New Zealand locomotive ‘Passchendaele’ returns to active service for First World War Centenary

A steam locomotive named ‘Passchendaele’ in memory of New Zealand Railways staff who died in the First World War has been restored in time for the Centenary.

After almost 20 years of work, the engine was rededicated at a ceremony on 25th April 2014, Anzac Day. The aim is to have it back in mainline running condition for commemorative events by the end of June.

The project has been carried out by staff and volunteers at Steam Incorporated, a charity dedicated to locomotive restoration.

Locomotive Ab608 was built in Christchurch during the Great War. It’s carried the name ‘Passchendaele’ since 1925 when the New Zealand Government agreed to a proposal to dedicate an engine to railway staff killed in the conflict.

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More than 5,000 New Zealand railwaymen served overseas between 1914 and 1918, over a third of the total workforce. 447 never returned.

While ‘Anzac’ and ‘Somme’ were among the names suggested, the Minister of Railways, Gordon Coates, decided Ab608 should be called ‘Passchendaele,’ after the battlefield where the most New Zealanders died in a single day.

October 12th 1917 became known as New Zealand’s blackest day. Its forces suffered 3,700 casualties – included almost 900 dead – while making one of the many Allied attempts to capture the village of Passchendaele, near Ypres in Belgium.

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Locomotive Ab608 was retired by New Zealand Railways in 1967 after more than 50 years’ service. Its honours included hauling the royal train during the visit of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth) in 1927.

The engine’s nameplates were temporarily removed during the Second World War.

After withdrawal from service, ‘Passchendaele’ was donated to the New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society, and later leased to Steam Incorporated in 1993 for restoration at its Paekakariki works, near Wellington.

Major repairs and renovations had to be carried out on the boiler, frames and wheels.

The engine is now undergoing mainline trials in preparation for its return to active duty on heritage excursion trains.

Sources: Steam Incorporated & New Zealand Government

Images: ©Steam Incorporated

Posted by: Peter Alhadeff, Centenary News

 

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Common Identity 5

Our focus at the Ullans Academy is now on “Common Identity”, an expression I first used in my book, Cruthin, The Ancient Kindred (1974), and which I continued to explore in all my later publications. By this term “Common Identity” we understand the total expression of all the inter-relationships within the island of Ireland which define who we are. It creates a sense of belonging, which takes people beyond the confines of their side of the religious divide. Understanding Common Identity will empower all sections of our community to achieve cultural expression and allow freedom of thought. Common Identity is by its very nature politically plural and inclusive. 

The Ullans Academy has therefore been involved, for example, in assisting former loyalist combatants to take a wider perspective on their history and culture, especially in relation to the myths of Gaelic pseudo-history. Thus, the Dalaradia organisation was formed in County Antrim several years ago as a way of engaging working class loyalists in the peace process. Although key members were involved in enabling the peace process to move forward, especially by facilitating decommissioning of the loyalist arsenal, many members and associates had not bought into the process because they saw no benefits to their community. It is precisely this kind of area that interests the Ullans Academy. 

The first official representation of Dalaradia was in 2011 at Belfast City Hall when the chairman of the group was co-opted on to the Ulster Centenary Committee, of which the present author was founder chairman, to organise the ongoing decade of events. This has involved the highly successful Balmoral Review and the Centenary of the founding of the original UVF at Craigavon House. Key members of Dalaradia were previously involved in founding the Loyalist Commission after the loyalist feud (2003), meeting with all loyalists, MLAs, clergy and Secretaries of State. In 2011, members of Dalaradia went on a week-long, inter-community trip to the Somme to try to give everyone involved a deeper understanding of this key period of history. Individuals from either side of the political divide who took part in that project have remained in touch. 

Although the Somme is paramount in their minds, the members of Dalaradia are eager to engage with people from across the board within a Common Identity logic to move towards a shared future. Thus, with the Dalaradia chairman, we have accompanied them both to Crew Hill, Glenavy, to see the site of the inauguration stone of the Kings of Ulster and in liaison with Brian Ervine, who has a particular interest in the area, to a Caledonian “Scottish” Dalriada Residential – again inter-community – in Argyll in September 2013. Similarly, the group, who meet at the Hubb on the Shore Road, North Belfast,[1] have recently visited the Bogside Bloody Sunday Museum, the Orange Museum and Derry’s walls [2]. 

Its members see Dalaradia as a broadly Ulster-Scots body open to all aspects of our culture relating to all who share our land. However, in many ways they have already moved beyond the two traditions frame, developing strong links with the Polish and Black communities who have become an integral part of the ever-broadening tapestry of Northern Ireland society. They are also determined to learn from other people’s experience of divided societies. Thus, in 2012 the chairman was one of a small group of senior loyalists who visited Israel to study the conflict there, engaging with Israelis and Palestinians, as well as with university, Kibbutz, military and UN personnel. 

They are also involved in facilitating the formation of a Dal Fiatach Group in North Down, complimenting their own group, as well as the Kingdom of Dalriada group in North Antrim, linked to the Ullans Centre in Ballymoney, County Antrim. And Pretani Associates will promote the formation of a Manapian group in Taughmonagh (South Belfast) linked to Monaghan and Fermanagh. 

Our vision is to promote Common Identity in order to contribute to creating stability for the people on the island of Ireland resulting in lasting peace for the benefit of the whole  community in Northern Ireland and for future generations. In this spirit, it was therefore proposed by our Chair, Helen Brooker, that we should recommend to our Board that the Ullans Academy be henceforth known as the Academy promoting Common Identity, in line with Pretani Principles. 

Concluson

Martin Hay, writing about Ulster-Scots communal origins, refers to: “the thesis forwarded by Ian Adamson in various publications where he argues that the contemporary Ulster-Scots are descendents of the original inhabitants of the island of Ireland and that the cultural connections between Ulster and Scotland are of ancient origin” [3]. It is precisely this extensive yet inclusive narrative for Ulster-Scots that I wish to promote. The presentation of that narrative through the medium of Common Identity signals a more confident and more open approach, which I am convinced will be to the benefit of the Northern Ireland community as a whole. 

I am grateful for the assistance of my colleague Helen Brooker of Pretani Associates and Chair of the Ullans Academy in the preparation of this paper.


[1] The Hubb is the last Second World War Civil Defence Hall left in Northern Ireland and was preserved mainly due to the fundraising efforts of local community worker, Jim Crothers.   

[2] Future plans will be on www.dalaradia.co.uk 

[3] Martin Hay, The Elite Promotion of Ulster-Scots Identity: Origins, History and Culture, Working Papers Volume 1, Institute of Ulster-Scots Studies, The University of Ulster, 2009.

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Common Identity 4

The Ullans Academy – Common identity

As for the original Ulster-Scots (Ullans) Academy which we had established in 1992, it has continued to promote aspects of shared heritage and community relations between the nationalist and unionist sections of our community in Northern Ireland, particularly in Belfast. The group was established with the idea that bringing people together through their shared cultural heritage would raise awareness of those things that bind us together rather than divide us and thus foster a sense of mutual tolerance and respect, and this it has achieved. Its members believe that this will lead to the development of stronger inter-community relationships in future years. 

Thus, the key objectives of the group are: 

To encourage and promote the shared Ulster-Scots, Ulster Gaelic and Ulster English heritage and to raise awareness throughout Northern Ireland of this shared cultural heritage through delivery of high quality and engaging events and activities, particularly our Saint Patrick’s Breakfast and the Feast of Columbanus [1];

To go into the community and encourage inter-community activity and exploration of the diversity of community learning as an extension of education. 

As Northern Ireland moves further into the post-conflict period there are still many people who are struggling to develop their potential and who experience minimal inter-community contact in their everyday lives. These “hard to reach” areas, both unionist and nationalist, Protestant and Roman Catholic, are some of the key areas that the Ullans Academy has sought to engage and will continue to target over the coming years to facilitate the ongoing development of a more prosperous and peaceful society in the local community across Northern Ireland. 

We support the promotion of our shared culture, heritage, history, literature, language and music through a community-based approach which identifies three strands for development as modelled on the Frisian Academy: 

–          Culture and History;

–          Research in Language and Literature;

–          Social Science and Community Development. 

In 2010 our current Management Committee reaffirmed the principles and philosophy of the Ullans Academy and its commitment to cross-cultural and inter-community work in their widest possible context – preserving and developing interest in and understanding of Ulster-Scots, Ulster Gaelic and Ulster English culture and heritage right across the community [2], especially at grass-roots level in a manner which encourages contact, dialogue, respect, mutual understanding and parity of esteem with a view to reconciliation. The people we were trying to reach were primarily people from working-class, urban areas, those most directly affected by the violence of the Troubles and those who had the fewest opportunities for access to “Culture”, especially when that was in any way remotely associated with a political agenda of a different colour. 

It was with this particular aim in mind that in 2012 we started a series of lectures in the community [3] supported by funding from Belfast City Council and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Dublin. To ensure the highest level of openness to potential audiences, lectures were  given in each of two prominent sites: Belmont Tower in (the predominantly Protestant) East Belfast [4] closely associated with C.S. Lewis [5], and An Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich, at the heart of the (predominantly Roman Catholic) Gaeltacht area of West Belfast[6]. As a fulfilment of our original Memorandum of Association (2003), we are preparing The Bible in Plain Scots for publication translated by Gavin Falconer and Ross G Arthur [7]. 


[1] These events were first organised in March 2005 with the first St Patrick’s Breakfast, followed by a Feast of Columbanus in November, based on the Farset “Steps of Columbanus” project of the mid-eighties. Farset was led by Jackie Hewitt, formerly of the Northern Ireland Labour Party, who was responsible for the later development of Farset International Hostel on the Springfield Road, Belfast, interface. These events have been addressed by prominent speakers from across the whole community, for example, Rev Dr Ian R.K. Paisley, the Lord Bannside, and President Mary McAleese, who spoke together in the Park Avenue Hotel, East Belfast on Tuesday, 23rd November 2010. The 2013 event was addressed by Rev Dr Ian R.K. Paisley, the Lord Bannside and President Michael D. Higgins.

[2] In my introduction to Ian James Parsley’s superlative Ulster Scots: A Short Reference Grammar, Belfast, Ulster-Scots Academic Press, 2012, p. , I wrote: “At the Ullans Academy, although Ulster Scots has been our focus, we have always wanted to emphasise the interrelationships between English, Scots and Gaelic as they are spoken in Ulster. What is exciting about this book is that it provides an exhibition of Ulster-Scots grammar, but also how it relates to other languages spoken in Ulster and Scotland”.

[3] To date, the lectures have been as follows: Dr Ian Adamson OBE (Somme Association), “Breaking Stereotypes of the First World War at the Somme”, 1st & 5th November 2012; Liam Logan (Ulster-Scots Academy), “Ulster-Scots Language”, 3rd & 6th December 2012; Dr Ruairí Ó Bléine (Ultach Trust), “Presbyterians and Irish”, 7th & 9th January 2013; Nicky Gilmore (Dal Fiatach), “King William”,  4th & 7th February 2013; Brian Ervine (Former Leader of the Progressive Unionist Party), “St Patrick”, 4th & 7th March 2013. All lecturers  are Board members of the Ullans Academy. On the first date given, the lecture was held at Belmont Tower (East Belfast); on the second date at An Cultúrlann McAdam/ÓFiaich (West Belfast). All lectures are available on Youtube.

[4] On 29th November 1999 the Old Belmont School Preservation Trust (OBSPT) was established as a company limited by guarantee. The Trust, chaired by Helen Brooker, was established in November 1999 as a result of a community driven campaign, the main aims of which were to secure and restore the former Belmont Primary School – a Grade B1 listed building for the benefit of the local community and future generations. As such, OBSPT was one of the first single building preservation trusts to be established in Northern Ireland. The Patron of the Trust was Lady Carswell OBE.

The Trust acquired the building in April 2001 and the building was restored with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the DOE Environment and Heritage Service. It was officially opened by HRH Prince Charles on 1st September 2004 and was named Belmont Tower. The building has won a number of prestigious awards, including that from the Royal Society of Chartered Surveyors for “Excellence in the Built Environment”. The building also featured in the BBC’s second Restoration series in 2004, as being a first-class example of a community-led regeneration project.

Since then, Belmont Tower has become a multi-use facility offering classes, conference facilities, a coffee shop and a CS Lewis exhibition. On the 31st August 2013 the trustees of the Old Belmont School Preservation Trust passed ownership of the building to the National Trust. The future of the building and its use within the community has been secured and it is very much business as usual for this landmark building in east Belfast.

[5] Lewis’s magisterial work, Poetry and Prose in the Sixteenth Century, Volume IV in the Oxford History of English Literature (1954), was particularly important, dealing as it does with language and literature at the close of the Middle Ages in Scotland. Characteristically, Lewis writes “Scotch” not “Scottish”, claiming the freedom of “my ain vulgaire”, which has historical precedence.

[6] An Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich is an arts and cultural centre with a strong focus on Irish language and culture. It is named after the Presbyterian Gaelic scholar, Robert Shipboy Mc Adam, and my old friend Cardinal Tomas Ó Fiaich. The centre offers a vital arts programme, including theatre, music, visual arts, poetry, literary events, workshops and classes catering for all ages. Located in a former Presbyterian church on the Falls Road, Belfast, the building has had a number of incarnations during its often troubled history. As an arts centre it is at the heart of a vibrant cultural community. An Cultúrlann also houses a café / restaurant, book and gift shop and a tourist information point.

[7] Publication pending by the Ullans Academy with a grant from MAGUS.

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Common Identity 3

The failure to establish a statutory Academy at this period meant that the work that went on over the years in each of these fields was on an exclusively voluntary basis, with all the constraints that such involvement implies. Hope of a new initiative returned in 2008 when Professor John Corbett of Glasgow University agreed to write a draft report [1] and recommendations for the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Culture, Arts and Leisure Committee. In it, he suggested that an institute or centre for research and teaching that focused on the Scots language in Ulster and the West of Scotland should be set up. This Centre of Excellence would have been drawn from staff of three contributing universities, the University of Glasgow, the University of Ulster and the Queen’s University of Belfast.

Ian Paisley and I met the then Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure, Gregory Campbell MP MLA, on 23rd July 2008 to discuss this proposal. We were well received and a meeting between Professor Corbett and the Minister’s officials was arranged. The Minister wrote to me on 15th August 2008 informing me that this meeting had taken place on 12th August 2008. Arrangements were made for him to meet Deloitte who were in the process of refreshing the business case for the Ulster-Scots Academy and this meeting was described as “very useful”. Officials were to develop a paper for the Minister’s consideration and he had asked them that Professor Corbett’s proposals should receive due consideration in the development of that paper. 

This initiative has since been progressed. On 23rd March 2010, the then Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure, Nelson McCausland MLA, eventually announced his plans for the Ulster-Scots Academy. Speaking at North Down Museum in Bangor, County Down he talked of the importance of Ulster-Scots as one of Northern Ireland’s main cultural traditions. I attended on the invitation of the Ulster-Scots Agency of which I was a member. Among the subjects broached on this occasion was the creation of a Ministerial Advisory Group to develop an Academy. Referring to this presentation, the Northern Ireland Executive site goes on to explain: 

“The initiative has three strands: Language and Literature; History, Heritage and Culture; and Education and Research.”

The Minister added: “I believe great damage has been done to the development of the sector by opponents who have sought to characterise this as being all about the status of the Ulster-Scots language. Clearly, it is about much more than that – this is a rich and vibrant culture which has shaped many aspects of life in Northern Ireland [2].” 

And so it came to pass that Minister McCausland announced the appointment of a Ministerial Advisory Group for the Ulster-Scots Academy. Following open competitions for the appointment of a Chairman and four new Members, these were appointed with immediate effect for a period of up to four years. Yet another four members to “represent the Ulster-Scots Sector” were appointed by the Minister himself. As it turned out, however, the group was actually a very good, indeed excellent, one, although whether it ever produces a statutory Ulster-Scots Academy remains to be seen [3] 

At the launch of the “MAGUSA”, on 24th March 2011, the Minister reiterated the tripartite basis if the strategy 

“This group has been established to provide advice on the strategic development of the Ulster-Scots sector and to rapidly build confidence within the sector by progressing projects under the three streams of activity for the proposed Ulster-Scots Academy, i.e. Language and Literature; History, Heritage and Culture; and Education and Research [4].” 

Although we wish this excellent initiative well in its attempts to establish a statutary Ulster-Scots Academy in Northern Ireland, it remains difficult to see how the damage done to the Ulster-Scots movement over the years can be rectified at this stage. Actually, most of the blame must surely lie with those who were imbued with narrow sectarian and political attitudes – in some cases bizarrely so, particularly British Israelite theories –, some of whom achieved high status in government and stifled any attempt to promote the true ideals of the Ulster-Scots movement, while always remaining astute enough to present themselves as non-political and non-sectarian. 


[1] Personal communication, 25th June 2008.

[2] See Northern Ireland Executive site (www.northernireland.gov.uk), « Minister outlines way forward for Ulster-Scots », Thursday 24 March 2011, available at : http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/index/media-centre/news-departments/news-dcal/news-dcal-march-archive-2011/news-dcal-240311-minister-outlines-way.htm (13/11/2013).

[3] The Chairman of the Ministerial Advisory Group was Dr Bill Smith, and the Members were Dr Caroline Baraniuk, Dr John McCavitt, Dr David Hume MBE, Dr Ivan Herbison, Tom Scott OBE, Iain Carlisle, Alister McReynolds and John Erskine. Appointees were to serve for a period of up to four years.

[4] See Northern Ireland Executive site (www.northernireland.gov.uk), “Appointments to the Ministerial Advisory Group for the Ulster-Scots Academy”, Thusday 24 March 2011, available at:  http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/index/media-centre/news-departments/news-dcal/news-dcal-march-archive-2011/news-dcal-240311-appointments-to-the.htm  (13/11/2013).

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Common Identity 2

In 1992, therefore, the year of Fréchet’s death, I published, under my imprint, Pretani Press, the three-volume Folk Poets of Ulster series [1], thus initiating the modern Ulster-Scots revival in Northern Ireland.

I had also suggested the new name “Ullans” for the Ulster-Scots Academy which I proposed in June 1992, and formally established in Northern Ireland following a meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, between Professor Robert Gregg and myself on Thursday, 23rd July that year. The Ullans Academy was to be based on the Frisian Academy of Sciences in the Netherlands, which I had visited in 1978, and again in 1980, with a group of community activists from Northern Ireland, including Andy Tyrie, then Chairman of the Ulster Defence Association, and now Patron of the Ulster-Scots (Ullans) Academy. The essential characteristic of the Frisian Academy was its division into three departments: Linguistics and Literature, History and Culture, and Social Sciences. This tripartite division was to become our model. 

The new Ullans Academy was intended to fulfil a need for the regulation and standardisation of the language for modern usage. These standards were to have been initiated on behalf of the Ulster-Scots community, Protestant and Roman Catholic, nationalist and unionist, and would be academically sound. What we didn’t need was the development of an artificial dialect which excluded and alienated traditional speakers [2]. It seemed clear to me that it was fundamentally important to establish a standard version of the language, with agreed spelling, while at the same time maintaining the rich culture of local variants. Therefore in 1995, I published for the Ulster-Scots Language Society, a regional dictionary by James Fenton, The Hamely Tongue: A Personal Record of Ulster-Scots in County Antrim [3], under the imprint of the Ulster-Scots Academic Press, from my premises in 17 Main Street, Conlig, County Down. This was the most important record yet produced of current Ulster-Scots speech and is now, under the imprint of the Ullans Press, in its third edition. It was distributed by my friend David Adamson, who did so without remuneration. 

Like the Frisian Academy on which it was based, the Ulster-Scots or Ullans Academy’s research was intended to extend beyond language and literature to historical, cultural and philosophical themes such as the life and works of Frances Hutcheson and C.S. Lewis, and to studies of the history of Ulidia in general, especially Dalriada, Dalaradia, Dal Fiatach, Galloway and Carrick, not forgetting Ellan Vannin, the Isle of Man.


[1] The three titles in the series are: The Country Rhymes of James Orr, the Bard of Ballycarry 1770-1816; The Country Rhymes of Hugh Porter, the Bard of Moneyslane c. 1780; and, The Country Rhymes of Samuel Thomson, the Bard of Carncranny 1766-1816, all published by Pretani Press, Bangor, 1992. Series editors: J.R.R. Adams and P.S. Robinson.

[2] Unfortunately, this is exactly what has happened, to the detriment of the language itself.

[3] James Fenton, The Hamely Tongue: A Personal Record of Ulster-Scots in County Antrim, Conlig, The Ulster-Scots Academic Press, 1995.

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Common Identity I

Tonight I attended the launch in the Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s University, Belfast of the book ” Ulster-Scots in Northern Ireland Today: Language, Culture,Community” by Professor Wesley Hutchinson of the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris 3. It was No 38-2 Automne-Hiver 2013 of the Études Irlandaises, Revue française d’histoire, civilisation et littérature de l’Irlande. publiée avec le concours du service des relations culturelles de l’ambassade de l’Irlande, des universités de Caen, Lille 3, Reims, Rennes 2 et Paris 3 et du Ireland Fund France and was published by the Presses universitaire de Rennes. The following is my own contribution. I am grateful for the assistance of my colleague Helen Brooker of Pretani Associates and former chair of the Ullans Academy in the preparation of this paper. 

 

Common Identity 

Ian Adamson [1]

Author and founding Chairman of the Ulster-Scots Academy 

Abstract

This paper is designed to show how my involvement in the development of the early Ulster-Scots movement has evolved in recent years towards using the Ulster-Scots tradition as part of a broader panoply of cultural expression. It highlights the ways in which the search for parity of esteem can be enhanced for that important section of our community, the Common People, through an awareness of their Common Identity. 

Keywords:

Ullans Academy, Ulster-Scots movement, community, identity 

Résumé

Cet article essaie de montrer comment mon engagement aux débuts du mouvement Ulster-Scots a évolué récemment vers l’insertion de la tradition Ulster-Scots au sein d’une gamme d’expression culturelle plus large. L’article souligne les façons dont l’équilibre culturel peut être valorisé pour cette composante importante de notre communauté – les gens ordinaires – à travers une sensibilisation à l’identité commune qu’ils partagent.

Mots clé :

Ullans Academy, mouvement Ulster-scots, communauté, identité 

On 13th January 1992 Professor René Fréchet of the Sorbonne wrote to me to ask for permission to translate my book, The Ulster People [2], into French and have it published by his University Press. He had spoken to his colleague, Paul Brennan, later to become Professor of Irish Studies at the Sorbonne, who had agreed to do so. Sadly, Fréchet’s tragic death on April 24th of that year obviated the possibility of that proposed translation and publication [3].   

It was during this time that I began to become more involved in the promotion of Ulster-Scots with my founding chairmanship of the Ulster-Scots Language Society and the establishment of an Ulster-Scots Academy [4]. Although Fréchet had not lived to see these projects develop, I would like to think that my vision for Ulster-Scots, as an integral part of an inclusive culture that stretches across the sectarian divide, would have met with his interest and approval.

[1] Ian Adamson is the author of a number of books dealing with historical and cultural issues in Northern Ireland, notably: Cruthin: The Ancient Kindred, Belfast, Pretani Press, 1974; The Identity of Ulster: The Land, the Language and the People, Bangor, Pretani Press, 1982; and, Dalaradia, Kingdom of the Cruthin, Belfast, Pretani Press, 1998. A former Lord Mayor of Belfast, he is the Advisor on History and Culture to Rev. Dr Ian R.K. Paisley PC, The Lord Bannside. He is also the originator and founding Chairman of the Ulster-Scots Academy, the Somme Association and the Unionist Centenary Committee.

[2] Ian Adamson, The Ulster People, Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern, Bangor, Pretani Press, 1991.

[3] See Ian Adamson, “The Ulster-Scots Movement, A Personal Account”, in Wesley Hutchinson & Clíona Ní Ríordáin (eds.), Language Issues Ireland, France, Spain, Brussels, Peter Lang, 2010, p. 33-42.

[4] NB The reader will understand that this body is distinct from the body referred to later in the paper, The Ulster-Scots Academy, whose creation is currently being envisaged within the framework of the Ministerial Advisory Group on Ulster-Scots.

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The Middle Kingdoms 5: The Ulster Scots (Scotch Irish)

By the death of Elizabeth I of England, things had come to such a pitch along the Border that the English government considered re-fortifying and rebuilding Hadrian’s Wall, that artiicial entity which has divided Great Britain (Alba) for nearly two thousand years. When Elizabeth died, there was an especially violent outbreak of raiding known as “Ill Week”, resulting from the convenient belief that the laws of a kingdom were suspended between the death of a sovereign and the proclamation of the successor Upon his accession to the English throne, James VI of Scotland (who became James I of England) moved hard against the reivers, abolishing Border Law and the very term “Borders” in favour of “Middle Shires,” and dealing out stern “justice” to Reivers.

Hermitage Castle, the strength of Liddesdale. An important stronghold for the Scottish Marches. Its holder, the Keeper of Liddesdale, usually had equal status to the Scottish Wardens of the Marches.

The border families can be referred to as clans, as the Scots themselves appear to have used both terms interchangeably until the 19th century. In an Act of the Scottish Parliament of 1597 there is the description of the “Chiftanis and chieffis of all clannis… duelland in the hielands or bordouris” – thus using the word clan and chief to describe both Highland and Lowland families. The act goes on to list the various Border clans. Later, Sir George MacKenzie of Rosehaugh, the Lord Advocate (Attorney General) writing in 1680 said “By the term ‘chief’ we call the representative of the family from the word chef or head and in the Irish (Gaelic) with us the chief of the family is called the head of the clan”. Thus, the words chief or head, and clan or family, are interchangeable. It is therefore possible to talk of the MacDonald family or the Maxwell clan. The idea that Highlanders should be listed as clans while the Lowlanders are listed as families originated as a 19th-century convention.

Other terms were also used to describe the Border families, such as the “Riding Surnames” and the “Graynes” thereof. This can be equated to the system of the Highland Clans and their septs. e.g. Clan Donald and Clan MacDonald of Sleat, can be compared with the Scotts of Buccleuch, from whom the present Earl of Ulster is descended, and the Scotts of Harden and elsewhere. Both Border Graynes and Highland septs however, had the essential feature of patriarchal leadership by the chief of the name, and had territories in which most of their kindred lived. Border families did practice customs similar to those of the Gaels, such as tutorship when an heir who was a minor succeeded to the chiefship, and giving bonds of manrent. Although feudalism existed, loyalty to kin was much more important and this is what distinguished the Borderers from other lowland Scots.

In 1587 the Parliament of Scotland passed a statute: “For the quieting and keping in obiedince of the disorderit subjectis inhabitantis of the borders hielands and Ilis.” Attached to the statute was a Roll of surnames from both the Borders and Highlands. The Borders portion listed 17 ‘clannis’ with a Chief and their associated Marches:

  • Middle March
    • Elliot, Armstrong, Nixon, Crosier
  • West March
    • Scott, Bates, Little, Thomson, Glendenning, Irvine, Bell, Carruthers, Graham, Johnstone, Jardine, Moffat and Latimer.

Of the Border Clans or Graynes listed on this roll, Elliott, Armstrong, Scott, Little, Irvine, Bell, Graham, Johnstone, Jardine and Moffat are registered with the Court of Lord Lyon in Edinburgh as Scottish Clans. Others such as Clan Blackadder were armigerous in the Middle Ages but later died out or lost their lands, and are unregistered.

The historic riding surnames, as recorded by George MacDonald Fraser in The Steel Bonnets (1989), are:

  • East March
    • Scotland: Hume, Trotter, Dixon, Bromfield, Craw, Cranston.
    • England: Forster, Selby, Gray, Dunn.
  • Middle March
    • Scotland: Burn, Kerr, Young, Pringle, Davison, Gilchrist, Tait of East Teviotdale. Scott, Oliver, Turnbull (Trimble), Rutherford of West Teviotdale. Armstrong,Crosier, Elliot, Nixon, Douglas, Laidlaw, Turner, Henderson of Liddesdale.
    • England: Anderson, Potts, Reed, Hall, Hedley of Redesdale. Charlton, Robson, Dodds, Milburn, Yarrow, Stapleton of Tynedale. Also Fenwick, Ogle, Heron, Witherington, Medford (later Mitford), Collingwood, Carnaby, Shaftoe, Ridley, Stokoe, Stamper, Wilkinson, Hunter, Thomson, Jamieson.
  • West March
    • Scotland: Bell, Irvine, Johnstone, Maxwell, Carlisle, Beattie, Little, Carruthers, Glendenning, Moffat.
    • England: Graham, Hetherington, Musgrave, Storey, Lowther, Curwen, Salkeld, Dacre, Harden, Hodgson , Routledge, Tailor, Noble.

Relationships between the Border clans varied from uneasy alliance to open “deadly feud”. It took little to start a feud; a chance quarrel or misuse of office was sufficient. Feuds might continue for years until patched up in the face of invasion from the other kingdoms, or when the outbreak of other feuds caused alliances to shift. The border was easily destabilised if Graynes from opposite sides of the border were at feud. Feuds also provided ready excuse for particularly murderous raids or pursuits.

Skills of horsemanship are kept alive in the Borders: fording the Tweed on Braw Lad’s Day, Galashiels 2011

Long after they were gone, the reivers were romanticised by writers such as Sir Walter Scott( Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border), although he made mistakes; the term Moss-trooper, which he used, refers to one of the robbers that existed after the real Reivers had been put down. Nevertheless, Scott was a native of the borders, writing down histories which had been passed on in folk tradition or ballad. The stories of legendary border reivers like Kinmount Willie Armstrong were often retold in folk-song as Border ballads. There are also local legends, such as the “Dish of Spurs” which would be served to a border chieftain of the Charltons to remind him that the larder was empty and it was time to acquire more plunder. Scottish author Nigel Tranter revisited these themes in his historical and contemporary novels.

The names of the Rever families are still very much apparent amongst the inhabitants of the Scottish Borders, Northumberland, Cumbria, Ulster and Appalachia today. Reiving families (particularly those large enough to carry significant influence) have left the local population passionate about their territory on both sides of the Border. Newspapers have described the local cross-border rugby fixtures as ‘annual re-runs of the bloody “Battle of Otterburn”. Despite this there has been much cross-border migration since the Pacification of the Borders, and families that were once Scots now identify themselves as English and vice versa.

Hawick in Scotland holds an annual Reivers’ festival as do the Schomberg Society in Kilkeel, Northern Ireland (the two often co-operate). The summer festival in the Borders town of Duns is headed by the “Reiver” and “Reiver’s Lass”, a young man and young woman elected from the inhabitants of the town and surrounding area. The Ulster-Scots Agency’s first two leaflets from the ‘Scots Legacy’ series feature the story of the historic Ulster tartan and the origins of the kilt and the Border Reivers.

Borderers (particularly those banished by James VI  of Scotland and I of England took part in the Seventeenth Century Settlement of Ulster becoming the people known as Ulster-Scots (Scotch-Irish in America). Reiver descendants can be found throughout Ulster with names such as Elliot, Armstrong, Beattie, Bell, Hume and Heron, Rutledge, and Turnbull (Trimble) amongst others.The Grahams were so detested by James that their very name was forbidden, so they cleverly reversed it and were known by the old Gaelic family name of Maharg.

Border surnames can also be found throughout the major areas of Scotch-Irish settlement in the United States, and particularly in the Appalachian region. The historian David Hackett Fischer (1989) has shown in detail how Border culture became rooted in parts of the United States. Author George MacDonald Fraser wryly observed or imagined Border traits and names among famous people in modern American history; Presidents Lyndon B. Johnston and Richard Nixon, among others. It is also noted that, in 1969, a descendant of the Borderers, Neil Armstrong, was the first person to set foot on the moon. In the following year, Mr. Armstrong visited the town of Langholm, home of his ancestors.

The artist Gordon Young created a public art work in Carlisle: Cursing Stone and Reiver Pavement, a nod to Gavin Dunbar, the Archbishop of Glasgow’s 1525 Monition of Cursing. Names of Reiver families, last of the Old British of the Middle Kingdoms, are set into the paving of a walkway which connects Tullie House Museum to Carlisle Castle under a main road, and part of the bishop’s curse is displayed on a 14-ton granite boulder. The time has come for us to lift that curse and proclaim our birthright to the Middle Kingdoms of our ancestors.

Concluded

© Pretani Associates 2014 

 

 

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Lord Mayor’s Somme Appeal

 

Lord Mayor launches the Somme Association Centenary Appeal at City Hall The Somme Association Centenary Appeal is launched by the Lord Mayor at City Hall

 

Lord Mayor Councillor Máirtín Ó Muilleoir today launched the Somme Association Centenary Appeal at Belfast City Hall.

Councillor Ó Muilleoir had named the Somme Association as one his charities for his year in office, which is coming at an end next week. 

The Somme Association aims to ensure that the memory of all the men and women who were part of Ireland’s contribution to the war effort are honoured in an appropriate and dignified way. 

Up to 50,000 from all parts of Ireland died during the First World War with thousands more of Irish descent, serving with other countries, also lost. Very few households across the whole of Ireland were unaffected by the scale of this loss. 

The appeal is planned to coincide with the centenaries of the First World War. It is aimed at providing the charity with the funds it needs to cover its costs over the next six years as it will have a leading role in planning and organising many of the events and exhibitions to commemorate the centenaries of the First World War both in Ireland, North and South, and further afield in France, Belgium and Gallipoli. 

The Lord Mayor said:  “I said at the beginning of my time as Lord Mayor that I would work with the Somme Association to explore ways in which I can pay respect to the dead of the First World War. 

“I had also undertaken to visit the Somme during the year and we worked hard with the Association to identify potential dates but it was not possible due to diary commitments on both. However, today I have reaffirmed my intention to go there after my time as Lord Mayor as come to an end and I look forward to doing so. 

“It has always been my conviction that we must redouble our efforts to fulfil the pledge of making the First World War the war to end all wars. 

“I am proud to assist the Somme Association in its efforts to seek public support to ensure the Irish dead of the First World War are properly commemorated as the centenaries of their service approaches.” 

Association chairman Dr Ian Adamson said: “Throughout history there have been episodes of such human suffering that they have served to strengthen a people rather than weakening them. They come to have a deeply-rooted, energising, symbolic power. So it is with the huge losses of the 36th (Ulster) and 16th (Irish) Divisions at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. 

“As we enter the centenary period of commemoration of Ireland in War and Revolution, our Somme Association is most honoured that the Lord Mayor has honoured us by making us one of his charities and launching our fund-raising Appeal today. 

“Time constraints have not allowed us to reciprocate by bringing him to the Somme Battlefields, as he had wished, during his extremely busy and highly successful tenure of office. But we are delighted that he will be able to accompany us there in the near future.” 

Members of the public wanting to support the Appeal can do so by making a donation to: 

The Somme Association Centenary Appeal, 

The Somme Association 

233 Bangor Road, 

Newtownards, 

County Down, 

BT23 7PH 

Appeal leaflets are available at the Somme Museum and can be obtained by ringing the museum at 028 91823202. 

  • The Somme Association is based at the Somme Museum in Conlig. It was formed in 1990 with the aim of co-ordinating research into Ireland’s part in the First World War thereby providing a basis for the two traditions in Northern Ireland to come together to learn of their common heritage.
  • The Museum opened in 1994, as the Somme Heritage Centre, funded by donations from the public as well as European and local grants. In November 2001, the museum received full accreditation and became the Somme Museum. The Museum is a unique visitor attraction of international significance showing the awful reality of the First World War and its effects on the community at home. Full details of the opening hours, and contact details can be found on www.sommeassociation.com.
  • Today it plays a significant role in educating the public and commemorating, on a cross community basis, the role played by Irishmen in the First World War.
  • Each year, on the 1st July, the Somme Association has responsibility for organising and co-ordinating several of the key commemoration services on the Somme. These are attended by senior UK and Irish Government representatives, as well as public representatives from France, Germany and Belgium, with the charity’s focus being at the Ulster Memorial Tower in Thiepval. It is expected that these commemoration 

 

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The Middle Kingdoms 4: The Border Reivers

The Border Reivers were the descendants of the British Middle Kingdoms along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. Their ranks consisted of both Scottish and English families, and they raided the entire border country without regard to Scottish or English “nationality”. Their heyday was perhaps in the last hundred years of their existence, during the time of the Stewart  Kings in Scotland and the Tudor Dynasty in England. The Norman kingdoms of Scotland and England were frequently at war during the late Middle Ages, divided as they were artificially by the Roman Wall of Hadrian. During these wars, the livelihood of the people on the borders was devastated by the contending armies. Even when the countries were not at war, tension remained high, and royal authority in either kingdom was often weak. The uncertainty of existence meant that communities or people kindred to each other would seek security through their own strength and cunning, and improve their livelihoods at their nominal enemies’ expense. Loyalty to a feeble or distant monarch and reliance on the effectiveness of the law usually made people a target for depredations rather than conferring any security.

There were other factors which promoted theirmode of living. Among them was the survival in the Borders of the inheritance system of gavelkind, by which estates were divided equally between all sons on a man’s death, so that many people owned insufficient land to maintain themselves. Also, much of the border region is mountainous or open moorland, unsuitable for arable farming but good for grazing. Livestock was easily rustled and driven back to raiders’ territory by mounted reivers who knew the country well. The raiders also often removed “insight,” easily portable household goods or valuables, and took prisoners for ransom.

The attitudes of the English and Scottish governments towards the border families alternated between indulgence or even encouragement, as these fierce families served as the first line of defence against invasion from the other side of the border, and draconian and indiscriminate punishment when their lawlessness became intolerable to the authorities.

The popular story handed down within reiver families is that from earliest times, reivers would visit the homesteads prior to wars or invasions and remove the cattle and items of value to a place of safety. Lords and Wardens unable to guarantee their masters’ supply lines would claim wrongdoing by ruffians and broken men. It is easy to conjecture that this attitude of defiance to authority would grow into outright lawlessness.

“Reive” is an early English word for “to rob”, from the Northumbrian and Scots verb reifen from the Old English rēafian, and thus related to the archaic Standard English verb reave (“to plunder”, “to rob”), and to the modern English word “ruffian”.

Auld Wat of Harden by Tom Scott. A romanticised image of the famous Reiver, Walter Scott of Harden.

The reivers were both English and Scottish and raided both sides of the border impartially, so long as the people they raided had no powerful protectors and no connection to their own kin. Their activities, although usually within a day’s ride of the Border, extended both north and south of their main haunts. English raiders were reported to have hit the outskirts of Edinburgh, and Scottish raids were known as far south as Yorkshire. The main raiding season ran through the early winter months, when the nights were longest and the cattle and horses fat from having spent the summer grazing. The numbers involved in a raid might range from a few dozen to organised campaigns involving up to three thousand riders.

When raiding, or riding, as it was termed, the Reivers rode light on hardy nags or ponies renowned for the ability to pick their way over the boggy moss lands.The original dress of a shepherd’s plaid was later replaced by light armour such as Brigantines or jacks of plaite (a type of sleeveless doublet into which small plates of steel were stitched), and a metal helmet such as a burgonet or morion; hence their nickname of the steel bonnets. They were armed with a lance and small shield, and sometimes also with a longbow, or a light crossbow known as a “latch”, or later on in their history with one or more pistols. They invariably also carried a sword and dirk.

As soldiers, the Border Reivers were considered among the finest light cavalry in all of Europe. After meeting one Reiver (the Bold Buccleugh), Queen Elizabeth I is quoted as having said that “with ten thousand such men, James VI could shake any throne in Europe.” Reivers served as mercenaries, or were forced to serve in English and Scots armies in the Low Countries and in Ireland. Such service was often handed down as a penalty in lieu of that of death upon their families.

Reivers fighting as levied soldiers played important parts at the battles of Flodden Field and Solway Moss. When fighting as part of larger English or Scottish armies, Borderers were difficult to control as many had relatives on both sides of the border, despite laws forbidding international marriage. They could claim to be of either nationality, describing themselves as Scottish if forced, English at will and a Reiver or Old British by grace of blood. They were badly-behaved in camp, frequently plundered for their own benefit instead of obeying orders, and there were always questions about how loyal they were. At battles such as Ancrum Moor in Scotland in 1545, borderers changed sides in mid-battle, to curry favour with the likely victors, and at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh in 1547, an observer (William Patten) noticed that the Scottish and English borderers were talking to each other in the midst of battle, and on being spotted put on a show of fighting.

Black Middens Bastle House, a surviving bastle house

The inhabitants of the Borders had to live in a state of constant alert, and for self-protection, they built fortified tower houses.

In the very worst periods of warfare, people were unable to construct more than crude turf cabins, the destruction of which would be little loss. When times allowed however, they built houses designed as much for defence as shelter. The Bastle House was a stout two-storeyed building. The lower floor was used to keep the most valuable livestock and horses. The upper storey housed the people, and often could be reached only by an external ladder which was pulled up at night or if danger threatened. The stone walls were up to 3 feet (0.91 m) thick, and the roof was of slate or stone tiles. Only narrow arrow slits provided light and ventilation.

Such dwellings could not be set on fire, and while they could be captured, for example by smoking out the defenders with fires of damp straw or using scaling ladders to reach the roof, they were not worth the time and effort. If necessary, they could be temporarily abandoned and stuffed full of smouldering turf to prevent an enemy (such as a government army) destroying them with gunpowder.

Peel towers (also spelled Pele Towers) were usually three-storeyed buildings. They were usually constructed specifically for defensive purposes by the authorities, or for prestigious individuals such as the heads of clans. Smailholm Tower is one of many surviving Peel towers.

Peel towers and bastle houses were often surrounded by a stone wall known as a barmkin, inside which cattle and other livestock were kept overnight.

A leather jack of the kind worn by reivers in the 16th century

During periods of nominal peace, a special body of customary law, known as Border Law, grew up to deal with the situation. Under Border Law, a person who had been raided had the right to mount a counter-raid within six days, even across the border, to recover his goods. This Hot Trod had to proceed with “hound and horne, hew and cry”, making a racket and carrying a piece of burning turf on a spear point to openly announce their purpose, to distinguish themselves from unlawful raiders proceeding covertly. They might use a sleuth hound (also known as a “slew dogge”) to follow raiders’ tracks. These dogs were valuable, and part of the established forces (on the English side of the border, at least). Any person meeting this counter-raid was required to ride along and offer such help as he could, on pain of being considered complicit with the raiders. The Cold Trod mounted after six days required official sanction. Officers such as the Deputy Warden of the English West March had the specific duty of “following the trod”.

Both sides of the border were divided into Marches, each under a March Warden. The March Wardens’ various duties included the maintenance of patrols, watches and garrisons to deter raiding from the other kingdom. On occasions March Wardens could make Warden Roades to recover loot, and to make a point to raiders and officials.

The March Wardens also had the duty of maintaining such justice and equity as was possible. The respective kingdoms’ March Wardens would meet at appointed times along the border itself to settle claims against people on their side of the border by people from the other kingdom. These occasions, known as “Days of Truce”, were much like fairs, with entertainment and much socialising. For Reivers it was an opportunity to meet (lawfully) with relatives or friends normally separated by the border. It was not unknown for violence to break out even at such truce days.

March Wardens (and the lesser officers such as Keepers of fortified places) were rarely effective at maintaining the law. The Scottish Wardens were usually borderers themselves, and were complicit in raiding. They almost invariably showed favour to their own kindred, which caused jealousy and even hatred among other Scottish border families. Many English officers were from southern counties in England and often could not command the loyalty or respect of their locally-recruited subordinates or the local population. Local officers such as Sir John Forster, who was Warden of the Middle March for almost 35 years, became quite as well known for venality as his most notorious Scottish counterparts.

To be continued

© Pretani Associates 2014 

 

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Sir John Reginald Gorman, CVO, CBE, MC, DL, (1 February 1923 – 26 May 2014

Sir John Gorman
 
Sir John Gorman was a former Irish Guards officer who was awarded the British military cross and the French Croix de Guerre

The former Ulster Unionist politician and decorated World War II veteran Sir John Gorman has died.

The 91-year-old  from County Tyrone represented North Down in the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998.

He served as an officer in the Irish Guards in World War II and was awarded the British military cross and the French Croix de Guerre.

After the war he joined the RUC, rising to the rank of district inspector during his 17 years in the force.

Sir John was educated at Loreto Convent grammar school in Omagh, Glasgow University and Harvard Business School.

He was a captain in the Irish Guards from 1944-1946, a district inspector of the RUC until 1969 and chief of security at BOAC from 1960-1963.

He was also a regional manager for British Airways from 1969-1979 and president of the British Canadian Trade Association from 1972-1974.

Sir John was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday honours list in 1998.

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