Larne Urban District War Memorial

On 7th March 1922, the Larne War Memorials’ Committee organised two ceremonies in the town – one to commemorate the fallen from the town and the other to demonstrate gratitude to those who had served in the Great War. Colonel Robert Chaine Alexander McCalmont, who had served with 12th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles and 1st Battalion Irish Guards, played a role in both ceremonies.

At Noon, Colonel McCalmont unveiled the War Memorial to remember the fallen from the Larne Urban District. The names of the 147 fatalities recorded on the memorial were read out by Major George Thomson DSO who had served with 12th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles. The Reverend James Kennedy dedicated the memorial, and the Last Post was played by Buglers from 1st Battalion Norfolk Regiment.

At 3pm, Colonel McCalmont he raised the flag in the ceremony to formally transfer Inver House and its grounds to the Larne Branch of the British Legion for use as a club and recreation facility for ex-Servicemen.  Inver House had been purchased by the War Memorials’ Committee from the Barklie family, Colonel McCalmont having played an important role in the transfer.

This war memorial was dedicated to those sailors and soldiers who died in the Great War and were natives, lived in, or left from Larne Urban District. Although it is unclear exactly what was meant by the term “left from Larne”, it possibly referred to men who enlisted in Larne Town. There are men recorded on the memorial whose only identifiable connection to the town was as the place of enlistment. Unlike the Ballymena & District War Memorial, which covers fatalities from the Urban District and the Rural District, the memorial in Larne was designated as an Urban District Memorial. Consequently, it does not extend to war fatalities from what was the Larne Rural District. Whilst there are war memorials in some parts of the old Larne Rural District, for example in Glynn village, there is no war memorial for the fatalities from the Rural District

The memorial is the work of Frederick William Pomeroy, a prolific British sculptor of architectural and monumental works, who died in May 1924. The memorial takes the form of a cenotaph made from Portland Stone with the addition of bronze statues of a Sergeant of the British Army and a sailor of the Royal Navy. At the soldier’s feet in a German helmet. An engraved frieze runs around the upper part of the cenotaph. At the four corners are the heads of lions and on the front and rear faces there is a medallion featuring a sailing ship and the motto of Larne. On the other two faces, there are medallions on which France and Belgium are engraved.

The memorial was originally erected in the roadway at the junction of Main Street, Glenarm Road, and Curran Road. The Methodist Church was behind the memorial and the Laharna Hotel was in front of it. There were changes to the memorial even before its re-location to its current location at Inver. When the memorial was unveiled, the dedication and the names of the fallen were individual metal letters attached to the stonework. By the end of October 1925, a bronze dedication panel and two bronze panels listing the names of the fallen had been inserted into the stonework.

With the increase in motor transport, the Larne Urban District Council proposed the relocation of the memorial in 1933. Although several accidents had occurred at the busy junction, there was opposition to the relocation. The current Garden of Remembrance was purchased from Larne & Inver Parish Church by Larne Borough Council in 1973 and the war memorial was transferred in May 1975

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The first name recorded on the original war memorial was Robert McFerran Adams. Robert was born on 23rd June 1896 at Glynnview Avenue in Larne to Edward John Adams, a ship’s carpenter, and Ellen Jane Burns and the family later lived at Ship Street, Olderfleet, and Castle Terrace in the town. Robert McFerran Adams enlisted with 12th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles and was deployed to France in October 1915. Rifleman Adams Died of Wounds on 4th June 1916 at the age of 19 and is buried in the Forceville Communal Cemetery and Extension in France. Locally, he is commemorated on the memorial tablet in First Larne Presbyterian Church and on a family memorial in the graveyard of St John’s Church of Ireland in Glynn. Ellen Jane Adams was awarded a Dependant’s Pension of five shillings per week from 26th June 1917 and Edward John Adams received a War Gratuity of £17 and ten shillings in October 1919.

The last name recorded on the original war memorial was William James Weir. William was born on 30th June 1890 at Drummaul near Randalstown to William Weir and Charlotte Morgan. In 1911, the family was living at Meetinghouse Street in Larne and William was employed as a Cloth Passer. The family was recorded as belonging to the Congregational denomination. William James Weir married Nora Barr on 30th April 1915 at Larne Methodist Church and they lived at Mill Brae in Larne.  William James Weir enlisted with the 12th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles and was deployed to France in October 1915. Rifleman Weir Died of Wounds on 10th August 1917, aged 27, and is buried in Brandhoek New Military Cemetery in Belgium. His widow was awarded a Dependant’s Pension of thirteen shillings and ninepence per week from 25th February 1918 and received a War Gratuity of £13 and ten shillings in November 1919. His brother, Rifleman Matthew Weir of the same battalion and regiment, is also commemorated on the memorial. He had been discharged due to wounds in 1917 and died of Septic Pneumonia on 12th January 1919, aged 27, and is buried in the Greenland Cemetery in Larne.

A stone panel bearing the names of 72 fatalities from the Second World War was unveiled in November 1949. A second stone panel was added later to commemorate one fatality from the Malayan Emergency (1948 to 1960), two from the Korean War (1950 to 1953), and one for Aden (1963 to 1967).

In 2019, two obelisks were erected near the war memorial on which are recorded the names of a further 128 fatalities from the Great War. As part of the project, the original memorial was renovated, and new paving was laid around the memorial. Ironically, the original war memorial was unveiled on the anniversary of the death of one of the men included on one of the obelisks.

 

 

William Hugh McCluggage was born on 20th February 1898 at Ballyvernstown near Glynn to Robert McCluggage and Jane McDowell. He enlisted in Larne with 12th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles and was deployed to France in October 1915. Signaller McCluggage was Killed in Action on 7th March 1917, aged 19, and is buried in St Quentin Cabaret Military Cemetery in France. Locally, he is commemorated on the memorial tablet for Ralloo Presbyterian Church, on a family memorial in the graveyard at St John’s Church of Ireland in in Glynn, and on the War Memorial in Glynn Village. Robert McCluggage received a War Gratuity of £8 and ten shillings in October 1919.

 

 

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them

 

 

Whitehead Aerodrome

The first military air base in Ireland was established at Bentra, near Whitehead, in October 1915.  It was home to Royal Naval Air Service airships which patrolled the Irish Sea looking for German U-boats.

airshipThe station housed an airship shed made of steel and canvas measuring 150 feet long by 45 feet wide and 50 feet high.  Wooden huts provided accommodation for the pilots and engineers. At least four airships operated from the station at Bentra – SSZ11, SSZ12, SS20 and SS23. Various types of aircraft also landed at the station and it became known as Whitehead Aerodrome. Affectionately named “battlebags” by their crews and “blimps” by civilians, Royal Naval Air Service airships were a familiar sight around Britain’s shores during the war years 1914 – 1918.  At least 226 airships were built and operated by the Royal Navy during the First World War in a bid to beat the deadly German U-boats.

The primary task for the airships stationed at the Bentra was to protect the Larne-Stranraer ferry and guard incoming convoys in the North Channel from German submarines. When the prevailing wind permitted, the crew would scout from the air, looking for submarines on the surface or the wake of a periscope. Success depended on close cooperation between the naval airmen and the warships operating from Larne harbour.

Today the site can be found by following a walking trail at https://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/airfield-finder/larne-bentra-whitehead

Listen to BBC World War One at Home’s item on Bentra airship station http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01sdwzw

Research: Mark McCrea, Member History Hub Ulster

Release of previously unseen vintage aerial photographs of Ulster

Harland & Wolff, Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1947. Oblique aerial photograph taken facing East.

Harland & Wolff, Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1947. Oblique aerial photograph taken facing East.

History Hub Ulster welcomes the release of previously unseen vintage aerial photographs of Ulster by the Britain From Above website.

The site has recently published many unseen vintage aerial photographs of Ulster covering the 1920’s through to the 1950’s.

Within the archive are aerial photographs of the Antrim, Ards, Armagh, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Banbridge, Belfast, Carrickfergus, Castlereagh, Cavan , Coleraine, Cookstown, Craigavon, Derry, Donegal, Down, Dungannon, Fermanagh, Lisburn, Larne, Magherafelt, Moyle, Newry and Mourne, Newtownabbey, North Down, Omagh and Strabane areas.

The photographs will interest everyone from local historians, railway enthusiasts and heritage fans to name a few.

Britain from Above is a four year project aimed at conserving 95,000 of the oldest and most valuable photographs in the Aerofilms collection, those dating from 1919 to 1953.  Once conserved, they are scanned into digital format and made available on this website for the public to see. This project has been made possible due to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and support from The Foyle Foundation and other donors. The website launched with the first 10,000 images and as we currently have little information about the details in the images, the website provides the opportunity to share and record your memories and knowledge about the places shown in the collection.

Britain From Above website http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/ 

Gavin Bamford and Catherine Burrell, History Hub Ulster members