William Sloan was born in Newtownards, County Down, Ireland. He was the only son of Anthony and Lizzie Sloan ( McCreedy) who lived in Roseneath Cottage, Main Street, Conlig, Co Down, near my father’s shop, at the corner of the Tower Road. This leads past Clandeboye Golf Club to Helen’s Tower .
The couple were married on 24th August,1896 in Ballygilbert Presbyterian Church. Anthony, who worked as a general labourer, was the brother of my two grannies Martha and Isabella Sloan. He had two children William and Lillah..
William enlisted at Clandeboye, without his parent’s permission, and, like other young men from Conlig , came home already wearing his uniform. He served with the 11th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles in 108 Battalion of the 36th (Ulster) Division and he was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme (1st July,1916) aged only 19 years.
Initially William was posted as missing in action but his mother Lizzie never accepted that he was dead. Until the day she died on 24 January 1932 the front door of the cottage was left unlocked, day and night, just in case William came home. He has no known grave and is commemorated in Conlig Presbyterian Church and on the Thiepval Memorial , France (Pier and face15A and 15B).
But the story does not end there. I delivered daily newspapers to his sister Lillah Hamilton in Roseneath Cottage as a boy. Lillah talked often of her brother and thought that I reminded her of him, for we looked alike and, of course, he was the cousin of both my grannies. And that is why I formed the Somme Association in 1990.
This grew essentially from a press conference held under the auspices of the then Lord Mayor Sammy Wilson and Lady Mayoress Rhonda Paisley on the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, 1st July,1986, when a Somme Commemoration Committee was initiated.
Having grown up in sight of Helen’s Tower at Clandeboye, where the Belfast Brigade of the 36th Ulster Division had trained, and on which the Ulster Memorial Tower at Thiepval had been modelled, I proposed that museum complexes close to both towers could be built, that Thiepval Wood could be purchased and that Helen’s Tower could be opened up to the public under the auspices of the Dufferin family.
Dr Paisley explained his own position as a European MP and emphasised that this was a project to honour everyone who had fought at the Somme, both Unionist and Nationalist, Catholic and Protestant. He would help the project to achieve its aims through the good offices of the European Parliament, the French Embassy and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Dr Ian Paisley and myself at the Ulster Tower, Friday,12th September,1986.
And so, on 1st July, 1989, the Ulster Memorial Tower at Thiepval in France, the second Helen’s Tower, built by public subscription and completed in 1922, was re-dedicated under the auspices of our Farset Somme Project by HRH Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester. Hundreds of pilgrims from Ulster made the journey, among them veterans of the 36th (Ulster) Division and public representatives from throughout Northern Ireland.
We were delighted that HRH continued to be associated with our work by consenting to become the first President of The Somme Association. On her death on 29th October, 2004, we were further privileged that her son Prince Richard would follow her in this role.
As founding Chairman of this Association, I have travelled to France and Belgium every year since to remember the ordinary soldiers from throughout Ireland who fought and died there. Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, has accompanied us many times, officiating at our ceremonies of Remembrance in both France and Gallipoli, and meeting with President Mary McAleese in Turkey. He also opened the Somme Heritage Centre at Whitespots, Conlig in 1994.
In commemorating the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War in 2008, I was especially privileged to attend three Services of Remembrance in Belgium and France. The first was on Sunday 29th June at Wytschaete 16th Irish Division Memorial in Belgium attended by my friends Rev. Dr Ian and Baroness Eileen Paisley. Dr Paisley laid a wreath at the grave of Major Willie Redmond at Locre. On Tuesday 1st July we attended the British and French Service at Thiepval Memorial led by the then Secretary of State, the Right Honourable Sean Woodward.
As Chairman of the Somme Association I then officiated at the Ulster Tower Service in memory of the 36th Ulster Division and their comrades in arms who had fought there at the Battle of the Somme. On Sunday 7th September, 2008 the Association held a further service of remembrance at the 16th Irish Division Memorial at Guillemont in honour of the men who fought in that month at the Battles of Guillemont and Ginchy. This service was attended by the Mayor of Derry, and dignitaries from throughout Northern Ireland.