tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26409363996937725502024-03-19T02:48:03.418+00:00Ulster History CircleThe Ulster History Circle is a small voluntary not for profit organisation that places commemorative plaques in public places in towns and villages all over the Province in commemoration of men and women who have contributed to its culture, industry and history.Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-16419236482203670042013-05-15T18:13:00.002+01:002013-05-15T18:16:53.216+01:00Blue plaque for James Viscount Bryce<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">An unseasonably cold and wet morning greeted the guests who gathered at 13 Chichester Street, Belfast to mark the life and achievements of James Bryce on the 175th Anniversary of his birth at 40 Upper Arthur Street. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chris Spurr</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Chris Spurr</i>, Chairman of the Ulster History Circle, welcomed everyone to this special occasion, the latest of the series of blue plaque in this part of the city. Jame Bryce was joining Luke Livingstone Macassey in Chichester Street, John Boyd Dunlop in May Street and Harry Ferguson in Donegall Square East. James Bryce's many achievement during his long life were impressive; historian, politician and diplomat. Although he lived in a very different age from our own his achievements remain exemplary in the present time. He was of course of Scottish stock who became one of the most prominent Ulster-Scots of Edwardian times. On this, the 175th anniversary of his birth in this street, it was fitting that we now have a visible and permanent record of his life and achievements here in Belfast. Since the early 1980s, the Ulster History Circle has put up more than 150 plaques all over Northern Ireland to celebrate the achievements of those men and women who have contributed significantly to our history, locally, nationally, and internationally. It is an entirely voluntary organisation, and relies on the support of local authorities, individuals, organisations, and businesses to fund the plaques. Chris extended his thanks to the Ulster-Scots Agency for its financial support for the plaque and for hosting the refreshments later and in particular he thanked Maynard Hanna of the Agency for all his help and support during the planning process. He also thanked Noel Phoenix and Clive Neville, joint owners of the building, for allowing the erection of the plaque there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Ian Crozier</i>, CEO of the Ulster-Scots Agency, thanked the Circle for undertaking the project. This was the first of five plaques that the Circle would erect this year to commemorate Ulster-Scots people who had made a significant contribution not only here but internationally. He hoped this co-operation would continue into the future. Ulster people are a very forward looking people, always looking for the next challenge but one thing they are not so good at is recognising and celebrating their achievements and bringing them to the attention of the next generation as an inspiration. Over the next few years the Agency and the Circle would be working to bring such achievers to public recognition. Today we are honouring James Bryce. There were other Ulster-Scots like Lord Kelvin, honoured in Scotland, buried in Westminster Abbey but virtually unrecognised by today's generation. Blue plaques are too small to record the full extent of the achievements of people like James Bryce. He would not deal in detail with Bryce's life and achievents. That would be provided by Gordon Lucy in the Agency HQ later. It was with great pleasure that he unveiled the plaque. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Following refreshments in the Agency's premises <i>Dr Gordon Lucy</i> addressed the gathering. Over the course of a stimulating, entertaining and informative 20 minute talk he took us through Bryce's origins, birth and early childhood in Belfast and Glasgow and showed how his early promise was exemplified by his academic achievments. He described the origins of Bryce's liberalism and the development of his scholarship, his extensive travelling and impressive mountaineering skills as well as providing an insight into Bryce's political and diplomatic achievements. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For more information about James Bryce's life and achievements visit <a href="http://www.ulsterhistory.co.uk/bryce.html">www.ulsterhistory.co.uk/bryce.html</a></span></div>
Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-86418679294000209732013-05-15T17:02:00.001+01:002013-05-15T18:15:28.417+01:00Catch-up timeI've been neglecting my updating of the blog. Since the last update the Circle has unveiled four plaques. Links are provided to the reports of the unveiling of the individual plaques.<br />
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<li>Sean Lester, Last Secretary-General of the League of Nations, 22 February 2013. See <a href="http://www.ulsterhistory.co.uk/220213.html">Report of the Lester unveiling</a></li>
<li>Isabella Tod, Suffragist and Campaigner for Women's Rights, on International Women's Day, 8 March 2013, See <a href="http://www.ulsterhistory.co.uk/080313.html">Report of the Tod unveiling</a></li>
<li>Dr James McDonnell, Physician (Father of Belfast Medicine), 15 April 2013, see <a href="http://www.ulsterhistory.co.uk/150413.html">Report of the McDonnell unveiling</a> and </li>
<li>Gustav Wilhelm Wolff, Shipbuilder, 17 April 2013. See <a href="http://www.ulsterhistory.co.uk/170413.html">Report of the Wolff unveilin</a>g</li>
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Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-68831294417163151802013-01-24T23:38:00.004+00:002013-01-24T23:46:12.571+00:00Blue plaque for Sir Otto Jaffe - 14 January 2013 - at 10 Donegall Square South, Belfast<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The wintry day, with a cold drizzle, that met those gathering for the unveiling ceremony opposite the rear entrance of Belfast City Hall did not dampen the spirits or detract from the warmth of the occasion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chris Spurr, Chairman of the Ulster History Circle, welcomed the Lord Mayor, Alderman Gavin Robinson and the guests to the unveiling of the latest of the Circle's plaques and the first of 2013. Sir Otto Jaffe had made a significant contribution to the enterprise of Victorian Belfast. So much so that 113 years ago it made him Lord Mayor for the first time and the Circle was delighted to honour him with this plaque. He thanked the City Council for funding the plaque and Mr John Miskelly and the management of the 10 Square Hotel for allowing the plaque to be erected on the building that had originally been called Yorkshire House.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Belfast Lord Mayor, Alderman Gavin Robinson, with <br />Sean Nolan and Chris Spurr , Ulster History Circle</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Lord Mayor thanked the Circle for erecting the plaque and said how interesting it was to read about Sir Otto and the contribution he had made to this great city of ours. Although he was Hamburg born, coming to Belfast at the age of six, he contributed so much to the City's way of life. Sir Otto was an illustrious predecessor of his and it was interesting to note that his family's linen business was here on this site and his own family's linen business was at the other end of the same street. He got involved in Belfast politics at the age of 30 and rose to become Lord Mayor in 1899 and again in 1904. He gave so much to the City; he contributed £10,000 to the returning servicemen of the Boer War, £1,000 towards the construction of the RVH, £4,000 for Queen's College (now QUB), and established the Jaffe Elementary School for the citizens of Belfast, not just for members of the Jewish community. The Lord Mayor also acknowledged that Belfast had become an unattractive and unwelcoming place for someone who had done so much for the City and so in 1915, after the start of the War, when anti-German feeling was growing in the City, Belfast was no longer an appropriate place for Sir Otto. So he hoped that unveiling this plaque today would in some way to help to reconcile the City with all the great things he gave, the contribution that he made and all that the City owed to Sir Otto Jaffe. In thanking those present for being here today he hoped that we did, in some small way, by unveiling this plaque in his memory, heal those wounds that were so apparent during the War - his memory lives on and his legacy lives on.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Members of the Belfast Jewish Congregation, <br />with Chris Spurr, after the unveiling</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mr Ronnie Appleton QC thanked the Lord Mayor for his address and the Circle for honouring Sir Otto with this plaque. Sir Otto, twice Lord Mayor of Belfast and Life President of the Belfast Jewish Community, was a philanthropist extraordinary. He came to urban Ireland with his father Daniel at the age of six in 1857. He contributed to many causes; three libraries in Belfast, RVH, Queen's College and the Jaffe School used by a wide number of organisations and used t teach Jewish Children their religion in the evenings. His firm, Jaffe Brothers, was the largest exporter of linen in Ireland and gave much-needed employment. He paid for the Jewish Synagogue that was founded in 1904 and served the Jewish Community until 1964. His contribution was substantial to Northern Ireland and is something that he is now being recognised in this way.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sir Otto Jaffe</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Otto Jaffe was born in Hamburg in 1846, the third son of Daniel Jaffe. He came to Belfast at the age of 6 and at 16 he entered the family business, Jaffe Brothers Linen Merchants, also known as Strand spinning, which provided work for about 350 local people, rising to 650 in 1914 when the company expanded to make munitions. Otto was educated in Belfast, Hamburg, and Switzerland. After carrying on business in New York from 1865 to 1877, he became chief director of the Belfast firm.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He was elected a City Councillor for St Anne's Ward in 1894 and became the city's first Lord Mayor in 1899, being knighted in March of the following year. He served as High Sheriff and was re-elected Lord Mayor in 1904.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sir Otto was well known throughout his public life in Belfast for his generosity of both time and money. During his first term as Lord Mayor he and the Lady Mayoress raised £10,000 for the dependants of soldiers and sailors serving in the Boer War. He contributed £1,000 to the original building fund for the Royal Victoria Hospital where he was Governor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1905 Sir Otto gave £4,000 to the fund for better equipment for Queen's College (now university). He was an active member of the committee that got the Public Libraries Act extended to Belfast, leading to the first free library being established.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As President of the Belfast congregation he made a huge contribution to the consolidation of the province's Jewish population, providing most of the funds for the new synagogue in Annesley Street, Carlisle Circus, in 1904. He had a deep interest in education and funded the Jaffe Public Elementary School at the corner of Cliftonville and Antrim Road in 1907, which, by his stipulation, was not exclusively Jewish, either in its management, staffing or pupils. He was a justice of the peace, a member of the Harbour Board and the German Consul.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1915, after 25 years service in Belfast and despite his naturalisation as a British citizen in 1888, and the service of his son Daniel in the British army, Sir Otto was forced to move to England as a result of the intimidation of the family during the war due to their German roots. Sir Otto died and was cremated in London in April 1929. His wife dies in August of the same year.</span></div>
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Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-67173697968382242602012-12-20T21:08:00.000+00:002012-12-20T21:39:38.529+00:00Blue Plaque for Belfast Artist: 30 November 2012<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A latish start and traffic conditions conspired to make me nearly late for the start of the ceremony to unveil the plaque to Frank McKelvey. Luckily I had five minutes to spare to set up the sound and recording equipment before the start. The people there included members of McKelvey's extended family, including some of his great-grandchildren, representatives of Belfast City Council and local historical and heritage Societies.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Frank McKelvey</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Frank McKelvey was born on 3 June 1895 at 11 Glenvale Street, Belfast. After attending Mayo Street National School, he became an apprentice lithographer and poster designer at Davis Allen & Sons. He then entered the Belfast College of Art, where in 1911- 12 he won the Sir Charles Brett Prize, and in 1913-14 the Fitzpatrick Prize, both for figure drawing from life.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Frank's father, William, was a painting contractor, and in his early years Frank worked from his father's premises on the Woodvale Road. He first exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1918 and his landscape painting won him immediate recognition in Dublin. He continued exhibiting at the R.H.A. every year for the next fifty-five years, showing from three to eight works each time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">McKelvey became a full-time painter of landscapes and portraits, opening his first studio at 142 Royal Avenue around 1919, next to that of artist J.W. Carey (1859-1937) and exhibiting mostly in Belfast, Dublin and Glasgow. His landscape paintings are typically of farm scenes in Co Armagh, the North Coast, and later in Co Donegal. Thomas McGowan commissioned him, together with other local artists, to paint pictures of old Belfast, and this collection is in the Ulster Museum. As a member of the RHA, he exhibited in Belfast, Dublin and Londonderry, and in 1936 had a one-man show where three of his landscapes were purchased as a wedding present for Queen Juliana of the Netherlands by Dutch people living in Ireland.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">McKelvey also painted many portraits, amongst them the mathematician and physicist Sir Joseph Larmor; the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Sir Martin Wallace; Sir William Whitla; the 3rd Duke of Abercorn and Professor Sir William Thomson. Thirteen of his large-scale portrait drawings of U.S. Presidents with Ulster lineage were presented to the Belfast Museum & Art Gallery in 1931. He also illustrated Margaret Holland's book My Winter of Content under Indian Skies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His work can now be found in the Royal Collection at The Hague and in many places in Ireland including the Crawford Gallery, Cork; Queen's University, Belfast; the Ulster Museum and the Masonic Hall in Dublin. In London the National Maritime Museum houses one of his paintings depicting an Aran Island currach.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Frank McKelvey died on 30 June 1974 in Belfast.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Unveiling</span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Chris Spurr</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Welcoming the members of the McKelvey, Kennedy and Whiteside families, City Aldermen and Councillors and the others who were here to commemorate Frank McKelvey, Chris Spurr, Chairman of the ULster History Circle said that Frank McKelvey was born not too far away in Glenville Street. He spent his formative days on the Woodvale Road, where his father had a business on this very site. Here he developed his talent as an artist, achieving great acclaim throughout Ireland and beyond. His renowned ability as a painter of landscapes and portraits is acknowledged both by the many exhibitions during his lifetime, and by the number of distinguished persons who sat for him. First hand examples of his work are available in Belfast City Hall, Queen’s University, the Ulster Museum, and the Belfast Harbour Commissioners’ Office and, in these digital times, many of his public works can be seen on-line through the BBC’s <i>Your Paintings</i> webpages. Chris thanked Belfast City Council and the council’s Development Committee for funding today’s plaque, the Spectrum Centre for providing the refreshments afterwards and Mr Frank McAllister for allowing the plaque to be sited here.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alderman Christopher Stalford said that as Chair of the Council's Development Committee he was delighted to support this and other initiatives throughout the City. In Belfast awareness of he positive impact that many Belfast people have had both here and in shaping the world was becoming increasingly recognised. It was therefore entirely appropriate to commemorate Frank McKelvey for the contribution he had made. He spoke about the view of art before McKelvey's time as 'art without roots' and said the McKelvey had helped to give it those roots, quoting from John Hewitt (another Belfast man). He thanked the Ulster History Circle and all those present for being here to commemorate Frank McKelvey.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alderman William Humphrey MLA welcomed everyone to the Woodvale Road, 'The Heart of the Empire', to mark another Woodvale man in Frank McKelvey. McKelvey was world famous and a man to be proud of. He recalled that another famous Artist, William Conor, was born in 'The Hammer'. That tradition of producing notable personalities and talents continues with people such as Norman Whiteside and Wayne McCullough. Some years ago he had suggested to the Council that plaques be erected to the City's famous sons and daughters and he was pleased to see that this was being taken up in such a positive way. He thanked the Circle for erecting the plaque and Frank McAllister (another Shankill man) for allowing the plaque to be erected here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dr Brian Kennedy (McKelvey's Biographer), spoke of the view in the early 1920s that Irish Artists should paint Irish subjects and how Humbert Craig, Paul Henry and Frank McKelvey (all three of them being Belfast men) had developed this genre Irish Landscape painting during the inter-war years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">McKelvey's daughter-in-law, Mrs Ann McKelvey and his nephew, Trevor Kennedy spoke briefly to give some reminiscences of the artist and to thank the Circle and the people of the Shankill for this tribute to him.</span></div>
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Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-17639522703097985972012-12-20T20:26:00.002+00:002012-12-20T20:26:40.749+00:00Founder of the oldest continuously published regional newspaper<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial;">3</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">0 October 2012 (A Blue plaque is unveiled)</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">A mizzley day greeted the guests as they gathered at Joy's Entry in Belfast to remember and commemorate Francis Joy, who had founded the </span><i style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">Belfast News Letter</i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"> 275 years ago.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Francis Joy was born on 3 August 1697, probably in Killead, Co Antrim. Family legend suggests he was descended from Captain Thomas Joy, a follower of Sir Arthur Chichester.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1737 Francis founded the Belfast News Letter after apparently receiving a printing press in lieu of a bad debt. Of all English language daily papers in publication today, the Belfast News Letter is thought to be the oldest continuously published title in the world. 2012 marks the 275th year of publication.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The earliest extant issue is No. 113 for 3 October 1738, printed by Joy "At the sign of the Peacock in Bridge Street". A copy of this early edition is in the Linen Hall Library in Belfast. Joy had moved to the Peacock premises in 1737 and remained there until 1746. Joy’s Entry is named after Francis Joy, and is the place where he had a warehouse, near to the site of the paper’s first publication.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Faced with a shortage of paper, Joy developed the family business to include papermaking, first in Ballymena and then in 1745 at Randalstown, where he installed a larger mill. He married Margaret, daughter of Robert Martin of Belfast, and had at least two sons: Henry Joy (1719/20-1789) and Robert Joy (1722-1785). Joy twice petitioned the Irish House of Commons for assistance in his paper making, eventually being granted £200, a considerable sum, in 1749. By now, however, his sons Henry and Robert were running the printing business, having taken charge of the Belfast News Letter in 1745.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Henry and Robert predeceased their father, with the Belfast News Letter being passed to Henry, Robert's son. On 15 May 1795 the paper was sold to a Scotsman named George Gordon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Francis Joy died in Randalstown on 10 June 1790.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Event</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Among those who attended the event were former First Minister Lord Bannside and Baroness Paisley, South Belfast MP Alastair McDonnell and Geoff Rowlings, the son-in-law of the late Captain Bill Henderson, a former owner of the paper. Also among the guests were three former <i>News Letter </i>editors, Darwin Templeton, Austin Hunter and John Trew, as well as Chief Executive of Johnston Press Ireland Jean Long.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Welcoming the guests, Ulster History Circle Chairman, Chris Spurr, said that this was the latest of nearly 150 plaque unveilings over the past 30 years. There were several in this part of the city but none closer than that of Francis Joy's grandson, Henry Joy McCracken, unveiled over 20 years ago. Today we commemorated the founding father of the <i>News Letter</i> in its 275th anniversary year. He thanked the Belfast City Council for supporting the plaque, the First Trust Bank for allowing the plaque to be erected on its premises and the <i>News Letter</i> for providing the refreshments.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Alan Boyd chats with <br />Lord Banside and Baroness Paisley</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>R</i>ankin Armstrong, Editor of the News Letter, said that he was delighted to be unveiling the blue plaque in memory of Francis Joy. He thanked the Ulster History Circle and the Belfast City Council for their efforts in ensuring that the legacy of Francis Joy is acknowledged and the Linen Hall Library for its long association with the paper. He also commended the work of Ben Lowry, Billy Kennedy and others for their work in keeping alive the history of the newspaper in this its 275th anniversary year. The paper Francis founded in 1737 is the oldest continuously published local newspaper in the UK, making an indelible imprint on our history. He then unveiled the plaque.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Afterwards, refreshments were provided in the News Letter Offices and Ben Lowry gave a short a<i>ddress </i>on the life and times of Francis Joy and the survival of his paper. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="color: magenta;"></b></span></div>
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Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-79327585907751214212012-10-02T23:10:00.004+01:002012-10-02T23:50:37.609+01:00Blue plaque for Dr Raphael Ernest Grail Armattoe<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Date:</b> 28 September 2012</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Location</b>: 7 Northland Road, Londonderry</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The weather cleared and the sun shone on the family and friends of Dr Armattoe. They had gathered to honour his life and achievements.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Gathering for the ceremony</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sean Nolan, Secretary of the Ulster History Circle, welcomed Mayor Kevin Campbell, MP Mark Durkan and other guests to this celebration of the life and remarkable achievements of Dr Armattoe. Dr Armattoe's son, Stanley Armattoe, had come from London to be present as had other members and representatives of the African and Caribbean communities. He thanked Philippa Robinson for proposing the plaque and working closely with the Circle in planning the event and Garvan O'Doherty for allowing the plaque to be erected on the headquarters of his Company and for his contribution towards the cost of the plaque and hosting the reception later.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cllr. Kevin Campbell, Mayor</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cllr. Kevin Campbell, Mayor of Derry City, having welcomed everyone to the City gave a brief resume of Dr Armattoe's life and commended his work in his adopted City as well as his literary and international efforts. He thanked the Ulster History Circle and Philippa Robinson for their work in honouring Dr. Armattoe and adding his story to "the rich and varied history of our city". </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Philippa Robinson spoke of the broad sweep of Dr. Armattoe's interests and concerns, encompassing all of humanity. It was fitting that the plaque was erected in time for the 100th anniversary of his birth. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Stanley Armattoe unveils his father's plaque</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After James King had read one of Dr Armattoe's poems,<i> Requiem</i>, Stanley Armattoe thanked the Circle for this tribute to his father. He said</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> the plaque was a remarkable acknowledgement of his father's impact on the people of Derry and of the positive part played by African people in the life and culture of the City and of Northern Ireland.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Later, at a reception in Da Vinci's Hotel there was an opportunity for further contributions about Dr Armattoe's achievements.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alfred Abolarin</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alfred Abolarin, Manager of the African and Caribbean Support Organisation Northern Ireland, said that this was a significant and symbolic milestone in the history of the Irish African community in Northern Ireland. The life and work of Dr. Armattoe proved that Africans can and have contributed to civic society in the Province. For too long the perception of African people had been one of negativity. However, today the Ulster History Circle, by this plaque, was sending a different message; a message of equality and protection of human rights, a message of inclusivity, of hope and of positive change.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elly Omondi Odhiambo</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Elly Omondi Odhiambo said that his first encounter with the famous name of Armattoe was when he had been doing research at Magee and had difficulty finding anything about African people in the West of the province. There had been anti-slavery Africans who visited Ireland, such as Frederick Douglas and Olaudah Equiano. Armattoe was trying to defeat discrimination through his writing and his great book about West African civilisation in which he had set out to refute the Western view that African art and culture was simplistic. It was a pity that his work was not taken seriously because he died at such a young age. It was gratifying to note however that a lot of people were now interested in writing about him. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Felicia Okoriji</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Felicia Okoroji, read two of Armattoe's poems, 'Our God is Black' and 'They Say'</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rachel Naylor</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rachel Naylor, based in the University of Ulster at Magee said that she had done quite a lot of work in the area where Armattoe was born. She was sure that people in that part of Ghana and across the border in Togo would be very proud that this honour had been given to a person from that area and she hoped that they would get to know about it.</span></div>
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<br />Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-11551091330015985222012-09-20T20:50:00.000+01:002012-10-03T10:03:53.619+01:00Blue plaque for physician, anthropologist and writer from West Africa<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At 7 Northland Road, Londonderry on Friday 28 September the Ulster History Circle will unveil a blue plaque in honour of Dr Raphael Ernest Grail Armattoe who from 1939 to circa 1950 lived there and carried on his practice as a GP. The plaque will be unveiled by his son, Stanley Armattoe who is travelling from London for the ceremony. Present will be representatives from many African organisations in Ireland. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Raphael Ernest Grail Armattoe was born in August 1913 to a prominent family of the Ewe people in Togoland, West Africa. He came to Europe at the age of 17 to continue his education. He studied in Germany, France and Britain; coming to Northern Ireland shortly after receiving a medical qualification in Edinburgh in 1938.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Besides practicing medicine in Derry, Raphael Armattoe made a unique contribution to the intellectual life of the city He gave talks on a variety of subjects, mainly medical and anthropological, to diverse groups such as the Great James’ Street Women’s Guild, the Amateur Radio Club and the St John’s Ambulance Society. The doctor wrote articles for the </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Londonderry Sentinel</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> as well as for academic journals such as </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Man, Nature</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">African Affairs</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From his base at Northland Rd, Armattoe wrote a book on </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Golden Age Of West African Civilization</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (published in 1946) and issued numerous pamphlets. He also found time to give lectures and make presentations in Dublin and London and further afield. He spoke at the 1945 Pan-African Congress in Manchester, England and the Scientific and Cultural Conference for World Peace in New York in 1949. At both of these major conferences, Dr Armattoe called for independence of the African colonies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is a sign of the esteem in which Armattoe was held, that members of both Stormont and Dáil Eireann as well as three Westminster Members of Parliament nominated the doctor for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1949.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1948 Dr. Armattoe received a grant from the Wenner Gren Foundation for anthropology research. The grant allowed him to return to West Africa for the first time in eighteen years. He returned to Derry half a year later to write up his reports. Most of the papers published as a result of this research trip were studies of Ewe physical anthropology, especially charting the distribution of blood groups, a field of study that was just emerging at the time. Armattoe also brought many botanical specimens back to Ireland with him, intending to study their curative properties.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Towards the end of 1950 Armattoe and his family settled in Kumasi, in what is now Ghana, where he set up a medical clinic and research centre. He now embarked on new adventures in poetry and politics. His two books of poetry, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Between The Forest And The Sea</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Deep Down In The Black Man’s Mind</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, are of continuing interest to students of African literature. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the First World War, the former German colony of Togoland was divided into two mandates, one under French and the other under British rule. As the Togoland mandates and the Gold Coast colony were moving towards independence, Armattoe called for British and French Togoland to be reunited as a single country, rather than British Togoland becoming part of Ghana, as it eventually did become. Armattoe became active in both the pre-independence Ghana Congress Party, in opposition to Kwame Nkrumah; and the Joint Togoland Congress.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dr Armattoe travelled to New York in 1953 to address a United Nations commission on the ‘Eweland question’ and Togoland unification. On his way back to Kumasi, he visited the British Isles and Germany. Taken sick en route, Armattoe was treated in hospital in Hamburg, where he died on 21 December 1953</span></div>
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Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-45393110959267933722012-09-09T22:41:00.001+01:002012-10-02T23:58:04.992+01:00Blue Plaque for teacher, scholar and Gael - 1 September 2011<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: justify;"><i>Muiris Ó Droighneáin</i></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Muiris Ó Droighneáin was born on 12 November 1901 in Newtownshandrum, An Ráth, County Cork. He was a teacher of Irish in St Malachy’s College, Belfast. During his career, he became an expert in the field of Irish grammar, and was renowned for ensuring that publications used a standardised form of Irish (An Caighdeán Oifigiúil). He married Róisín Ni Mhurchú in 1944 and had two daughters and a son.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ó Droighneáin was educated in University College Cork where he graduated in 1927 with his BA, taking honours in Irish and English. In 1928/29, he was awarded his MA which he completed under Torna (Tadhg Ó Donnchadh), Professor of Irish in UCC. It proved to be a seminal piece of research into the history of Irish language literature and was published in 1936 under the title <i>Taighde i gcomhair stair litridheachta na Nua-Ghaedhilge</i> ó 1882 anuas. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many notable Irish scholars passed through the doors of Ó Droighneáin’s class in St Malachy’s. In 1944, Professor Proinsias Mac Cana (Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies and other universities) achieved the highest mark in Irish ever awarded in Northern Ireland. Other pupils included Professor Emeritus Gearóid Stockman (Queen’s University Belfast).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the first obstacles he encountered in his teaching career in Belfast was the difficulty in teaching Irish to Northern students using his Munster dialect, so he resolved to learn Ulster Irish and spent months in the Donegal Gaeltacht. From then on he was a strong supporter of Ulster Irish and when <i>An Caighdeán Oifigiúil</i> was being formulated by Rannóg an Aistriúcháin in the 1950s, Ó Droighneáin sat on a sub-committee, An Fo-Choiste Gramadaí, which was especially established to ensure that particular nuances of the Ulster dialect would be protected in the standardised form of Irish. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ó Droighneáin put his exact knowledge of Irish grammar and<i> An Caighdeán Oifigiúil</i> to good use with the publication of Nótaí Gaeilge, an instructional booklet for English speakers on the basics of Irish grammar. Closely related to <i>An Caighdeán Oifigiúil</i> was the production of English/Irish and Irish/English dictionaries.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of Ó Droighneáin’s other great interests was the correct form of Irish surnames, and one of his lasting achievements was the publication of <i>An Sloinnteoir Gaeilge agus An tAinmneoir</i> in 1966. Many people corresponded with him about surnames, some suggesting amendments or additions, others sharing their wealth of knowledge such as Éamonn MacGiollaIasachta (Edward MacLysaght), author of A Guide to Irish Surnames</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ó Droighneáin had a lifelong interest in the production and translation of religious texts into Irish, such as the Bible or the liturgy of the Mass, and he corresponded on such matters with An tAthair Pádraig Ó Fiannachta and An Cairdinéil Tomás Ó Fiaich. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The scope of Ó Droighneáin’s work in the world of Irish grammar can be seen in the monthly articles he wrote for <i>An tUltach</i>, the journal of Comhltas Uladh of Conradh na Gaeilge, between 1933 and 1979. An index to An tUltach lists approximately 400 articles under his name.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ó Droighneáin died on 28 June 1979.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Plaque Unveiling - 1st September 2012</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a week of rain and high winds the sun smiled warmly on the family and friends of Muiris Ó Droighneáin as they gathered at his former home to celebrate his memory and unveil a blue plaque as a permanent memorial to his life and achievements.</span></div>
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Introducing the event, Sean Nolan, Secretary of the Ulster History Circle said that, although a native of Munster, Muiris Ó Droighneáin became one of the most influential figures in the development of Irish in Ulster during the mid-twentieth century. His own scholarship in the language inspired others, resulting in a lasting legacy that the Ulster History Circle was proud to acknowledge with this blue plaque. He thanked Belfast City Council for their financial support; in particular their agreement to fund 16 plaques over the next three years. He also thanked the Greenwood family, present owners of the property, for allowing the Circle to erect the plaque there.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Councillor Máirtin Ó Muilleoir, Deputy Chairman <br />of Belfast City Council Development Committee</i></span></span>
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Councillor Máirtin Ó Muilleoir, Deputy Chairman of Belfast City Council Development Committee said that it was important to recognize Belfast's rich and diverse cultural heritage and the role that all of its citizens have played in developing the city we know today. It is for this reason that the council has agreed to fund a new series of blue plaques celebrating and commemorating the lives of those who have played their part in weaving the rich tapestry of modern Belfast. Muiris Ó Droighneáin played a crucial role in the promotion of the Irish language in Belfast and his progressive ideology and wise advice made a strong impression on him he was growing up, but also on several generations of Irish speakers in this city. He thanked the Ó Droighneáin family for their support of the Irish language that their father had always displayed, and the Ulster History Circle for erecting the plaque.</div>
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Councillor Caoimhín Mac Giolla Mhín, who had nominated Muiris for the plaque, spoke about the enduring value of Muiris' work in the service of the language and its enduring legacy.</div>
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Fr. Desmond Wilson, a former pupil, spoke movingly about Muiris' committment to the purity of the language and his unceasing pursuit of perfection, often in the face of official and unofficial indifference. He also outlined Muiris' committment to social justice at a time in the 1930s when it was regarded with suspicion to hold and advocate such views.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Alan and Diarmuid Torney unveil the plaque</i></td></tr>
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Diarmuid Torney, Muiris' grandson, on behalf of the whole family, including his son Jimmy and his family in Australia, thanked everyone, from near and far, for being here today. His grandfather died the year before he himself was born but he has always been a very important part of their lives. They knew of the work he did as a teacher, a scholar, and a promoter of the language. They were very proud that he was being honoured in this special way today. And although she died a few years ago, he knew that his grandmother, Roisin, would also have been very happy to see Muiris's life's work recognised in this way.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The Ó Droighneáin family at the ceremony</i></span></span></td></tr>
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Alan Torney said that more would be said at the reception later about his grandfather's passion for the language. He was sure that Muiris would be impressed by the progress that has been made by the language movement in Belfast in the 33 years since his death - and we were honoured to be joined by some of the pioneers of that movement here today. He thanked Fr. Wilson for drawing attention to his grandfather's fearless advocacy in the area of what would today be called "social justice" but which, for my grandfather, was just an instinctive expression of the Christianity that guided him for his whole life.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>In the Culturlann</i></td></tr>
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Later, at a receception in the Culturlann on the Falls Road, Professor Gerry Stockman spoke at length about Muiris' passion for the language. He knew him as a teacher, a colleague and a scholar. He recalled the discipline Muiris had brought to the teaching of Irish and of his concern to make Irish as easy as possible to learn, compiling the rules of grammar into a little booklet. His scholarship was recognised nationally and internationally and he was always generous in assisting other scholars who were working on behalf of the Irish language. He thanked the Ulster History Circle and the O Droighneain family for helping to keep green the memory of a teacher, writer, scholar and upright man.</div>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">Caitriona O Torna and Harry Torney</span></i></span></td></tr>
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Muiris' granddaughter, Caitriona O Torna, remarked that it was difficult for people today to imagine a language without an official standard for spelling or grammar, yet that was how it was for Irish when Muiris started out on his studies. Throughout his life he had laboured diligently for standardisation, despite criticism. His devotion to the language carried through to his personal life and his children were raised through the medium of Irish. This influence also carried through to subsequent generations. Her grandfather was a man out of the ordinary. The family was delighted with the erection of the blue plaque which not only marked the place where he lived for half his life, but would be a reminder of him for all who passed by.</div>
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The final tribute to Muiris was given by his son-in-law, Harry Torney, who remembered his dry wit. He suggested that throughout his life Muiris would have thought it inconceivable that his life's work would have been so 'wonderfully and publically celebrated' as had happened today. And if we were to ask him 'Well Muiris, what do you think of your blue plaque?' he would probably reply, with his usual clarity and wit 'Does it help the language?'. It certainly does that and it certainly celebrates a wonderful, life-long champion of the language.</div>
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Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-55353741454048558462012-09-09T18:27:00.003+01:002012-09-09T18:31:33.693+01:00Classical Scholar, Educationalist and Writer - 15 June 2012<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Short Biography</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Samuel Dill was born on 26 March 1844 at Hillsborough, Co. Down, the eldest son of the Revd. Samuel Marcus Dill DD, Presbyterian minister of Hillsborough.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dill was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and the Queen's College Belfast, where he took his degree in arts in 1864. In Lincoln College, Oxford, he obtained firsts in classical moderations (1867) and in literae humaniores (1869). In 1869 he was elected fellow and tutor of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Later he became librarian and dean of the college, and was made an honorary fellow in 1903. In 1877 he was appointed High Master of Manchester Grammar School. During his time there the school was reorganised; new buildings were erected and school societies developed. His liberal conception of education is illustrated by his development of the teaching of modern subjects, and by the connection that he established between the school and working boys' clubs. He attached particular importance to developing the corporate life of the school outside the classroom.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Plaque</i></td></tr>
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In 1890 Dill returned to the Queen's College as professor of Greek. As a member of the Belfast University Commission, he took a large share in transforming the college into a university in 1909. He was chairman of the viceregal committee of inquiry into primary education (1913-14). He influenced Irish education by his work as a member, and later as chairman, of the intermediate Board of Education. He received a knighthood from the Liberal government in 1909 for his services to education. In 1898 Dill published Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire, which was followed in 1904 by Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius. His Roman Society in Gaul in the Merovingian Age was edited and published posthumously in 1926 by his son-in-law, the Revd C. B. Armstrong. These books are less histories of a period than studies of the life of societies in dissolution or in spiritual crisis or decay, and reveal his moral and religious sympathies.</div>
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In 1924 Dill received the honorary degrees of LittD from the University of Dublin, and of LLD from Edinburgh and St Andrews.</div>
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Dill died at Montpelier, Malone Road, Belfast, on 26 May of that year</div>
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<b style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The plaque unveiling - 15 June 2012</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An unseasonable day in the middle of June brought heavy rain to an otherwise pleasant and convivial occasion at the Headquarters of the Ulster Teachers' Union when the plaque dedicated to Sir Samuel Dill was unveiled before an audience of over fifty people.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Diane Nugent unveils the plaque</i></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chris Spurr, Chairman of the Ulster History Circle said that Samuel Dill was an exceptional example of a pioneer and innovator in education, and the Ulster History Circle was delighted to be honouring his achievements with this blue plaque. During his lifetime his brilliance was recognised by the many accolades he received, and in this new century as an educationalist sine pari he is venerated once more. The Circle would especially like to thank the Ulster Teachers' Union and the Heritage Lottery Fund for generously supporting this plaque.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Diane Nugent, President of the Ulster Teachers' Union, said that the union was extremely proud to have this building recognised by the Ulster History Circle, and it has given Blue Circle status to the union's headquarters. She applauded Professor Evans' insight and wealth of historical knowledge about the great Sir Samuel Dill and the time he spent here. Sir Samuel Dill was a real pioneer and innovator in education and she recognised the many accolades that he gained for his work as a Professor of Greek in Queens University, Belfast. It was gratifying to learn about the building's legacy and for the union it was significant that the work carried out here continues to initiate changes. The union would endeavour to follow Sir Samuel Dill's example and create a legacy of its own. She thanked the Heritage Lottery Fund for supporting the event and all the neighbours, guests, colleagues from INTO and others for sharing in it.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>With Sir Samuel's portrait</i></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mark Glover, member of the The Heritage Lottery Fund Northern said that it was a pleasure to once more join the Ulster History Circle in the unveiling of another Blue Plaque from the Celebrating Achievers Project. As an alumni of Queen's University Belfast it is also wonderful to learn something more about his own academic heritage. He said that the Heritage Lottery Fund was the UK's leading advocate for the value of heritage to modern life. HLF sustains and transforms our heritage through innovative investment in projects with a lasting impact on people and places. The Fund was delighted to support the Ulster History Circle in raising awareness of local achievers.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Professor Williams</i></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Professor Alun Evans said that he had always been aware that Sir Samuel had lived next door and when the Ulster History Circle in 2005 erected a blue plaque there to his father, E Estyn Evans, he had suggested to Avril Hall-Callaghan that a blue plaque to Sir Samuel might be appropriate. He regretted that Sir Samuel's great grandson, Professor William Farley, of Heidleburg, was unable to attend.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Professor Frederick Williams,the last Professor of Greek at QUB before the Department was closed down, thanked the Ulster History Circle and the Ulster Teachers' Union for giving him the opportunity to say a few words about Sir Samuel Dill. He chronicled the career and achievements of "an outstanding Ulsterman"; First class honours at Oxford in both parts of the "legendarily formidable course Literae Humaniores, a uniquely wide-ranging and uniquely demanding amalgam of Greek and Latin languages and literature, ancient history, and philosophy both ancient and modern"; Fellowship at Corpus Christi College; eleven years as High Master in Manchester Grammar School; thirty-three years as Professor of Greek at Queen's College Belfast (later QUB); his three formidible and learned publications (still in print today)</span></div>
Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-69412616180970900452012-05-11T09:40:00.001+01:002012-05-11T10:00:36.660+01:00Plaque for Ulster born Lord Mayor of London<br />
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<b>Short Biography</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Sir William McArthur</i></td></tr>
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Son of a poor Scots-Irish father William McArthur was born at Malin Co. Donegal, in 1809. At the age of 12 he was apprenticed to a woollen draper in Enniskillen. In 1831 he started a woollen export business in the Diamond in Londonderry. In 1841 he became a member of the town council, and that same year his younger brother Alexander went to Australia. William sent his firm’s woollen goods to his brother, who began to operate as an import-export merchant in Sydney. The gold rush increased demand for woollens; Alexander opened branches in various parts of Australia, and the McArthur brothers became wealthy. In 1857 William transferred the headquarters of the firm to London, and settled in Brixton Hill. By the mid-1860s the brothers had extended their activities into banking and insurance. </div>
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In 1868 William was elected junior member for Lambeth, and continued to represent that constituency until the dissolution in 1885. His staunch Methodism informed his politics, and he led the movement in favour of the annexation of Fiji, where there was a strong Methodist missionary presence, achieving his aim in 1874. Apart from colonial affairs, William mainly devoted his attention in the House of Commons to educational or Irish questions.</div>
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William became Sheriff of London in 1867, an alderman in 1872 and Lord Mayor in 1880. Throughout his mayoralty he showed an active interest in colonial matters and in religious enterprises, setting a pious tone by forbidding wine, card playing and dancing at the Mansion House. He was one of the founders of the London Chamber of Commerce in 1881, and its first President. On 17 November 1882 he was made KCMG. He was always generous towards Methodist causes, including contributing to the establishment of Methodist College in Belfast, and laying its foundation stone in 1865. On his death he bequeathed over £150,000 to Methodist charities</div>
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McArthur died from heart failure on the London Underground on 16 November 1887. He is buried in Norwood cemetery.</div>
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<b>The Plaque Unveiling - 26 April 2012</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Plaque</i></td></tr>
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By an irony of fate, total abstainer McArthur's first business premises are now occupied by one of the Wetherspoons chain of pubs, whose founder is the Derry-born Tim Martin, and it is on this temple to the 'demon drink' that his commemorative plaque is prominently displayed.</div>
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The threatened rain stayed away and the cool and breezy late morning did nothing to dampen the cheerful and enthusiastic group of local and international businessmen and interested Derry citizens from celebrating the life and achievements of a local entrepreneur. William McArthur had started his business life in this spot and gone on to mighty achievements in London, becoming an international businessman, a Member of Parliament and Lord Mayor of London as well as being the founding President of the London Chamber of Commerce.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Chris Spurr chats with Willie Walsh</i></td></tr>
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Chris Spurr, Chairman of the Ulster History Circle said that when William McArthur opened his first business within Derry's walls in 1831, he little knew this enterprise would lead to him becoming a prominent businessman in London, the city's Lord Mayor, a founder of the London Chamber of Commerce, and its first President. The Ulster History Circle was delighted to commemorate McArthur's achievements with this blue plaque, the tenth in the city, and was grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Derry Chamber of Commerce for their support. He thanked Mr Colm Cavanagh for his valuable help and advice throughout the preparations. He thanked Mr Willie Walsh, the current President of the London Chamber who had come from a very busy business life to unveil the plaque to his distinguished predecessor.</div>
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Alderman Maurice Devenney, Mayor of Derry City, welcomed everyone to the City and hoped that their visit would be a pleasant one. Like Sir William, he also was a Donegal man who had settled in the City. He thanked the Ulster History Circle, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Londonderry Chamber of Commerce for organising the event.</div>
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Gerry Burns, Member of the Heritage Lottery Fund Committee for Northern Ireland said that the Fund was delighted to be involved in this project to raise awareness of individuals like William McArthur who have made significant contributions to the development of our society. The Blue Plaques were an excellent way of linking the buildings where these people once lived or worked to their lives and achievements, enabling us all to learn more about our heritage.</div>
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Tim Martin, owner of the Wetherspoons Inns chain, revealed that he had been born in Derry and remained a supporter of Derry City Football Club. He was delighted to be at the unveiling of the plaque on one of the firm's premises.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Colm Cavanagh talks about McArthur</i></td></tr>
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Colm Cavanagh, London~Derry Connections, gave a short but interesting talk about Sir William, whom he described as a role-model for anyone seeking to be a success in life as well as business. Having started his business in Londonderry he expanded into Australia after his brother moved there for the good of his health, eventually moving to London where he became an Alderman and an MP, helping to set up the Chamber of Commerce and becoming its Founding President. His working day started at 6.00 a.m. and he faithfully followed a set of eight 'rules' which included an hour of scripture reading. He never drank alcohol. A devout Methosist all his life, when he died he left £150,000 to Methodist causes. He was grateful to Ulster History Circle for agreeing to erect the plaque to Sir William, to the Londonderry Chamber for inviting Mr Walsh to unveil the plaque to his predecessor and to Mr Walsh for agreeing to do so.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Willie Walsh unveils the plaque</i></td></tr>
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Padraig Canavan, President of the Londonderry Chamber of Commerce, said that the Chamber was pleased that Mr Willie Walsh, CEO of International Airways Group and President of the London Chamber of Commerce, had agreed to speak to the Chamber's Annual President's Lunch and to unveil the plaque to his distinguished predecessor as President of the London Chamber, Sir William McArthur. The Chamber was pleased to support the unveiling and thanked the Ulster History Circle for its work in the City and elsewhere.</div>
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Mr Willie Walsh said that when he became President of the London Chamber of Commerce he was described as the first Irishman to hold the position, so it was a surprise to discover that this was not the case and that indeed the founding President in 1881 was also an Irishman. Apart from the fact that they were both Irishmen, he could find little in common other than that they both arose at 6 o'clock in the morning! One major difference was the fact that during McArthur's Presidency no alcohol was allowed in the Mansion House! Indeed looking at the work he had been involved in, he reckoned McArthur was more hard-working than he himself was. He was delighted to have been invited to unveil the plaque and he thanked the Londonderry Chamber and the Ulster History Circle for inviting him.</div>
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<br /></div>Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-25912625944121775702012-01-29T12:43:00.001+00:002012-01-29T14:04:02.586+00:00Next Plaque - Strabane-born industrialist & philanthropist<div style="text-align: justify;">Next Friday, 3 February, the Circle unveils a plaque on the Strabane Library in Railway Street to an almost forgotten son of Strabane. Members of the Donnell family will be present as will the Chairman of the District Council, Councillor Brian McMahon. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Ezekiel J. Donnell </b>was born in the townland of Ballee in 1822. He arrived in America when he was eighteen years old, becoming a successful merchant in Montgomery, Alabama before moving to New York in 1854 where he established himself as one of the foremost cotton merchants in the United States. </div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcnA2Mjx7LHdLf6Cq4s5KjhoiAz78nBCWALMdhyYbBJ-wGzJtsSYJA2G8nyKZkTYRQ_psqY_WGxIO3prnkxMLbVBARqOgPex2baCY6ZvPrrKGeEVPxqdkDwiQXRnkI9fOcXAmwEZQev_Es/s1600/Ezekiel+Donnell+1822-1896.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcnA2Mjx7LHdLf6Cq4s5KjhoiAz78nBCWALMdhyYbBJ-wGzJtsSYJA2G8nyKZkTYRQ_psqY_WGxIO3prnkxMLbVBARqOgPex2baCY6ZvPrrKGeEVPxqdkDwiQXRnkI9fOcXAmwEZQev_Es/s320/Ezekiel+Donnell+1822-1896.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ezekiel J. Donnell (1822-1896)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 1872 he published a <i>Chronological and Statistical History of Cotton</i> and became an acknowledged authority on the industry. He was a strong believer in individual freedom in trade and an active opponent of trade protection. He was one of the earliest advocates of a comprehensive public education system claiming the right of person to be educated at the public expense. In pursuit of these views he donated one million dollars towards building a library where young people could achieve the self-improvement that he saw as essential for the development of economy and society. The donation was to “<i>erect a fireproof building suitable and proper for the purpose of a library…. With a reading room open free every day in which young people can spend their evenings profitably away from demoralising influences</i>.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">This bequest was publicly if rather belatedly recognised in the opening of the Donnell Library Centre in the New York Public Library in December 1955. In May 2008 the Library was temporarily closed while efforts are being made to redevelop the whole New York Public Library site. Ongoing problems about the viability of the planned site have now been resolved and it is planned that the library will reopen in 2014.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Donnell was an active and vocal member many trade organisations and progressive clubs. Some of his public addresses were published in pamphlet form. </div><br />
Donnell died in 1896.Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-8857496891697253722012-01-09T22:07:00.000+00:002012-01-09T22:07:33.568+00:00Blue Plaque for Ulster-Scots writer and storyteller<div style="text-align: justify;">This is a very late report of the unveiling of a blue plaque in Ballyclare on 8 October 2011 to a local man whose fiction and stories were grounded in the observation of the people in his local community around the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div><div style="text-align: justify;">The occasion was a double celebration as the Ulster-Scots Language Society launched a reproduction of his best-loved book, <i>The Auld Meetin' Hoose Green. </i>Both events were at the Town Hall in the village Square. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Archibald McIlroy </b>was born in 1859 in a townland close to Ballyclare, where his father was a small farmer. He studied Belfast at the Mercantile Academy and the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. Hving worked as a clerk in the Ulster Bank he set up his own business on his own account. He became a JP, and a member of Down County Council, a position that gave him the chance to promote the cause of land reform, a contentious issue in late-Victorian Ireland.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">McIlroy's young son started his writing career by badgering his father for stories. A series of sketches based on his youthful exploits around Ballyclare became McIlroy's first book,<i> When Lint was in the Bell</i>. This book's popularity encouraged him to write <i>The Auld Meetin' Hoose Green</i> in1898, a humorous re-working of tales told to him by his mother, and by workers in the east Antrim countryside. McIlroy uses the true Scotch tongue of the countryfolk in his writing. The book sold well on both sides of the Atlantic.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Five more books followed,<i> By Lone Craig-Linnie Burn</i>, <i>A Banker's Love Story</i>, <i>The Humour of Druid's Island</i>, <i>Burnside</i> and <i>By the Inglee Nook</i>. The popularity of his writing made McIlroy in demand as a lecturer, when he would regale audiences with tales of old Ballyclare. In 1912 he travelled to Canada to work for the Presbyterian Church, but his final journey was to be on the RMS Lusitania, which was sunk off the coast of Cork by a German U-boat on May 7th, 1915. One of almost 1200 souls who perished that day, McIlroy never returned to the land of his birth.</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Although the weather was indifferent there was a great turnout of the local people for the occasion. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the Town Hall after the ceremony Ronnie Hassard, Principal of Ballymena Academy, McIlroy's biographer spoke movingly about McIlroy's life, work and times. Jeanette McKendry, of the Ballyclare Historical Society read excerpts from<i> The Auld Meetin'-Hoose Green</i>. It was interesting to listen to the authentic voice of the local people over a century ago as conveyed through McIlroy's words.</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div><div style="text-align: justify;">A musical group from Ballyclare High School entertained the company. It was a wonderful performance and soundly acclaimed. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf1mWdXZlmbapZyXD5SruyWRzady2dB9DwsiajieGQI6Vsafly5N7kEGfMkgWo3t07VrYBNU8KjlddrQrNfwce7nGfblVwJImLZ2uAtfn-jp1LJ3bOX5lom_9WKrrS6Afb8PBh_egW6Uxz/s1600/mcilroyblog2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf1mWdXZlmbapZyXD5SruyWRzady2dB9DwsiajieGQI6Vsafly5N7kEGfMkgWo3t07VrYBNU8KjlddrQrNfwce7nGfblVwJImLZ2uAtfn-jp1LJ3bOX5lom_9WKrrS6Afb8PBh_egW6Uxz/s320/mcilroyblog2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
</div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the Town Hall there was an Exhibition of McIlroy's life and work, contributions from the Ballyclare Historical Society, refreshments courtesy of the Borough Council and the launch of the reprinted book by the Ulster-Scots Language Society.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">By the end of the day it was clear that Archibald McIlroy was forgotten no longer; the book and the plaque being tangible reminders of his contribution to his community and to the world.</div></div>Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-70079479513469157932011-10-04T22:03:00.007+01:002011-10-04T22:09:45.766+01:00The plain people of Ireland celebrate Myles na gCopaleen<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was raining when I left Downpatrick and it was raining when I got back from Strabane where our blue plaque was unveiled to commemorate the life and works of Brian O'Nolan, Flann O'Brien, Myles na gCopaleen, on the centenary (almost) of his birth. Fortunately the rain stopped near Omagh and stayed dry for my time in Strabane.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two of Myles' characters in<i> Cruiskeen Lawn </i>(his column in the <i>Irish Times</i>), Keats and Chapman, were discussing dreams. Keats said 'Last night I dreamed that I died and went to Heaven.' 'Were there many there?' inquired Chapman. "There wasn't a sinner in the place.'</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi160HUvxoAsdFZDWlkRxXbWyhcXhZmiSJA2nz6n75BOAM3mB8Tu3xeofh7h_qeJd-TakNzV9rzBR7zUN54LZGGKnoYGgez4D0h1P5V0snoQupsUn13ZphDcsPXaMuTySBHDFMHAHGfHVlx/s1600/onolan2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi160HUvxoAsdFZDWlkRxXbWyhcXhZmiSJA2nz6n75BOAM3mB8Tu3xeofh7h_qeJd-TakNzV9rzBR7zUN54LZGGKnoYGgez4D0h1P5V0snoQupsUn13ZphDcsPXaMuTySBHDFMHAHGfHVlx/s400/onolan2.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The plain people of Ireland (some of them) assembled</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That couldn't be said about the gathering of his relatives, local historians, local political and literary figures who had assembled for the event. The blue plaque ceremony was one of a programmed events extending over several days to mark the centenary. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj_SMXFjWGWJ1jSHHgU70W4Dud1u3aHQODaMnHvk6AS7OQTN1BzyOEhc8eXVNhLmo_y-GVPWAGrZUR7BiWjDxA01Rc0z-jage1sLigKBHNBYomNEpHrExb5iWvkMAlmS4_98tXff4rx-GR/s1600/onolanplaque.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj_SMXFjWGWJ1jSHHgU70W4Dud1u3aHQODaMnHvk6AS7OQTN1BzyOEhc8eXVNhLmo_y-GVPWAGrZUR7BiWjDxA01Rc0z-jage1sLigKBHNBYomNEpHrExb5iWvkMAlmS4_98tXff4rx-GR/s200/onolanplaque.jpg" width="195" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Plaque</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That O'Nolan is held in high regard and affection in the town of his birth was plain to see and was reflected in the Mayor McMahon's welcome and address. There were readings from his works by his great nephew Kevin O'Nolan before he performed the unveiling ceremony. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately I had to leave right after the unveiling and so missed an interesting session including the showing of a film produced by the Strabane History Society. This can be viewed on the Society's website at </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.strabanehistorysociety.com/">http://www.strabanehistorysociety.com/</a></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><br />
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</div><div></div></div>Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com0Bowling Green, Strabane, County Tyrone BT82 8BW, UK54.8259901 -7.460934299999962654.8253706 -7.4613232999999628 54.8266096 -7.4605452999999624tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-40822441031165707082011-09-08T23:29:00.001+01:002011-09-08T23:30:15.631+01:00Flann O'Brien - a centerary celebration<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBZvzX0XAPEn7yqwO8P3THz_FdD0mASSRvpFhnpxBoZBaJxYTM7sNJcb55mh3CraTkiAGruSOPHkqgmazJj2bcRWMreTPnJCejQy4qRJif69RGOOmzxR36KR7M41Y1u8U0FHjasq4Sr8j6/s1600/onolanbrian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBZvzX0XAPEn7yqwO8P3THz_FdD0mASSRvpFhnpxBoZBaJxYTM7sNJcb55mh3CraTkiAGruSOPHkqgmazJj2bcRWMreTPnJCejQy4qRJif69RGOOmzxR36KR7M41Y1u8U0FHjasq4Sr8j6/s200/onolanbrian.jpg" width="145" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brian O'Nolan</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">On Saturday 1 October next the Circle will unveil a blue plaque in honour of a great writer - novelist, satirist and humourist at the house where he was born. The plaque is but one event organised by Strabane District Council to commemorate the centenary of his birth. The Council, Gaelphobal, Strabane Gaelscoil, Strabane History Society and Libraries NI have compiled a programme of talks, discussions and performances designed to explore his life and work.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Brian O'Nolan (Brian Ó Nualláin), was born into an Irish speaking family and spoke no English before he was seven years old. While at University College Dublin he started his writing career in the college magazine <i>Comhthrom Féinne</i>. He joined the Irish Civil Service and because of this had to use pseudonyms in his writing. His novels were written under the name Flann O'Brien and later his regular satirical column in the Irish Times (<i>Cruiskeen Lawn</i>), which ran from 1940 until his death in 1966, he used the name Myles na gCopaleen. After his death a compilation of these articles was published under the title <i>The Best of Myles</i> a truly marvelous anthology. His novels included <i>At Swin Two Birds, The Third Policeman, The Hard Life, The Dalkey Archive </i>and<i> An Bheal Bocht </i><i>(The Poor Mouth)</i>.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">His work has international acclaim and he is regarded as a major figure in twentieth century Irish literature.</span> </span>Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-53576271944750197612011-08-24T20:39:00.006+01:002011-08-26T22:52:03.820+01:00The 'Mayfly' returns - honouring a pioneer aviator<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div style="color: black; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By invitation from Newtownabbey Borough Council I attended the official opening of the newly named<b> Lilian Bland Community Park</b> in Glengormley. </span></span></div><div style="color: black; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4d4d4d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">There was a good turnout with both the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, representatives of local historical and aviation societies and two of Lillian's </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4d4d4d;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">descendants, Rev. Edward Pratt, great-grandnephew, and Mrs Imogen Holmes, great-grandneice. </span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="color: black; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="color: black; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A major feature of the new park was a sculpture of Lilian's bi-plane, the <i>Mayfly.</i></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbjZc1aQaoon71ClhKRfTDiSpbYgZVDk5r3RB0rXJczbJtwPo8YkA30wag6Yad6WKLjoWuVX3dvPCzYQpFR8MAAgamdgVNyuzxT_KGksV3mXcZBo-s7-rYtTSQcufeYUbTegv6Nhp723jq/s1600/lilian+bland+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbjZc1aQaoon71ClhKRfTDiSpbYgZVDk5r3RB0rXJczbJtwPo8YkA30wag6Yad6WKLjoWuVX3dvPCzYQpFR8MAAgamdgVNyuzxT_KGksV3mXcZBo-s7-rYtTSQcufeYUbTegv6Nhp723jq/s200/lilian+bland+3.jpg" width="139" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Lilian Bland</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">Lilian Bland was born in Kent, and at the age of twenty-eight came to live at Tobercoran House, the family home in Carnmoney, near Belfast. By this stage she had earned a reputation as a press photographer and sports writer. Her aspirations were fired by Louis Bleriot's cross-Channel flight in 1909 and she began to construct a bi-plane glider, becoming the first woman in the British Isles, possibly in the world, to design, build and fly her own plane.</span></div><div style="color: black; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKJULenxqlhB98A_mmeVo_grtp5FGf_Eh5cv-52MDUl0suw3Rd4ywdLaOjmqnTxRwU-BJ-mbm6pKIZSdASM1uPiyZZK2ZHAv-Jl9OTOVAwF44UiL5INXDNGcK0QZ2MPUP3QmFcYj6yQk4h/s1600/lilianblandplaque.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKJULenxqlhB98A_mmeVo_grtp5FGf_Eh5cv-52MDUl0suw3Rd4ywdLaOjmqnTxRwU-BJ-mbm6pKIZSdASM1uPiyZZK2ZHAv-Jl9OTOVAwF44UiL5INXDNGcK0QZ2MPUP3QmFcYj6yQk4h/s200/lilianblandplaque.jpg" width="197" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Blue Plaque</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;">She named the plane 'Mayfly' with deliberate irony. The 'Mayfly' did fly, and she fitted an engine by A. V. Roe & Co. This modified craft flew successfully in 1910. It is said that her father's offer of a car diverted her attention to running a motor agency, and she then married and left for Vancouver where she married a cousin and carved out a farm on virgin land. In 1935 she retired to Cornwall, 'gambling, painting and gardening' - to quote her own words. </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #666666;"></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #666666;">At the age of ninety-three the Belfast Telegraph quoted her as saying that the only excitement left to her was gambling. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #666666;">Some years ago the Circle unveiled a blue plaque on the site of Tobercoran House. Mayfly was presented to the Dublin Flying Club.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i> Alderman William Webb, Mayor of Newtownabbey, addressing the guests</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Mayfly, created by Skelton Rainey, who was at the opening</i></td></tr>
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</span></span></div>Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-77329849565825454992011-08-15T23:14:00.005+01:002011-08-24T20:48:07.191+01:00That which was lost is found!<div style="text-align: justify;">On 23 July I wrote about the blue plaque to Kennedy Kane McArthur unveiled in Dervock. After the event Chris Spurr and I went down to Portglenone to locate one of the Circle’s earlier plaques; to Timothy Eaton. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clogher, Ballymena - photo Ballymena Guardian</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Eaton was born on a farm in Clogher near Ballymena in March 1934. He served his apprenticeship in the general store owned by a relative by marriage at 48 Main Street Portglenone before he emigrated to Canada in 1854. With his two brothers he opened a general shop in St Mary's, Ontario. Then, in 1868, he moved to Toronto where he set up a store based on the principal of cash sales at fixed prices. Eaton became a highly successful businessman in Canada, establishing the T. Eaton Limited chain of department stores throughout the country and employing over 7,000 staff by the time he died on 31 January 1907. He also pioneered the use of the Mail Order Catalogue. Eaton was an enlightened employer, concerned about the welfare of his staff. For example, he was the first employer to introduce early closing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>James and Helen King at their home in Clogher, Ballymena with the plaque <br />
on the gable.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Unfortunately the Circle had no record of exactly where the plaque had been erected and those involved in the Circle at the time are no longer with us. We had assumed that the plaque was on the premises in Main Street, which is still a General Merchants. However, when Chris and I visited the shop the current owner, who had bought the place in the late 1970s, assured us that there never had been a blue plaque there. There was a rectangular metal one erected in 1969, well before the Circle was formed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">We knew that there was a plaque somewhere so I wrote to Jim Flanagan, the Editor of the Ballymena Guardian asking its readers if they could help. Instead of publishing the letter, Jim decided to do his own investigation and established that the plaque was on Eaton’s original home in Clogher. The story, which occupied almost a full page, ran in the 11 August edition. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The plaque is one of 20 plaques in Co. Antrim. The Circle is grateful to the Ballymena Guardian for its help in tracing the plaque and we can now provide its exact location on our website.</div>Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-79957491471454110052011-07-30T22:09:00.003+01:002011-08-16T13:57:52.540+01:00Warning - a Blue Plaque can change your life<span lang="EN-GB"> </span><br />
<div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB">Can a blue plaque change your life? Well, according to Jean McGuinness, a retired University lecturer, it certainly can.</span></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB">I met Jean at the rededication of a blue plaque to Margaret Noble (or Sister Nivedita as she is know<b>n</b> throughout the Indian sub-continent) in Dungannon on 27 May. The Circle had erected the plaque on 7 December 2007 at a ceremony attended by many Indian people including Shri Karamesh Sharma, the High Commissioner of India to the UK.</span></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Jean with Maurice Hayes, who had suggested the plaque to the Circle</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span lang="EN-GB">Margaret Noble was born and spent her first years in Scotch Street, Dungannon, County Tyrone, and was educated in Halifax. She trained as a teacher and was co-founder of a school in Wimbledon. In 1897 she went as a missionary nun to India, where she was given the name <i>Sister Nivedita</i>. She founded a school in Calcutta, the <i>Sister Nivedita Girls' School</i>. She wrote many articles and books, one of which, <i>The Web Of Indian Life,</i> is regarded in India as one of the few fair accounts of Hindu society written in English. She designed the first national flag of India and helped to revolutionise the Indian Art movement. She was in favour of Indian nationalism and lobbied British members of parliament to this end. In India today she is still revered and on the centenary of her birth a stamp was issued in India in her honour. In India there are many Sister Nivedita schools, colleges and academies. When she died her body was cremated in Darjeeling, and a memorial to her is inscribed: 'Here reposes Sister Nivedita, who gave her all to India'. Her school has published an official biography, <i>Sister Nivedita of Ramakrishna-Vivikananda</i>. </span></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB">The May 2011 celebrations were the culmination of Jean’s remarkable personal journey of discovery and personal development that began on that cold December day more than four years earlier. As she recalls it, she asked her husband, a local councillor, when he returned in the evening whether anything interesting had occurred that day. When he mentioned the blue plaque to someone called Margaret Noble her curio<b>u</b>sity led her to view it. She was struck by the description ‘Writer and Indian Nationalist’ and since she was completely unknown to her she began an Internet search. The volume of references available amazed her and the more she read the more interested she became and set out to find more about her, her origins in Dungannon and her life’s journey. The quest included extensive research of the Noble family and the discovery of living relatives in England and the USA. </span></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB">Jean, who had taken early retirement some years before, had set out to improve her knowledge of the Irish language and was studying for a degree at University of Ulster. By 2008 she was two years into the degree course and had to pick a subject for her dissertation. She decided to concentrate on Margaret Noble and was awarded her degree in 2010.</span></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB">Realising that Margaret’s story was virtually unknown in the place of her birth, Jean set out to put this right and approached Ian Frazer, Chief Executive of the Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council in April 2010 for Council support for a civic event in her honour. Council approval was received in August 2010. The event was organised through the Local History Forum, facilitated by the Killeeshil and Clonaneese Historical Society and expanded to a three-day event. Jean contacted representatives of the Indian communities here and in England, including the London based Hindu Academy, which was planning a celebration at the same time and they agreed to co-operate. </span></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB">Jean, no doubt influenced by her former role as lecturer, was not keen to take the conventional route of talking about Margaret, or to use the usual presentational packages. Instead she turned her dissertation into a docu-drama that used Margaret’s own works and words to illustrate her life and achievements covering the aspects of spirituality, literature, arts and politics. As part of the three-day event the ninety-minute play, called <i>Awakening a Nation, </i>was performed in the Craic Theatre in Coalisland on 28 May<b>, </b>by The Noble Thespians<b>.</b> Arrangements are being made for the play to be performed in Birmingham in August, Belfast in October/November and in the Samuel Beckett Theatre in Dublin in November. </span></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlCYjAJy4gkZ-zcPvkZ9-BbRZXpiR05LgcHVE2NLn0A09YsvEeKzVSQIlHSJiyTXYr0bfMcO04EKsIAlQgrldXpX9jZO2MCi8d2j8yQn0O3ExbX8huyUrSGRTUZFFNbIESNknidCOt9NQ0/s1600/noblegroup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlCYjAJy4gkZ-zcPvkZ9-BbRZXpiR05LgcHVE2NLn0A09YsvEeKzVSQIlHSJiyTXYr0bfMcO04EKsIAlQgrldXpX9jZO2MCi8d2j8yQn0O3ExbX8huyUrSGRTUZFFNbIESNknidCOt9NQ0/s320/noblegroup.jpg" width="280" /></a></div><span lang="EN-GB">The Celebration Event included contributions from Malachy O’Doherty, journalist and Writer in Resdence at QUB who had first learned about Margaret Noble while in India as a disciple of a Hindu Guru; Professor Murdo MacDonald, Professor of History of Scottish Art at the University of Dundee who linked Margaret Noble to Patrick Geddes, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Dr Malcolm Sen, Lecturer in English and Irish at UC Dublin and NUI Galway who spoke on India-Ireland connections. </span></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB">The plaque rededication event was a great success, with many Indian people there from far afield. I spoke to several of them and was struck by the affection all of them had for their Sister Nivedita and how pleased they were that she was being honoured in the place of her birth. </span></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB">The event was widely reported in the local papers, including a full-page article, in Irish, in the Irish News. It was also widely reported throughout India, including a report of the play.</span></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB">Given the success of her crusade to make Margaret Noble known in Dungannon, I asked Jean what else she would like to do. First, she is set on getting a statue of Margaret erected in the town and she would like to retrace Margaret’s steps to Calcutta and Darjeeling.</span></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB">Seeing what she has achieved so far, I’m sure Jean will realise both ambitions. </span></div><div align="justify"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"></div><span lang="EN-GB">Jean’s journey, inspired by another Dungannon girl, is remarkable and I wish her well in everything she undertakes. Thanks Jean for sharing your journey with me. I can only hope that others of our blue plaques will lead people to stop, look and question who these people are and encourage them to find out a little more about the rich heritage we have all around us.</span>Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-59766918831740617382011-07-24T12:00:00.011+01:002011-08-15T23:39:59.128+01:00A Great Day in Dervock<div style="text-align: justify;">Saturday, 23 July - a memorable day for the people of the small, neat County Antrim village of Dervock. Large numbers of them gathered to see Dame Mary Peters, the 1972 Olympic Gold Medallist in the Womens Pentathlon, unveil a blue plaque in memory of the local hero, Kennedy Kane McArthur who had clinched the Gold Medal for the Marathon in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was also a good day for the members of the local community association who have been working hard to involve local people and groups to improve the local environment. The results of their efforts were plain to see as the village sparkled in the bright summer sunshine.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The event co-incided with the annual McArthur Half Marathon, which was also started by Dame Mary. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was great to see so many people there, including the local MLA, Mervyn Storey. Chris Spurr, introducing the Mayor, spoke of the Circle's dependence on local involvement and its thanks for the generous support it received from the Borough Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund. The Mayor of Ballymoney Borough Council welcomed Dame Mary and the assembled throng and said how pleased the Council was that McArthur was being honoured in his home place. Ronnie Spence, who chairs the Heritage Lottery Fund NI Committee, mentioned the the Fund had spent £140 million on a wide range of heritage projects. This included not only big projects like the Ballymena Mueum and the Giant's Causeway Visitors Centre but also small local projects like this one which was about local people and stories that meant so much to the people who live here.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chris Spurr, Ronnie Spence, Dame Mary Peters, Mayor Ian Stevenson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Dame Mary spoke of the importance of commemorating people like McArthur who from humble beginnings had achieved the pinnacle in sport. She was particularly interested in involving young people as they were the future and needed every encouragement. In unveiling the plaque itself she was joined by two young people from the village. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">After the unveiling Keith Beattie, Manager of the Ballymoney Museum gave a talk about McArthur and his achievements.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Welcome refreshments were provided by Jennifer and Noel Laverty, proprietors of The Mill Tea Room. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was all over by 2.30 pm and Chris Spurr and I made our way the Portglenone in search on another elusive blue plaque from the early days of the Circle. Of which more anon.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">There is a report of the event, with photographs, on the Circle's website at <a href="http://www.ulsterhistory.co.uk/230711.html">http://www.ulsterhistory.co.uk/230711.html</a> </div>Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-14897679620408851522011-07-09T19:32:00.002+01:002011-08-15T23:46:35.731+01:00Blue Plaque for Dervock Olympian Gold Medallist<div style="text-align: justify;">July 23 is the date of the traditional Kennedy Kane McArthur annual half-marathon in the County Antrim village of Dervock. On that day this year Dame Mary Peters, Gold Medallist at the 1972 Munich Olympics in the womens penthalon, will unveil a blue plaque the McArthur, the winner of the marathon at the Stockholm 1912 Olympics.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQKsGWFgBM-rn9JXtQTFENoDu-7JACXAKeSQTnzjiAkj0kmeMxbq6VF7TbpOOdNu6POiaQiIpALyP9Vt8wVFYmPxasxNcMmVi8Ybt_ht3TLQT0LwwZ9byjZRGLscxJ9tbFIA-0C_0Vx0kT/s1600/mcarthur+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQKsGWFgBM-rn9JXtQTFENoDu-7JACXAKeSQTnzjiAkj0kmeMxbq6VF7TbpOOdNu6POiaQiIpALyP9Vt8wVFYmPxasxNcMmVi8Ybt_ht3TLQT0LwwZ9byjZRGLscxJ9tbFIA-0C_0Vx0kT/s1600/mcarthur+2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Kennedy Kane McArthur </i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Kennedy Kane McArthur was born on 10 February 1881 in Dervock. He was the local postman and was often to seen running along the country roads with his post-bag. He emigrated to Johannesburg, in South Africa, where he joined the police force and took up running again, this time seriously. Following success in a number of territorial and national track and cross-country championships he was selected for the South African athletics team that travelled to the London Olympics in 1908. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">McArthur ran his first marathon late in the 1908 season beating the South African Olympic silver medallist, Charles Hefron. After a period of competing at an international level he was selected for the 1912 Olympic team. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Stockholm Olympic marathon took place on 14 July 1912 in sweltering heat. McArthur almost collapsed as he neared the finishing line. However, he rallied and finished in the new Olympic record time of 2 hours, 36 minutes and 54.8 seconds - 58 seconds ahead of his team-mate Gitsam. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">After his victory McArthur visited Dervock where he was given a civic reception in the Town Hall and a bronze plaque was unveiled in his honour. Within a year of his triumph McArthur's sporting career was cut short by an accident and he retired from athletics. Between 1931-36 he lived on the family farm in Dervock after which he returned to South Africa where he died in 1960. His trophies and other memorabilia are on display at the Potschefstroom Museum in Johannesburg. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ballymoney Borough Council is supporting the plaque and the Mayor will speak at the event. <br />
<br />
McArthur will join other sportsmen, golfer Fred Daly, footballer Joe Bambrick, GAA founder John McKay and boxer Rinty Monaghan who have been commemorated with a blue plaque.<br />
<br />
</div>Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-13138684681268565752011-06-25T13:55:00.003+01:002011-08-16T12:08:24.119+01:00Derry/Londonderry launch of the Guide to Blue Plaques in Ulster<div style="text-align: justify;">Wednesday 22 June saw the launch of the Guide in the Maiden City. The event was staged in the Verbal Arts Centre which itself hosts the blue plaque to playwright George Farquhar. The Centre had kindly given us the use of their premises free of charge and the Circle acknowledges this act of generosity.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><span lang="EN-GB"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Prof. Patrick Murphy</strong>, speaking on behalf of the Heritage Lottery Fund, defined the difference between history and heritage by suggesting that history is the past that we read in a book, whereas heritage is about the past that you could see, feel, taste and touch. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicOg20roo8Lh1LK0lgLzKWslGaPD3BfbcV54PFJn945cgVxWQR9dbabKHMDxmgI7uz9fN59Gu_-eDAuGhWNh_TQedcLwaf5kXcEWdXE7yTsbW9jjpp9t7YA2L3sKIlaLajUq5Oc2BS-jJi/s1600/derry+launchxt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicOg20roo8Lh1LK0lgLzKWslGaPD3BfbcV54PFJn945cgVxWQR9dbabKHMDxmgI7uz9fN59Gu_-eDAuGhWNh_TQedcLwaf5kXcEWdXE7yTsbW9jjpp9t7YA2L3sKIlaLajUq5Oc2BS-jJi/s320/derry+launchxt.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Chris Spurr, Aideen McGinley, Wesley McCann and <br />
Prof. Patrick Murphy</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Some say its about landscape that was here from the beginning, some that it was about buildings – museums, castles and the like, others that it is about the arts/music/culture. It was all about that but he defined it as two themes - one, it was about people, shaping the landscape and being shaped by it; and - two, it was about a sense of place, and if heritage is people and place then the modern day people who spotted this and combined the two is the Ulster History Circle. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Because what the Circle does is to give us a sense of people, not in the abstract sense of characters from the past but to commemorate people from the past and give them relevance by pointing out where they lived or worked, about where they were when they invented, or composed or created, how they interacted with those around them in terms of thoughts and inspirations and hopes and dreams. These are living people that the Circle has brought to us: not just in the abstract sense of books on dusty shelves but in the sense of bringing them into our streets, our country roads, our villages and towns and our industrial heartlands. They are no longer located in those dusty books. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said that the Circle actually cheats, very slightly but very cleverly, because it’s not just about history, it’s also about geography, a sense of place; it’s about linking place and people, it marries history and geography in a wonderful way, which gives us the heritage that we are celebrating here today. These people are not ‘the great and the good’ or those with a high historical profile, they are ordinary people who did extraordinary things. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Prof. Murphy said that to bring real people to life you need real people and that the people of the Ulster History Circle to us are absolutely real. He said that the heritage movement in Northern Ireland owes a great debt of gratitude to the Ulster History Circle for what is a major contribution to heritage here. On behalf of the Heritage Lottery Fund he thanked the Circle and wished them well in the future.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Dr. Aideen McGinley</strong>, Chief Executive of Ilex, the company involved in the regeneration of Londonderry, said that she was honoured to be asked to launch the Guide. She recalled being visited some ten years ago while in DCAL by Jimmy Hawthorne, who was looking for money to develop the Ulster History Circle. Heritage was a subject that fell between stools in government; it wasn’t DCAL, or DOE or DRD’. So who ‘owned’ heritage? Was it tourism, was it social development? She had been impressed by the spirit of people like him trying in a voluntary capacity to encourage a pride in people and place, to ensure that we did not lose something that was important. She said that the gap had been filled by the Heritage Lottery Fund by funding a five-year package to enable a sustainable approach. It built on and underpinned the voluntary principle and was and is recognition of the importance of the work.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">She said that while it was great to have information on websites it was nice to have this Guide that you could put in your pocket and take around with you. Coming from Enniskillen it was great to see mention of Oscar Wilde. However, there also was Kathleen Bridle, an inspirational teacher and artist. So it was not just internationally known people that were being honoured but ordinary people as well, who had made a difference. It’s about poets and philosophers, geographers and geologists. It’s the whole raft of human endeavour and it is important that it continues. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Circle worked closely with local authorities and from personal experience she knew that it is highly respected and regarded by those it works with. Government does respect what the Circle is doing but there remains the need to tackle the ‘between stools’ issue the issue needs to be picked up by the authorities such as the Tourist Board, Culture NI and others and turned into a trail that becomes part of the tourism product. The City of Culture will take cognisance of this resource.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dr. McGinley said, "John Donahue has a lovely phrase <em>‘We all leave an imprint of ourselves on the ether of place’</em> and I think that what you are doing is making this tangible by these blue plaques."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Formally launching the Guide she congratulated the Circle and wished it continuing success.<br />
<br />
The Guide is available in Libraries, Tourist Centres and Museums. View a copy at <a href="http://www.ulsterhistory.co.uk/BluePlaqueGuide2011.pdf">http://www.ulsterhistory.co.uk/BluePlaqueGuide2011.pdf</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-57551103092674476162011-06-18T12:18:00.001+01:002011-08-16T21:52:33.553+01:00A Day in the Life<div style="text-align: justify;">On Thursday went with Circle Chairman, Chris Spurr to Ballyclare to meet representatives of the local Historical Society about a planned plaque to the author and storyteller Archibald McIlroy who wrote in the Ulster-Scots idiom and had perished in the RMS Lusitania in 1915 when it was torpedoed by a German U-Boat. Lindy Reid and Jeannette McKendrey, well versed in local history and folklore, showed us round the Presbyterian Church on Main Street whose 'green' was the the inspiration for McIlroy's first novel 'The Auld Meetin'- Hoose Green'. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Then on to Mossley Mill to meet Etta Mann, former Newtownabbey Councillor who had contacted the Circle about McIlroy, Derek Rawlinson of the Ulster-Scots Language Society, who was republishing the 'Auld Meetin'-Hoose Green' and Samantha Curry, the Council's Museums Officer. The meeting was to plan the arrangements for a joint event - plaque and book launch- for later in the Autumn. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The meeting successfully concluded we went our separate ways, Chris to Dervock to discuss the planning of a plaque to Kennedy Kane McArthur, the Marathon Gold Medallist at the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games, who had been born in the village; me to Broughshane to track down the blue plaque to Sir George White VC, 'The hero of Ladysmith'. I had not been on the road between Ballyclare and Broughshane before and was stunned, on rounding a corner to see a sweeping panorama of countryside dotted with trees and farmhouses and dominated by the volcanic plug of Slemish. I’d never see it from this angle and it looked completely different. I took some photographs. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqGK6kmvdwsFzWWIPFgA6wh9aUWSlbVZgorul7vsR2ytvj1VGF3uWXfuS1v8a73OYa_8x2KioFesGJ2N1WvcjZ4Ppob7HZR4IH69S7Gu33gPo-S3U4C2MOMrHo19WwU1IP1aZzI-mSOufN/s1600/sirgeorgewhite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqGK6kmvdwsFzWWIPFgA6wh9aUWSlbVZgorul7vsR2ytvj1VGF3uWXfuS1v8a73OYa_8x2KioFesGJ2N1WvcjZ4Ppob7HZR4IH69S7Gu33gPo-S3U4C2MOMrHo19WwU1IP1aZzI-mSOufN/s1600/sirgeorgewhite.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Sir George White VC</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="color: black;">George Stuart White was born in Portstewart but the family lived in Broughshane for many years. He first achieved distinction in the Afghan War of 1878-80. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his heroism in the Battle of Charasia in <country-region w:st="on">India</country-region> in 1879 and was knighted in 1886 for his military service in <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Burma</place></country-region>. His greatest fame came in the South African War when he defended Ladysmith against a 118-day siege by the Boers (1899-1900). He became governor of <place w:st="on">Gibraltar</place> (1900-1904) and was made field marshal in 1903. I found the plaque at the entrance to a domain. The plaque was on one pier and on the other was the command ‘No Visitors’. The plaque, about 12 inches in diameter (much smaller then normal though clearly designed for the narrow pier), was grubby and unfortunately had a small degree of damage. I cleaned it up as best I could, took some photos and left for my next assignment.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho3xjtBz-b9Y82S544ZDj-mTmfsOKAVaVueL0CZPbthREolmiUKIq-ufCi5zYXmvDLqupxEBwjVZeNx4yU9yPNNt2g-oFKqYMe8ygTQHwYUooOviST3CVbZhyZp19JD-CyIAXmKc902iPC/s1600/samuelmccaughey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho3xjtBz-b9Y82S544ZDj-mTmfsOKAVaVueL0CZPbthREolmiUKIq-ufCi5zYXmvDLqupxEBwjVZeNx4yU9yPNNt2g-oFKqYMe8ygTQHwYUooOviST3CVbZhyZp19JD-CyIAXmKc902iPC/s1600/samuelmccaughey.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Sir Samuel McCaughey</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>From Broughshane I headed for the Cloughwater Road, Tullynewey, to track down another early plaque, this one to Sir Samuel McCaughey. McCaughey emigrated to Australia in 1856. He became manager of a sheep station in Victoria after a two-year appenticeship. By 1860, with two partners, he had built up a famous marino stud farm in New South Wales. After this he bought other stations and introduced methods to improve the yield and quality of wool. He was the first to adopt irrigation and to improve the breed of sheep. At one point he had one million sheep to shear. He became the wealthiest man in the state and was known as the 'Sheep King'. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly for twenty years until 1919 and was knighted in 1905. He gave twenty war planes to the government in the First World War, and £2,000,000 for charitable and educational purposes. <br />
<br />
Anyway, I couldn't seen a plaque on any of the houses on the several miles long road. Fortunately I chanced on an elderly lady who told me that 'the McCaughey place' was up the road, over the wee bridge and on the left'. I crossed the bridge and on the left was long lane leading to a distant modern house. The lady of the house directed me to the end of the lane, narrow with sharp corners. On the way I met a large tractor driven by the current owner of the McCaughey house, Sam McNabney, a friendly and helpful man who gave me directions and explained that the place was hard to find because two directional signs that had been on the main road were no longer there, one being completely lost and the other ripped from its fastenings by a recent flood. He had rescued this and offered to let me have it when I had finished at the house. The McCaghey 'homestead' is currently unoccupied, though in good repair with a couple of satellite dishes on the roof. <br />
<br />
I took some photos and went to Sam's modern farmhouse just off the Cloughwater Road, where after rummaging in several crowded garages the sign was found. Sam suggested I might want to have the sign reerected - he wasn't sure who it belonged to. I took the sign and cleaned it up as best I could seeing as how it was scuffed and a bit damaged after it's adventures in the flood. I plan to discuss restoration with Ballymena Borough Council in due course.<br />
<br />
After that I went straight home. Total journey 127 miles, 6 hours.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div>Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-35663690852022396812011-06-16T20:02:00.001+01:002011-08-16T12:10:51.569+01:00New Guide to Blue Plaques in Ulster<div style="text-align: justify;">Last night in the Crescent Arts Centre on Belast's University Street the Circle launched it's first comprehensive Guide to the blue plaques erected since its origin in the early 1980's.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiw8xD31wgPjM9-2dJKxyjWH2t69cwtbLye-nvmnL8sRZwIg-KR31IzwlK6N2RmwyzUWSCXh9YOMTGFoj3jNYXyZ9Naz0CQ96xU2x4jliQSeNp8PnefbR5iGUSIg26xWpDDq4mbphSeUbv/s1600/Wesley+McCann.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiw8xD31wgPjM9-2dJKxyjWH2t69cwtbLye-nvmnL8sRZwIg-KR31IzwlK6N2RmwyzUWSCXh9YOMTGFoj3jNYXyZ9Naz0CQ96xU2x4jliQSeNp8PnefbR5iGUSIg26xWpDDq4mbphSeUbv/s320/Wesley+McCann.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Wesley McCann</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>It was a well tended event with some 30 people in addition to the speakers. Wesley McCann, our past Chairman who with Linda Greenwood had compiled the material, and Mark Thompson, the designer, were on hand to answer questions and describe the process and problems of design and production. Chris Spurr acted as MC, a role he has become very practiced in over the past couple of years. In his opening remarks he thanked all of those involved, paying a particular tribute to Jimmy Hawthorne, the Circle's founder, without whose dedication over the years it would not have survived. He also thanked the Heritage Lottery fund for its financial assistance in producing the guide. Also the AE Harvey Trust. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Wesley provided an interesting insight to the editorial and design processes, not the least of which was to reduce the lives of those honoured to a limit of 60 words. The result was a pocket-size overview of the wide range of people who had plaques dedicated to them. The guide woukld be a valuable aid to historians, local people, tourist, schools etc. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmP8sSMw1AncdkUFWRRNsMk7q9De8yPgyZ9BdE4Hm32VRMtGTb0MGG5LrlaCe4BeSZzutV9zkA975e3UHJpb8oIMoIfTm7egFuthxdmd1jxYERaZjccZ2NsHAJ6Bl5s-uaQnZ0DWtv_1QM/s1600/Rita+Harkin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmP8sSMw1AncdkUFWRRNsMk7q9De8yPgyZ9BdE4Hm32VRMtGTb0MGG5LrlaCe4BeSZzutV9zkA975e3UHJpb8oIMoIfTm7egFuthxdmd1jxYERaZjccZ2NsHAJ6Bl5s-uaQnZ0DWtv_1QM/s320/Rita+Harkin.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Rita Harkin</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Rita Harkin, a member of the Heritage Lottery Fund NI Committee, spoke of the wide range of people honoured; from politics, the arts and academia over a period of six centuries. She also noted a sub-mariner, a President of Israel, a sheep-king from Australia and the father of the Suez Canal, to mention only a few. For those whose appetite was whetted, there were more riches to be found in the Circle's <a href="http://www.ulsterbiography.co.uk/">Dictionary of Ulster Biography </a>. All are united by a common theme 'public mindedness'. She thanked the Circle for highlighting these personalities to public attention where they act as an inspiration to others as they go about their daily lives.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Copies of the Guide is available, free, in libraries, museums and tourist centres. View the Guide at <a href="http://www.ulsterhistory.co.uk/BluePlaqueGuide2011.pdf">http://www.ulsterhistory.co.uk/BluePlaqueGuide2011.pdf</a><br />
<br />
There will be a second launch of the Guide in the Verbal Arts Centre, Stable Lane, Bishop Street Within in Derry City at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday 22 June.</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-30160297841821992842011-06-12T22:56:00.003+01:002011-08-16T12:29:40.410+01:00James Hawthorne CBE (1930-2006)<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">In September next it will be five years since Jimmy Hawthorne, our founder and long term Secretary/Treasurer, passed away after a mercifully short illness. In the week that the Circle publishes its first <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Guide to Blue Plaques in Ulster</i>, listing the 115 plaques erected to the end of 2009, I want to pay tribute to his vision and drive in keeping the Circle going through some very lean times, and to remember him for fun and laughter he brought to the lives of those fortunate enough to have known him. It is fair to say that, until he died, Jimmy was the main ‘mover an shaker’ of the Circle. I can recall one of his financial reports announcing, to general hilarity, that there was 79p in the bank account. It was in no small part due to his drive that the Heritage Lottery Fund agreed to fund our 5-year ‘Celebrating Achievers’ project. Sadly, he was not to see the project launched but I know he would have been delighted with its achievements to date. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga351VoKwcYZewASBTEkoQWyDWf96Kj5U4CrfrB0M-FdbxauWK6cdzXlg3NBJ1xy3HU4Lb0VKaxM5oYUGWsqeywrUXOqTPqxJU3lFUZtX11L280xSzOU3NvZrDaOJEYxeKBoWh6uTqGuFz/s1600/HLFGROUP0306.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga351VoKwcYZewASBTEkoQWyDWf96Kj5U4CrfrB0M-FdbxauWK6cdzXlg3NBJ1xy3HU4Lb0VKaxM5oYUGWsqeywrUXOqTPqxJU3lFUZtX11L280xSzOU3NvZrDaOJEYxeKBoWh6uTqGuFz/s320/HLFGROUP0306.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Sean Nolan, Jimmy and Chris Ryder at a planning meeting</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Jimmy was a man of many parts, teacher, mathematician, specialist schools producer for the BBC in NI – and ultimately its NI Controller (10 years to 1987); Controller of Television and Director of Broadcasting for the Hong Kong Government (7 years to 1977); Chairman, Cultural Traditions Group, the Community Relations Council, the Health Promotion Agency, the Prison Arts Foundation; and Commissioner for Racial Equality. His early work in developing BBC NI’s education service for school broke new ground and his record of this time is well worth reading. This is still available on his blog at 'Beyond Suspicion or Controversy' on Favourites aside.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxAsiVok1Xsqs1b10BUL6_-wkukIMSKLuu9HCw8zWpvUjLD-CNzDHldJCz0F5wyL6l3mvQ5PeOrt8x6qpgDgsbqsMHF6NWPw34NwuwPwgaUZ8AF1TwJ_jkTlAV4YGJP9MG9UMITZghYYsD/s1600/jimmy-walton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxAsiVok1Xsqs1b10BUL6_-wkukIMSKLuu9HCw8zWpvUjLD-CNzDHldJCz0F5wyL6l3mvQ5PeOrt8x6qpgDgsbqsMHF6NWPw34NwuwPwgaUZ8AF1TwJ_jkTlAV4YGJP9MG9UMITZghYYsD/s200/jimmy-walton.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doreen Corcoran, Methody Headmaster<br />
Wilfred Mulryne, Marion Walton and <br />
Jimmy - 6 October 2003 </td></tr>
</tbody></table>Jimmy’s sojourn as Controller BBCNI coincided with the most intense period of the civil unrest and in trying to maintain the balance and integrity of the NI output he found himself under siege from all sides, not least from the establishment. His record of some of these battles is on his blog - <a href="http://drjameshawthorne.blogspot.com/2005/11/broadcasting-to-divided-community.html">http://drjameshawthorne.blogspot.com/2005/11/broadcasting-to-divided-community.html</a>. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">The battle with Government and the BBC Governors during the 'Real Lives' controversy of 1985 when the BBC Board of Governors, under pressure from the Home Secretary, banned a television programme dealing with aspects of politics and terrorism in Ireland, is fully documented in another of his blogs - <a href="http://bbcreallives.blogspot.com/">http://bbcreallives.blogspot.com/</a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4HKiA38GdNVM5LEufn7ZvyBvxDDYfdhAq5DJXzh3e-74ZP6O6BSfRKiU_nghaJ962phfQUueM2kNmqnA7QUEwcmPqkvvG-pZWftMIjNRYwwzsBMZywZ8Ulybvc7wSGFYqoypnNuYUHUFJ/s1600/jimmy%2526alex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4HKiA38GdNVM5LEufn7ZvyBvxDDYfdhAq5DJXzh3e-74ZP6O6BSfRKiU_nghaJ962phfQUueM2kNmqnA7QUEwcmPqkvvG-pZWftMIjNRYwwzsBMZywZ8Ulybvc7wSGFYqoypnNuYUHUFJ/s200/jimmy%2526alex.jpg" width="173" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Jimmy with Alex Maskey, Lord<br />
Mayor of Belfast at the unveiling <br />
of the William Drennan plaque</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Jimmy for many years contributed a weekly column to the Down Democrat, a local paper published in Downpatrick. These are gems of topical and comical interest, commenting on personal, local, national and international issues, often tongue-in-cheek, always readable. I asked him how he managed to turn out new material every week and his reply was that he could find a topic from anything, a newspaper article, a news story, a personal happening, an overheard remark, a chance sighting of a person or event, the weather. He never repeated himself. The complete archive of these gems are on his other Blog - <a href="http://www.thornyissues.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.thornyissues.blogspot.com/</span></a> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">He was a kindly man, compassionate, empathetic and caring. In 2005 when I was seriously ill, he visited me in hospital several times, and later arranged to pick me up for our meetings and return me home afterwards. He was an excellent raconteur with a store of interesting and comical anecdotes drawn from his life and experience. Our journeys to and from the meetings, and the meetings themselves, were filled with craic and laughter. <br />
<br />
His Guardian Obituary is at<br />
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/sep/21/northernireland.broadcasting">http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/sep/21/northernireland.broadcasting</a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">Thank you Jimmy, for the gift of your friendship.</div>Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-83794492940091951052011-06-08T23:55:00.000+01:002011-06-08T23:55:02.037+01:00Dictionary of Ulster Biography<div align="justify"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">As well as erecting blue plaques to commemmorate individuals from or associated with the Province who have made a significant contribution to human progress, the Circle has developed an on-line edition of the </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><em>Dictionary of Ulster Biography. </em> This is the successor to the 1993 printed edition, compiled by Kate Newmann and published in 1993 by the Institute of Irish Studies of the Queens University of Belfast. </span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="jusfify" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Dictionary is about people associated with the historic nine counties of Ulster and includes those who were born here, or lived or worked here and who have distinguished themselves in some way. Many of them will be included in other biographical dictionaries. The aim where possible is to describe their lives and achievements from a local perspective.</span></div><div align="jusfify" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">W</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">ith support from the Heritage Lottery Fund the Circle has produced this revised and updated edition of the Dictionary. Since going on-line in November 2009 almost 100 additional biographical details of people who died between 1993 and 2000 have been added. The names of another 400+ people who died between 2000 and 2010 are being researched and will be added gradually as our limited voluntary capacity permits. </span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="jusfify" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Dictionary website is <a href="http://www.ulsterbiography.co.uk/">http://www.ulsterbiography.co.uk/</a></span></div><div align="jusfify" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div align="jusfify" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2640936399693772550.post-4321760184987379372011-06-06T15:26:00.000+01:002011-06-06T15:33:50.148+01:00New - A Guide to Blue Plaques in UlsterOn Wednesday next the Circle will launch its first printed guide to it's Blue Plaques. The event will be held, as part of the Belfast Book Festival, on Wednesday 15 June starting at 6.00pm - see <a href="http://www.crescentarts.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/BookFest_Bro-SMALL.pdf">http://www.crescentarts.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/BookFest_Bro-SMALL.pdf</a>, page 43. Light refreshments will be available. There will be another launch in the Verbal Arts Centre, in Derry City, on the following Wednesday, starting at 12 noon.<br />
<br />
The Guide is free of charge and, as well as being available to those at the launches, will be in local libraries, museums and Tourist Centres. <br />
<br />
The Guide is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Guest Speaker, in Belfast, will be Rita Harkin for the Fund.<br />
<br />
The Guide has details of the 115 plaques unveiled by the Circle in the three decades to 2009, since it was founded in the early 1980s, and commemorates lives over the last 700 years.Pat Devlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06054334075877657396noreply@blogger.com0