By Wilfred Owen Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,Till on the haunting flares we turned our backsAnd towards our distant rest began to trudge.Men marched asleep. Many had lost their bootsBut limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hootsOf tired,…
William Henry III, (Willem Hendrik in Dutch) Prince of Orange was born on 4th November 1650. A Dutchman by birth, part of the House of Orange, he would later reign as King of England, Scotland and Ireland until his death in 1702. William’s reign came at a precarious time in Europe when religious divide dominated…
By Ivor Gurney Suddenly into the still air burst thudding And thudding, and cold fear possessed me all, On the gray slopes there, where Winter in sullen brooding Hung between height and depth of the ugly fall Of Heaven to earth; and the thudding was illness’ own. But still a hope I kept that were…
by Rudyard Kipling “Have you news of my boy Jack?” Not this tide. “When d’you think that he’ll come back?” Not with this wind blowing, and this tide. “Has any one else had word of him?” Not this tide. For what is sunk will hardly swim, Not with this wind blowing, and this tide. “Oh,…
The grave of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey contains the remains of an unidentified British serviceman who was interred in 1920 as a way of honouring the fallen of the First World War. The selection of the Unknown Warrior was a secretive event and remains shrouded in mystery to this day. Here curator of…
Red poppies have been worn as a show of support for the Armed Forces community since the Royal British Legion’s formation in 1921. The idea originates from a poem, ‘In Flanders Fields’ by Canadian Doctor, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae when, shortly after losing a friend in Ypres in 1915, he was inspired by the sight…
1971 Belfast Refugees and the Loyalist People of Liverpool A personal story by Stephen Gough. Reproduced by kind permission I first became interested in this story when my partner Susan and her Mum started talking about it one night. I was fascinated as I knew nothing about it. As I listened to them recall the…
Some folks sing of mountains and valleysWhere the wild flowers abundantly growAnd some of the wave-crested billowsThat dash ‘neath the waters belowBut I’m going to speak of a riverAnd I hope in the chorus you’ll joinOf the deeds that were done by King WilliamOn the green grassy slopes of the Boyne Chorus:On the green grassy…
Ulster’s Solemn League and Covenant Being convinced in our consciences that Home Rule would be disastrous to the material well-being of Ulster as well as the whole of Ireland, subversive of our civil and religious freedom, destructive of our citizenship, and perilous to the unity of the Empire, we, whose names are underwritten, men of…
On Saturday 28 September 1912 the industrial heart of Belfast city was still. The great shipyards were silent; the looms were idle in the linen mills; the rope works and the foundries were deserted. At eleven o’clock, Religious services to invoke divine aid and to encourage signatures were held throughout in Protestant churches across the…