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The burning of Belfast Castle in 1708

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MEMORIES OF LITTLE ITALYJames Doherty

St Malachy's Churchin

Alfred Street.

R ecently I passed through a part ofBelfast that once had been the hometo a small Italian community.

I pass through this area often but on thisparticular day I found myself recallingmemories of my childhood and myschoolmates. Perhaps it was the totaltransformation of the place that shot me backto a time so long ago. Only in my memorycould I find any trace of the district I knew sowell.Little Italy, as it was known, consisted of thecity end of Nelson Street, Great Patrick Street,Little Patrick Street, Carolina Street, AcademyStreet and the lower part of Frederick Street.A few Italian families can be traced in the area

as far back as 1816. One of the early familiesSignor Fabbrini was appointed DrawingMaster in the Belfast Academicial Institute,which at that time was in Academy Street.

INFLUXAnother was Modesto Silo whose sonModesto junior was the first Irish Italian bornin the area in 1835. The most famous of theItalians born in Belfast was Peter Piccione,an artist of great renown whose greatmasterpiece can be seen behind the alter in StMalachy's Church in Alfred Street.The big influx of Italians came as refugees in1867 as a result of the Garibaldian Wars inItaly and remained in the area for almost 100years. Many of the names of the early settlerssuch as Santini, Antonio,Feregione, Pinisi, Fusco,Marsella, Morell, Morelli

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Extracts from the 1970 Belfast Street Directorylisting some of the Italian families

and Forte could still be found in the area untilthe break up of the community.

MOTHER OF THE COMMUNITYI have more than a passing interest in LittleItaly. I was born there on St Valentines Dayin 1920 and the mid wife was an Italian ladyknown in the community as Nurse Morell. Ofcourse she was not a trained nurse but sheused her skills for anyone in the communitywho needed her help.I spoke of this one night at a talk inWaterstones Bookshop when a lady in theaudience suddenly stood up and said "Sir, thatwas my grandmother you were speakingabout. I do not remember her but I understandshe was a great person." "Yes" I replied, "shewas the mother of the community and I lovedher very much when I was a young boy." Thisunexpected interruption was another link inmy Italian connection.

ORGAN GRINDERMy earliest memories of Little italy centrearound an old organ grinder and his monkey.He carried his organ strapped to his back. Ithad a single bar which acted as a stand whenhe stopped to play. He wore an Alpine hatand the monkey was also dressed in a nationalcostume. He kept the monkey on a stout chainbecause at times he was far from beingfriendly. The monkey collected the coins thatpassers-by threw into the ring. He had apeculiar fashion of biting a coin before puttingit in his pocket. Sometimes someone wouldthrow in a dud lead coin or washer.The biting process was his way of separatingthe wheat from the chaff. On these occasionshe would make off in the direction from whichthe offending coin was thrown, squealing andstraining on the chain which restrained him.

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The monkey and I became good friends. I wasonly about three years of age and not muchbigger than he was. The old organ grinderkept a close watch on him as we played.Monkeys appear to be very playful as we seethem frolic about in a zoo or circus but theycould savage a person just as seriously as anydangerous dog.

GROWING COMMUNITYThe Italian community grew in numbers andspread out across the city. Desano's were awell known name in East Belfast for their icecream. Raffo's established a name forthemselves on the Lower Falls Road. TheMarsellas moved towards the LMS RailwayStation and although long gone, Gerodies icesare still spoken off. A Belfast Cartage andStorage contractors, R. A. Burke acted as theItalian Consul from his office in FrederickStreet. For many years the Irish News carriedan Italian language page which covered socialactivities and other topics.

SINGING AND DANCINGThe children went to the local school and inall respects the Italians got along well withtheir neighbours. During the long summernights after the ice-cream carts retired and theevening meal was over the district came alivewith the sound of music and singing as theItalian women came out and danced while themenfolk played concertinas or accordions.

ICE-CREAMThe Italians brought with them their skills.They were artists, sculptors, mosaic andterruzo workers as well as ice-creammanufacturers. Many of my fondest memoriesare connected with ice-cream. Alfie Morelliand I were childhood friends, a friendshipwhich lasted until he died. Alfie and I helpedthe family prepare the ice-cream at their homein Frederick Street. Our job was to rotate thefreezer, which at the time was done by hand.We always got a good helping of ice-creamand when business was good we also got apenny each. But one day an electric motorreplaced the manual labour and as I now tellthe story I was made redundant at the age ofnine by a machine.

INTERNEDI had an exciting time as a youngster amongthe Italians and I was always welcome in theirworkshops. One of my heroes was DominicTravazaro. Dominic was a powerful youngman with boundless energy. I often watchedhim toss around heavy moulds as if they wereballoons. Dominic was a wonderful singerand the harder he worked the more powerfulhis voice became. The locals always knew thatDominic was working hard when his singingcame from the workshop and even passers-by stopped to listen. When the war came the

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Belfast Map of 1888 showingthe Little Italy district

Italians were interned in the Isle of Man andduring the threat of invasion it was decidedto move the German and Italian internees toCanada. Dominic was among the first lot tobe moved but for some reason he was placedon a later list. The German's mistakenly tookthe ship for an army transport and sank it.Dominic survived and returned after the war.During the war the manufacture of ice-creamwas prohibited owing to the use of milk fats,sugar and other rationed commodities. Myold friend Alfie continued to manufacture aproduct which he sold under the name ofbanana Flavour. Ice-cream was all he knew.He was born into the trade and he had no other

means of making a living. Of course the lawcaught up with him and he was charged, notwith producing a low quality product but withproducing and manufacturing a high qualityice-cream contrary to Ministry of Foodregulations. The taste for ice-cream has neverleft me. I still eat plenty of the stuff and I caneat it quickly. Some years ago, without myknowledge, a friend of mine set up an ice-cream eating contest between myself andFreddie Meli who owned an ice-cream parlouron the Springfield Road. The contest aroseduring a conversation with Freddie as he sateating a large portion of ice-cream. Paddysaid: "I don't think you would count against

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Doc when it comes to eating ice-cream."Freddie was surprised. "No one can beat mewhen it comes to eating ice-cream and thatgoes for Italians or anybody else" he boasted.Paddy however persisted: "I still think Docwill beat you." With the understanding thatPaddy would not tell me about the contest,everything was arranged for the followingweek.

ONE OF USEarly in the week I met Paddy as usual andhe said he wanted to see Freddie... "Comealong, I'll not be long."When we arrived Freddie suggested that wego to the back of the shop and join him insome ice-cream. He produced a small freezer."This is good stuff. I generally make a specialcontainer for myself and friends." We eat thefirst large bowls full and Freddie filled themup again. Paddy dropped out after the firsthelping. Freddie could tell some wonderfulstories and we talked and eat. We must havewent through five of six bowls but Freddiehad only sampled a few spoonfuls of his whenI had finished mine. Freddie laughed, putdown his bowl and said: "Paddy you're right!Doc can eat ice-cream but why not? Isn't healmost one of us!"

The people from Little Italy have left theirmark on the world of sport. Gee Morelli wasa well known motor racing ace and was killedin a road accident. Baldo Meli was a topmotorcyclist both here and in Australia.Another Meli, a nephew of my old friendFreddie represented Northern Ireland in theolympic Games Boxing team.There is no Italian community now in the city.However they are still with us and carry ontheir crafts although they live as individuals.

BELFAST’S

HORRIBLE

HISTORY

You Are Invited to a Unique EveningExploring the Darker Side of Belfast'sHistory Ranging From Bodysnatching

Through to Horrific Executions.

Those Wishing to Take Part AreAsked to Meet at the Gates of

Clifton Street Cemetery6.30pm on Halloween Night

Friday 31st October

There are only 30 places available for thisunique walking tour. Those wishing to take

part are asked to register by telephoning

9074 2255Only those registered can take part - SORRY

Cost £5 Strictly No Children

Includes SurpriseMystery Tour

Due to the nature of this tour those with medical conditionssuch as heart problems are advised that they are on this tourat their own risk and are advised that there may be suddenfrights and bangs.

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In December 1912 thetrial of two Belfast

women accused of themurder of poor, alcoholicwoman concluded. MaryMaguire of Marshall Streetand Mary Jane Baillie ofGreat Patrick Street werecharged with the murder ofMary Ann ‘Minnie’McMullan in MarshallStreet on the 9th July 1912.

Minnie McMullan waswhat was called in Belfastin those days as an‘unfortunate’ woman. Shewas a young woman whowas addicted to alcohol andspent her time in either theworkhouse, Belfast jail, orin houses that took in thesewomen for money.

Mary Maguire owned twohouses in Marshall Street,numbers 15 and 17 and shemade a living renting outrooms to women who hadfallen on hard times. Herfriend Mary Jane Baillielived just around the corneron Great Patrick Streetwhere she helped herhusband Henry run a smallgrocer shop. Most of hertime thought she spenthelping her close friendMary Maguire run herhomes for

Belfast murder trialthe’‘unfortunates’. In early1912 Minnie moved intonumber 15 to stay in theMaguire house.In July 1912 Mary JaneBaillie had becomesuspicious that MinnieMcMullan had beenmessing around with herhusband Henry. She had noproof of any relationshipbetween the pair but shetold her friend MaryMaguire about hersuspicions and also theother residents in MarshallStreet about the affairbetween her husband Henryand Minnie. Many of thepeople of the area heardMary Jane threaten to hurtMinnie if she ever caughther with her husband.

On the 8th July Minnie hadbeen drinking alcohol formany hours and was theworse for wear. She cameback to Marshall Streetwhere Mary Jane started toshout at her in the street.She then struck Minnie fullon the face, so hard thatblood immediately began tospurt from Minnie’s nose.She slumped drunk andslightly dazed from theblow. Mary Jane left herthere, lying propped upagainst the door of Mary

Maguire’s house and wentoff to tell any one whowould listen what she haddone. A short time laterMary Maguire came back tothe house and broughtMinnie inside and lay herdown on the settee of herhouse.

What happened next no oneis really sure as the onlywitnesses were MaryMaguire and Mary JaneBaillie, although it wasbelieved that some of theother residents saw whathappened but were tooafraid to tell anyone. Whatwe do know is that Minniewas very unwell as shesuffered a severe blow toher head, which was of suchseverity that her head wassmashed in, struck fromabove and splitting the skullright down to the nose. Thebrain was driven against thefrontal bone of the headcausing Minnie to lose herability to move or speak butleaving enough brainactivity that she was stillalive.

Mary Jane Baillie wentback to her house on GreatPatrick Street leavingMinnie asleep at MaryMaguire’s. Mary Maguire

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was woken up early on themorning of the 9th July byMinnie moaning and thenas she attended to her arattle was heard in Minnie’sthroat indicating that shewas close to death. She sentone of the lodgers to fetchMary Jane and as shearrived a short time laterwith her husband, Henry. Itwas decided between themto carry Minnie out of thehouse and leave her inMarshall Court where theyknew there was anotherunfortunate woman whowas sleeping in the street.

Mary and Mary Jane carriedMinnie out the back of the

house in Marshall Streetand down through the alleythan ran along the back ofthe house. The alley led outinto Marshall Court wherethey left Minnie propped upagainst the other drunkenwoman. The two womenthought that no one hadseen them but several of thelocal residents observedwhat they did.That morning a passingworker, Marcus McMillenhad seen the two womenleave Minnie lying in thestreet and Jenny Wrightwho lived in the area hadalso seen the two womenand she checked on Minnielater that morning.Minnie was barely alive and shedecided to callfor the localconstable whoarrived on thescene and

called for an ambulance thattook Minnie to the hospitalwhere she later died.The witnesses told thepolice what they had seenand the two women werearrested and charged withthe murder.

Despite overwhelmingevidence of what the twowoman had done none ofthe other lodgers wouldgive evidence against themand when the jury retired toconsider their verdict on thecharge of murder theyreturned a short time laterand acquitted the women onthe capital charge. No onehad seen the blow, whichcould be confirmed ashaving killed Minnie, andso they returned a verdict ofguilty of manslaughter witha recommendation of mercyto Mary Maguire. Bothwomen were sentenced tojail.

The case was described incourt as being one of themost “vicious and wickedacts of revenge and wascarried through to itsterrible conclusion undercircumstance of terriblecruelty and savage inhumanbrutality” that was seen inBelfast in recent years.

www.glenravel.com

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Old BelfastPhotographs

Donegal Square North around 1900

The Co-op store on York Street in 1919

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Sandy Row around the turn of the last century

The General Post Office on Royal Avenue around 1960. Castle Court Shopping Complex nowstands on the site.

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LIFE IN THE VICTORIAN CRUMLIN ROAD JAIL Part 1

HARDENED OLD LAGS, BAD BOYSAND SPLENDED ISOLATION

Many of us have a different view onwhat life was like in Victorian

times and sadly the views held by manyof us are totally wrong. Most imaginelife as living in grand houses and overthe top clothing but the reality of life atthis period was one of great hardship andsuffering.Yes it is true that the rich lived in grandhouses but they made up a tinypercentage of the population andtherefore for most life was no barrel offun. One section of life in Victorian timeswhich is overlooked is that of theprisoner and if life was hard on theoutside then it was even harder on theinside. But how do we know what thislife was like for those who wereimprisoned in say the old Belfast Prisonon the Crumlin Road? Well the answer

is quite simple and that is for those whoare prepared to look hard enough thenthe answers will emerge. Unfortunatelywe cannot disclose our source ofinformation at the moment as our Project(Glenravel) will be submitting aproposal to conduct future tours of thisold prison and don’t wish to disclosedetails of our source material for others’but the best way to get a picture of whatlife was like in our old prisons is fromthe prisoners themselves.

Belfast Jail was one of the first prisonsto experiment with the ‘separate system’whereby prisoners were confined tosolitary cells. The system was the resultof the authorities’ belief that offenderswere corrupted by mixing with fellowinmates.

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Previous attempts to segregateimpressionable boys from hardened oldlags had failed because of theinadequacies of buildings and thegrowing prison population. Beforesegregation young unconvicted prisonerson remand, with no regular cells of theirown, were herded together at night inunsupervised separate dormitories wherethey slept in groups of between fifteenand twenty. Many spent their days inwhat a chaplain termed the plague spotof the gaol, a room where twenty to fortymen and boys from the returned transportto the innocent mingled, without workand without supervision.Non-remand prisoners had shared cellsat night where boys regularly slept threeto a bed. But conditions for the non-segregated remand prisoners were farworse, as the following descriptions,made in 1849 by two inmates, amplyillustrate:

E.L. aged 42 years, for trial - acquitted -I have been in prison for trial, partly in‘K’ room, where we had no officer to lookafter us. The example for the boys is verybad indeed. They learn to curse and steal- and the talk at night is abominable,everything that is bad, disgusting andwicked.They tell tales about their robberies andabout women and everything that can besaid bad to corrupt the lads, this seemsto be their object, and the boys listenmost attentively to all that is told them.The men put the boys to fight etc.

J.B. aged 47 years, first offender - 14days -I sleep in a room with 14 men, seven beds,two in each bed: they talked ‘sare’ aboutall sorts of badness, how they ‘sloped’their lodgings, how they carried onwith.bad women and how they wouldcarry on thieving when they went out.

Prisoners on remand, with no regular cells of their own, were herded together at night inunsupervised separate dormitories where they slept in groups of between fifteen and twenty

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Under the new regulations women werealso ordered to be segregated. In the sameyear as the above reports, the femaleblock was described as the great evil.Here as elsewhere, old lags, recidivistsand young girls were grouped togetherin a state of near anarchy. Only oneprison officer reported for duty duringthe day, none at night and moreover thematron, having abandoned any attemptsto maintain discipline had been sackedthe previous year.Following the imposition of the separatesystem, the increasing prison populationmade it impossible for all inmates toserve their punishment in solitary cells.These were allocated for a variety ofreasons. Prisoners could opt for solitude,while first offenders or those consideredto be a bad influence or felons who, inthe governor’s opinion, might benefitfrom the solitary experience, had littlechoice about serving their time insplendid isolation.Ironically, just as Belfast Prisonexpanded and became capable of holdingmore and more inmates in separate cells,prison authorities began to realise thelimitations of the new system. For onething, more and more ex-cons were re-offending after release. As early as 1863Belfast magistrates observed thatconfinement in gaol under the presentsystem had little, if any, terror to the evil-doer.

A PRISONER’S LIFE IN GAOLI was promptly bundled down the smallflight of stairs leading from the dock, andshowed into one of the cells where I foundthree more unfortunates, whose business

had been settled by their “worships”before the case 1 was so deeply interestedin came on...Two of my three companions were old“gaol birds” and in high glee at whatthey considered a lucky arrangement oftheir little affair. Society was only to losetheir valuable services for a periodsimilar to my own, and they had quitemade up their minds before going intothe dock that through the “black list” .ofprevious convictions against each ofthem they would be “fullied, “ by whichthey meant fully committed for trial atthe sessions or assizes, where in allprobability they would have received amuch heavier punishment than themagistrates of this court are empoweredto inflict...The other prisoner owed hisincarceration to conjugal infelicity; hehad tinted the “optics” of his “betterhalf,” impaired her vision and generaltractability and caused her successfullyto seek legal redress. He paced up anddown the cell like a hyena, and utteredthreats of vengeance to be accomplishedon his liberation. The arrival of somecold beef and bread and tea, sent by hisrelenting wife, however, somewhatmollified his temper, and put him in abetter frame of mind. The door of ourcell was again opened for the admissionof three more victims - all bitten by thebrewer’s dog and having to undergoshort periods of imprisonment owing totheir disability or disinclination to paycertain fines and costs which the Benchhad thought proper to impose.

CONTINUED NEXT ISSUE

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AN OLD BELFAST MANSION HOUSE

LEFT - Parkmount House

Those familiar with thehistory of Belfast will

be well aware that most ofNorth Belfast was oncecovered in countrymansion houses, the nameof which still continue inthe names of modernstreets and areas. Buthousing requirementssoon rendered these housedoomed and one by onethey slowly disappeared.One such mansion wasParkmount which was thefamily home of EarlCairns, an eminent lawyerof his period and who wasconnected with threefamilies, who wereintimately associated withBelfast life and who alllived at Parkmount. LadyCairns was a sister of MrH. McNeile who died in1904. The McNeile’slived in Parkmount for the

greater part of the 1800’s,having purchased it fromCaptain William Cairns,the Earl’s father, prior towhich it was the residenceof the Cairns family, whosucceeded a very oldBelfast family calledGregg. The first of theGregg’s was a Scotsmanwho settled here in the17th century.

DEFENDER OF DERRYOf the early Cairnses, thebest known was ColonelDavid Cairns, the defenderof Derry during the siegeof 1689. However, it wasin another profession thansoldiering that the Earlgained his laurels, and hewas also sprang from adifferent branch of theCairns house. HughMcCalmont Cairns,second son of Captain

William Cairns, ofParkmount, was at firstintended for the Church,but at his own wishentered the legalprofession. He made rapidprogress and soon enjoyeda lucrative practice at theEnglish Bar. In 1852 hebecame a candidate forelection to Parliament, andwas returned at the head ofthe poll as a member forhis native town. Furtherhonours were in store forhim. Once, in a debate onIndian affairs, he soexcelled in oratory thatDisraeli, his leader,described his speech as“one of the two greatestever delivered inParliament, whichcharmed everyone by its

Earl Cairns

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logic.” Later he becameBaron Cairns ofGarmoyle, and four yearslater was advanced to anEarl. He was a second timeLord Chancellor. Hadhealth and years permittedhe would have succeededto the leadership of hisparty, which fell to theMarquis of Salisbury.

EVANGELICALVIEWS

He was a Churchman ofevangelical views andgreat piety, and was aSunday school teacher allhis life. Dr. Barnardo’sHomes and the Y.M.C.A.found in his great legal

luminary a warmsupporter. He died in 1885at Bournemouth. If he hada weakness it was hispassion for immaculate tieand bands in court and aflower in his coat atparties.’’The Cairns’ townresidence was in DonegallPlace. Shortly after thefuture earl was born in1819 his father soldParkmount to Mr JohnMcNeile, a wealthy manand a banker in Belfast (hisbank later became theinfamous Northern Bank).His son, Mr H. McNeilewas a member of thecommittee of the samebank until his death, and

his daughter became thewife of Earl Cairns. It washis grandson who soldParkmount to Sir RobertArmstrong at the turn ofthe last century. He was alocal Justice of the Peaceand chairman of Anderson& McAuley.

SCOTTISHFAMILY

The great grandfather ofLord Cairns was the firstof the family to live atParkmount, or in theneighbourhood. In 1780he was in Whitehouse butsoon after moved toParkmount. It may beasked who the Cairnses

Donegall Place where the Cairns family hadtheir town residence.

(This picture is taken from what is now thegrounds of the City hall looking

towards what isnow Royal Avenue)

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were, of where they camefrom. William Cairns, acadet of a Scottish house,got a lease of land near

Robert Anderson ofAnderson & McAuley

Anahilt in 1716, a yearafter the rebellion. His sonand successor, also calledWilliam had three sons byhis first marriage. Hissecond wife was daughterof William Gregg wholived at Lowwood in 1780but is supposed to haveowned Parkmount; and onhis death it passed to hisgrandson, NathanielCairns, a merchant ofDublin and Belfast, whodied at Parkmount in 1819.It was probably soon afterhis marriage with Miss

Gregg that William Cairnsmoved to Whitehouse.Nathaniel had two sons,Daniel and William, thelatter being father of EarlCairns. As previouslystated, soon after hisfather’s death in 1819,’hesold the property to JohnMcNeile, and made Cultrahis country house.Demolition work began onthe house in 1932 but itsname lives on inParkmount Gardens, Lane,Parade, Pass, Place, Road,Street, Terrace and Way.

Parkmount being demolished

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Mr Isaac WardIn October 1916 the death of

Mr Isaac Ward wasannounced. Mr Ward wasknown to many as‘Belfastiensis’, the name of hisnewspaper column, whichappeared in local papers in thelate 19th and early 20thcenturies. Mr Ward who was83 when he died, was knockeddown in North Street by a ponyand trap, and was takenunconscious to the RoyalVictoria Hospital where helater died.

For most of his life Mr Wardhad been involved in the linentrade and for 50 years wasrecognised as the best livingauthority on local literary,artistic and commercialhistory, as a prolific and well-informed writer on manysubjects, and also as anastronomer of great ability.

Under his penname‘Belfastinensis’ he contributedcountless articles to the localpress and to various Irish,English and Americanmagazines and periodicals.His diligence, patience andenthusiasm in collecting, fromevery possible source, factsabout Belfast were wellknown. He had a phenomenalmemory and facility in

recalling the event with greatvividness, expressiveness anddetail.

The Ward family’s connectionwith Belfast can be traced backfor 300 years. Mr Wardsfather, Arthur, and hisgrandfather were born inBelfast and lived and died inthe Malone end of the city. MrIsaac Ward spent all his life inBelfast, apart from three yearswhen he lived in America. Hewas married to a Miss Kirkerof Ligoniel and they lived inFitzroy Avenue. Isaac Wardused to work for Fenton,Connor & Co, linenmerchants, to whom he wasapprenticed. He was a lifelongfriend of Mr Charles Connor,Mayor of Belfast in 1889-91.

He often entertained friendsand associates with tales of hisboyhood days in Belfast,telling them about the oldshow places in the town, theold Linen Hall, Dargan’sIsland, Ballymacarrett, and themail coach which used to runbetween Belfast and Dublin.

His astronomical abilities wererecognised and he discoveredtwo stars and a papercontributed by him to theRoyal Astronomical Society

on "The Two Outer Satellitesof Uranus" was well receivedand respected.

He was a student at the BelfastArt School and was veryinterested in drama and musicthroughout his life. It is for hiswriting in local papers that heis best remembered. He onceadmitted to spending 20 yearstrying to find out the date whenthe old Farset River runningthrough High Street wascovered over. Of the manyarticles he wrote, Mr Wardmade reference to thefollowing;

The opening of St Anne’s in1776; the Batt Family, knownin Belfast for many years in thecommercial like of the town;Belfast Castle in 1690; DrJoseph Blacks remarkablediscoveries between the yearsof 1750 and 1763; oldBelfast’s early theatres;Richard Cox Rowe, acelebrated comedian, buried inNewtownbreda Churchyard;changes to old Belfast businesscentres; the old House ofCorrection in Howard Street;Charles Gavan duff, born in1816; old Belfast signboards;and Duke of Schomberg'sproclamation at Belfast onSeptember 1690.

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In the 1860’s the Herdman family were wealthy linen merchants who owned mills, firstat Smithfield and then the Brookfield Linen Company on the Crumlin Road. They were

also ship owners connected to Belfast Harbour. The Herdmans lived in the suburbs ofCliftonville, an area where the wealthy and influential had residences. An 82-year-oldaunt, Miss Agnes Herdman, lived at Cliftonville Lodge and her nephew John Herdmanalso lived at the mansion.

At that time the Cliftonville Road stretched as far as where Solitude Football Grounds aresituated today, and the lands beyond were owned by Mr. Lyons, one of the city’s wealthylandlords. A gatehouse stood at this entrance and just before this gateway were the entrancegates to the Waterworks, much in the same place as they are today.

On May 15th 1862, John Herdman was at home entertaining some friends. At about 5.45pmhe left in the company of Mrs. Eleanor Thompson to take a stroll through the Waterworks.Since John Herdman was a resident of Cliftonville he had his own personal key to theentrance gate to use at his leisure. As they passed along the road they engaged in quietconversation. While they were walking along they noticed a man coming from the directionof Mr. Lyons’ estate. That man was Mr. William Herdman, John Herdman’s cousin and aman very much known to him. As he got nearer he asked John for a moment of his time inorder to discuss some private matter. John apparently tried to dismiss him and while bothhe and Mrs. Thompson walked on, a shot suddenly rang out. In terror they both turned tosee William Herdman, his hand outstretched, taking deliberate aim. They both tried to fleetowards the Lyons’ gate but instead they both fell. Mrs. Thompson had tripped over herdress but John Herdman had been critically injured. As they both tried in vain to rise andescape from the gunman another shot rang out. John Herdman was reported to have criedout - “Oh God, I am killed, call for my wife.”

Mrs. Thompson in the meantime had managed to get up and run towards the gate lodge atthe Lyons’ estate. Here she met a beggar-woman and the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper ranback to Cliftonville Lodge to alert the family. Mrs Herdman and her servant rushed to thescene and help was quickly summoned to the scene. John Herdman was taken into his ownhouse where he died a short time later.

After shooting his cousin William Herdman set the gun down on the ground and walkedcalmly down the Cliftonville Road towards the town centre. He was arrested later thatevening in the Vine Hotel, Corporation Street and was subsequently charged with the wilfulmurder of his cousin.

William Herdman was brought to trial that same July. It transpired that he was supposed toreceive money from his ageing aunt. This money was to have been an allowance and itshandling and distribution was left in the capable hands of a Mr. Russell who acted as MissHerdman’s agent. Mr. Russell advised Miss Herdman to hold back some of William

Family Money - Family Murder

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Herdman’s allowance until he agreed to do several things, one of which was to leaveIreland for England. William blamed his cousin, John, for influencing his aunt and it wasalleged at the time that he murdered his cousin as an act of revenge. He apparently was ofthe strong belief that it was John Herdman alone who stood between him and the money hefelt was rightly his.

When he eventually came to trial he used insanity as his line of defence. The defence triedto prove that he laboured under some delusion, which rendered him unaccountable for hisactions. Certain eccentricities in his family were highlighted and it was also alleged that hehad been a constant source of annoyance to his family and others and that he had beenbound over on more than one occasion to keep the peace. The jury considered all theevidence, which had been presented before them and returned the verdict of guilty

On the morning of Saturday, July 26th 1862, shortly before 11.00 am, the Right HonourableJustice Fitzgerald took his seat in the Crown Court at the County Courthouse on the CrumlinRoad. The judge solemnly addressed the convicted man. “You, William Herdman, be taken hence to the place from which you came and thence onTuesday the 2nd of September next, to the usual place of execution - there to be hanged bythe neck until you are dead and that your body be afterwards buried within the precincts ofthe prison within which you shall be have been confined after your conviction. The prisonerthen bowed to the judge and then to the court and was led away.

An appeal was immediately lodged against the sentence and William Herdman successfullycheated the hangman’s noose and was detained in the asylum for life.

The Waterworks where John Herdman was shot dead

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In these modern times most of us receive excellent conditions in which to work buta look back at our history will show that this was not always the case. Lookingthrough the old Victorian newspapers we can quickly pick up that the number ofinjuries and indeed fatalities in the workplace were horrendous. On example ofthis can be seen in the Northern Whig newspaper dated the 8th of December 1849under the heading:-

MELANCHOLY AND FATALACCIDENT AT MR THOMPSON’S

MILL, FALLS ROADYesterday morning, shortly before sixo’clock, an accident occurred, attendedwith fatal results, at the Clonard PrintWorks, Falls Road, the property of Mr.Thompson. This establishment is a veryextensive one, and employs a large numberof hands. Six o’clock in the morning isthe hour for commencing work; but, to thattime, many of the work-people usuallyassemble, and, to keep themselves warm,get near the fires, or on the loft above theboilers. On this occasion, it appears,several of them were about the premisesat half-past five o’clock, at which periodthe fireman, Thomas Dornan, was at hispost, and attending to his usual duties. Afew minutes before six, Dornan wasobserved with a lantern in his hand,examining the gauge connected with theboiler; and, immediately afterwards, atremendous explosion took place, whichnot only killed the fireman, Dornan, butseriously injured ten other individuals.Information was conveyed to Mr.Thompson of the occurrence, and promptmeasures were also adopted to rescue thesufferers, most of them whom were at onceconveyed to the hospital. On visiting the

premises yesterday, we found that theboiler had burst, and were amazed at thedestruction of property which presenteditself to our notice. At the rear of thepremises were three boilers, over whichwas a three-story building, the upper partof which was used as drying lofts. Thisbuilding was razed to the ground, and thetimbers of flooring and roof shattered toatoms. The boiler itself was forced over awall four or five feet where it remains. Ithas not been examined, nor can it be untilit is removed from its present position. Atthree o’clock, yesterday, T.K. Jackson,Esq., Coroner, and a Jury, held an inqueston the body of Thomas Dornan, at the mill.The following were the only witnessesproduced;-Robert Foley examined - I am a workmanin the employment of Mr. Thompson. Iwas here this morning, at about half-pastfive o’clock. I was standing at the fire atabout two minutes before the accidentoccurred. I left for the purpose of going tothe office to give in the time. I was abouthalf-way down the yard when theexplosion took place. There was a loudreport; it was not a continuous one, but a

Old Belfast Page 23

sudden crack. When I looked round, I sawthe deceased fall before the timbers fell.He was, I think, before the fire with the“clater” in his hand, as if he was going torake the fire. He was, at this time, standingabout five yards from the boiler. His bodywas found under the timber, bricks, andslates. I found a girl, named Hagan,afterwards, seriously injured at thecalendar house door. I saw the deceasedshortly before the explosion, take a lampthat is always there, and hold it before thesteam gauge which he was always in the

habit of doing, for the purpose ofexamining it. I don’t know whether or notanything was found in his hand. The boilerwent over the wall into the dam.Henry M’Cagherty, examined - I amemployed in this concern. I came hereabout Six o’clock, this morning. Theaccident had occurred when I arrived. Iattended the cloth boilers. The deceasedwas found lying in front of the boilerscovered with bricks, and I took some ofthe bricks off him. The coal-rake was lyingclose at his hand; and it seemed to me, from

Page 24 Old Belfast

the position of the rake, that the deceasedmust either have been closing the furnacedoor or raking the fire up when the accidentoccurred. I did not examine the boiler afterit exploded. The boiler which explodedwas not a large one. Of course, I believethe explosion was the cause of his death. Dr. Harkin deposed - I examined the bodyof the deceased, this morning. The facewas all singed over, but the hair was stillon the head. There was blood on the boardon which the body was lying, whichapparently came from the head. Thedeceased was much injured and burned inother parts of the body. I understand it wasan hour and a half before the body wasdiscovered among the ruins. The face andthe other parts of the body exposed are allblack. I have no doubt but that I wouldhave found a fracture of the skull.The Jury returned a verdict of accidentaldeath.Subsequent to the above proceedings, wehave been informed that one of thesufferers, named Jane Hagan, died in thehospital, at half-past six o’clock inthe’evening, and that several of the othersare in a very precarious situation. One ofthe injured parties in the hospital statesthat, about three o’clock in the morning,he and Dornan went on the top of the boilerto rest themselves, that the fireman sometime after left him, and that the first thinghe recollects, after the explosion tookplace, was finding himself lying in thedam, from which he extricated himself asspeedily as possible.We take this opportunity of stating, that theinhabitants should seriously reflect on thisvery melancholy occurrence, and imaginehow these poor sufferers would have beensituated had there been no hospital in town

to receive them. The frequent occurrenceof accidents, in this populous community,should induce the inhabitants to contributeliberally to an institution of suchimportance to the town.A few day later the people of Belfast werekept up to date on the situation when theNorthern Whig of the 11th of December1849 published the following story:-

INQUESTS - THREE MOREDEATHS FROM THE EFFECTS OF

THE BOILER EXPLOSIONOn Saturday last, Mr Jackson, the Coroner,held inquests on the bodies of Jane Hagan,Ann Lonsdale, Thomas Lonsdale andIsabella Cochrane, who died from theinjuries they received at Mr Thompson’sprint works on Friday morning. The threefirst named died in the hospital, the last ather father’s house. No additional factswere were elicited at the inquest as to thecase of the accident, and in each case theJury returned a verdict of accidental death.We have learned that, a few days beforethe fatal occurrence, Jane Hagan hadreceived a letter from a young man inAmerica, enclosing a remittance, and wasmaking preparations to join him there. Weare happy to learn that no further deathshave occurred, and that though theremaining sufferers are still in a precariousstate, strong hopes are entertained of theirrecovery.So next time we are at work complainingthat the heating is not warm enough or thatthe coffee machine is out of order take aquick think at what Belfast’s Victoriancitizens had to endure.

FACING PAGE - Advertisement from the1877 Belfast Street Directory.

Old Belfast Page 25

Page 26 Old Belfast

EXPLORING BELFAST’S STREETSRaymond O’Regan

DONEGALL PLACE

The street was establishedin the 1780s in whatwere previously the

gardens of Belfast Castle. (Thecastle was sited roughly wereBritish Home Stores is today)The street was originally asought after place to live and wasBelfast’s answer to London’sPall Mall). It was known asLinenhall Street, as at the time itlead up to the White Linenhall.To highlight the fact that it usedto be a garden in the old castlegrounds there is a plaque in theentrance of the old Anderson andMcAuley building. Itcommemorates that on the 28th.June 1701 the 3rd. Earl ofDonegall established the 35th

Regiment of Foot which laterbecame the Royal SussexRegiment).Our tour begins at the Anderson& McAuley building at thecorner of Castle Street andheading up to the City Hall. To

The old White Linen Hall which stood on the grounds of the City Hall. Thetop photograph was taken from its grounds around 1870 looking towards themodern Royal Avenue which, as the photograph shows, didn't even exist then.

really appreciate the buildingsthat have survived the ravages oftime, remember to LOOK UP!

Numbers 1-5Zara and Moonsoon clothesshops (Anderson & McAuleysold building)One of the many largedepartment stores that served

Old Belfast Page 27

Belfast’s growing andprosperous population in the late19th century and on into the 20thcentury. The original A & Mbuilding no’s1-5 was a simpletwo storey building when itopened in 1861 The presentbuilding, five storeys, dates backto 1895. Before the 1861building it was the site of theAgricultural Bank.

7-9 (An 1877 building that wasoriginally a warehouse forLindsay Bros., before it wasabsorbed into Anderson &McAuley.

Numbers 11-15Donegall Chambers (1932)At no.15 in the 19th. CenturyBarney Hughes had a bakeryhere called the Railway Bakery.Barney Hughes is buried in

Donegall Place in the mid 1880’s showing the original Anderson & McAuly building

Friars Bush Graveyard. He wasa friend of the Rev. HenryCooke, the father of Unionism(May Street Presbyterian churchwas built in 1828 to bring Cookeinto Belfast)

Statue of Henry Cooke at CollegeSquare (better known as the BlackMan)

Cooke’s original name wasMacook. Another interestingfact; Barney Hughes married aPresbyterian and Rev. HenryCooke performed the weddingceremony. Today these are theDisney Store, NV and Barratt'sShoes.

Numbers 17-21Fountain House (1935-37)This building, of the bestPortland stone was originally thesite of James Moore Stationersand Agent for tea and coffeecompany John Cassel. Today itis the New Look clothes store

Page 28 Old Belfast

Donegall Place in 1888

Old Belfast Page 29

Number 25 (c1783)This is the only surviving 18th.Century building left in DonegallPlace.It was one of three houses builtby Roger Mullholland (Architectof the White Linenhall) in the1780's. Between 1918 -39 it wasthe Carlton Café and Restaurant.Today it is the Oasis Shoe Shop.

Numbers 27 – 33Queens Arcade (1880)Originally the Castle Restaurantand Queens Arcade. On the topof the building is a simplerepresentation of Belfast Castlei.e. the old castle. The initialsA.R. still survive on the 3rd levelof the building they refer toAustin Reed who moved into thebuilding in 1935.

Queen’s Arcade in the mid 1880’s

Numbers 35 - 47 (1974)Today's Boots the Chemist.Besides Boots this building atone time housed a Branch of theUlster Bank on the upper floorand is now home to the Belfast

Welcome Centre.Also at no. 41 in 1861 on thissite was the famous firm ofprinters Marcus Ward. Theywere at one time one of thelargest printing firms in Europe

Page 30 Old Belfast

and are famed as the people whomade Christmas cards popularand invented the tear offcalendar. They eventually movedto a purposed built printingworks on the Dublin Road (siteof the present day cinema) In1899 they were declaredbankrupt. Today the onlyreminder of this world renownedcompany is a street off theDublin Road called MarquisWard Street (the family plot isin the upper section of CliftonStreet Graveyard and there is astain glass window to the familyin First Presbyterian ChurchRosemary Street)

The old printing shop of Marcus Ward which stood on the site now occupied by Boots

Number 49Brookmount Buildings (1932)From 1860 to 1932 this site wasoccupied by John Riddel &Co.Ironmongers, hardwaremerchants and Riddel &Co.house furnishers, watches andclocks.The 1932 building was formerlyknown as Brands Buildings and

Riddles’ Arcade.Today it is occupied by Top ShopNumber 51 (1907) One of theprevious tenants was Etamsclothes shop and the upper floorswere originally known as CityHall chambers.Number 53 In the 19th. Centurythis was the site of the NorthernClub.

Old Belfast Page 31

Numbers 55 - 61Donegall House corner ofDonegall Square NorthIn 1785 a Mr. John Brown livedin a house on this site. When the2nd Marquis of Donegallreturned from London in 1802 herented this house as his townresidence. He had returned toBelfast under a cloud as he triedto avoid his debtors back inEngland some of whomfollowed him to Belfast. Hisfamily lived here up to 1820before moving to their countryresidence at Ormeau (French foryoung elms). He continued hisreckless attitude to his finances

and again had a reputation forunpaid bills. It was not surprisingthat he acquired the nickname"Lord Donemall".From 1820 -1898 it was knownas The Royal Hotel and it isinteresting to note that it was runby a former butler of theDonegall's a Mr. Charles Kerns/KearnsThe hotel had many famousguests including CharlesDickens, Daniel O’ConnellWilliam Makepeace Thackery toname just a few. The owner in1870 was a man called MatthewBowen and later it was run by aMrs Sarah Doyle.

Charles Dickens

Daniel O’Connell

William Makepeace Thackery

Page 32 Old Belfast

It now time to move back to theother side beginning from CastlePlace to the City Hall

Number 2 -10This corner site was originallycalled Castle buildings datingback to 1846 and was known asGibsons Corner as the tenant wasa Mr. Gibson a watchmaker andjeweller. The original buildingwas the first commercialdevelopment in the previouslyresidential Donegall place.Today the site is occupied byMcDonald's and the OriginalShoe Co.

Donegall Place from the dome of City Hall around 1925

Number 12This building dates back to 1846and is the second oldest buildingin Donegall Place it was thehome of the famous Belfastbookseller William Mullan whowere in business from 1865 to1990. Today the building isoccupied by Aldo's

Number 14The Union Club met here 1870-1940. Today it is JD Sports

Number 16-20In 1840 this was the site of aMethodist Chapel with the

preachers house in the back ofwhat was the castle grounds.In 1877 it was used by the firmof Crozier & Co. SilkMerchants. The shopsAccessorise and Easons arebased there now.

Number 22The Body Shop A five storeybuilding dating back to the193Os

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Number 24(corner of Donegall Place andCastle Lane) OriginallyAdlestones now BeaverbrookJewellers this building only datesback to 1987

Numbers 24 -36Site of the W.J. Jury’s ImperialHotel Built in 1868. W.J. Jurywas also well known for twobrands of whiskey"Special Jury"and"Grand Jury" which he soldfrom his premises at 11Chichester Street. His hotel hada world wide reputation and priorto the hotel it was the residenceof Hugh Montgomery . Thisbeautiful building was replacedby the present non-descriptClintons building in 1960

The Imperial Hotel.The site is now occupied by Clinton Cards etc (below)

Number 36 1902-3This building (left) originallyhoused the premises of SharmanD. Neill clockmakers. The dateon the building 1803 -1903 refersto their premises in High Streetwhere their grandfather RobertNeill had commenced business.Included in the building is asculpture of Father Time with ascythe and hourglass.

Numbers 40 - 46The previous building on this sitewas C&A dating to 1955 andc1970. One of the two originalbuildings on this site dated backto 1871 for Young & Co.

Page 34 Old Belfast

Donegall Place in 1930

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Numbers 42 - 46This was he Ulster Arcade builtin 1858 and destroyed in theBlitz of May 1941.

Numbers 48 - 54Marks & SpencersThis was the site of the Bank OfIreland since 1858. They werestill in the 1966 building on theupper floors sharing it withMarks & Spencers until the1990s when they moved to theirnew headquarters.In the old building on the groundfloor was housed the famousThompson’s Restaurant.

Number 56 - Former Robinson&Cleaver building converted toindividual shops and offices in1987 and now called TheCleaver Building)Edward Robinson and JohnCleaver had founded thebusiness in Castle Place in 1870.

The Donegall Place buildingwas built on the site of twoGeorgian style houses one ofwhich was the home of theCrawford family and the widowMrs Crawford was the lastprivate residence in the street.She died in 1880 and is buriedin Clifton Street Graveyard (Hergrave can be found in the lower,1830 section, of the graveyardwith the head stone on thedividing wall, to the right of theEwart Family plot.

Robinson and Cleavers’ "RoyalIrish Linen Warehouse" hadgained a worldwide reputationand by 1877 they were sendingout one –third of all the parcelsthat left Belfast. They had manyfamous customers includingQueen Victoria, The Emperor ofGermany.The grand staircase, of Sicilianmarble, that used to dominate theentrance to this building is nowin Eddie Haugheys’ castle.

Page 36 Old Belfast

byJames Bartlett

Friar’s Bush CemeteryHorror and History Hidden in BelfastNothing on earth would have persuaded

me to enter the place…it was the house of the dead

Paul Henry, artist (1876-1958)

F riar’s Bushcemetery onthe Stranmillis

Road may only be twoacres in size, but itsbloody history includesstories of plague,famine, murder andbody snatching. Themost famous bodysnatchers or"resurrection men"were Burke and Hare -both originally fromUlster - who claimed anestimated 17 victimsbetween them by thetime they were arrestedin 1828.Several years beforethat in 1823, strangersin the night came toFriar’s Bush cemetery,and soon after a barrelwas stopped at thedocks and found tocontain the bodies of amiddle-aged female anda child packed tightwith sawdust." R e s u r r e c t i o n i s t "George Stewart hadalready made good hisescape, but his partner -

recorded only as Feeny- was found drunk attheir lodgings inAcademy Street, andthe Belfast News Letteron 15 July noted that onsearching the room, abox was "foundcontaining a large brasssyringe for injecting theveins of dead bodies,also a surgeon’s knife,forceps, needle&c…and fivesovereigns".

The cemetery gateshave been closed to allbut established plotholders since 1869, andaside from the graves ofnoted newspapermen,publicans and BernardHughes, the rags-to-riches entrepreneur andinventor of the large,flour-covered roll calledthe "Belfast Bap", thereis something ominouson your left as you passthrough the gate lodge.Known as the "plagueypit" it marks the restingplace of thousands of

people who perished incholera and dysenteryepidemics in 1832-33and 1847-48 whenbodies - most of themunidentified - wereburnt before burial toprevent the spread ofinfection.By 1852 it was declaredas "excessivelyovercrowded" andclosed soon after, butthe Belfast News Letterdescribed the area as a"hot bed of fever" whenthere was an outbreak offever in the surroundingarea in 1863:

"The dead have beenhuddled indecently intoreeking graves. Theyhave been denied thecheap covering of alittle earth, and thenatural consequencesfollow. The livingneglect the dead, andthe dead come back inthe form of noxiousvapours and fouldisease to plague, and itmay be, destroy theliving."

Now covered in exoticherbs and flowers, aplaque was recently

placed on the pit tohonour 800 of the deadthat rest there, and aceremony is beingplanned to pay tribute tothe many others.

There are otheranonymous dead heretoo; the cemetery is inthe wealthy Malonearea of Belfast, and inyears past there havebeen many tragic storiesof servant girls, maidsand mistresses who,terrified of scandal,threw their babies -alive and dead - over thewall. The gatekeeperand gravediggers mademore than a fewgruesome discoveries atdawn.

The cemetery datesback to the 14th and15th century, and itsdistinct name also cameout of bloodshed. The1691 and 1793 PenalLaws made the practiceof Mass forbidden,though there are manystories of brave mencrossing the river Lagan

Old Belfast Page 37

to lead services for thefaithful.

In Penal times,as peasant tell,

A friar came withbook and bell

To chant his Masseach Sabbath morn,Beneath Stranmillis

trysting thornFrom the poem The Friar’s Bushby Joseph Campbell 1905

A large and twistedthorn tree - the "Friar’sThorn" - stands in thespot where these secret"Mass Station"ceremonies werecarried out, and thestory goes that onemorning a friar wasmurdered - some say bya shot to the heart, somesay by being hung fromthe very tree he hadbeen preaching under.

Regardless of whichtale is true, the nearby"Friar’s Stone" is thereputed resting place ofthe murdered friar,although the morelikely explanation forthe A.D. 485 marking isthat it’s the work of asneaky Victorianantiquarian.Even in modern times

Friar’s Bush has had thepower to scare peopleaway; plans to widenthe busy StranmillisRoad outside wereswiftly quashed when itwas rumoured thatdisturbing the plagueypit might releasesomething other thandead spirits back intothe city.

Today, thousands ofpeople pass by one ofthe oldest cemeteries inIreland withoutrealizing that KingWilliam of Orange rodepast en route to theBoyne, and St. Patrickhimself was rumouredto have built a churchhere.

IN THE NEXT ISSUE

ON SALE FEBRUARY 2009

Life in Victorian Belfast

The Old PoorHouse andCemetery

Streets and Lanesof Old Belfast... And Much, Much More

Page 38 Old Belfast

Victorian Newspaper OdditiesWeekly Northern Whig, April 1875

A Man Burned to deathA Farmer named Edward Gready went toBanagher and returned home in the afternoonunder the influence of drink. Soon after his arrivalhe quarrelled with his wife and the woman wasobliged to retire to a neighbours house for safety.On her return the next day the entire building andout-offices, including her unfortunate husbandwere turned to ashes. Several sheep and lambsand a quantity of hay, wool and grain were alsoconsumed.

Weekly Northern Whig, September 1881

Malicious killing of a horsea strange case

Alexander Young, a labourer, was indicted forhaving on the 12th September, feloniously andmaliciously killed a horse, the property of HenryHolland, at Cabra, near Armagh.Head Constable Magee, Armagh, deposed that onthe date in question Alexander Young and HenryHolland came to the barracks about eight o’clockin the morning. They stated that they went outthat morning to draw hay from a farm from whicha man named Watt had been evicted. They saidthat while passing Watts house they were fired atout of the window and the horse was shot. Theyalso stated that they ran away the moment theyheard the shot and did not know at the time whetherthe horse had been shot dead. The witnesses thenwent to Cabra and there found the horse lying deadunder the cart and between the shafts. They sawthree holes in the horse, over the heart, and aboutan inch apart. He got some "colfin"or waddingwhich was part of a newspaper lying on the groundjust beside the spot where the horse lay. Theyunloaded the hay and just as they took the last ofit off the cart they found piece of a newspaper lyingat the bottom of the cart. This piece of paper could

not have been placed where was found after thehay was loaded. On comparing the "colfin" withthe newspaper, the scraps were found tocorrespond exactly with the larger piece. Youngshortly afterwards was searched, and four leadenpellets were found in his waistcoat pickets.Young’s hands smelled of, and bore the marks ofpowder. He accounted for the marks on his handsby saying that he was pushing the cart. Thepoliceman said that a pistol which had been foundand the pellets found in the prisoners picketcorresponded with the bore of the pistol and alsowith the two pellets which were found on Young’sperson.Henry Holland was examined for the defence andhe said he was the owner of the horse and waswith the prisoner on the day of the occurrence.He was on the near side leading the horse and theshot was fired from the opposite direction. Youngcould not have fired the shot. The horse jumpedand fell, and witness and Young ran away as fastas they could. At this point a gentleman stood upin court and asked for his pistol back and ittranspired that Young had recently worked for thisman. The jury retired and quickly returned averdict of guilty to the charge and Young wassentenced to four months.

Weekly Northern Whig, September 1881

Extraordinary Occurrencein Dublin

In June 1875 it was reported that a woman namedElisa Cluskey, a poulterer, living in Chatham Streetin Dublin fell suddenly in her shop, repeating thewords, "I am going". Her daughter, Margaret, aged21; also fell immediately after her mother. Whenexamined both mother and daughter were foundto be dead. Life was extinct before medical aidarrived. It was discovered that several relationsof the deceased women died under almost similarcircumstances.

Old Belfast Page 39

In April 1875, just after Easter, Mary Hamill, died suddenlyin her husbands home at 7 Hamill Square near the centre of

Belfast. Mary Hamill was around 52 years of age and had beenin good health most of her life. On Easter Monday she hadcomplained of a severe headache and a persistent cough, butthis would not have been uncommon for the time of year. Despiteher illness she decided to go for a short walk with her friend aMiss O’Neill and they returned around six o’clock. Her husbandRoger left the house to visit his nephew, leaving his wife withanother friend to keep her company. Roger returned just aftereight o’clock and found his wife lying on the tiles of the kitchenfloor. There was no one there in the house and Roger went toget help from his neighbour Miss O’Neill who had been withhis wife earlier. She called in to see his wife and helped him lifther up and then called for the local doctor.When Dr McKee arrived he quickly examined her andpronounced her dead.At the inquest into her death her husband Roger told the coronerthat he believed that his wife had spent Easter Monday drinkingbut although evidence was given that Mary Hamill had had adrink or two of rum on her walk with Miss O’Neill, all her friends

Wife dies from accidental fall

denied that she was drunk, or was in the habit of getting drunk.The coroner was told that as the women walked towards OrmeauPark, Mary told her friend that she wanted to visit a friend inEliza Street and there the women had a couple of rums. Afterthe women got home the court was told that Mary had no furtherdrink, which contradicted the evidence given by her husband.The medical evidence confirmed that she was dead by nineo’clock that evening and that the doctor had found a bruise onher forehead and nose, which might have been caused by a fall.His opinion was that death was caused by a fall while labouringunder the influence of drink.The jury returned a verdict of the effect that the deceased cameto her death from injuries accidentally received despite theevidence given by her friends that she did not have much todrink and that when her friend Mrs Davis came to sit with herthat evening she had nothing to drink and did not even smell ofdrink.

It seems in this case the jury believed Roger her husband andnot her female friends who again and again denied that MaryHamill took to the drink on that fateful Easter Monday.

Page 40 Old Belfast

Castle Place in 1843(Looking towards what is now Primark)

Ormeau, home of the Marquess of Donegall

Old Belfast Page 41

If Terry Can Do It You Can Too!T his publication is a

‘tester’ for a newpublication and

scheme which we at theGlenravel Project are hopingwill begin early next year.This new scheme will becalled the Belfast HistoryProject and its accompanyingmagazine will be called OldBelfast. Our aim here is toteach people to do what we dowhich is to strengthen theirown historical project, start anew one or even setthemselves up as localhistorical writers. There arethose who may think that thiswould be a daunting task andwould need to be extremelywell educated to do this butwe want to point out that thisis certainly not the case. Takeour Project’s co-ordinator JoeBaker for example. He isextremely well known for hislocal historical work rangingfrom published books throughto his features in the BelfastTelegraph. Joe was kickedout of school barely able toread and write and is entirelyself educated! Anotherexample is the late TerryO’Neill. Terry was able to tellbrilliant stories but was neverable to put them down inwriting. He became involved

in the Glenravel Project andwas shown how to put hisyarns down in writing andhow to present them to awider audience. Once thiswas done Terry became aprolific writer on hismemories of old Belfast andsoon after went on to producehis own book.We have quite a few aimsthrough the Belfast HistoryProject and this is just one ofthem. The other is the longterm creation of a BelfastHistorical Society which willmeet in the centre of Belfast

free from any sectarianboundaries and which willconsist of people with aninterest in the history of thiscity of ours.As previously mentioned thisis only an idea at this stage butif you are interested inestablishing your ownhistorical project, becoming alocal historical writer orbecoming involved in theBelfast Historical Societythen please feel free to contactus.One of Terry’s articles isprinted overleaf.

Page 42 Old Belfast

Terry O’Neill’s Belfast

PETSAny pet lovers out there? You know thetype who just has to have a dog or a cat,or even both, around the place forcompanionship. There’s some people Iknow who I honestly can’t remember nothaving a dog alongside them every timeI meet them even having them in theircars when they are out driving. Ayearsago a hell of a lot of people had cats andthe all night howling match’s from thefeline choral society on our yard wallsat nights were testimony to that. Neverhear that hullabaloo at nights now.Perhaps with most homes now beingrodent free cats are away down in thepopularity stakes these days! There wasthe time too when almost everyhousehold had a pet of some kind. Nowit may have been only a goldfish (if youcan call a goldfish a pet) but it could havebeen a dog, rabbit, or even a canary. Bigmoney in fact used to be paid for canaries

that were class singers. The one type thatfascinated me when I was a youngsterwere called Rollers, so called because oftheir rolling, style of singing.

UNUSUAL PETBudgerigars, because some of them weregood mimics, were another favourite inmany adobes. In fact a there were quitea few homes in our street, including ourown, which had one. Of course havinga bird was alright unless you had a cattoo as the pair didn’t exactly hit it off. Iremember hearing a fellow called BillyFlynn who had taken a sudden interestin breeding budgerigars ask a fellowdocker why all the birds he was givinghim were dying. “The cat keeps killingthem” he was told. Now what else did

Old Belfast Page 43

our budding Budgie owner expect. Iwonder if he ever saw the Tweety Piecartoons with the perils of granniescanary. Probably not or he would haveknown better. I know of one man whokept a fox, another who had a lamb andhe used to walk along the street with iton a lead like a dog, much to theamusement of the whole district. But themost unusual pet of them all must havebeen the one owned by ‘Buck’ AlecRobinson, it was........

A LIONA lad was returning home along YorkStreet at about two a.m. after doing a littlebit of after-hours shopping when heinadvertently bumped into an officer ofthe law. When asked “what have yougot in that bag” the lad replied that it was“cats for ‘Buck’ Alec’s lion”.

Of course an examination of the bagconfirmed that it contained no provisionsof any kind for a lion, unless it was aheavy smoker and ate a lot of chocolates.The court case got a lot of attention fromthe press and a follow up story claimedthat a lot of people in the Sailortown area

weren’t exactly overjoyed to be informedthat they had the King Of The Jungle fora neighbour and were demanding actionto have it removed to a zoo or something.Of course there couldn’t have been manypeople in the Docks area who wouldn’thave known of Buck’s unusual pet.

I myself personally had met two peoplewho’d had a face to face encounter withit. One of them a man named Peter hadwent to Buck’s house after a hard nightsboozing with him. Assuming Buck Alechad went out to the lavatory he wassitting half sleeping on the sofa whenBuck returned from the yard with thelion. Peter didn’t wait for a formalintroduction. Thinking he wasexperiencing the ‘DTs’ from a bad feedof drink he ran screaming from thehouse. I don’t know what became ofBuck’s pet after the furore caused by thenewspaper articles, but according to thetales told about it was toothless which if

Page 44 Old Belfast

true would have made a lie of therumours that it was fed on a diet of cats.Though I’d never had the pleasure ofseeing the beast for myself, I know for afact that situated in the city centre was aplace called ‘Barry’s AmusementArcade’, where for an admission fee ofsixpence you could have witnessed“Buck Alec And His Man Eating Lion”engage in a wrestling match. After thetoothless stories and the find in the ladsbag would “Mars Bar’s Eating Lion “ nothave been more appropriate.

SUNDAY DINNERThe ending of the Second World War,brought the false belief that foodrationing would end. It didn’t (in fact itlasted until 1954.) But a few families inour street decided nothing was going todeter them from having some of thethings they’d been deprived of for yearssuch as chicken for example. And eggstoo were in short supply, so it would benice to have a fresh egg every morninginstead of all that tinned dried eggrubbish we’d been getting during the waryears. Now the cheeping of little yellowday-old chicks had become a familiargreeting from Mongomery’s and otherpet shops in places like Smithfield

market and they were on sale for anyoneinterested at sixpence a time. So the ideawas to buy a number of these fledglings,rear them until they became daily egg-layers and again you could always stickone in the pot or oven every so often fora nice Sunday dinner.

ROOSTERSA number of families in our district didjust that and bought a few dozen of thechicks. A lot of care was needed untilthey got their feathers and the casualtyrate among the birds was pretty high, buteventually our street started to look likean urban chicken ranch.But disappointment was in store for ourtownee chicken farmers. As the birds gotbigger and an empty space where an eggshould have been greeted them eachmorning, realisation dawned that therewasn’t a hen in the bunch. The MinistryOf Food and Agriculture had justdumped their surplus roosters onto the

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open market. So naturally there were nomorning fresh eggs and for a couple ofyears you could expect to be awakenedeach morning with a loud cock a doodledo. Unscheduled rooster fights werealso a daily occurrence and there wastrouble too when it came to wringingone’s neck for the cooking pot. Well Imean the household had become soattached to the birds it was like eatingthe family pet. Anyway after a coupleof years the last of the roostersdisappeared, never to return.

CHEETAHWe all love monkeys, don’t we? WellRobbie who lived in Henry Street gotone. A chimpanzee. We all called itCheetah because it looked just like theone in the Tarzan pictures. It was cuteand funny and copied all the things it sawus do. We’d gather around it, about adozen of us, and be awestruck as wewatched it smoke a cigarette then drinktea from a cup like a human being. Thetrouble was it had no manners because

when it consumed the tea it just dashedthe cup to the ground breaking it muchto the dismay of the girl who’d broughtit out from her mothers prize chinacollection. The monkey was a greatattraction for about a year or two beforeit started to get a bit of a temper and gobuck mad (maybe I guess because of theway we were keeping it going) andstarted chasing us around the district.Robbie had in a way handed over careof the chimp to a young lad who broughtit everywhere with him and whoever heseized it had to get offside fast. Thoughto my knowledge it never caused injuryto any child, it’s owner got so concernedthat he finally dispatched it of to theBelfast zoo where I suppose it finishedup in what we called the monkey house,but at least it was among it’s own kind.

BACKSTABBINGIn Montgomery pet shop in Smithfieldwas an Indian mynah bird. Now mynahbirds are the worlds greatest mimics. Itcould imitate exactly the sounds of thetraffic passing and even copy the exactvoice of the owner and some of hiscustomers, but it’s best one was of themotor cycles from Lindsey’s MotorCycle shop next door. It could imitateas good as any high quality tape recorder,the roar and revving as the motor-cyclestook of. If you’d have closed your eyesyou wouldn’t have been able todistinguish between its mimicry and thereal thing. In the early seventies, theBrowns who lived in Duncairn Parade,also had a mynah bird which they keptoutside their door in the summer weather.My son Jim who was a teenager at the

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time and from his vantage point on ourveranda in the high rise flats which wasoverlooking the Brown residence, taughtit to wolf whistle. When he saw a girlapproaching he would give one wolfwhistle and skip into his bedroom. Themynah would then start wolf whistlingand watching through the window Jimwould go into hysterics laughing as abewilder young lady looked around inall directions in a vain attempt to findout what gentleman was taken with hercharms.

Mynah birds usually didn’t last to longin households and like Robbie’s chimpthey were packed of to some zoo. Theproblem was they were a tape recorderyou couldn’t turn of which was veryembarrassing, especially if you were thescandalising type. Not only would therecipient of your back stabbing find outthey were being talked about, but by who.

PHRASESParrots too were much sought afterbecause of there ability to copy thehuman voice and while not in abundancethere were certainly a few to be found inhomes in Belfast. A shop beside StMalachy’s school, where I went to as akid, had one that much to our delight

would greet us with it’s non stop chatterwhenever we went into it for sweets. Ithink that was the main reason for uschoosing that particular shop. Anotherhuman voice mimic was the cockatoo,but the only one of that species I everencountered was situated on the steps inBelfast Zoo, greeting us as we enteredthe zoo itself. When to our delight wediscovered the talking abilities of thischeeky looking bird, we set aboutteaching it certain phrase like “What areyou looking at you cock-eyed *@//!.”As more effing and blinding phraseswere added to it’s vocabulary, complaintswere made and much to the dismay ofus youngsters, the poor bird wasremoved, far away from human earshot. Now people have kept all kinds of pets,some even snakes and crocodiles, afellow I know named Joe who lives nearme has an iguana. Inches long, when hebought it eight years ago, it’s almost fourfeet long and that’s allowing for it havingpart of it’s tail removed when an infectionset in after an injury The operation wasa costly business, but he has no regretsas the iguana is a real hit with his kidswho play with it when he takes it fromit’s den for exercise. Looking at it Ithought, better them than me

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IRISH GREYWhen I stayed in Glasgow during the lastyear of World War II a friend of thefamily we lived with was always invitingme to his house to see, as he called them,his birds. I was pleasantly surprisedwhen I did go discovering that insteadof the shed full of pigeons I’d expected,he had a collection of all kinds of tropicalbirds which he kept in a room purposelybuilt for them. Up to the war he hadentered them in shows and he’d the cupsand plaques to prove he’d had plenty ofsuccess. When I was going back homehe made me promise I would get andbring him back a Grey which was a wildbird found in Ireland. He’d alwayswanted one to add to his collection andsaid he would pay me well for mytrouble. Now he would have beenbreaking the law (as I would) because itwas forbidden to keep these birds incaptivity. Anyway I never did keep mypromise to him though my aunt Mary’shusband used to catch them for birdfanciers. I don’t know if greys are stillaround or if they’ve been hunted out ofexistence.

Unfortunately for the grey, they weremuch in demand by bird fanciers becauseof their singing qualities. In fact theywere often bred with canaries to produce‘mules’, so called because like theirhorsy namesake, the offspring of thismating process are infertile. Maybe it’sa bit cruel to keep wild birds locked upin a cage on their own and if people feelthey need birds about them for whateverreason maybe they should think along thelines of an aviary.

PITYAs for myself, I don’t have any pets atall now. The last animal we had was ahamster my son Liam dumped on us. Itwas soft cuddly and lovable but used togo walkabouts exploring the house andwould be missing for a day or two,probably down the back of the sofa orsome other like place. Fed up withorganising search parties looking for it,we found it a new home with a little girlup the Oldpark Road. Last I heard it wasdoing well and still up to it’s old tricks.I’ve had dogs over the years, the last onebeing hit by a car and killed. It was as ifone of the family had died. Anyonewho’s lost a pet will know what I mean.Like I said I don’t have a pet at present,but if I did it would be another dogbecause a well looked after dog is a friendfor life. I remember someone oncesaying. “If you take in a dog that’s coldand hungry give it a meal and somewherewarm to sleep and treat it with kindness.That dog will never turn on you”. Pityyou can’t say the same about people.

A FascinatingPhotographic ExhibitionShowing Life in the City

During the 1940's

Belfast in theWar Years

FREEMASONS HALLArthur Square(Cornmarket)

FREEMASONS HALLArthur Square(Cornmarket)

Thursday 20th NovemberFriday 21st November

Saturday 22nd November11am - 4pm

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