formed on 25th November
1913, were mobilised in order to ensure the safe passage of the
Third Home Rule Bill, introduced into the House of Commons
in April 1914.
The UVF was established to protect the interests of Ulster
should Home Rule pass, protecting and defending the Provisional
Government of Ulster, as agreed by the Ulster Unionist Council
(UUC) in 1913.
The UVF did not emerge overnight, however. Rather, it was
an organisation which emerged out of a volunteering tradition,
which had begun in the latter part of the previous century. It
was also rooted in the Militia, which existed in Ireland between
1854 and 1908.
In 1893, the year the Second Home Rule Bill was introduced,
Fred Crawford formed the Young Ulster Movement. This move-
ment was a small, secret society, whose members had to own a
rifle or revolver.
In effect it could be argued that the outbreak of the Great War,
as it was then known (until the outbreak of the Second World
War in 1939), killed off the prospect of Home Rule for Ulster.
This however is arguably not the case, as privately the exclusion
of Ulster, in a nine, six or four county form, had been accepted
by the London Government, but did not wish to admit such a
thing for fear of upsetting the Leader of the IPP, John Redmond
MP, who was still a pivotal player in Westminster and vital to the
future maintenance of the Liberal Government. In fact, when

Lord Kitchener, recently appointed Secretary of State for War,
met with Sir Edward Carson in order to seek the utilisation of
the UVF in the war effort, he remarked: ‘Surely you’re not going
to hold out for Tyrone and Fermanagh.’ Carson replied: ‘You’re
a damned clever fellow, telling me what I ought to be doing.’
The outbreak of war in 1914 was therefore not predicted in
the case of Europe, stretching a sizable section of the globe, but
that of civil war in Ulster on the passage of Home Rule. On
the outbreak of war, it was resolved that the Home Rule Bill
would be made into law, but ‘shelved’ until after the war – a
position Carson had hoped to secure, and successfully did so.
This bought London time and prevented any prospect of civil
war for that matter.
Both Unionists and Nationalists were encouraged to focus
their efforts and energy on the war effort, a war which was to be
over by Christmas (although Lord Kitchener believed from the
outset that the War would be a long one). London, and indeed,
both Unionist and Nationalist groupings, were keen to divert
the energies and efforts put into the formation and organisation
of the UVF and INV, into the fight that faced Britain in France
and Belgium. Initially Redmond argued for the INV to be used
as a home guard, to protect the shores of Ireland from foreign
invasion. This however was not accepted and instead Redmond
was convinced to back the call of Lord Kitchener for all able
and fit men to join the ranks of their kith and kin in a newly
formed 16th Irish Division. Similarly, and without hesitation,
Sir Edward Carson, Leader of Unionism, backed the war effort.

Nevertheless, he had privately hesitated, expressing his mistrust
of the Government, namely that of the Liberal Prime Minister,
Asquith, in a letter on 5 August to his fiancée, Miss Ruby Frewen:
“I am very much depressed, as I fear the Government

mean, if they can, to betray us, and pass the Home Rule
Bill over our heads and whilst it is impossible to resist
in Ulster owing to the difficulties caused by the present
situation. They are such a lot of scoundrels I believe they
are quite capable of anything.”
A telegram which Carson received from a UVF officer in Belfast

revealed similar anxieties and highlighted Carson’s dilemma:
“Can we assure men before giving names for United Kingdom or
foreign service no danger of Home Rule passing while they are away?”
Sir Edward Carson, along with political colleagues, spent the
long bank holiday weekend before the United Kingdom’s decla-
ration of war on Germany (1-3 August 1914) at Wargrave, over-
looking the Thames, as guests of Sir Edward Goulding, a leading
Southern Irish Unionist. The guest list at Wargrave strongly
suggests that Carson and his friends had assembled at there to
discuss the evolving political situation in Ireland but their delib-
erations were overtaken by events in Europe. Thus, even before
war was declared, Carson confidently assured Captain Wilfrid
Spender on 3 August that ‘a large body of Ulster Volunteers will
be willing to give their services for Home Defence and many
Edward Carson inspecting UVF volunteers

will be willing and ready to serve anywhere they are required’.
Spender had spoken to Carson on behalf of some of his mili-
tary friends on the Committee of Imperial Defence and no doubt
Carson’s response was relayed to them, but it also appeared in the
press. Two days later the Secretary of the Ulster Unionist Council
received the following telegram from Carson stating that:
All officers, non-commissioned officers, and men who are

enrolled in the Ulster Volunteer Force, and who are liable
to be called out by His Majesty for service in the present
crisis are requested to answer immediately His Majesty’s

call as our first duty, as loyal subjects to the King.
Some 4,350 army reservists who were involved in the UVF had
already returned to their former regiments on the outbreak of
war. Furthermore, several hundred men joined various Irish reg-
iments and English and Scottish units before the creation of the
Ulster Division.
Carson’s public stance (as revealed in a letter dated 7 August
1914 to the Lord Mayor of Belfast and which was read at a public
meeting held in the City Hall) betrayed no hint of his dilemma:
Our loyalty is of no recent date but has been the foun-

dation of all our political action and the motive power
of our sacrifices to maintain our position in the United
Kingdom. We will now be prepared to show once more
without any bartering of conditions that the cause of
Great Britain is our cause, and with our fellow citizens
throughout the whole Empire, we will make common
cause and suffer any sacrifice …
Carson’s response to his dilemma, being a patriot, was to put to one

side his doubt about the Government as best he could and follow
the path which his sense of duty dictated. The ‘gamble’, however,
paid off, and the Home Rule Bill was put into cold storage.
After discussion with Carson, the UVF being at his disposal,
Lord Kitchener approved the formation of the 36th (Ulster)
Division. He would not however accept a total transfer of the

current UVF into the Army, instead forming this new Division
for which Members could join. Similarly, a Division for the INV
was created, the 16th Irish Division.
Both the 16th Irish and 36th Ulster Divisions provided for
a transition for both the INV and UVF, respectively, to join the
ranks of the British Army. It must be pointed out that while many
members of the UVF joined the ranks of the British Army, the
UVF was not in fact formerly ‘demobilised’ until 1919 only to be
mobilised again on 25th June 1920 in response to a heightened
threat from the IRA in Ulster (namely the border counties).
Arguably, while many members of the UVF were fighting in the
fields of France, as part of the 36th Ulster Division, their role
remained to defend their interests at home amid the imminent
threat of Home Rule come the end of the war. Such a fear might
even have been a hesitation in the minds of some Members of
the UVF.
For the members of the INV, who heeded John Redmond’s
call for volunteers, their role was in defending the interests of
Ireland, given the promises made to them of an independent
Parliament in Dublin – something they had been found wanting.
I should point out here that there was another Irish Division,
which existed prior to the outbreak of war in August 1914,
being the 10th Irish Division. The 10th Division was sent to
Gallipoli at the beginning of August 1915, withdrawing on the
29th September 1915 to the Greek island of Mudros to support
the Bulgarian offensive against Serbia. In October 1917, the 10th
Irish Division, were mobilised for action in Palestine, which in-

cluded parts of modern day Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Saudia Arabia
and Syria, against the then Ottoman Empire.
The Somme
On departing from Ulster in May 1915, the 17,000-strong
force of the 36th Ulster Division left Belfast to cheering crowds,
marching through the City Centre, which was bedecked with
flags and bunting, and watched by admiring friends and relatives
brought in from all over Ulster by special trains. Sir Edward
Carson, the Unionist leader, Lady Carson, the Lord Mayor and
the Lady Mayoress reviewed the Division as it marched past the
front of the City Hall. ‘Each battalion was headed by its fife and
drum or pipe band’. It took the Division one hour and forty
minutes to pass the City Hall.
In her book An Ulsterwoman in England,1921-41(1942) Dr
Nesca A Robb recalled:
In common with most of our fellow-citizens, we watched

the farewell parade of our own Ulster Division. On that
occasion, having cheered myself hoarse, I hung so far
out of the window to acclaim Lord Carson that I all but
precipitated myself head first at my hero’s feet. Not many
months later, that Division, fighting valiantly, was cut to
pieces at the Somme.
While the focus of the Great War is the Battle of the Somme,
1st July, 1916, the battle in itself actually raged on until 19
November 1916. The 1st July was of course a date which held
significant importance for Ulstermen, being the original date
of the Battle of the Boyne, 1690, under the old-style Julian
calendar. At least one Ulsterman, Sergeant Samuel Kelly of 9th
Inniskillings went over the top wearing his Orange Sash, while
others wore orange ribbons.
When some of his men wavered, one Company command-
er from the West Belfast’s, Maj. George Gaffikin, took off his
Orange Sash, held it high for his men to see and roared the
traditional war-cry of the battle of the Boyne: “Come on, boys!
No surrender!” (Gaffikin was subsequently killed that day.)
The Somme offensive over its many months cost the lives of
419,654 men from across the then British Empire and the lives
of 204,253 Frenchmen. German losses remain disputed, but
estimates range from 437,000 to 680,000.
The 36th Ulster Division’s sector of the Somme lay astride
the marshy valley of the river Ancre and the higher ground
south of the river. Their task was to cross the ridge and take the
German second line near Grandcourt. In their path lay not only
the German front line, but just beyond it, the intermediate line
within which was the Schwaben Redoubt.
At zero-hour on 1st July members of the 36th Ulster Division
answered the call of the King and of the Empire by ‘going over
the top’ towards German lines lined with machine guns that cut
the lives of many young men short in minutes, if not seconds.
During the Battle of the Somme the Ulster Division was

the only division of X Corps to have achieved its objectives on
the opening day of the battle. This came at a heavy price, with
the division suffering in two days of fighting 5,500 officers and
enlisted men killed, wounded or missing. War correspondent
Philip Gibbs said of the Division, “Their attack was one of the
finest displays of human courage in the world.”
Captain Wilfred Spender, a friend of Ulster, stated on 2nd
July 1916:
I am not an Ulsterman but yesterday, the 1st. July, as I

followed their amazing attack, I felt that I would rather
be an Ulsterman than anything else in the world.
Of nine Victoria Crosses given to British forces in the battle,

four were awarded to 36th (Ulster) Division soldiers.
The Somme is viewed by some historians to be have been an
unmitigated disaster, due to the significant loss of life. According
to official statistics there were 57,470 causalities overall (usually
rounded up by historians and others to 60,000) on the 1st July,
comprising of 35,493 wounded and 19,240 killed (similarly
rounded up to 20,000). To put that into context, one-fifth of
the attacking force was killed. Two-fifths were wounded. On that
day some battalions – such as the 1st Newfoundland Regiment,
positioned to the left of the 36th Ulster Division, simply ceased
to exist. 801 men went over the top at zero hour on 1st July.
Only 68 the next day answered the call for duty the next day.
Aftermath at home
Such a sense of what Ulster Unionism was holding out for before
and after the Great War, was reflected in the thoughts of Winston
Churchill, when he stated:
The mode and thought of men, the whole outlook on

affairs, the groupings of parties, all have encountered
violent and tremendous changes in the deluge of the
world, but as the deluge subsides and the waters fall we
see the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone emerg-
ing once again. The integrity of their quarrel is one of
the few institutions that have been left unaltered in the
cataclysm which has swept the world.
While the Great War had changed much of the political ge-
ography of Europe, one issue, which had dominated British
political life for the best part of a century, and longer, the end
of the Great War was not the end of the loathed and feared
‘Irish Question’ which was set to dominate Westminster yet
again in the aftermath of much carnage and suffering in Britain
and Europe.
34 Major General Oliver Nugent
MAJOR GENERAL OLIVER NUGENT

(1860–1926)
Gordon Lucy
C
yril Falls, the official historian of the Ulster Division
thought that ‘as long as the 36th (Ulster) Division is
remembered General Nugent’s name will be associated
with it. His whole existence was centred upon it; he was intensely
proud of its achievements, and jealous for its good name.’ This
has not proved to be case. Although the Ulster Division is still
remembered with pride, Nugent’s name is rarely associated with
it and he is a largely forgotten figure.
Oliver Nugent was born 9 November 1860 in Aldershot.
He was the son of Major-General St George Mervyn Nugent
and Emily, daughter of Rt Hon. Edward Litton, the MP for
Coleraine between 1837 and 1843. The Nugents, whose home
was Farren Connell, Mount Nugent, at the very southern extrem-
ity of County Cavan (these days it has a Meath postal address),
were a family long-established in Ireland. The first Nugent to
settle in Ireland was Hugh de Nugent, who had arrived with
Hugh de Lacy, the first earl of Ulster. The Nugents and the
Lacys were cousins. Socially and politically the Nugents were
Anglo-Irish but ethnically they were Anglo-Norman. Although
Nugent was a member of the Church of Ireland, many of his
Major General Oliver Nugent 35
Oliver Nugent, Commanding Officer of the Ulster Division

relations were Roman Catholics.

He was educated at Harrow, and entered the Royal Munster
Fusiliers in 1882, transferring to the King’s Royal Rifle Corps
in the following year. His early army service was spent on the
North-West Frontier of India. As a captain in it he took part
in the Hazara Expedition in 1891. The following year he was
involved in operations against the Isazai tribes, and in 1895
he served with the Chitral Relief Force in the Malakand Pass
where he was slightly wounded. At Khar he was mentioned in
despatches and obtained the DSO.
In 1897–8 Nugent attended staff college at Camberley where
one of his fellow students was Douglas Haig.
Promotion was painfully slow in this era: he was a captain in
1890 and by 1899 he was still only a major. It was also in 1899
Oliver Nugent married Catherine Percy, daughter of T. Evans
Lees, a Cheshire cotton magnate who had invested in land and
become a Dorset landowner.
Our knowledge of Nugent’s military career is enriched by his
prodigious correspondence with his wife, Kitty. His marriage co-
incided with the outbreak of the Boer War. They discussed, as far
as censorship allowed, the progress of the campaign, and his severe
wounding (at Talana Hill in October 1899) and his convales-
cence in a prisoner-of-war camp in Pretoria. Their correspondence
continued after the war, and details Nugent’s career in England,
Ireland and India until the outbreak of the First World War.
Placed on the half-pay list in February 1914, he returned
to Ireland and helped train the UVF in his ancestral county.
Memorial tablet for Sir Oliver Nugent
Nugent’s papers include material relating to the Cavan regiment

of the UVF between March and June 1914. They include a copy
of the Cavan Volunteer Force Defence Scheme, camp orders, a
work diary, lists of costs and of quotations for supplies related
to a Camp of Instruction held in March 1914, a memorandum
on training and an order regarding the holding of day parades.
At the outbreak of the Great War Nugent was given command
of a brigade in France with the temporary rank of brigadier-gen-
eral. As the Ulster Division completed its training, Nugent took
over command from Major-General Powell.
Despite his Ulster Protestant and unionist background,

Nugent’s relations with Unionist politicians were strained. As a
professional soldier, he resented the interference of politicians
in matters of which they had no grasp. Furthermore, originating
from the periphery of Ulster, made him closer to being an Irish
Unionist rather than an Ulster Unionist and this put him at
odds with politicians, some of whose horizons he considered
somewhat limited. Many politicians, he was convinced, had
priorities other than that of winning the war which for him
was paramount.
There are some 600 letters from Nugent, covering the pe-
riod in which he commanded the Ulster Division, to his wife,
written from the Western Front, between May 1915 and April
1918, including some thirty letters covering the period of the
Somme offensive in July 1916. These letters, remarkable both
for their content and regularity, provide a daily record of life in
the trenches.
On the eve of the Somme offensive Nugent wrote to Sir
George Richardson, the Commanding Officer of the UVF, back
home: ‘We could hardly have a date better calculated to inspire
national traditions amongst our men of the North’.
Nugent was alluding to the fact that the postponement of
the offensive for two days resulted in the Division’s first major
engagement falling on the same date as the Battle of the Boyne
226 years earlier.
Nugent’s plan – unlike that of most divisional commanders –
was to send men out in to no-man’s-land before zero hour where
they would wait, protected by the curtain of shell-fire on the

German lines, so that they were much closer to their objective
when the whistle blew.
The following extracts are taken from a letter Nugent wrote
from Hédauville to Kitty on 2 July:
‘My dearest, the Ulster Division has been too superb for
words. The whole Army is talking of the incomparable
gallantry shown by officers and men’.
‘We are the only Division which succeeded in doing
what it was given to do and we did it but at fearful cost’.
‘The Ulster Division has proved itself and it has borne
itself like men. I cannot describe how I feel about them. I
did not believe men were made who could do such gallant
work under the conditions of modern war.
The Division took nearly 600 prisoners themselves in
the first rush. The Germans were absolutely cowed and
flung themselves on their knees asking for mercy.
No time for more. I am proud but very sad when I
think of our terrible losses’.
The following day he wrote again to his wife:
‘The losses of the Ulster Division are 210 officers and

5200 men of whom I hope 2000 will eventually rejoin us.
The more one hears the more sublime seems to have
been the courage and devotion shown by the men’.
On 4 July he wrote to King George V – at the King’s request

– to provide him with an account of the exploits of the Ulster
Division.
Dr Nick Perry, the editor of Nugent’s correspondence, cor-
rectly contends that Nugent’s ‘key contributions to the Division’s
initial success were his comprehensive pre-battle training and his
decision to push his leading waves into no man’s land before zero
hour, so enabling then to overrun the forward German positions
before they could be manned’.
Nugent’s correspondence covers the Battle of Messines
in June 1917, Langemarck in August 1917 and Cambrai in
November 1917 and the great German offensive of March 1918.
Messines was a stunning success but of Langemarck, Nugent
wrote (on 16 August) to his wife, ‘It has been a truly terrible
day. Worse than 1 July [1916] I am afraid. Our losses have
been very heavy indeed …’ In a letter dated 25 March 1918 he
described the Kaiserschlacht (or Ludendorff offensive) as ‘all a
ghastly nightmare’.
Nugent remained with the Division until 6 May 1918.
However, before leaving, he executed a Trust Deed in favour
of Lord Dunleath and Sir Robert Kennedy, establishing a trust
for the benefit of officers and men of the Division, their wives,
widows, orphans or dependants.
Nugent’s replacement was Major-General Clifford Coffin VC,
who had won his VC as a brigade commander at Third Ypres
on 31 July 1917. Under Coffin’s leadership the Ulster Division
participated in the Second Army’s successful offensive in Flanders
in September and October 1918.

On 7 May Nugent returned to England, preparatory to tak-
ing up his final command in India, where he commanded the
Meerut Division in the Afghan War of 1919. This period too is
documented in letters to his wife.
In the autumn of 1920, on his retirement from the army, he
returned home to Cavan where he concentrated on managing
his estate. He was also much in demand in the unveiling of
war memorials. On 11 November 1924 in Ballymena he told
his audience: ‘In treasuring the memory of the gallant and de-
voted service of Ulstermen, do not forget that it was shared by
Ulstermen of all classes and religious denominations.’
Nugent had never got on well with Douglas Haig and it was
believed at the time that Haig played a part in delaying Nugent’s
KCB which only materialised in 1922 (after Haig stepped down
from active command). He died (of pneumonia) on 31 May
1926. He was buried in Mount Nugent and a memorial was
later placed in the parish church. A memorial service was held in
St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast and was attended by hundreds of
former members of the Ulster Division. Significantly no senior
member of the Northern Ireland Government attended.
44 The End of the Great War
THE END OF THE GREAT WAR:

11 NOVEMBER 1918
Gordon Lucy
A
century ago at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of
the eleventh month the guns fell silent on the Western
Front and the Great War (or the First World War) came
to an unexpectedly sudden end. As late as September 1918 the
Allies assumed the war would not end until 1919.
The Armistice was signed at 5:00 am but did not come into
effect until 11:00 am. During those final hours more than 10,000
men were killed or wounded. General John Pershing, the com-
mander of the American Expeditionary Force, wanted to con-
tinue prosecuting the war to the utmost because he felt – with
a certain prophetic insight – that the Allies would otherwise
be forced to fight another war against Germany at a later date.
Private John Parr, of the 4th Battalion, the Middlesex
Regiment, is generally believed to have been the first British
soldier to die in the Great War. He was fatally wounded on 22
August 1914 while on patrol near Mons. Private George Edwin
Ellison of the 5th Royal Irish Lancers is widely regarded to have
been the last British soldier to have died in the Great War. Private
Ellison was killed at 9:30 am on 11 November 1918 on the out-
skirts of Mons. Private Parr and Private Ellison are both buried
The End of the Great War 45
in St Symphorien military cem-

etery, just east of Mons. Their
graves face each other. George
Price of the Canadian Infantry,
who was killed by a German
sniper two minutes before the
Armistice came into effect, is
also buried in St Symphorien.
The last British despatch of
the Great War relating to op-
erations on the Western Front
stated: ‘Shortly before dawn this
morning Canadian troops of
the 1st Army (General Horne) Grave of George Price
captured Mons.’ One could say
that from a British perspective the Great War ended where it
began, an observation which could be construed as a commen-
tary on the futility of war.
Enniskillen may have been the first community in the British
Isles to learn of the impending Armistice. The military bar-
racks in the town picked up a faint radio message at 6:30am on
11 November 1918. Rockets were immediately launched and
church bells started to ring out as crowds gathered in the town
for the November hiring fair.
In Shrewsbury, Shropshire, as the bells rang out celebrating
the Armistice, at 12 noon the Owen family received the cruel
telegram announcing the death of their son, Wilfred, not yet
recognized as one of the great war poets. He had been killed by

machine-gun fire, trying to get his men across the Sambre canal,
exactly a week earlier.
Having lost her brother, her fiancé and their closest friends,
Vera Brittain, the author of Testament of Youth and mother of
Shirley Williams, felt nothing but desolation among the cheering
crowds celebrating the Armistice.
Sir Edward Carson was the luncheon guest of the British
Empire Producers’ Association in London on Armistice Day.
Carson asked his audience: ‘How are we to reward the men who
have preserved for us everything we possess?’ Even though the
United Kingdom in the inter-war years was most emphatically
not ‘a land fit for heroes’ (in Lloyd George’s words), Carson
revealed his generous nature by observing: ‘There must be no
return to the old standards of living or low wages for the working
class. You must let the men who have fought feel at the earliest
possible moment the gratitude of the nation by giving them their
share in the nation’s wealth’.
According to the News Letter news of the Armistice spread
like wild fire in Belfast and was signalled in the harbour by
the sounds of ships’ sirens. At the Queen’s Island (Harland &
Wolff) and Workman, Clark & Company, ‘the wee yard’, the
end of the war was greeted with ‘lusty cheers’ by thousands of
shipyard workers. There was a similar response in all the large
mills and factories throughout the city. Many workers decided
to take a holiday to celebrate ‘the auspicious event’ and by noon
Royal Avenue, Castle Place and adjoining thoroughfares were
The End of the Great War 47
thronged with enthusiastic crowds. Flags made an appearance

outside shops and homes ‘with astonishing rapidity’.
The News Letter of 12 November 1918 reported similar scenes
in Armagh, Ballymena, Carrickfergus, Coleraine, Comber,
Limavady, Lisburn, Monaghan, Newry, Newtownards, Omagh,
Portadown and Portstewart. The Union Flag flew from the tower
of the Cathedral in Armagh. Union Flags appeared in great pro-
fusion in Portadown. In Ballymena, Coleraine, Limavady, Newry
and Portadown church bells rang out. In Comber, Limavady
and Portadown factory horns and sirens were sounded. While in
many towns people took the day off, in Lisburn people contin-
ued to work. A large crowd assembled outside the Town Hall in
Coleraine. Relief was evident on the faces of those assembled in
Monaghan, especially on the faces of those with fathers, brothers
and sons at the front. The men of the Royal Fusiliers paraded
Carrickfergus. A pipe band paraded round Monaghan. In the
evening in Portadown every band in the town paraded the streets,
followed by large crowds.
Dublin was not immune to this enthusiasm. A News Letter
special correspondent in Dublin reported: ‘Dublin is, without
doubt, an amazing city. A few days ago there were signs of dis-
affection everywhere, and people had the feeling that the com-
munity had gone over entirely to the rebel party (i.e. Sinn Fein).
Today’s scenes and events must remove that impression. Never,
in a long experience of Dublin, have I seen such unanimity, no
such spontaneous exhibitions of loyalty and good feeling’.
The Great War claimed some 32,000,000 casualties – the
equivalent of more than half the present population of the United

Kingdom. 10,000,000 died – the equivalent of the present popu-
lation of Belgium or Portugal. Approximately 200,000 men from
this island, all of which formed part of the then United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, served in the Great War. Between
30,000 and 35,000 of them did not return – rather more than
the equivalent of the present-day population of Ballymena or
Newry. These deaths came to be regarded as a ‘necessary sacrifice’
in ‘the war to end all wars’. The widespread belief that a future
war must be avoided to honour their sacrifice provided import-
ant underpinning to the policy of Appeasement in the 1930s.
Ulster Tower, Thiepval

The Apprentice Boys and WWI 49
THE APPRENTICE BOYS AND WWI

Jack Greenald
T
his year marks the centenary of the end of the First World
War. Many members of the Apprentice Boys Association
served in the war and some paid the supreme sacrifice.
In December 1914 the members of the Glasgow branch of
the No Surrender Club of the Apprentice Boys celebrated the
anniversary of the closing of the gates by holding a social gath-
ering in the Orange Hall, Cathedral Street. The Press reported:
‘… this year their club had departed from their usual custom of
celebrating the 18th of December with a supper and dance. So
many of their members and friends were on the battlefield or
supporting King and country in some other way that the officials
thought it would be out of place this year to make merry with
the giddy dance and so it was arranged to have that quiet gath-
ering to commemorate, as was the duty of Apprentice Boys, the
closing of the gates of Derry’. Bro Rev David Ness,‘He was glad
so many had gone from their clubs and Orange lodges to uphold
the flag. These men were fighting for them and him, and were he
a younger man he wouldn’t have been in Glasgow that day but
with his fellow Orangemen training to fight that battle of freedom
and liberty which was being fought over again as it was in those
famous battles of Derry, Aughrim, Enniskillen and the Boyne’.
50 The Apprentice Boys and WWI
In Londonderry, the shutting of the gates parade took place

on Friday 18 December 1914, and it was stated that the turnout
was ‘smaller than on previous years owing to the big number
of Apprentice Boys who have responded to the call of King
and country and are at present fighting for the maintenance of
hearth and home’.
The Belfast News Letter reported that: ‘The 226th anniver-
sary of the shutting of the gates of Derry was celebrated in the
Maiden City on 18th by the parent clubs of Apprentice Boys in
diminished numbers but with unabated enthusiasm. Probably
no organisation has given a greater percentage of its membership
to the service of King and country than the Apprentice Boys’
Society, but while the procession on the 18th was much smaller
than usual the celebration lost none of its significance’.
Recruitment to the Colours affected attendances at meetings.
At the October 1915 meeting of the Limavady Club of the
Apprentice Boys, the President referred to the small attendance
and said that a large number of their members were serving
in France. At the November 1916 meeting of the Portadown
Apprentice Boys of Derry Club it was reported that over thirty
members of the club were on active service.
On 8 January 1915 it was reported that Private John Fleming,
who was serving in the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Rifles, was
wounded at La Bassee. Before the war he had worked at Mackie’s
Foundry. He was a member of the Murray Club, the Orange
Institution and a member of the 2nd Battalion of the West Belfast
Regiment of the Ulster Volunteer Force.
Apprentice Boys of Derry Club Roll of Honour

52 The Apprentice Boys and WWI
Private Ezekiel Nesbitt of the Royal Irish Rifles was killed in

action near Kemmel on 18 April 1915, only fourteen days after
he had left Britain and on his first night in the trenches. He was
21 years old and a member of LOL 16 and Lurgan ABOD. On
16 May 1915, Private David Norris of the 2nd Battalion Royal
Inniskilling Fusiliers was killed in action. He was aged 19 and the
first member of the Murray Parent Club to be killed in the war.
Members of the Apprentice Boys who were serving in the war
were not forgotten by their brethren back in Ulster. In March
1915 Corporal James Davis, who was serving with the North
Irish Horse, gratefully received a parcel of comforts from the
Belfast Apprentice Boys Club.
In August 1915 the Relief celebrations were replaced by
a service in the Cathedral. The press reported: ‘This year the
commemorations of the Relief of Derry will be different from
what has been usual hitherto. The Cathedral bells will not be
chimed and there will be no public demonstration on the 12th
of August. The day will be observed by a solemn service in the
Cathedral at two o’clock pm, in which the citizens will join with
the Apprentice Boys in prayer on behalf of our country at this
great national crisis. There will be no bands or banners. Only the
Rosemount Band will head the procession to the Cathedral, and
they will not play any party tunes. At the service in the Cathedral
the special litany of intercession for this time of war will be used’.
Sergeant Andrew Creswell, served in the 10th Battalion Royal
Inniskilling Fusiliers, and was a prisoner of war for nine months.
He survived the war and served in the Home Guard in the
Second World War. He was a Past President of the Browning

Club and for many years took a major part in the building of
the effigy of Lundy.
Among the many Ulstermen who fell at the Somme on 1
July 1916 was Private Jack Donnell who served with the 10th
Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. He was 19 and had been
a member of the Walker Club.
Reverend Alexander Spence was killed on 31 March 1918, an
army chaplain attached to the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. Prior
to enlisting he was a curate at Christ Church. Londonderry. He
was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry and
devotion to duty, when after working twenty hours attending to
wounded at a first aid post during an attack, the following day,
on hearing that some wounded men were lying in shell holes,
he went out in daylight under machine gun fire and brought
back several of them. He was a member of the Apprentice Boys
of Derry Club.
As we commemorate the centenary of the Armistice let us
remember all those brethren of the Apprentice Boys Association
who gave their tomorrows for our today.
Brother Jack Greenald
Newtownards Branch Apprentice Boys of Derry Club.

54 Fighters of Derry
FIGHTERS OF DERRY
J. T. Barker
A
remarkable book concerning the siege of Derry was
published in 1932. It was not a regular history of the
event. That had been done before, not least by Thomas
Witherow in his excellent Derry and Eniskillen in the Year 1689.
No, it was more a biographical dictionary (with lineages) of over
1,500 of the city’s defenders against the investing Jacobite army.
William Robert Young spent the last 10 years of his life compiling
a record of everyone he could identify as having taken part in
the defence of Derry, using all the resources available to him.
Young, of Galgorm Castle, Ballymena, was at one time High
Sheriff of Antrim and Deputy-Lieutenant for the county, and
evidently took pride in the achievements of his resolute ancestors.
He had this to say in the Preface to his Fighters of Derry: Their
Deeds and Descendants:
“The Siege of Derry is an epic of which any Province

may be proud. There for 105 days of fierce bombard-
ment, ceaseless attack and counter-attack, pestilence, and
famine, the Ulster Scot held doggedly to the crumbling
bastions, hurling defiance in the teeth of the armies of his
legitimate sovereign, and of the French and Irish generals
who in turn were in command.”
Fighters of Derry 55
and his reason for writing the book was put in this way:
“… but it has occurred to me that the present-day gener-

ation of Ulstermen, of all political creeds, whether Prot-
estant or Roman Catholic, would be interested in a work
giving short sketches of the men who played prominent
parts in this great epic and subsequent campaign down
to the fall of Limerick, with particulars of their family,
antecedents, and present representative. There is scarcely
an Ulsterman whose ancestry, direct or through a female
line, has not some hereditary touch with participants in
those memorable events. May I confess that, as an Ulster
Scot and strong Unionist, my original idea was to confine
these sketches to the Defenders of the Maiden City, but,
while pursuing my researches among all available data, I
soon found that such a limitation would eliminate many
a name held in honour and respect for splendid services
and sacrifices on behalf of their legitimate sovereign by
a large section of that Ulster of which I am so proud?”
So, while proud of his own heritage and ancestry, Young was
magnanimous enough to acknowledge that there was bravery
and honour on both sides of the conflict, and several hundred
entries for Jacobite officers and families were therefore included
in the latter part of the work.
However, as in any war or battle, all was not honour and
chivalry, and there were also those on both sides who did not
acquit themselves particularly well. Colonel Lundy’s name is still

very familiar in Ulster even today, but for all the wrong reasons.
Young had this to say of him:
“… for an estimation of his character I would cite the
annual burnings to which his effigy is subjected in the
maiden city. Whether he was a traitor of the blackest dye,
a coward believing the city untenable or merely a weak
vacillating man, it is hard to define.”
Of course, treachery was not confined to the Williamite side.

One of Young’s sources was a contemporary account of events
by Andrew Hamilton, Rector of Kilskerry. A True Relation of
the Actions of the Inniskilling-Men (later republished under the
title The Actions of the Enniskillen-men) is testimony to the defi-
ance, determination, ingenuity and bravery of the Enniskilleners
who were effectively surrounded and greatly outnumbered, yet
decided to hold their ground and face the enemy rather than
retreat behind the walls of Derry as Lundy had commanded.
Despite being more than 300 years old, the story flows like a
novel and leaves the reader in awe of what they achieved. Some
of the anecdotal detail in the book is truly memorable and, not
least, the treacherous act of one Jacobite officer, as related below.
“At this time one Brian MacConogher MacGuire, who had

been a captain in the Irish army, was a prisoner with us
at Crom. Him the Lord Galmoy had a desire to release,
and the next day sent an express to Captain Creighton,
the proprietor of the castle of Crom and governor thereof,
proposing to exchange Captain Dixy for this Captain
MacGuire, and desiring if the change were approved of,
that Captain MacGuire might be sent to him, promising
upon his honour, to return us Captain Dixy for him. The
exchange was very acceptable to the governor and all that
were in the castle of Crom, but yet they would conclude
nothing until they had the consent of the Governor of
Enniskillen, and the other officers that were there, and
so sent an express from Crom to Enniskillen for their

resolution. The messenger was immediately sent back to
Captain Creighton, with orders from the governor to go
on with the exchange. Accordingly Captain Creighton
sent MacGuire to the Lord Galmoy, desiring that Captain
Dixy might be returned to him according to his promise
under his hand, which letter is in the hands of the gov-
ernor of Enniskillen.
But the Lord Galmoy, shewing what we may expect
from the word and promise of a Papist, as soon as he
had MacGuire in his hands, called a council of war on
Captain Dixy and his Cornet Mr Charleton, where they
were both found guilty, and sentence of death passed
upon them for levying men by the Prince of Orange’s
commission, which was found in their pockets, and im-
mediately they were desired to prepare to die against the
next day. But in the mean time great endeavours were
used, and promises made them of life and preferment, if
they would turn Papists and adhere to King James; but
they, though both young men, resolutely rejected the of-
fer, and preferred their religion to the saving of their lives.
And here I cannot but remember MacGuire’s carriage,
who, as it was reported, shewed an extraordinary concern
for the Lord Galmoy’s breach of faith; he went to him
and told him, that his putting Mr Dixy to death, after
his promise under his hand to return him, would be a
perpetual stain to his honour; and rather than he should
do so base a thing, prayed that he might be returned a

prisoner back to Crom, and that Mr Dixy’s life might
be saved, for he did not desire to purchase his freedom
by so great injustice. But the Lord Galmoy deaf to any
thing that could be said on their behalf, caused both the
young gentlemen to be hanged on Mr Russel’s sign-post
in Belturbet, and when they were dead, commanded
to take their corpse into the kitchen, to cut off both
their heads, and ordered them to be thrown out into
the street to the soldiers to play at foot-ball with, and
when the soldiers for some time had pleased themselves
with this barbarous sport, their heads were set upon the
market-house in Belturbet.”
But back to the subject in hand. Where general histories view the
siege from a macroscopic level, Fighters of Derry details it from
a microscopic perspective, noting the fates and tracing the lines
of descent of many of the participants. It is a genuinely unique
account of events from a personal angle as well as an invaluable
genealogical resource. William Young died in the year following
its publication, but at least had the satisfaction of seeing his work
completed and in the public domain.
For decades the book had become so scarce that copies
were changing hands for hundreds of pounds but, thankfully,
a second, illustrated edition was published in 2016 (ISBN 978-
1-910375-08-2), making the book available and affordable to a
new generation of readers.
60 Cecil Frances Alexander
THE BICENTENARY OF THE BIRTH OF

CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER, APRIL
2018
Gordon Lucy
A
t Christmastide, the Festival of Nine
Lessons and Carols begins with
‘Once in Royal David’s City’, the
first verse being sung unaccompanied by a
solo chorister. On Easter Sunday morning
churchgoers all round the world sing ‘There
is a green hill far away’. Both hymns are from
the pen of Cecil Frances Alexander. Thus Mrs Alexander’s work
features prominently in the two great festivals of the Christian
calendar throughout the world.
Although the celebrated hymn-writer and poetess was born
in Dublin in April 1818, Mrs Alexander spent the greater part of
her life in north-west Ulster in the Diocese of Derry and Raphoe,
living in Strabane between 1833 and 1850 and 1860 and 1867,
in Castlederg between 1850 and 1855, in Upper Fahan between
1855 and 1860, and in Londonderry between 1867 and 1895.
Cecil Frances Humphreys was the daughter of Major John
Humphreys, formerly of the Royal Marines, and his wife,
Cecil Frances Alexander 61
Elizabeth Reed. Major John Humphreys was land-agent to the

4th Earl of Wicklow up to 1833 and to the 2nd Marquess of
Abercorn thereafter.
Fanny (as she was usually known) began writing verse in her
childhood and, in collaboration with Lady Harriet Howard,
daughter of the Earl of Wicklow, she produced a number of
religious tracts. These were initially published separately but
were published subsequently as a compilation in 1848. Her
religious work was strongly influenced by her contacts with
the High Church Oxford Movement (or Tractarians) and in
particular with John Keble, the English poet, Professor of
Poetry at Oxford from 1831 to 1841, and one of the leaders
of the movement. It was his famous Assize Sermon on ‘National
Apostasy’ in Oxford in 1833, prompted by the Whig govern-
ment’s suppression of ten Church of Ireland bishoprics, which
gave rise to the movement.
As a young person, Fanny had been very impressed by Keble’s
‘The Christian Year’ which appeared in 1827. She and her friend
Harriet in their early teens both virtually knew all its 300 pages
by heart. In her mid-twenties she decided to produce ‘Verses
for Holy Seasons’, a junior version for the use of clergy and
Sunday school teachers. In her dedication she paid tribute to
Keble without actually mentioning him by name: ‘To the author
of “The Christian Year”, this attempt to adapt the great principles
of his immortal work to the exigencies of the schoolroom, is
inscribed with feelings of reverence and respect, by one of the
many thousands who have profited by his labours.’
By the 1840s Fanny was well known as a hymn writer and

her compositions were appearing in Church of Ireland hymnals.
In 1848 ‘Hymns for Little Children’ was published. She invited
Keble to write a preface and he responded by contributing a short
introduction, described as ‘Notice’.
The book was intended to explain the content of ‘The Apostles’
Creed’ by answering the obvious but searching questions which
children often ask. For example, ‘Where was Jesus born?’ was
answered by ‘Once in royal David’s city’. The answer to ‘Why
did He have to die?’ was provided by ‘There is a green hill far
away’. Her response to ‘Who made the world?’ was ‘All things
bright and beautiful’ – probably the world’s favourite children’s
hymn. The book reached its sixty-ninth edition before the close
of the nineteenth century.
Fanny was romantically attracted in this period to William
Archer Butler. Reputed to be ‘the cleverest man in Ireland’,
Archer Butler was Professor of Moral Philosophy at Trinity
College, Dublin, and Rector of Raymochy, on the shores of
Lough Swilly. While engaged in famine relief, he caught famine
fever (typhus) and died very suddenly in July 1848. Fanny, many
years later, told her daughters that she had been in love with
Archer Butler and that it was his death which had prevented
the match.
In October 1850 she married William Alexander, an Anglican
clergyman, who became Bishop of Derry and Raphoe in 1867
and Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland in 1896.
His family was greatly perturbed that his bride was six years
Cecil Frances Alexander 63
older than he was. This is why Mrs Alexander’s date of birth has
appeared in some works of reference as 1823.
She was an indefatigable visitor to poor and sick and heavily
involved in charitable work. Money from her first publications
had helped build the Derry and Raphoe Diocesan Institution for
the Deaf and Dumb, which was founded in 1846 in Strabane.
The profits from ‘Hymns for Little Children’ were donated to
the school.
She wrote ‘Jesus calls us o’er the tumult’ while she was at
Termnamongan, near Castlederg. It first appeared in ‘Narrative
Hymns for Village Schools’ (1853). On 1 January 1871, when
the Church of Ireland ceased to be the Established Church in
Ireland, she penned a sombre hymn, which is not one of her
better known ones, to mark what for the membership of Church
of Ireland was a traumatic occasion.
In 1889, at the request of H. H. Dickinson, Dean of the
Chapel Royal at Dublin Castle, she produced an English version
of a Gaelic poem entitled ‘St. Patrick’s Breastplate’ found in the
‘Liber Hymnorum’. The hymn is also known by its opening line:
‘I bind unto myself today’. It is currently included in the ‘English
Hymnal’, ‘The Irish Church Hymnal’ and ‘The Hymnal’ of the
American Episcopal Church.
Mrs C. F. Alexander occupies an honoured place in the folk-
lore of the Apprentice Boys of Derry. In 1870 Gladstone’s Liberal
government sought to prevent the annual burning of Lundy in
effigy on 18 December of that year. Oral tradition credits Mrs
Alexander with hiding the effigy of ‘the traitor Lundy’ in the
Bishop’s Palace and the Bishop with refusing the police permis-
sion to search the palace, thus, enabling the celebration to take
place in defiance of the wishes of the authorities. The Bishop
and Mrs Alexander’s actions were almost certainly the product of
their hostility to Gladstone’s Irish Church Act. Bishop Alexander
had made a very forceful speech in the House of Lords in June
1869 denouncing disestablishment. Mrs Alexander may also have
been impressed by the epic proportions of the Siege of Derry
because she wrote a poem on the subject. Bishop Alexander’s
unionism is evident in his reaction to disestablishment (which
represented a clear breach of the Act of Union) and the speech
which he made against Home Rule in the Royal Albert Hall at
the time of the Second Home Rule Crisis in 1893.
Mrs Alexander died at the Bishop’s Palace in Londonderry
on 12 October 1895 and is buried in the City Cemetery. A
posthumous collection of her poems, edited by her husband,
appeared in 1896.
There are two excellent biographies of the hymn writer: E.W.
Lovell, ‘A Green Hill Far Away: A Life of Mrs C.F. Alexander’
(1970) and Valerie Wallace, ‘Mrs Alexander’ (1995).
The 1718 Migration from Ulster 65
THE 1718 MIGRATION FROM

ULSTER
Andrew Charles
T
oday much is said about the migration of ‘Irish’ to mod-
ern-day America, whether it be from Potato Famine in
the mid-1800s or from the formation of the Irish Free
State in 1922 when thousands of Irish left Ireland in search of
a better life. However little or nothing is mentioned about the
migration of a significant number of Protestants, mainly Presby-
terians to the former North American Colony, now the United
States of America in the early 18th century from Ulster. Indeed,
many of these settlers went on to fight during the American
War of Independence against Britain, in turn inspiring their
own ‘kith and kin’ left at home in Ulster to participate in the
1798 Rebellion.
The 1718 migration from County Londonderry was not by
any means the first migration of people from Ulster to then
Colonial America, but it was probably the first that was organised
successfully to bring groups of settlers from one catchment area,
and importantly, these were people who wanted to continue to
live together in the new land.
Most people will never have heard of the 1718 migration,
in which significant numbers of families from Ulster travelled
66 The 1718 Migration from Ulster
on sailing ships to Boston, and then on to found towns and

communities in America. Some of the first settlements were in
Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, and then onwards
throughout the continent. While having special relevance to the
areas most directly affected – the Bann and Foyle river valleys and
adjoining districts, along with New England in the United States
– 1718 and the events of that year have importance for Ulster
and North America and the special relationship between the two.
James McGregor, a leading Presbyterian Clergyman, who
settled in Aghadowey, County Londonderry, is famous not for
only leading a group of settlers to the Colony of North America,
but for being responsible for the firing of the cannon on the top
of St Columb’s Cathedral in Londonderry on the 28th July 1689
to mark the breaking of the boom on the River Foyle and hence
ending the 105-day siege that had been forced upon the City of
Londonderry and its Protestant inhabitants.
McGregor in 1718 was to prove a significant figure for lead-
ing his community, as a Presbyterian Minister, from Ulster to
New England in search of a better life. McGregor as noted, was
present during the Siege of Londonderry during the Glorious
Revolution. Presbyterians were then hopeful of their deliverance
from tyranny and oppression under the Roman Catholic King
James I, who besieged the City of Londonderry and fought and
then fled Ireland forever after the Battle of the Boyne 1690.
Presbyterians however were to find themselves treated not
unlike their Roman Catholic countrymen after the reign of King
William III and Queen Anne, something which was to lead to
the 1798 Rebellion, when Presbyterians, or dissenters, united

with their Roman Catholic brethren, rose up against the Crown.
Many Presbyterians, like McGregor, left Ulster for America
in search of a better life. Their decision to do so was not purely
on the basis of quarrel with their Anglican countrymen, but for
economic reasons. The year 1718 saw a bad harvest, with many
of all denominations left hungry and poor. This led to difficulties
in paying rent to their Landlords, or their Agents, with many
risking being made homeless.
Approximately 100 families, or more than 500 people, left
Ulster for Boston between the mid-summer and early autumn
of 1718 from the Coleraine area. On arrival the authorities grew
increasingly concerned, and despite promises of land being made,
the community ended up being split and moved separately to
different locations.
One group of about 20 families stayed in their ship, the
Robert, and went on up the coast to Casco Bay, Maine, where
unfortunately they were shortly frozen in, and spent a very mis-
erable winter in desperate conditions. In the spring, they sailed
to the mouth of the Merrimack River and moved inland to an
area 30 miles north of Boston, then called Nutfield.
McGregor had spent the winter preaching in Dracut,
Massachusetts, and he and his party joined the Nutfield group
in April 1719. It is recorded that he preached a sermon while
standing under an oak tree beside Beaver Pond; it is certain
that on that day he was preaching to people who had been his
hearers in Aghadowey.
68 The 1718 Migration from Ulster
The population of Nutfield grew rapidly in the years that fol-

lowed as families who had settled elsewhere as well as newcomers
from Ulster moved there. In 1722 the community renamed their
settlement Londonderry, symbolically linking their new home
to the siege city.
McGregor continued as minister of Londonderry until his
death from fever on 5th March 1729. A few months later he was
succeeded by 70-year-old Matthew Clerk, a battle-scarred veteran
of the siege of Londonderry who had resigned as the Minister
of Kilrea, County Londonderry, and travelled to Londonderry,
New Hampshire. He went on to marry McGregor’s widow. Clerk
died in 1735 and, as he had requested, was carried to his grave
by old comrades from the siege of Londonderry.
Among the other places in New England settled by immi-
grants from Ulster was Worcester, Massachusetts, which at that
time would have been considered a frontier settlement. The Rev.
Edward Fitzgerald, described as ‘of Londonderry’, but about
whose background nothing else is known, led a group of families
here in the late summer of 1718. It seems that many of the early
Ulster settlers in Worcester were from the Foyle Valley, com-
prising adjoining portions of counties Donegal, Londonderry
and Tyrone. A number of families can be traced to Ardstraw,
County Tyrone, which was a Presbyterian settlement close to
Newtownstewart, as well as other parishes in this region.
Similar to the experiences of Ulster settlers elsewhere, the
reaction of the English Puritans in Worcester was hostile with
some of the locals even going so far as to burn down the new
arrivals’ Presbyterian meeting house, which was in the process

of being built. As a result, many of these families moved on
elsewhere. A headstone in Worcester commemorates the oldest
of the 1718 migrants. The inscription to John Young notes that
he died in 1730 at the age of 107, meaning that he must have
been in his mid-90s at the time of his departure from Ireland. The
inscription also records that he was from the ‘Isle of Bert’ – Burt
in County Donegal. Some of those who left Worcester settled a
few miles away at Sutton where the Rev. John McKinstry began
his ministry c. 1720. McKinstry seems to have been a son of
Roger McKinstry who lived near Edinburgh, but left Scotland
as a Covenanter in the 1660s.
John was born apparently in Broadisland, County Antrim, and
graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an MA degree.
Voluntown, Connecticut, had so many Ulster settlers that the
English protested against allowing them to have their own min-
ister. However, in 1723 the Rev. Samuel Dorrance, who had been
associated with the presbytery of Coleraine in Ulster, became min-
ister of this community. Another Ulster minister in Connecticut
was Rev. James Hillhouse, from a family settled at Freehall near
Limavady, who became pastor of New London in 1722.
Many of the details about the lives and relationships of the
emigrants have been completely forgotten in Ulster, and are
preserved only in America, in local publications and family his-
tories. 2018 provides the opportunity for people to re-connect
not only with the stories of the emigrants, but also to learn about
shared ancestors.
70 Club News
CLUB NEWS
Club of Research Visit to Chester and the
National Memorial Arboretum, Staffs.
The Club’s annual visit to either England or Scotland took place
this year over the weekend of the 22nd to 25th March with the
Queen Hotel, Chester being the group's base for the three nights.
At the National Memorial Arboretum

The highlight of the trip was the day long visit to the National
Memorial Arboretum, Staffordshire. The group arrived in good
Apprentice Boys Of Derry No Surrender Club
CORLEA BRANCH
Centenary 1918-2018
Celebrating 100 years of the Crimson Cause

Club News 73
time to take part in the daily eleven o’clock Service of Remem-

brance in the Forces' Chapel. This was followed by an hour-long
ride on a land train accompanied by a tour guide which gave a
great overview of the Arboretum site and memorials. After lunch,
the group made its way to the Orange Institution’s Memorial,
stopping for a moment's reflection at the RUC GC, UDR and
USC memorials.
A service of Remembrance was held at the Orange Memorial
by the Club Brethren conducted by the Vice President, Bro.
Trevor Anderson with Club President, Bro. John Hunter and
Club Lay Chaplain, Bro. John Hall MBE also taking part.
The Ode of Remembrance was spoken by Club member, Bro.
Major Stan Brown following which a wreath was laid by the
Lieutenant Governor, Bro. Worthington McGrath assisted by
Bro. Bert Davis.
The following day, Saturday, was free for the group to explore
the beautiful City of Chester. However, all were agreed that the
visit to the National Memorial Arboretum was the highlight of
our stay in Chester.
Belfast Browning Club Celebrate 125

Years
Believed to be the oldest Apprentice Boys Branch Club in Belfast,
having been issued its charter on the 30th October 1893, the
Belfast Browning ABOD Club is celebrating its 125th Anni-
versary this year.
74 Club News
Belfast Browning Club

Based in East Belfast, the Club held its first meeting in the
original Ballymacarrett Orange Hall in Chamberlain Street on
6th January 1894. In 1901 it moved to the newly built Orange
Hall on the Albertbridge Road and has met there on the first
Monday of every month ever since.
To mark this milestone anniversary the Club held in its
installation of Officers on Saturday 13th January 2018 in the
Apprentice Boys Memorial Hall. Visitors from the different levels
of the Apprentice Boys Association were in attendance, including
the Worthy Governor, Bro. Graeme Stenhouse, who conducted
Club News 75
BELFAST & DISTRICT AMALGAMATED

COMMITTEE
Congratulations on your publication !
Does your club meet within the Belfast & District area? Why
not come and join with us in promoting the association to-
gether in Belfast and beyond?
We meet 5 times a year in Belfast Orange Hall Clifton Street
and would be keen to have all clubs in the locality standing
together in the capital city contact us for more information.
John Wilson Jnr Chairman
Christopher Cunningham Secretary
christophercunningham@hotmail.co.uk
the installation ceremony.

Other events being planned include a Church Parade on
Sunday 29th July and a dinner dance at the Park Avenue Hotel
on Saturday 4th November 2018.
Belfast Browning are using the anniversary celebrations
to raise money for the local East Belfast charity ‘Survivors of
Suicide’.
A limited edition jewel and badge have been issued to mark
the occasion.
All profits from these will go to ‘Survivors of Suicide’.
76 Club News
The Belfast Browning Club has enjoyed an influx of new

members in recent years and is continuing to grow. This is per-
haps a sign of a renewed interest of the Apprentice Boys tradition
and the wider loyal orders in our capital city.
The Belfast Browning Branch Club gives thanks to God for bless-
ing us with 125 years of fellowship. Our Club has existed in three
separate centuries and God willing will be here in more to come.
If anybody would like more information on the Belfast
Browning Branch Club can you please contact the Club Secretary
Kirk McDowell on e.mcdowell1@ntlworld.com
Mitchelburne Club
The Mitchelburne Club is one of the longest established Ap-
prentice Boys networks and is progressing well during these first
decades of the 21st century, with its tally of 28 branches and
a membership of over 1,000. The Club celebrated its 150th
anniversary in 2014, when, amongst all the celebrations, much
tribute was paid to its original patron, Colonel Mitchelburne,
Siege Governor, who is recognised as the founding father of the
first Apprentice Boys in 1714.
The Club annually commemorates Mitchelburne’s role along
with due tribute to members who paid the ultimate price during
the recent war with republicans, when it conducts its parade and
other events on the third Saturday of September.
The Club has ambitious plans for further development during
this century, with new branch clubs pending and a connected effort
Club News 77
to encourage a better understanding of our history and culture.

The Mitchelburne Club has had a long and very successful
relationship with the Hamilton Flute Band, one of the oldest
bands in Ulster, and renowned for the excellent quality of its
musical attainment. The Band greatly distinguished itself with
its commitment during the First World War, when a total of 63
past and present members enlisted for action at the front – with
some casualties!
In recognition of the Band's great bravery and to mark the
centenary of the Armistice of 1918, the Club will present the
Hamiltons with a ceremonial bandsash on the evening of the 1st
July, when the Band conducts the Somme commemoration at
the Londonderry’s War Memorial … it will be a special occasion
for both Club and Band.
Solent and South Downs Branch,

Browning Club
Brothers and interested parties. Our Branch Club has been in
existence since 1987 and draws upon members from right across
the South of England. We meet in Southampton, Hampshire,
on the odd months, on the fourth Thursday at 19.30.
We are a close knit set of Loyalists that always welcome new
members. We would be happy to entertain fellow Brothers who
are in the area and we would love to hear from prospective new
members who would be interested to join us. You can contact
us on abodsouthampton@yahoo.com for further information.
78 Club News
COLERAINE & DISTRICT AMALGAMATED

COMMITTEE
HOSTS OF THE 2018 ANNUAL APPRENTICE BOYS
OF DERRY CONFERENCE AND AGM OF THE
APPRENTICE BOYS BENEVOLENT FUND
SATURDAY 27th OCTOBER
VENUE – THE TOWN HALL, THE DIAMOND, COLERAINE
T he chairman, officers and members of the above Amalgamated

Committee look forward to welcoming our Worthy Governor,
General Committee Officers, Parent Club Officers, Branch Club Of-
ficers and all remaining brethren to the town of Coleraine for our first
Annual Apprentice Boys of Derry conference on Saturday 27th October
2018. Also the Officers and Committee Members of the Benevolent
Fund for their Annual General Meeting prior to conference.
AN INVITATION TO AN EVENING OF TRADITIONAL ORANGE
CULTURE, MUSIC & SONG HELD IN COLERAINE FOOTBALL
CLUB’S SOCIAL CLUB, BALLYCASTLE ROAD, FROM 8PM TILL LATE,
IS EXTENDED TO ALL VISITING BRETHREN AND FRIENDS.
Tickets can be obtained from the Amalgamated Secretary Bro. Graham
Watton (See Report Book for details).
We would like to wish the Club of Research God's richest blessing in
the future and thank it for such a worthwhile publication.
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN  VITA VERITAS VICTORIA
NO SURRENDER
Club News 79
Ahoghill Branch
Ahoghill Apprentice Boys of Derry Club was formed in No-
vember 1988 by the late Bro. John Milliken at which the initial
election of Officers was held. The first official Club meeting was
on the 30th January 1989 at which the following Brethren were
installed: President – John Milliken, Vice President – Paul Walker,
Secretary – Tommy McDowell, Treasurer – William Woodrow,
Lay Chaplain – Maurice Anderson, Tyler – George Small.
The Club’s first banner was purchased shortly afterwards and
is still proudly carried each year in Londonderry. A number of
bands have led the Club over the years with Glenhugh Flute
Band currently having this honour.
The Club has had a steady membership down through the
years with 48 Brethren returned in 2017. The current Officers
are: President – David McDonald, Vice President – Robert
Peachey, Secretary – Maurice Anderson, Treasurer – Brian
Warren, Chaplain – Rev Thomas Greer, Lay Chaplain – William
Woodrow, Tyler – Edward Lowry.
This year being our 30th Anniversary, the Club is having a
celebratory dinner on Friday 23rd November which is the exact
date that the Club was formed on in 1988.
Here’s hoping that our next 30 years will be as exciting and
as memorable as the first 30 years.
Yours in the Crimson Cause
Maurice Anderson
Club Secretary.
80 Club News
Bangor Browning Club
Brethren from Bangor Browning Club, September 2017, cele-

brated their 90th year with a parade in Bangor and a dinner in the
Marine Court Hotel. This was attended by outgoing Governor,
Jim Brownlee, and incoming Governor, Graeme Stenhouse. Also
at the event, the Club dedicated their new bannerette and laid
a wreath at the Cenotaph.
Club News 81
Dunseverick Mitchelburne Branch Club

3 Generations, all Brethren of
'Dunseverick Mitchelburne
Branch Club' pictured at
the Ulster Tower prior to the
Annual Commemoration and
Wreath Laying on the 1st July
2017.
L-R: Bro. Mark Heaney

[Secretary], Bro. Leslie Heaney
[Chaplin], Bro. Matthew
Heaney [Tyler]
IN MEMORY OF
A TRUE FRIEND AND BROTHER
ARCHIE RICHARDSON PAST CHAIRMAN
ENGLISH AMALGAMATED COMMITTEE
FROM: JIM WILSON PAST CHAIRMAN AND
SECRETARY
SOUTH WEST ULSTER AMALGAMATED
COMMITTEE
Cover image courtesy of Causeway Coast Community News

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ANNUAL

T he Club of Research is the Historical Society of the Ap-

The Club’s primary purpose is to research and investigate the

The Club meets four times a year in various locations, with

For further information, please contact:

FROM 12 APRIL to AND W

Museum of Orange Heritage,

Contact: 02890 701122

Find Us On Facebook @OrangeHeritage w w w.orangeheritage.co.uk

CLUB OF RESEARCH OFFICERS

Vice President: Bro. Trevor Anderson – Moneymore Walker

Lay Chaplain: Bro. John Hall MBE – Omagh No Surrender

Secretary: Bro. Worthington McGrath – Walker Parent Club

Treasurer: Bro. Ian Carser – Woodburn Browning Club

Tyler: Bro. Marc Miller – Belfast Browning Club

Committee: Bro. John Hunter, Bro. John Hall, Bro. Worthington

IMPORTANT PARADE DATES

A s Governor of the Appren-

venture would not have been possible.

Bro. Graeme Stenhouse

Associated Clubs of the Apprentice Boys of Derry

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR’S PREFACE

during those dark days of 1688 and 1689.

Brother Worthington McGrath

Associated Clubs of the Apprentice Boys of Derry

A WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT

I t gives me great pleasure and

taken adverts out; without them the publication of this Booklet

Worthy Bro. John Hunter

A WORD FROM BRO. DR ANDREW

been possible. All proceeds raised from the publication will go

Chairman, Booklet Committee

028 9030 1204

ULSTER ON THE BRINK OF WAR,

Existing conditions call for the demobilisation of the

The following will cover the formation of the Ulster Volunteer

• In 1885 the Liberal Party, led by William Gladstone

curtailed the powers of the Lords, permitting it the

future maintenance of the Liberal Government. In fact, when

Sir Edward Carson, Leader of Unionism, backed the war eﬀort.

“I am very much depressed, as I fear the Government

A telegram which Carson received from a UVF oﬃcer in Belfast

Edward Carson inspecting UVF volunteers

All oﬃcers, non-commissioned oﬃcers, and men who are

crisis are requested to answer immediately His Majesty’s

Our loyalty is of no recent date but has been the foun-

Carson’s response to his dilemma, being a patriot, was to put to one

Division. He would not however accept a total transfer of the

Irish Division, were mobilised for action in Palestine, which in-

In common with most of our fellow-citizens, we watched

During the Battle of the Somme the Ulster Division was

I am not an Ulsterman but yesterday, the 1st. July, as I

Of nine Victoria Crosses given to British forces in the battle,

The mode and thought of men, the whole outlook on

MAJOR GENERAL OLIVER NUGENT

Oliver Nugent, Commanding Oﬃcer of the Ulster Division

relations were Roman Catholics.

Memorial tablet for Sir Oliver Nugent

Nugent’s papers include material relating to the Cavan regiment

Despite his Ulster Protestant and unionist background,

they would wait, protected by the curtain of shell-fire on the

The following day he wrote again to his wife:

‘The losses of the Ulster Division are 210 oﬃcers and

On 4 July he wrote to King George V – at the King’s request

in September and October 1918.

THE END OF THE GREAT WAR:

in St Symphorien military cem-