The Belfast Blitz: Lost Church Memorials

The Belfast Blitz: Lost Church Memorials

Researched and written by Nigel Henderson

According to official Air Raids Situation Reports (PRONI File MPs1/2/2), 68 places of worship in Belfast were damaged during the German air raids of 1941. Five were in Belfast city centre, three were in the Shankill area, 28 were in East Belfast, and 32 were in North Belfast. Inevitably, many memorials commemorating service and sacrifice in the Great War were also lost due to the bombings.

Rosemary Street Presbyterian Church

On Sunday 12th October 1919, the new War Memorial Organ in the church was used for the first time in public worship. In his address, Dr Park referred to the 555 men from the congregation and Sabbath School who had served in the Great war, 86 of whom had made the supreme sacrifice. The following Sunday, Mrs John Sinclair unveiled a brass tablet which had been erected by the afternoon Sabbath School in memory of the members of the congregation and school who fell in the Great War. The newspaper article on the unveiling reported that the tablet was attached to the front of the pulpit and recorded the names of the 86 fatalities. The church was not rebuilt and the congregation amalgamated with Ekenhead Memorial Presbyterian Church at its new site on the North Circular Road, adopting the name Rosemary Presbyterian Church. A history of the congregation by J W Kernahan includes a photograph of the War Memorial Organ, and the plaque on the front of the pulpit is visible.

Clifton Street Presbyterian Church

Two white marble tablets were unveiled on Sunday 7th March 1920 – one commemorated the nineteen men of the congregation who died and one recorded the names of those who served and survived. The tablets were unveiled by Mrs Anna Craig Picken of Antrim Road, who had a noble record of work on behalf of soldiers and sailors. The church was not rebuilt, and the congregation merged with the nearby Clifton Street United Free Presbyterian Church. The amalgamated congregation adopting the name Clifton Street United Presbyterian Church.

York Street Presbyterian Church

On Sunday 25th April 1920, two memorials were unveiled at the church by the Right Reverend Doctor John Morrow Simms, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, who had served as Senior Chaplain to the Ulster Division during the war. One of the mural tablets was erected inside the church and commemorated fourteen men from the congregation who died during the war. The second mural tablet was erected by 33rd Company Boy Scouts and was placed on external wall of the church at the junction of York Street and Earl Street. This memorial tablet recorded the names of 132 men from Earl Street and District who served in the Great War, 36 of whom paid the ultimate sacrifice. Newspaper articles about the unveilings recorded the names of those commemorated on the two tablets, although none of the fatalities named on the congregational tablet are named on the district tablet. In essence, the external tablet probably represented service and sacrifice by people who lived in the streets between Gallaher’s Tobacco factory and the York Street Flax Spinning mill. To the best of my knowledge, no photographs of either memorial tablet have survived, although there is a newspaper photograph of the unveiling of the district memorial. The church was not rebuilt, and the congregation merged with Castleton Presbyterian Church on York Road, the amalgamated congregation adopting the name of Alexandra Presbyterian Church.

St James’ Church of Ireland, Antrim Road

On 9th May 1920, the Very Reverend Thomas Gibson George Collins, Dean of Belfast dedicated memorials commemorating the service and sacrifice by men from the parish. Choir stalls and a bronze mural tablet, on which the names of thirty fatalities were recorded, was erected by congregational subscription. Mr Andrew Alexander Clendinning, a linen merchant, gifted the Roll of Honour tablet which recorded the names of 156 men who served and survived. Mrs Mary Kathleen Watson gifted a prayer desk in memory of her husband, the Reverend John Edmund Malone Watson MC, who was a chaplain to the forces and died of wounds on 10th April 1918, aged 31. In the 1943 Belfast Street Directory, the site was recorded as “Vacant” and the church was restored by 1947.

St Silas’ Church of Ireland, Oldpark Road

This church was located on the corner of Oldpark Road and Ardoyne Avenue and was built in 1901. On Sunday 30th May 1920, the Right Reverend Doctor Charles Thornton Primrose Grierson (Bishop of Down, Connor and Dromore) dedicated a new pulpit in the church as a memorial to those from the parish who had died in the Great War. The pulpit of white oak was manufactured by Purdy and Millard of Howard Street and a brass plate on the front panel named thirty fatalities, under the headings Navy and Army. On the base of the pulpit were carved the words of His Majesty King George V, “The men of Ulster have proved how nobly they fight and die.” The memorial was unveiled by Mr James Barlowe and Mr James Bustard, two former churchwardens who had both lost their only sons in the war. In his address, the Lord Bishop stated that 160 men from the church had volunteered for service in the Great War. The memorial cost £150, which equates to approximately £5,500 in current terms. Newspaper reports on the unveiling ceremony recorded the names of the fatalities and a photograph of the memorial pulpit was published in the Belfast Telegraph. The 1951 and 1955 street directories record that the site for the replacement church was located at the junction of Cliftonville Road and Cardigan Drive, and the new church was completed in 1958.

Newington Presbyterian Church, Limestone Road

On Sunday 5th September 1920, the memorial was unveiled by Mrs Samuel Jordan of Lisnagarvey and dedicated by the Reverend Thomas McGimpsey Johnstone, Minister of the congregation. In reporting the Reverend Johnstone’s address, The Witness recorded that, “He could not help feeling that the names on the brass tablet did not represent all in that congregation who had died for their country. Scarcely a month went past without the death occurring of someone whose name ought to be transferred from the ordinary Roll of Honour to the tablet of the glorious dead.“ Reverend Johnstone went on to refer to one of the members of the Sabbath School who had gone away before he was 17 years of age, had been awarded the Military Medal, and had died just days before the memorial was unveiled. The memorial took the form of a cabinet, similar to the memorial in Shankill Parish Church in Lurgan. When opened, a brass plaque naming 66 fatalities was revealed in the body of the cabinet, whilst the names of 340 members of the congregation who served and survived were inscribed on brass plaques on the insides of the doors. The first person named on the fatalities’ plaque was VAD Nurse Margaret Cameron Young who was serving at No 2 General Hospital when she died of illness, probably influenza, on 30th July 1918, aged 25. She is buried in Terlincthun British Cemetery at Wimille in France and is commemorated on a family memorial in Shankill Graveyard. A memorial tablet was erected in the Minister’s Room in her memory in 1920. The church was rebuilt in 1951/1952 and a plaque in the foyer records that the current building replaced the 1875 building that was destroyed in 1941. A generic bronze plaque and an illuminated Book of Remembrance in an oak cabinet were dedicated as a war memorial on Remembrance Day in 1957. The memorial was unveiled by Miss Helen Cameron Young, whose sister was the only female commemorated on the original memorial.

Mervue Mission Hall

On Sunday 19th September 1920 a reading desk was dedicated as a memorial in this mission hall, which was associated with Donegall Street Congregational Church. The desk was unveiled by Captain William Reid and the names of fourteen fatalities from the congregation are recorded on the front of the desk. The newspaper coverage of the unveiling service included a photograph of the memorial and the hall had been re-opened by 1945.

St Barnabas’ Church of Ireland, Duncairn Gardens

On 13th March 1921, the Reverend Dixon Patterson, Rector of the church, unveiled and dedicated a memorial tablet and Roll of Honour to commemorate the sacrifices and services of members of the congregation in the Great War. A large chandelier with electric lights (or electrolier) for the chancel formed part of the war memorial. The memorial tablet recorded the names of 31 men who had died in the war, and the Roll of Honour recorded the names of 168 men from the congregation who had returned home. The latter, the work of William Rodman & Company of Donegall Place and Fountain Street, was seven feet long and five feet high, and featured Celtic ornamentation. Although the names of the fallen were recorded in newspaper coverage of the unveiling, no photographs appeared in the local press. It is not known whether there are any photographs of the memorial tablet or the Roll of Honour tablet. The church and the adjacent St Barnabas’ Public Elementary School were destroyed or demolished and St Barnabas’ Church Hall is recorded at the site of the church in the 1951 Belfast Street Directory. A new church was built on the site by 1960 and the congregation later merged with St Paul’s Church of Ireland on York Street.

Duncairn Gardens Methodist Church

On 7th April 1925, Sir William Turner JP, Lord Mayor of Belfast, unveiled a polished marble tablet which recorded and the names of the fourteen members of the congregation who died and the names of a further 100 people who served in the Great War. The memorial was the work of Thompson & Sons of Limestone Road and the embellishment at the top of the tablet features crossed flag and the Dove of Peace under a Crown. A photograph of the memorial was published in the Belfast Telegraph in April 1925 and a fine photograph of the memorial can be found online. The church was never rebuilt, and the congregation merged with Carlisle Memorial Methodist Church.

Other destroyed or demolished churches where war memorials were probably lost include:

Holy Trinity Church of Ireland on Unity Street, which was not rebuilt,

York Street (Non-Subscribing) Presbyterian Church, which was not rebuilt,

Crumlin Road Presbyterian Church, which was rebuilt by 1955,

Macrory Memorial Presbyterian Church, which was rebuilt by 1955.

Sources of images:

Newspaper images are from the Great War Ulster Newspaper Archive.

Newington Presbyterian Church memorial courtesy of Ricky Cole

Photograph of the War Memorial Organ in Rosemary Street Presbyterian Church is from “Rosemary Street Presbyterian Church: a record of the past 200 years” by J. W. Kernohan (1923)

Belfast Blitz Plaques

April 11, 2023 by hhulster Posted in News Tagged Belfast, Belfast Blitz, second world war, WW2

Belfast Blitz Plaques

Following the 75th Anniversary of the 1941 German air raids on Northern Ireland, Belfast City Council erected a number of memorial plaques at various locations in the city. The phrasing of the inscriptions on all but three of the plaques refers to “lives lost here” but it is unclear whether it refers literally to fatalities at the location/street, the number of people who lived in the location/street who died, the number of people from the area near the location who died, or a mixture of the circumstances.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website includes a Civilian War Dead section which lists the place of death and the place of residence for fatalities, the information having been collated from the Civil Defence Authority fatality lists and other sources. The anomalies between the figures specified on the Belfast City Council plaques and the CWGC Civilian War Dead List (henceforth CWGC List) will be examined in this article.

1 Temporary Mortuaries

The first plaque was erected at St George’s Market, which was used as a temporary mortuary following the air raids and was the centralised location for the identification of bodies. On 21st April and 9th May, funeral corteges left St George’s Market, with unidentified and identified but unclaimed bodies being interred in publicly-owned plots in Belfast City Cemetery and Milltown Cemetery.

Plaques were also erected to mark the use of the Peter’s Hill Baths and the Falls Road Baths as temporary mortuaries, but no arrangements were made to erect a similar plaque at the temporary mortuary at Erskine’s Felt Works in Whitehouse.

2 Campbell College

Campbell College was taken over by the military authorities as the 24th (London) General Hospital shortly after the start of the Second World War and was hit on the night of 4th/5th May 1941. The Blitz Victims List compiled by the Northern Ireland War Memorial records that 24 people died at the hospital, including one civilian fatality. Of the 23 army personnel killed, nine are buried in Northern Ireland and the remainder were repatriated to Great Britain for interment. The civilian was Mary Jane Close (58) who was injured at her home in Westbourne Street and died at the hospital and is buried in Dundonald Cemetery.

3 Pottinger – Ravenscroft Avenue

The CWGC List records Ravenscroft Avenue as the death location for only five people, including four members of the Frizzell family from Number 39 and Thomas Crone Bingham, a sixteen-year-old ARP volunteer from Isoline Street. However, a further sixteen people died in the Ravenscroft Avenue area. Fifteen lives were lost at Avondale Street, including six members of the McCullough family at Number 8. Another sixteen-year-old ARP volunteer, William James Mays from Lichfield Avenue, died at Rosebery Street. Consequently, the German bombing of the Ravencroft Avenue area resulted in the deaths of 21 people but only five died at Ravenscroft Avenue. Ravenscroft Public Elementary School was destroyed, and 47 houses were either destroyed or left uninhabitable.

4 Mountpottinger – Thorndyke Street

On the night of 15th/16th April, a 250kg bomb exploded near the air raid shelter, causing the walls to buckle and the concrete roof fell on the people inside. The CWGC List records that seventeen people died in Thorndyke Street, nine at the air raid shelter. Thirteen of the fatalities were residents of the street, including six members of the Wherry family from Number 16. Four of the Thorndyke Street fatalities resided elsewhere – ARP Warden Joseph Bell (45) of Lord Street, ARP Messenger Phares Hill Welsh (16) of Paxton Road, William Stewart (55) of Lord Street, and William Murray (30) of Cherryville Street. Another resident of Thorndyke Street, Sarah Hughes (62), died at the Royal Victoria Hospital and Andrew McAdams (75) died in nearby Dufferin Street. The bomb that exploded at Thorndyke Street resulted in the deaths of nineteen people.

5 Sandy Row – Blythe Street

The only Blitz Plaque in South Belfast is attached to an outer wall of St Aidan’s Church of Ireland and records that thirteen lives were lost at Blythe Street, which matches the details on the CWGC List. Fourteen people who lived in Blythe Street died as a result of the air raid, including a father and daughter who were injured at Blythe Street, died at the Belfast Union Infirmary, and are buried in Ballynure Cemetery – Rebecca Craig (7) died on 16th April and Robert Craig (36) died two days later. Nine people died at 95 Blythe Street, the home of William and Jane McKee, who lost a son, two married daughters, and five grandchildren. David McKee (26) was an Engineer in the Merchant Navy and Sarah Jane (Sadie) Thompson (21) from 313 Donegall Road, was visiting the family when she died.

6 Yorkgate – Sussex Street and Vere Street

Although the York Street Flax Spinning Mill took a direct hit, no fatalities are recorded as dying at the mill. However, the falling masonry from the mill and other bombs brought death and destruction to the close-packed streets of housing between the mill and Gallaher’s tobacco factory at Earl Street. In 1939, there were 260 residential properties in the area but there were only 128 houses after 1941. In addition, York Street Presbyterian Church on the corner of Earl Street and York Street Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church were destroyed. The CWGC List records that thirty-four people died in either Sussex Street or Vere Street, with twenty-nine being residents and the other five being from Pilot Street, New Lodge Road, Chatham Street, Artillery Street, or Orchard Street. Mary McSourley (12) of 74 Vere Street died at the Mater Hospital and the Civil Defence Authority’s 9th List (dated 21st April 1941) records Kathleen Malone of 31 Sussex Street as a fatality but she is not recorded on the CWGC list or on the NIWM Blitz Victims List. Lance Corporal John Thomas Park and Corporal David Cooper Simpson from 507th Field Company, Royal Engineers, died at the junction of Henry Street and North Queen Street during the May air raids. The death toll for the area was 38 and not 40 as recorded on the plaque.

7 Tiger’s Bay – Hogarth Street

Unlike other locations where the Belfast City Council plaques specify exact numbers, the plaque at Hogarth Street records “up to 80 lives lost here”. The CWGC List records that 69 civilians died at Hogarth Street and nine died at Edlingham Street, including eight people from other streets. A memorial at Hogarth Street, since removed after being vandalised, recorded the names of 117 fatalities from the Tiger’s Bay area. The CWGC List records that 71 residents of Hogarth Street and Edlingham Street died, with six-year-old Jean Spratt dying of injuries at Belfast City Hospital. Six members of the Wilson family died at 56 Edlingham Street and five people living at 65 Hogarth Street died, including two women from Glasgow. Hugh Baxter McNeill had died on 3rd March 1941, aged 49, and his widow Annie Lorna McNeill (nee Dornan) died on the night of 15th/16th April at the age of 46, along with her children, Hetty (23) and Hugh Baxter McNeill (19). Also at the house were her mother and sister – Harriett Dornan (69) and Cissy (30) – whose home address was in Glasgow. It is possible that William John Dornan sent his family back to Belfast as it was deemed to be safer than Glasgow.

8 New Lodge – Sheridan Street

Two plaques relating to lives lost at two streets which no longer exist were placed at Sheridan Street. The CWGC List records that eleven civilians died at Burke Street, with the twelfth fatality being Stoker 1st Class Henry Brown (51) who was serving on HMS Caroline and died at 18 Burke Street with his mother, his wife, and his daughter – Mary Jane (89), Georgina (50), and Georgina (18). Thomas Mason (33), who was injured at his home in Burke Street and died at the Mater Hospital, is not included on the plaque. The CWGC List records that 18 people who lived in Annadale Street died at their homes, including Ernest William Riecken (65), the only German-born fatality of the air raids, and his wife, Mary Louisa (66) from Number 6.

9 New Lodge – Victoria Barracks

The only Blitz plaque that relates exclusively to military fatalities was placed on the gable wall of the terrace of houses called Victoria Barracks on Carlisle Parade. These houses were built in the 1930s as married quarters for the Victoria Barracks and the first house in the terrace was destroyed during the air raid on the night of 15th/16th April and was never replaced. The NIWM Blitz Victims list records that five men from 9th Battalion East Surrey Regiment died at Victoria Barracks. Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Douglas Sutcliffe (50), Second Lieutenant Edward William Cobble (40), and Corporal John William Oliver Mason (29) died on 16th April. Private Denis Patrick James Cuffe (20), and Private Albert Joseph Skinner (20) died on 5th May. Second Lieutenant Cobble, who died whilst being transferred to Musgrave Park Hospital, is the only one of the five fatalities to be buried in Belfast, the bodies of the other four men being repatriated to Great Britain for burial.

10 Donegall Street – St Patrick’s Church

This is the only Belfast City Council Blitz plaque that had been placed inside a church in Belfast and records “130 lives lost here”. This is not true as there were no fatalities recorded for Donegall Street and St Patrick’s Church was not one of the churches to be badly damaged or destroyed in the air raids. The specified fatality figure could refer to the number of parishioners of the church who died. Alternatively, it could refer to the number of fatalities from the parish area who died, which would include people who were not Roman Catholics.

11 Carrick Hill – Unity Street and Trinity Street

Two Blitz plaques have been erected on the outer wall of the Carrick Hill Community Centre, which was built on the site of the former Trinity Street Reformed (Covenanting) Presbyterian Church. There were no military fatalities recorded for the Carrick Hill area.

The Unity Street area was devastated when a parachute mine struck the spire of Holy Trinity Church of Ireland, which was located on Unity Street and faced down Trinity Street. The CWGC List records that 34 people died at Unity Street, with another person dying at Wall Street, which was immediately behind the church. The CWGC List records that 28 residents of the street died, with John McAnespie (19) dying of injuries at the Mater Hospital. As many of the houses on Unity Street and Wall Street were subsequently demolished and Holy Trinity Church was not rebuilt, the council built the Stanhope Street Playground on bomb site in 1954.

The fatality figure recorded for “Trinity Street Church” does not stand up to scrutiny as the only person recorded as dying at Trinity Street was Kathleen Duff (16) from Hanover Street who was a Typist at ARP Post 396 and was killed by falling masonry. Six other volunteers at ARP Post 396 died at Unity Street. The only resident of Trinity Street recorded as a fatality was Katherine Muldoon (32) from Number 20 who died in Unity Street and is buried in the graveyard at St Joseph’s Church, Hannahstown.

In an oral account, an ARP Warden refers to the spire of “Trinity Street Church” being hit by a parachute mine but Trinity Street Reformed Presbyterian Church did not have a spire – it was Holy Trinity Church of Ireland that was hit. In effect, the “Trinity Street Church” fatality figure relates to people who died in Unity Street and demonstrates the danger of relying on oral accounts without cross-checking against historic documents and sources.

12 The Bone – Ballynure Street

The CWGC List and the NIWM List both record that 29 people died at Ballynure Street, with 26 of the fatalities being residents of the street, and there is no record of any military fatalities. Eleven people died at 4 Ballynure Street, including three members of the Thompson family from 3 Lee Street. Jeremiah and Lavinia Clarke (both 51) and six children ranging in age from 10 to 26 died along with their married daughter, Unice Thompson (19), their son-in-law, John Thompson (21), and their granddaughter, Joan Thompson (2). Only four of the eleven fatalities were identified, with the deaths of the others being presumed at a Coroner’s Enquiry on 14th June 1941. John Thompson is buried in Belfast City Cemetery and Lavinia Clarke is buried in Carnmoney Cemetery. William Clarke (15) and Cecil Clarke (12) were buried in marked coffins in the Blitz Ground at Belfast City Cemetery on 21st April 1941. Robert Clarke (26) was involved in war work at the Short & Harland aircraft factory. In total, 34 people living in the “Bally” streets in this part of Belfast died during the air raids.

13 Woodvale – Ohio Street and Heather Street

Two identical plaques were erected one at the Welcome Evangelical Church on Heather Street and one at the junction of Ohio Street and Disraeli Street. The CWGC List records that 40 people died at Heather Street, with 37 of the fatalities being residents and the two being from nearby Disraeli Street and Montreal Street. ARP Warden James Henry Robinson (29) from Donaldson Crescent off Twaddell Avenue. The CWGC List records that 25 people died at Ohio, with 22 of the fatalities being residents of the street – two of the fatalities lived in nearby Columbia Street and one lived in Glencairn Crescent off the Ballygomartin Road. The CWGC List records that 72 people died at Heather Street, Ohio Street, and the streets with which they intersect, and that 73 residents of the same area died, three of the latter dying of injuries at hospital.

14 Shankill – Percy Street

The Blitz Plaque erected for Percy Street is another which records an approximate fatalities figure. The CWGC List records that 37 people died at Percy Street, ten of whom were not residents of the street. The CWGC List records that 29 residents of Percy Street died in the air raids, with Frederick Owens (41) dying of injuries at the Royal Victoria Hospital. One resident of Percy Street died in the first German air raid on the night of 7th/8th April. Archibald McDonald (22) from 80 Percy Street was a volunteer with the Auxiliary Fire Service and he died fighting the fire at the McCue Dick Timber Yard on Duncrue Street and is buried in Dundonald Cemetery. Four people injured at Percy Street died at the Royal Victoria Hospital, including Thomas Harvey (38) of 12 Tyne Street who died on 8th May 1941 and was buried in Belfast City Cemetery two days later. Ten people died at the Percy Street Air Raid Shelter, including two Able Seaman of the Royal Navy. George James Henry Saunders (21) from Brighton in Sussex was a crewman on HMS Skate which was moored in Belfast Harbour and is buried in a military plot at Belfast City Cemetery. Samuel Corry (26) of Joseph Street in Belfast was on home leave from HMS Quebec and died with his wife, Martha Mary (27) and their ten-month old daughter, Elizabeth. They are buried in a family plot in Belfast City Cemetery.

Conclusion

The fatality figures recorded on the BCC Blitz Plaques rarely tie in with the fatalities recorded by CWGC and NIWM but, as no names are available relating the BCC plaques, it is not possible to reconcile the figures. When I was in contact with BCC about the plaques may years ago, I was told that the council had just been given the figures. The person whose role covered the erection of the plaques moved to a new role and contact with Belfast City Council lapsed. Several plaques (e.g. Antrim Road and Greencastle) were not, as far as I am aware, ever erected. “With hindsight, it would have been better if the plaque figures had represented a combination of fatalities at each location and fatalities who lived at each location. It would also have been better if all the plaques had used “up to nn lives lost” rather than specifying an exact figure. A Freedom of Information Request has been lodged with Belfast City Council seeking details of how the figures quoted on the plaques were determined.

Author: Nigel Henderson, Researcher, History Hub Ulster

Heroes of the Belfast Blitz

March 23, 2023 by hhulster Posted in News Tagged Belfast Blitz, second world war, World War Two, WW2

Whilst a lot has been written about the destruction and lives lost during the German air raids in April and May 1941, the men and women who were honoured for bravery have received less attention. At least twenty people received awards for ‘brave action in Civil Defence’ with three George Medals (GM) and nine British Empire Medals (BEM) being issued.

John Shaw (46), an Electrical Foreman at the Belfast Electricity Department and a Divisional Superintendent in the St. John Ambulance Brigade, was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his devotion to duty at the Belfast Electric Power Station at Laganbank.

Three members of staff at the Ulster Hospital on Templemore Avenue were commended for their actions on the same night – they were Matron Eleanor Elizabeth Aicken (37), Radiographer Isobel Margaret Dickson (34), and Honorary Surgeon Robert John McConnell (57).

Three George Medals and two British Empire Medals were awarded to members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Constables Alexander McCusker (44) and William Brett (52) from the Leopold Street Barracks were awarded the former for rescue work Ottawa Street and Ohio Street.

On the same night, the York Street Flax Spinning Factory received a direct hit, with the debris and blast destroying 42 houses in Sussex Street and Vere Street. Constables Robert Moore (43) and Alfred King (36) from York Street Barracks were awarded the GM and the BEM respectively for rescue work, specifically at the home of the McSorley family at 74 Vere Street.

A unit of the Auxiliary Fire Service was travelling along Royal Avenue when their vehicle was damaged by an exploding bomb, one man being killed and another dying of his injuries. The remainder of the crew carried the pump to the designated location and commenced to fight the fires, remaining on duty well into the following day. Patrol Officer John Walsh (36), a tram driver, Leading Fireman Robert Clyde Rainey (40), a radio trader, and Fireman James Jameson Lee (28), a salesman, were commended for their devotion to duty.

The British Empire Medal was awarded to seven members of the Belfast Civil Defence Services.

During an air raid in May, Auxiliary Nurse Denise Forster (21) was on duty at the Ambulance Depot on the Holywood Road when it was demolished by a high explosive bomb. After extricating herself from the wreckage, Denise set about rescuing others from the rubble. She later volunteered to go with an ambulance into a district which was being heavily bombed. Nurse Forster continued to work in the greatest danger throughout the night and only ceased her activities some hours after the raid was over.

Three teenage boys who were Messengers with the Civil Defence were recommended for the George Medal for devotion to duty in April 1941.

Messenger Alexander Cecil Hill (17), an office assistant from Convention Street, received the BEM. Although severely shaken by an explosion nearby, Alexander directed traffic at a main road whilst bombs were falling nearby. Later, whilst delivering an urgent message to the Report Centre, he was blown off his bicycle by explosions twice but each time he remounted and delivered the message.

When telephone communications were dislocated during the early stages of the air raid, Messenger George William Otway Woodward (18) of Glenburn Park carried messages of vital importance between stations. When his bicycle was put out of action, he continued to keep the lines of communication open by delivering messages on foot. He received a commendation.

BEMs were awarded to Bomb Identification Officer William John Ford (51) and Messenger William Ernest Bennett (15) of Wandsworth Gardens for rescue work at Cliftonville Road where bombs had destroyed a number of houses and fractured a gas main. Ford and Bennett burrowed six yards through rubble to bring an elderly man to safety and then they rescued two stranded women from a house that was in danger of collapse. Bombs were falling as they worked and both suffered from the effects of inhaling coal gas. William Bennet later joined the National Fire Service.

Messengers Bennett and Woodward were pupils and Belfast Royal Academy and William John Ford was the caretaker for the Model School on Cliftonville Road.

These people were from different backgrounds and their ages ranged from 15 to 52, but the common factor was their willingness to put the well-being of others before their own safety. They deserve wider recognition.

Nigel Henderson, History Hub Ulster Researcher.

Belfast Blitz 80 – Wartime in the Foreign Department

April 14, 2021 by hhulster Posted in News Tagged Belfast, Belfast Bank, Belfast Blitz, second world war, World War Two

As part of our #BelfastBlitz80 series, we publish an article by the late Ned Dyas, retired manager of the Northern Bank, Foreign Department, Victoria Street, Belfast. ‘Wartime in the Foreign Department’ was first published in the Northern Bank Staff Magazine ‘The Link’ in June 1993. Ned Dyas died on 14th October 2019.

Setting the scene

Northern Bank, Head Office, Victoria Street, Belfast

If you transfer your gaze momentarily to the left of the main door of the old Northern Bank, Head Office in Victoria Street you will see nearest the corner a tall window. This, double glazed and pretty sturdy, was the window to the world of the wartime Foreign Department of the Bank. A second window looked out, as it still does, onto Ulster Street and the building of G. Heyn & Sons Ltd. In the third wall stood a fireplace where a bright, richly burning fire greeted you each morning and the remaining wall was in fact an oak partition separating the room from the Bank’s main waiting room. Apart from the Manager’s large and imposing desk and those for the typists, a high solid desk stretched round two of the windowed walls. The staff either sat on high stools at this desk or more often than not stood and leaned! The high desk was essential to carry and spread the huge ledgers recording the transactions. The old-style telephones with separate earpieces were still in use. I well remember too that one of the cupboards held bundles and bundles of Reichsmark Notes dating from the collapse of the mark in the twenties. This was 1943 – fifty years ago.

Extract from a wartime fire prevention document completed
for Northern Bank, 110 Victoria Street branch.

Fire-watching at Head Office

Belfast had been the subject of its main air attack in 1941 and while our Head Office, like the Belfast, Ulster and National Banks, was very much in the target area being so near the shipyard it escaped any major damage. The other banks were similarly fortunate. A solitary incendiary bomb had left a hole in the floor of the Stationery Store and I remember having to step over this hole to get at our supplies. Fire-watching was at once a chore and a source of much needed extra remuneration as far as ‘juniors’ were concerned, so those of us in digs did as many nights as possible. Pay was at the rate of 3/= (three shillings) per night, in modern terms 15p but in real value more like £5 to-day [1993]. If you were lucky enough to be asked to do an extra night for a Director or Chief Cashier or other senior member of staff you could earn as much as 7/6d for the night. This as you may well imagine was regarded as a plum! When I tell you that our annual starting salary was £100 per annum plus a 16% War Bonus out of which in my case £78 went on digs you will see that the fire-watching shillings were valuable indeed. Many’s a nice-looking girl would not have been asked out without them. You cycled from your digs to the office, arrived for fire-watching about 10 pm, slept the night in the main waiting room or Foreign Department where the beds were assembled and cycled back for breakfast making sure that you would be back in good time for your day’s work. If you were going to arrive late for fire-watching you made a prior arrangement with a fellow watcher to let you in at the side door. Quite often the pulley bell on the great front door would clang out in the darkness to announce a late comer and I can remember on occasions seeing the face of the Albert showing midnight as I made my way down to the side door. We had an almost permanent firewatcher in Mick the porter. You would find him doing his football pools when you arrived in for duty. Almost completely deaf, he was nevertheless bright of eye, beaming smile and a loyal servant of the Bank. His favourite comment when you handed him a letter or parcel for delivery was “Thank you kind Sir, your kindness exceeds your personal beauty by far; your face I may forget but your kindness never.”

Dealing with the U.S. Forces

Northern Bank was first to operate a Foreign Department and was appointed by the Government as its Agent to deal with the U.S. Forces and authorised to deal with all foreign currency notes and coin on behalf of the Bank of England. This resulted not only in all the other Banks clearing their purchases of U.S. Dollar Bills, etc. to us on a weekly basis but also meant that we were in the front line for dealing with the U.S. Forces Finance Officers. Such sights as our Head Office Cash Office packed with U.S. Navy Personnel when a U.S. Cruiser or Destroyer docked in Belfast and the boys needed cash for the weekend were not infrequent. At such times we all became cashiers for an hour or so! On Pay Days when U.S. Finance Officers were drawing sterling cash for their Forces pay the steps on either side to the Main Door at Head Office would be lined by troops with rifles at the ready, all the way indeed from their bullion van in the street below to the very counter inside. There was an unofficial arrangement that the Bank would try to oblige Officers and Men of the Forces who were here for a longer spell and wanted cheques cashed.

Sailors queuing at the Belfast Banking Company, Bangor branch

It was, and probably still is, a very serious offence for U.S. service personnel to issue a dud cheque so the risk was not perhaps regarded as a major one. Nevertheless, we and the other Banks did have occasional trouble with unpaid cheques. I can recall cheques written out on ordinary sheets of paper shaped like a cheque being returned by our Agents not with “Refer to Drawer” or “Insufficient Funds” but with the ultimate answer “No such Bank”.

Glimpses of the Daily Routine

To outline the daily routine in the Foreign Department would be a bore but a couple of features I recall may be of interest. We received dozens of cables each day from the States asking us to make payments to individual U.S. Army personnel at Camps all over Northern Ireland and these were domiciled at our local Branches or with another Bank if we hadn’t a Branch in the nearest town. As many as 150-200 “Advices to Beneficiary” were despatched daily to these personnel. How’s that for a postage book! [Editor: every outgoing letter had to be detailed in a hand written ledger]. Not only that but happily the Linen Industry kept its flag flying right through the war. Linen was still in great demand in the U.S.A., Mexico, the Latin American countries, Cuba and the Caribbean Islands and in all the countries of South America. We might have had a dozen Registered Airmail letters a day containing Shipping Documents for Havana, Rio de Janeiro, etc. Despite the risks of war, I cannot recall us losing an original set of Shipping Documents, though duplicate documents were always sent on by surface mail (even more hazardous).

The Bank as a Family

Nostalgia has a habit of painting one’s memories in a rosy glow but I’m sure I’m not mistaken in saying that Banks of those days, not alone ours, were very much large families. And as in all families there were the lighter moments! I could tell you of duets in the Letter Department in the morning interrupted by our Bank Secretary, Hugh Murphy, a man of imposing stature but gentle in manner, asking with a broad smile when the Opera was beginning. Incidentally it was Mr. Murphy’s dictum that if you walked round the Office with a bundle of papers under your arm no one would ever ask you to do anything. To conclude, our small staff of eight or nine in the Foreign Department was kept at full stretch during this time but there was very much a family feel about all we did and to someone like myself (and, if I may include him, John Tunstead) coming from Dublin to Belfast and not knowing a soul it was good to find oneself among so many friends and so soon.