ANNUAL

APPRENTICE BOYS
OF DERRY BOOKLET

2019
£3

SUBSCRIPTION
2 Contents

CONTENTS
Club of Research … … … … … … … … … 3
Club of Research Officers … … … … … … … 7
Important Parade Dates 2019 / 2020 … … … … 8
Foreword by the Club President … … … … … 9
Governor & Lieutenant Governor’s Foreword … … 11
Editorial … … … … … … … … … … … 15
Origins of the Civil Rights Movement … … … … 16
The 75th anniversary of D-Day… … … … … … 24
D-Day and the fight for Normandy… … … … … 31
The Siege in Retrospect … … … … … … … … 36
Lady Macnaghten of Benvarden … … … … … 44
English Apprentice Boys’ Clubs… … … … … … 46
The Walls of Londonderry … … … … … … … 55
Club News … … … … … … … … … … … 63

Cover image courtesy of Dr Edward Cooke

 Club of Research 3

CLUB OF RESEARCH

T he Club of Research is the Historical Society of the Ap-

prentice Boys of Derry and its Charter was granted by the
Associations Governing Body, the General Committee in 1990.
The Club is directly answerable to General Committee. There are
70 plus members on the books drawn from Parent and Branch
Clubs from across the British Isles.

The Club’s primary purpose is to research and investigate the

Siege of Derry, the Apprentice Boys Association and other points
of interest relating to this period of history. This of course does
not exclude other important historical events that have helped
shape our Association both at home and worldwide.
4 Club of Research

The Club meets four times a year in various locations, with

three meetings being held in the spring and one in the autumn.
The March meeting is held in either England or Scotland to
facilitate members living in those jurisdictions and is held over
a weekend with wives, friends and guests taking part.
Any Brother who is in good standing with his own Branch
Club can apply for membership. There is a nominal subscription
fee of £10.00 per year. Brethren, this is your Club of Research,
it does not belong to a group of academics but to the rank and
file membership of our association.
Do any of you have any history relating to the Siege, the
Apprentice Boys Association? Do you have a story to tell about
your Branch Club?
Can the Club of Research help? Maybe your Club is holding
a special event, the Club of Research can provide guest speakers,
power point presentations etc on a range of topics relating to the
Siege and other key events in that period of our history.

For further information, please contact:

The Secretary
Apprentice Boys of Derry - Club of Research
Apprentice Boys Memorial Hall
13 Society Street
Londonderry
BT48 6PJ
 Club of Research Officers 7

CLUB OF RESEARCH OFFICERS

President: Bro John Hunter – Mitchelburne Parent Club

Vice President: Bro Trevor Anderson – Moneymore Walker Club

Lay Chaplain: Bro John Hall MBE – Omagh No Surrender Club

Secretary: Bro Worthington McGrath – Walker Parent Club

Treasurer: Bro Ian Carser – Woodburn Browning Club

Tyler: Bro Edgar Carson – Cookstown Mitchelburne Branch

Club

Booklet Committee
Chairman: Bro Dr Andrew Charles

Committee: Bro John Hunter, Bro John Hall, Bro Worthington

McGrath
8 Important Parade Dates

IMPORTANT PARADE DATES

2019 / 2020
22nd April 2019 Easter Monday Parade East Belfast
1st June 2019 Scottish Amalgamated
Annual Parade Motherwell
8th June 2019 Liverpool Clubs
Annual Parade Southport
10th August 2019 Relief Celebrations Londonderry
29th September 2019 Ulster Day Service Newry
9th November 2019 Remembrance Parade Belfast
17th November 2019 Remembrance Parade Enniskillen
7th December 2019 Shutting of the Gates
Commemoration Londonderry
14th December 2019 Shutting of the Gates
Commemoration Glasgow
17th March 2020 St Patricks Day Parade
& Service Londonderry
13th April 2020 Easter Monday Parade Magherafelt
 Foreword 9

FOREWORD BY THE CLUB

PRESIDENT JOHN HUNTER

I t gives me great pleasure and honour to present and the second

edition of Apprentice Boys Club of Research Booklet. This is
an initiative which demonstrates the wealth and strength of our
Club and that of our Institution.
This Booklet was an initiative of our worthy Lt. Governor,
Bro. Worthington McGrath, our Club Secretary. It is intended
to be an Annual publication, consisting of articles of interest to
our Brethren.
It has not however come about without hard work put in
by the Booklet Committee. My thanks go to Bro. Dr Andrew
Charles, who has done much of the heavy lifting and the other
Committee Members, Bro. Worthington McGrath and Bro.
John Hall MBE.
I also wish to express my thanks to the General Committee
for permitting this publication and endorsing it. I also thank
our Governor, Bro. Graeme Stenhouse, for his support for this
publication.
I thank our Sponsors, namely those who have taken adverts
out, as without them the publication of this Booklet would not
be possible.
Thanks to Derek Rowlinson from Books Ulster for the design
and Peninsula Print for printing it.
10 Foreword

Above all, I thank you for pur-

chasing this Booklet. Proceeds
of sale go to support the work
of the Siege Museum and the
ABoD Benevolent Fund – two
very worthy and just causes.
I trust that the articles con-
tained within are of interest to
our Brethren, and indeed further
afield.
Yours sincerely and fraternally,
Worthy Bro. John Hunter
Club President
 Governor & Lieutenant Governor’s Foreword 11

GOVERNOR & LIEUTENANT

GOVERNOR’S FOREWORD

A s Governor and Lt Governor of the Apprentice Boys of

Derry Association, we are delighted to have been asked to
make a joint contribution to the 2019 edition of the Club of
Research booklet.
Last year’s initial booklet proved to be a great success and
our grateful thanks to the members of the Club of Research
for their endeavours in ensuring that the booklet promotes our
unique Association and our proud history in an excellent man-
ner. Thanks, must also go to all the advertisers and contributors
without whom this 2019 booklet would not be a success.
Can we encourage all member Clubs to promote any sig-
nificant anniversaries, events or parades that they have planned
through the medium of this booklet, thereby encouraging mem-
bership support for such occasions and encouraging new mem-
bers into our Association.
It is also very important that we continue to celebrate and
remember the actions of thirteen brave apprentices whose actions
in shutting the gates in December 1688 led to the 105-day siege
in 1689. We would encourage all our members to learn as much
as possible about our history and why we commemorate the
events of 1688 and 1689.
It is worthwhile to mention that both the ABOD Benevolent
12 Governor & Lieutenant Governor’s Foreword

Fund and The Siege Museum benefit from the sale of the booklet.
Support for them is vital for our Association and its membership.
Please encourage others to purchase a copy.
To all members of the Association a word of thanks for their
support and can we wish each and every one of you have a safe
and peaceful 2019 and please remember to conduct yourself
in a manner that doesn’t disgrace the memory of the Brave 13.
Wishing everyone a very enjoyable read as we continue to
promote our very special Association and ensure that the Crim-
son Flag is proudly flown by all Club members.
We remain yours in the colour crimson.

Brother Graeme Stenhouse Brother W Worthington McGrath

Worthy Governor Lieutenant Governor

Associated Clubs of The Apprentice Boys of Derry

Governor & Lieutenant Governor’s Foreword 13
14 Governor & Lieutenant Governor’s Foreword

Bro Dr Andrew Charles present-

ing Bro Graham Watton (right),
Secretary Benevolent Fund, with
a cheque for £1100.

Bro Billy Moore (left), Chairman

of the Siege Museum, receiving a
cheque for £1100 from Bro Dr
Andrew Charles.
 Editorial 15

EDITORIAL

T his year marks a number of key anniversaries, first and foremost,

6th June being the 75th anniversary of the D-Day Landings
on the beaches of Normandy, which was to be the beginning of the
liberation of Europe from German occupied Europe. Secondly, this
August, marks the fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of the ‘Trou-
bles’, when civil rights activists – or ‘People’s Democracy’ – attacked
the 280th anniversary of the Relief of Londonderry parade, which
led to widespread violence throughout Northern Ireland, deploy-
ment of soldiers on the streets to assist the RUC, and beginning of
the Provisional IRA Terrorist campaign.
In visiting both events, it is important that we remember the
sacrifice, service and dedication of the members of our Armed
Forces, as well as the RUC in the terrorist campaign by the
Provisional IRA. For all too many people, both events brought
sorrow for the loss of loved ones. We will remember them.
The Club of Research was established with the purpose of
educating and researching our history and heritage as an Insti-
tution. The two key events in the history of Northern Ireland,
5th October 1968 and the Relief Celebration in August 1969,
involved our very own Institution, as both events coincided
with Apprentice Boys parades in Londonderry. It is vital that
we as a community educate our younger people in the history
of these events, as well as that of our Province and the Glorious
Revolution of 1688-91, for if we do not, all is lost.
16 Origins of the Civil Rights Movement

ORIGINS OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS

MOVEMENT
Andrew Charles

T o the innocent bystander, the Civil Rights Movement

emerged almost out of nowhere. However, the roots of the
Civil Rights Movement extend some years prior to the official
formation of the NICRA in 1967.
On the formation and development of the NICRA the move-
ment was seen as a front for the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
The genesis of the NICRA lay on a meeting held at the home of
an IRA member’s home in Maghera, Co. Londonderry in August
1966. Present at this meeting was the Chief of Staff of the then
IRA, Cathal Goulding, where it was agreed to form the NICRA,
involving the Trade Unions, known communists, socialists and
liberals. Involving other organisations outside of the republican
movement was key for what was planned to follow.
The previous IRA Terrorist campaign, known as the ‘Border
Campaign’ (1956–62), ended in failure. However, following
its defeat, the idea of a movement based on ‘social justice’ was
agreed upon, in order to directly challenge the Government of
Northern Ireland, and in turn ‘partition’.
From the establishment of Northern Ireland, nationalists,
representing approximately one third of the population, were
 Origins of the Civil Rights Movement 19

thought to be lacking in motivation to challenge the Govern-

ment. This was blamed on the leadership of the former National-
ist Party, led by Eddie McAteer, Stormont MP for Foyle, deemed
by its opponents to accept the constitutional position of 1920.
However, it was envisaged that through a visible presence of
opposition on the streets, airing social and economic grievances,
the movement would grow in numbers and that Westminster
would have to intervene. The strategy mirrored that of classic
Marxism, where the people would awake from their slumber
and revolt against the status quo.
The brain child of the strategy was Desmond Greaves. Greaves
was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and the
founder of the Connolly Association, based in Great Britain.
To mark the bi-centenary of the birth of Wolfe Tone in 1963,
many Wolfe Tone societies were established in both the Re-
public of Ireland and Northern Ireland. At the end of the IRA
Border Campaign in 1962, interest in the life of Wolfe Tone
grew within republican circles, and the societies were viewed as
a vehicle to promote republican ideals. Goulding, now Chief
of Staff of the IRA, along with a number of other republicans,
sought to seize the moment to steer the IRA in a new direction.
This new direction was one advised on by not only Greaves, but
two other prominent figures, Roy Johnston, an academic based
in Dublin and son of a Tyrone Home Ruler, Joseph Johnston,
and Anthony Coughlan, a republican activist in the Wolfe Tone
Society based in Dublin. Johnston and Greaves met in England
through the Connolly Association and Johnston became friendly
20 Origins of the Civil Rights Movement

with Goulding and subsequently became aligned to the Sinn

Fein/IRA on his return to Ireland. Greaves had campaigned in
England for many years for Westminster MPs to take an interest
in Northern Ireland through lobbying Irish immigrant MPs as
well as motivating Irish immigrants on the mainland to campaign
for ‘Irish unity’.
The Connolly Association and Wolfe Tone Society were both
committed to the establishment of a united, independent Ireland,
like the one envisaged in the Irish Declaration of Independence
during Easter week in 1916. It was an Ireland based on Marxist
principles. They did not deem the Irish Republic as the true
Republic the 1916 Rebels envisaged.
Johnston envisaged unifying both Protestants and Roman
Catholics through socialist ideals, educating them on the pit-
falls of capitalism and how they were being used by the higher
classes, or Unionists, for their own narrow interests. Republican-
ism argued that sectarian division was created for the means of
maintaining Unionist power at Stormont and was of no benefit
to the ordinary working citizen.
In discrediting the Stormont administration and accusing
Unionists of ‘misrule’ they hoped that Westminster would in-
tervene. While their campaign on the face of it would appear to
be genuine and legitimate, their objective was one of annexing
Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and establishing a
new 32-county socialist Ireland.
The case for a change in republican strategy was set out in the
journal of the Wolfe Tone Society, TUAIRISC, in the June and
 Origins of the Civil Rights Movement 21

August 1966 editions. The articles formed the basis of a paper

presented at the meeting of republicans in Maghera in August
1966. Entitled ‘Our Ideas’, the paper set out two challenges,
targeting Trade Unions and militant republicans. In challenging
Trade Unions, the author spoke of how the parliamentary meth-
od (or constitutional method), in lobbying for political change,
was insufficient in order to secure social change. In truth, Trade
Unions were viewed as being lacklustre and in the pocket of the
state. In a point for militant republicans, the author stated that
a ‘call to arms’ was insufficient to enact change.
The editorial piece stated:

“It is not the policy of TUAIRISC to ‘advocate’ military

activity.”

However, it continued:

“it may on occasion be necessary to defend gains made by

political means by resort to the arming of the common
people, as was the case with regard to the 1919–21 period
[Irish Civil War] and also in the period when in the early
thirties such democracy as existed was threatened by the
‘blue shirt’ movement.”

Violence and terrorism were argued to be a means in which

to defend political gains, but not as a means to achieve political
change. In order to successfully utilise violent means and secure
its success you needed to have a support base. Those who advo-
22 Origins of the Civil Rights Movement

cated social and political change through their involvement in

the wider ‘movement’ could then provide that resource, having
‘bought in’ to the wider concept of ‘civil rights’.
While the IRA split in December 1969, into the more left
wing, Official IRA, led by Cathal Goulding, and Provisional
IRA, which was more of a mirror image of the IRA that pre-
ceded Goulding’s in 1962, it can be seen today that the more
dominant of the two organisations, and the one responsible for
more murders than any other paramilitary organisation, learned
much from this period. The Provisionals were known to educate
their members on republican ideology, something that Johnston
had advocated, and, perhaps of late, to have taken up the mantel
of the civil rights movement.
This August’s Relief Celebratory parade coincides with the
fiftieth anniversary of the so-called ‘Battle for the Bogside’, when
civil rights activists came into conflict with the RUC, leading to
the deployment of soldiers in the Province, who were to remain
present for thirty years (something unthought of at the time).
The civil disorder nonetheless offered a catalyst for the rise of the
Provisional IRA, who branded themselves as the ‘defenders’ of the
Catholic community. Anyone who naively involved themselves
in the civil rights movement then sought to distance themselves
from what became a thirty year long terrorist campaign, which
was to change the character and daily lives of the citizens of
Northern Ireland.
Origins of the Civil Rights Movement 23
24 The 75th anniversary of D-Day

THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY

Gordon Lucy

I n advance of D-Day Allied strategists sought to achieve total

air and sea supremacy to ensure the successful liberation of
Europe from Nazi tyranny.
 The 75th anniversary of D-Day 25

Meticulous planning brought together an incredible concen-

tration of men and matériel but could not deliver overwhelming
superiority on the ground through lack of sufficient landing craft
and paratroop transports.
To offset this, the Allies deployed two main strategies. First,
months of intensive air attacks were carried out against roads,
railways and bridges all over France to make it difficult for the
Germans to move reinforcements to Normandy.
Secondly, an elaborate deception plan had been put in place to
convince the Germans that the Pas de Calais (the shortest route
across the English Channel) rather than Normandy would be the
focus of the Allied invasion. After the invasion the Allies con-
tinued this strategy to persuade the Germans that the landings
in Normandy were simply a feint to draw German troops away
from Normandy and to oblige them to concentrate significant
forces in the Pas de Calais.
Yet even meticulous planning is no guarantee of success.
Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, the Royal Navy officer in over-all
charge of the naval dimension of D-Day, confided to his diary:

‘We shall require all the help God can give us.’

He added:

‘I cannot believe that this will not be forthcoming.’

That same evening Winston Churchill told his wife:

26 The 75th anniversary of D-Day

‘Do you realize that by the time you wake up in the

morning, 20,000 men may have been killed?’

The sheer scale of the operation to liberate Europe was stag-

gering: nearly 5,000 landing ships and assault craft were escorted
by six battleships, four monitors, twenty-three cruisers, 104 de-
stroyers, 152 escort vessels and 277 minesweepers. Even Stalin
in a letter to Churchill admitted to being impressed.
The timing of the invasion was one of the greatest challenges
faced by the Allied High Command during the war. D-Day
was originally scheduled for Monday 5 June. Dr James Stagg,
the UK’s leading meteorologist, carried an immense burden of
responsibility: he had to analyse the complex metrological data
to avoid rough seas, low cloud and bad visibility. The operation
was postponed for twenty-four hours because of adverse weather
conditions and was very nearly postponed for a fortnight. If the
operation had been postponed until 19-22 June the invasion
force would have sailed into the most violent storm in the English
Channel for forty years.
Amphibious operations are notoriously difficult. The British
were haunted by the fear of failure and a repetition of the grim
disaster at Dieppe in August 1943. The Americans, though more
bullish, had been obliged to learn many harsh lessons in North
Africa, Sicily and Italy.
Hitler believed he could defeat the invasion and knock the
British and Americans out of the war and concentrate his at-
tention on the war in the east. The Führer placed great faith
 The 75th anniversary of D-Day 27

in the so-called Atlantic Wall whereas Rundstedt, the German

Commander-in-Chief West, was much closer to the mark when
he described it as ‘just a piece of cheap bluff’.
There were five landing beaches designated (from west to
east) Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. Utah and Omaha
were allocated to the US First Army and the remaining three
were allocated to the British and Canadian troops of the British
Second Army. Two US airborne divisions landed by parachute
and glider inland from Utah and one British airborne division
was deployed on the east flank of Sword.
The three airborne divisions took most of their objectives
and succeeded in disrupting possible German counterattacks.
German resistance was fiercest, and Allied casualties heaviest,
on Omaha Beach. As Max Hastings has noted, Omaha Beach
had the greatest concentration of German firepower of the en-
tire invasion front. It looked at one stage as if the landing there
might result in failure but by the end of the day, although 2,000
Americans were killed on Omaha beach, 34,000 made it ashore.
Utah proved to be the easiest of the five landings. There 23,000
men managed to get ashore with only 210 killed and wounded.
The other three beaches fell somewhere in between.
Altogether 75,215 British and Canadian troops and 57,500
US troops were landed on D-Day. There were about 4,300 Brit-
ish and Canadian casualties, and 6,000 US ones. An unusually
high proportion (around 50%) of these were killed rather than
wounded.
The Canadians got furthest inland on the first day, with their
28 The 75th anniversary of D-Day

9th Brigade getting to within 3km of the outskirts of Caen.

Although the Allies did not accomplish all their objectives on
the first day, they had not been driven back into the sea and
they had secured a foothold on continental Europe that they
gradually expanded with the capture of Cherbourg on 26 June
and of Caen on 21 July.
Most battle plans do not survive the initial encounter with
the enemy and the battle for Normandy was no exception. The
break-out from the beachheads proved much more difficult and
costly than expected. Indeed, the battle for Normandy made the
casualties suffered on D-Day appear light in comparison. The
bocage (the Norman word for the local terrain of mixed wood-
land and pasture with tortuous side-roads and lanes bounded
on both sides by banks surmounted with high thick hedgerows)
greatly assisted the German defenders. A trooper in the Sherwood
Yeomanry told a newly arrived colleague:

‘You’ll get a shock after the desert. We could see the

buggers and they could see us. Here they can see us but
I’ll be buggered if we can see them’.

Furthermore, the Germans, especially the ideologically-driven

Waffen-SS divisions, fought with great cunning and ferocity. An
American officer bitterly observed:

‘The Germans haven’t much left but they sure as hell

know how to use it’.
 The 75th anniversary of D-Day 29

British officer casualties were very high. The 50th Division

lost two brigadiers, twelve commanding officers and a very high
proportion of company officers. A British major told young
replacement officers:

‘Gentlemen, your life expectancy from the day you join

your battalion will be precisely three weeks’.

French civilians suffered grievously too: 19,890 were killed

during the liberation of Normandy. An even larger number were
seriously injured.
In D-Day: The Battle for Normandy, Anthony Beevor includes
some interesting references to the 2nd Royal Ulster Rifles. A lieu-
tenant in the 2nd Royal Ulster Rifles overheard one of his troops
comment on the overhead arrival of their sister unit by glider:

‘I suppose that’s what the 1st Battalion calls a … route

march’.

The 2nd Royal Ulster Rifles fought their way into the village
of Cambes but were forced to retreat by a newly arrived detach-
ment of 12th SS Hitlerjugend. They had to leave their wounded
in a ditch outside the village where they were probably murdered
by the Hitlerjugend. After stiff further fighting the Ulster Rifles
succeeded in retaking the village and dug in. When they counted
their casualties, they found that they had lost eleven officers and
182 NCOs and other ranks. The King’s Own Scottish Borderers
came up at dusk to reinforce the depleted battalion just as a sudden
30 The 75th anniversary of D-Day

mortar ‘stonk’ began. One of the Jocks, taking cover, jumped into
the nearest trench, clapped the occupant on the back and said,
‘Well, Paddy, you old bastard, we never expected to see you again.’
He had just greeted the Ulster Rifles’ Commanding Officer.
It is frankly impossible to exaggerate the importance of the
success of D-day. If the invasion Europe had failed, as it might
well have done if, for example, it had coincided with violent
storm of 19-22 June, the Red Army might have advanced well
beyond the Oder-Neise line (the current international boundary
between Germany and Poland) and reached not only the Rhine
but the Atlantic seaboard. The map and history of post-war
Europe would have been radically different.
 D-Day and the fight for Normandy 31

D-DAY AND THE FIGHT FOR

NORMANDY – A FAMILY STORY
Dr Andrew Charles

D -Day – 6th June 1944 – was a day marked with anticipation,

as after the retreat of the British Expeditionary Force
(BEF) in May 1940 from Europe, it represented the long
anticipated ‘fight for freedom’.

The author, Dr Andrew Charles, with his Great Uncle Andy

Charles MM (centre) and his father Alan Charles (right).
32 D-Day and the fight for Normandy

I, like many, have two relatives who were present on D-Day.

One landed by sea, the other by air. At the age of ten I remem-
ber asking my late Grandfather if we had anyone who fought
in the war. His answer was, ‘your Great Uncle, my brother’. As
a naïve ten-year-old I asked, ‘what happened to him?’ My dear
Grandfather responded, ‘He landed in Normandy, blown up
and was killed’.
His name was Allen Charles, aged 23, a Lance Sergeant, at-
tached to the 1st (Airborne) Battalion, Royal Ulster Rifles. It
wasn’t until some twenty-plus years later, in 2016, after research-
ing my family involvement in the Great War, that I turned my
attention to my Great Uncle Allen.
Allen was a member of the Army before the outbreak of the
Second World War, and had left Ulster for England, marrying
a girl from Weston-Super-Mare weeks before deployment on
6th June 1944. He had a son he never knew, also Allen. This is
somewhat of an atypical story and having read much, to find
it on your own ‘front door’ brought a great sense of sadness.
Allen was killed on 8th June 1944 in Longevual with four
others, in charge of an anti-tank gun. The liberation of the vil-
lage of Longevual was one of two objectives of the RUR on 7th
June 1944. He was killed by ‘friendly fire’, in other words ‘our
own guns’.
Allen and his comrades landed by air on the night of the 6th
June (D-Day) and took Longevual on the 7th June. In Septem-
ber 2017 I was humbled to have visited the village Memorial to
the RUR, the site where he was most likely killed (based on 1st
D-Day and the fight for Normandy 33

The grave of Allen Charles

34 D-Day and the fight for Normandy

Memorial at Longevual
 D-Day and the fight for Normandy 35

Battalion RUR Diaries) and final earthy resting place in Ranville

CWG Cemetery, thanks to Martin Kerry from the Sherwood
Rangers Yeomanry Association.
Knowing Allen’s service and sacrifice did not make it any
easier to swallow the circumstances around his death. However,
I know that he did not die in vain.
Allen had a half-brother, Andrew (or Andy), who came in by
sea on the morning of D-Day. Andy joined the Home Service,
or B-Specials as it was in Ulster, underage, and his ‘war’ ended
on the Dutch-German Border on 1st December 1944, with the
2nd Battalion RUR, when he was wounded. Andy was a Bren
gunner and arrived on Sword Beach at 10am on D-Day. He was
awarded the Military Medal for his actions on 19th July 1944
for his actions on the road North-West of Troarn. The RUR
War diaries state:

“Meanwhile the forward platoon of B Company had been

troubled by two 75 mm German guns which opened
fire on this platoon and caused casualties. Though out
of his platoon area, Lt Lyttle at once gathered together
a few available men and put in a flanking attack on the
first gun.
“Under his orders L/Cpl Sharpe and two numbers of his
Bren gun team, Rfn Charles and Rfn McNally, crossed
the road under intense fire and took up positions not
50 yards from the gun, to pour in a steady, deadly fire.”
36 The Siege In Retrospect

THE SIEGE IN RETROSPECT

Nick Lawrence

E very year, we, the Apprentice Boys association, take to the

streets of our United Kingdom in jubilant celebration of
one of the greatest victories in world history, and in solemn
commemoration of the colossal suffering endured by thousands
in the name of civil and religious liberty. The outcome of the
great siege of 1689 was a gargantuan victory over autocracy,
and 17th century Europe trembled as a result. What took place
in one small corner of Ulster in 1689 would have momentous
ramifications for both the United Kingdom and Europe today.
Our story begins in 1685, when James II ascended the English
throne following the death of his brother, Charles. A devout
Roman Catholic who aspired to become an “absolute monarch”,
James’ disdain for Ireland’s Protestants is well documented. Re-
ligious persecution was the order of the day as he pursued to-
tal Catholicization of the military and civil service, stripping
Protestants of their careers, titles and land. The discovery of the
“Comber letter” threatening an Ireland-wide massacre of Protes-
tants on James’ orders on 9th December 1688 spread malignant
terror throughout the land. Everything came to a head on 7th
December when 1500 Catholic Jacobite Redshanks appeared
outside Londonderry, Ulster’s main garrison town. As the city
 The Siege In Retrospect 37

fathers panicked and the Jacobites charged toward the walls,

13 resolute apprentices, led by one Henry Campsie, took the
initiative, seized the keys, and secured every gate before racing
to seize the city’s powder magazine. The daring shown by these
“Brave 13”, some no more than boys, stands in stark contrast
to the “elite” who were willing to let the Jacobites enter the city.
One such advocate was Anglican Bishop Ezekiel Hopkins, who
would later be compelled to leave the city. Now let me stress
that the shutting of the gates DID NOT herald the beginning
of the siege, a point I will come to later. The aforementioned
Comber letter was later alleged to have been a hoax. However,
given James’ virulently anti-Protestant hatred and thousands who
were loyal to him being elevated to high-ranking positions in the
army, as well as the arrival of the Redshanks at Londonderry, the
threats of massacre may well have been carried out. Personally,
I believe that had it not been for the courageous action of the
Brave 13, then the Redshanks would have entered the city and
slaughtered every Protestant before doing the same across the
island of Ireland. We must also remember that the vile atrocities
perpetrated by Roman Catholics against Protestants during the
1641 rebellion were still fresh in the minds of many.
As Londonderry prepared for siege and the city’s fortifica-
tions were strengthened, Protestants from all over Ulster fled to
the city as refugees. The situation in Ireland was deteriorating
immensely as Richard Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnell, whom James
had appointed Lord Deputy, oversaw an escalation of violent
persecution against Protestants. Meanwhile, James had returned
38 The Siege In Retrospect

to Ireland from exile in France, and made haste for Londonderry

with reinforcements from Louis XIV. In early April 1689, despite
playing a major role in fortifying the city, Robert Lundy, who
was also Governor, began espousing defeatism. Furthermore,
his cowardly incompetence as a military commander led to the
bloody Protestant defeat at the Battle of Cladyford the same
month. As the fighting raged and the Jacobites charged the fords,
Lundy deserted his men and fled, causing the slaughter of 5000
Protestant troops. His treachery would see him publicly deposed
by Colonel Adam Murray and he was promptly banished from
the city. Lundy’s cowardice was the antithesis of the uncon-
querable spirit of the thousands who would suffer and die in
defence of Londonderry, therefore he is justifiably burned in
effigy each December.
James reached Londonderry with a contingent of Jacobite
officers on 18th April 1689. He approached Bishop’s Gate, de-
luding himself into believing that his status as a “monarch” would
ensure his entry to the city. The citizens, massed on the walls
in their thousands and enraged at the sight of the approaching
Jacobites, uproariously pledged allegiance to the Williamite cause
with tumultuous roars of “NO SURRENDER!”, as they opened
fire on James and his officers. The noise of artillery was drowned
out as the explosive tumult of “NO SURRENDER!” reached an
unimaginable crescendo, shaking even the walls themselves with
vicious ferocity. It was this ferocious stand taken by the citizens
of Londonderry that day which commenced the siege, with the
tumultuous retort of “NO SURRENDER!” forming the rock
 The Siege In Retrospect 39

upon which the Apprentice Boys association is built.

As thousands of Jacobite troops surrounded the walls, the
relentless artillery bombardment began, with more than 500
shells raining down upon the city for the next 105 days. These
caused harrowing injuries, with widespread reports of children
having limbs blown off. Some also destroyed munitions stores,
starting ferocious fires in which many civilians and Soldiers were
burned alive!. However, the besieged gave as good as they got,
with several violent raids led by Colonel Adam Murray inflicting
heavy casualties on the Jacobites. The battles of Pennyburn and
Windmill Hill, with the deaths of two high-ranking French Gen-
erals, Maumont and Pusignan, dealt extreme blows to the Jaco-
bites and fractured their morale. These attacks would also claim
the lives of Irish Jacobite officers, Brigadier-General Ramsey and
Lieutenant-Colonel William Talbot(cousin of Richard Talbot), as
well as some French surgeons who were said to have been among
the finest in Europe. Brutal conditions inside the walls soon
began to affect the morale of the besieged, as epidemics of some
of the most horrific diseases resulting from pestilence and famine
decimated the population, the most common being Dysentery
and Typhus. Appalling sanitation did nothing but proliferate this.
Clergy from all Protestant denominations delivered invigorating
sermons from the pulpit of St. Columb’s Cathedral, galvanizing
the rugged determination of the citizens and toughening their
defiance. The besieged of Londonderry were rigorous in their
defiance, immovable as rock, the supreme manifestation of that
defiance being the blood spattered “crimson” flag which was
40 The Siege In Retrospect

raised above the cathedral by Colonel John Mitchelburne. Acts

of Jacobite brutality also hardened the spirit of the besieged.
One horrifying incident saw hundreds of Protestants who had
remained in the countryside forced from their homes, stripped
naked and driven like cattle to the walls on the orders of sadistic
Jacobite officer, Conrad Von Rosen. Let us also never forget the
bravery of the messenger boys, who went selflessly behind enemy
lines to liaise with the relieving fleet in Lough Foyle.
After much deliberation, the relieving fleet finally forced
passage upriver on the evening of 28th July. A common myth
perpetuated here is that HMS Mountjoy broke straight through
the boom. In reality, the boom was so thick that it caused the
Mountjoy to run aground upon striking it. As the stricken
Mountjoy came under sustained Jacobite attack from Culmore
Fort, Sailors in longboats approached the boom under fire
and tenaciously ruptured it using hatchets. Our famed ballad,
“Derry’s Walls”, immortalises the historically accurate turn of
events (“God Bless The Hands That Broke The Boom”). As the
Mountjoy’s cannons continued an unrelenting bombardment
of the Jacobite positions, their recoil, aided by the rising tide,
propelled the ship back into the Foyle, where she joined the rest
of the relieving fleet in sailing victoriously toward the city. The
lifeless body of her master, Captain Browning, lay upon the deck,
having been struck on the head by a musket ball. When the ships
finally reached Londonderry they were greeted with riotous joy.
The Jacobites intensified their bombardment as the beleaguered
citizens rushed to help the ships unload their cargo, but the
 The Siege In Retrospect 41

thunder of their cannons was drowned out by the cacophony

of the frenzied cathedral bells. The siege had finally been broken
after 105 anguishing days. Figures are widely disputed but it is
believed that more than 10,000 of the besieged had perished,
a figure which could be deemed accurate given the death toll
from disease and bombardment. The events at Londonderry in
1689 were the stumbling blocks which would cause James to
loose the wider Williamite war.
For me, and indeed many others within our association, the
defiance of our forebears within the walls is a source of phenom-
enal inspiration. The Siege of Londonderry is the supreme ac-
count of ordinary everyday people, just like you and me, joining
together, making a valiant stand and prevailing against the might
of an autocratic regime. By enduring 105 days of horror, our
forebears set the precedent for us today. They suffered in their
thousands for our glorious heritage, and in doing so have given
us something truly magnificent of which to be proud. There-
fore, it is our solemn duty as Apprentice Boys to defend their
legacy at all costs, forever remaining unbowed and constantly
remembering the sacrifices made at Londonderry. Our right to
parade has been paid for with the blood of our forefathers, and
it is in that same blood that the charters of our association are
drenched. We are a thriving fraternity and our celebrations are
growing every year. Long may it continue.
Bro. Nick Lawrence
Randalstown Walker Club
44 Lady Macnaghten of Benvarden

LADY MACNAGHTEN OF BENVARDEN

Nigel Owens

T he little North Antrim townland of Benvarden has a very

strong connection to the events of the Siege of Londonderry.
If you look at the above graphic (depicting Bishop Walker’s
proclamation of victory), you will notice a woman wearing the
family tartan of the Macnaghten Clan.
Her name is Lady Macnaghten of Benvarden.
We know from history that Lady Macnaghten took her family
and workers to Londonderry, in order to keep them safe during
 Lady Macnaghten of Benvarden 45

the troubled years of 1688 and 1689.

After the siege was over, Lady Macnaghten returned to her
Estate at Benvaden House (now owned by the famous Mont-
gomery family).
Today, in the city of Londonderry, there are still areas of the
Waterside named ‘Benvarden’ in honour of the role played by
Lady Macnaghten during the siege.
The Benvarden Mitchelburne Club was formed in 1947. It
stands today as a strong, vibrant and successful branch of the
Apprentice Boys movement – filled with sureness of purpose
and looking forward to a bright future.
Please visit our website at www.BenvardenClub.weebly.com

Best wishes to the

Apprentice Boys of Derry for 2019
028 9047 4630 www.uup.org uup@uup.org

@uuponline facebook.com/ulsterunionistparty
46 English Apprentice Boys’ Clubs

ENGLISH APPRENTICE BOYS’ CLUBS

Jack Greenald

T he first Apprentice Boys Club to be formed in England

was the Liverpool branch of the Murray Club, which was
formed on 2 January 1906.
The Club was formed at a meeting in the Protestant Reform-
ers Memorial Hall, Netherfield Road, Liverpool. A deputation
from Londonderry was led by Brother R M Ballard, the secretary
of the Apprentice Boys, who said that he had always heard that
Liverpool was a stronghold of Protestantism, and that he believed
it all the more now that he had seen it for himself. He presented
the club with a jewel to be worn by each succeeding President.
The first President of the club was John Ackers, who was a
Deputy Grand Master of the Loyal Orange Institution of En-
gland and a member of the Royal Black Institution, RBP 354,
where he was a lecturer. He was described as a ‘most energetic
worker in anything appertaining to Protestantism’. At the March
1906 meeting of the Liverpool Murray Club he gave a lecture
entitled ‘Derry and its great fight for Protestantism’.
The Vice-President was Liverpool’s leading Protestant, Pas-
tor George Wise. George Wise had been born on 4 November
1856 in Bermondsey, London. He became a Christian worker at
Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle and the Dockhead Mission
English Apprentice Boys’ Clubs 47

Pastor George Wise

48 English Apprentice Boys’ Clubs
 English Apprentice Boys’ Clubs 49

Hall, moving to Liverpool in 1888, where he founded the British

Protestant Union. He was a member of Victoria Total Abstinence
LOL 724, and became a Deputy Grand Master of the Loyal
Orange Institution of England, and the Bootle Provincial Grand
Chaplain. He was elected to the Liverpool School Board in 1902
and in 1903 he became the Pastor of the Protestant Reformers
Memorial Church on the Netherfield Road, which became one
of the city’s largest congregations with a Men’s Bible Class with
a membership of 1,500. He died on 29 November 1917.
At the meeting held on 27 March it was decided to name
the club ‘Liverpool Pioneer Branch of the Apprentice Boys of
Derry Murray Club’. A fund was started to enable the brethren
to visit Londonderry in August to attend the celebrations, and
at the meeting held on 28 August 1906, Brothers J Bennett, R
Briggs, J Tracey, C Green and P Dale spoke of the reception they
received in the Maiden City.
A motion of sympathy, following the death of the leader of
the Irish Unionist Party Colonel Saunderson, was passed at the
October 1906 meeting. The meeting also passed a resolution:

‘that we, the members of the Liverpool branch of the

Apprentice Boys of Derry (Murray Club) do reaffirm our
loyalty to King and country. Believing that once again
the brethren in Ireland are about to be confronted with
a great crisis, we pledge ourselves to aid and assist them
by every means in our power to frustrate the designs of
those who would seek to deprive them of their civil and
50 English Apprentice Boys’ Clubs

religious liberties so dearly bought by our forefathers at

Derry, Aughrim, Enniskillen and the Boyne; and we call
upon every LOL in Great Britain to be up and doing’.

The club celebrated the anniversary of the shutting of the gates

with a church service held in the Protestant Reformers Memorial
Church on Sunday 16 December 1906. The Colonel Sandys
Pride Brass Band headed the north contingent which comprised
Apprentice Boys, Black Sir Knights and Orange brethren. The
south contingent was led by Sons of Derry Band. Brother Pastor
George Wise, Vice-President of the club, preached a sermon on
‘Victories of Truth’.
At the February 1907 meeting in Protestant Reformers Me-
morial Hall, a resolution was passed:

‘That we the members of the Liverpool branch of the

Apprentice Boys of Derry convey our hearty thanks to the
German Emperor for his noble gift to the British nation
of a statue of William III Prince of Orange’.

The statue stands in front of Kensington Palace in London.

On 15 December 1907 the annual church parade of the
Liverpool branch of the Apprentice Boys of Derry, headed by
Colonel Sandys Pride LOL 597 Brass Band, paraded to the Prot-
estant Reformers Memorial Church. The sermon was preached
by Brother Pastor George Wise and was entitled ‘God’s Standard
Bearers’ based on Psalm 60 v 4.
 English Apprentice Boys’ Clubs 51

Brother Dane, the General Secretary of the Apprentice Boys

Association visited the February 1908 meeting of the club. He
thanked the members of the club for their welcome and said that
he was pleased with the goodly number present and the way in
which the business was conducted. He said that the Apprentice
Boys Association was not only in a healthy condition in Derry
but in every place that it had been established.
The 1908 annual church parade was held on 20 December
and went to the Protestant Reformers Memorial Church. Brother
Pastor George Wise spoke on ‘The need for the retention of the
Coronation Oath’. The parade was accompanied by Colonel
Sandys Brass Band, the Arch Purple Heroes and Kirkdale’s Glory
Flute Bands.
In August 1910 the Club decided to join the Black Sir Knights
and Orange brethren at a church parade to St Mary’s Church
Bootle on 14th in commemoration of the Relief of Derry.
Brother Pastor George Wise was made an honorary member
of the club at the meeting held on 25 October 1910. A news-
paper report of the meeting recorded:

‘Owing to the great pressure of church affairs and other

religious work upon him, Brother Pastor George Wise,
has found it impossible to attend many meetings of the
club, but his name is a household word amongst the
members, and after reference had been made to his good
work in the north end of the city it was agreed that
Brother Wise be made an honorary member’.
52 English Apprentice Boys’ Clubs

The following month the Club decided to join with the Sir
Knights of Bootle Royal Black at a church parade on Sunday 18
December 1910 to the Protestant Free Church to commemorate
the closing of the gates of Derry.
The political situation in Ireland was often discussed in club
meetings. A resolution was passed in the November 1910 meet-
ing encouraging the members to ‘Vote solid for the Unionist
candidate and no Home Rule for Ireland’. At the October 1911
meeting, Club President, Brother T Sefton referred to the massive
unionist demonstration, held at James Craig’s East Belfast Home,
Craigavon House, saying that

‘it should prove an eye-opener to those of this side of

the channel who being misinformed believe that little
or no opposition would be offered against Home Rule
in Ulster’.

Brother John Ackers said that their freedom in that part of

Ireland had been handed down to them by their forefathers who
had fought and died for it and Ulster today was as determined
as she was in 1690, and would never submit to be ruled by John
Redmond and his party.
 The Walls of Londonderry 55

THE WALLS OF LONDONDERRY

Gordon Lucy

T he cities of Derry and Coleraine were the direct responsibil-

ity of the City of London rather than the twelve principal
London Companies which were responsible for the Plantation
elsewhere in the county.
The Londoners decided to concentrate on Coleraine first,
having decided merely to build a wall around Derry and leave
56 The Walls of Londonderry

the construction of the city until later. The stated reason why
work went ahead in Coleraine first was because of problems
buying out the land rights of those who had settled in Sir Henry
Docwra’s Derry after 1600.
In 1977, with only a modicum of exaggeration, A. T. Q.
Stewart observed in The Narrow Ground that an army helicopter
pilot flying over Londonderry during ‘The Troubles’ saw the city
‘exactly as it appears on map of Pynnar’s survey of 1618-19’.
Both Derry and Coleraine were planned cities. Derry is widely
thought to have been modelled on Vitry-le-François, some 100
miles east of Paris, and in turn to have been replicated in Philadel-
phia. Derry may also have influenced the lay-out of Charleston
in South Carolina and Frederica in Georgia. D. B. Quinn and
Nicholas Canny, two of the leading historians of early modern
Ireland, have even contended that Ulster was ‘a laboratory’ for
English colonial policy in the Americas.
Derry was built on the northern face of a hill, sloping to the
water’s edge. The walls formed an irregular oblong, distorted,
in A. T. Q. Stewart’s apt description, like ‘a battered shield’ and
were designed by Captain Edward Doddington. Within the walls
the street-plan may have owed something to the contemporary
Renaissance-inspired fascination with the grid-iron pattern.
From a square in the centre (called ‘The Diamond’ as in other
Plantation towns in Ulster) four streets led to the four gates cut
in the walls. The almost 700 Bastides, the fortified new towns
built in medieval Languedoc, Gascony and Aquitaine, by both
the English and French during the thirteenth and fourteenth
 The Walls of Londonderry 57

centuries, may have provided the inspiration. The vast majority

of Bastides (from the Occitan word bastida, meaning a group
of buildings) also had a grid-layout and, after all, they fulfilled
a function very similar to Plantation towns in Ulster. Bastides
may still be found in Lot-et-Garonne, the Dordogne, Gers, and
Haute-Garonne. Sauveterre-de-Rouergue in Aveyron (25 miles
southwest of Rodez) is a good example of a Bastide. Montpazier
is the best preseved Bastide in the Dordogne and Montflanquin
is a stunning example in Lot-et-Garonne.
Derry was the last walled city to be built in western Europe.
Yet, curiously, the site or location of the City left much to be
desired in two respects. First, the walls, while adequate as a de-
fence against the native Irish, were wholly inadequate against a
well-equipped and professional continental army, especially one
with a proper siege train. The walls never really measured up to
contemporary European standards. At the end of the seventeenth
century, to quote Lord Macaulay, they probably would have
‘moved disciples of Vauban to laughter’, Vauban being the great
French military engineer of that era.
Secondly, as we have already noted, the whole town tilted
towards the river. This meant that ships only had to sail up
the Foyle to bombard the town at will. Furthermore, on land
it could be shelled similarly from the adjacent high ground.
Nevertheless, within the course of the seventeenth century the
walls were sufficient to enable the city to withstand three sieges.
The City’s Walls were completed in 1618 at a cost of £10,757.
The following year, Captain Nicholas Pynnar in his famous sur-
58 The Walls of Londonderry

vey recorded that the Londoners had surrounded the City with
a ‘very strong wall, excellently made and neatly wrought of good
lime and stone’. He also noted that its circumference was 284
2/3 perches, that the wall was 24 foot high – higher than Proby
and Springham had suggested – and 6 foot thick.
There were four battlemented gates, two of which had draw-
bridges but no portcullises. These gates came to be known as
Bishop’s Gate, Shipquay Gate, the New Gate (subsequently
known as Butcher’s Gate) and the Ferry Gate (subsequently Fer-
ryquay Gate). There were nine bulwarks ‘very large and good’
and two half bulwarks. Four of the bulwarks could accommodate
four cannons. The others were ‘not quite so large’. The rampart
within the city was ‘12 foot thick of earth.’ The total number
of houses, according to Pynnar, was 92 in which 102 families
lived. However, an obvious problem in defending the city was
the disagreeable reality that there were insufficient men to man
the walls.
 Club News 63

CLUB NEWS

Belfast Browning

Belfast Browning ABOD Club held their final event to com-

memorate the 125th anniversary of the formation of their Ap-
prentice Boys of Derry Club by having their Installation of Offi-
cers meeting for 2019 in Parliament Buildings. The East Belfast
Club was issued with its Charter to operate as a Branch Club
of the Browning Parent Club on 30th October 1893. Captain
Browning died while liberating the city during the Great Seige
having been Captain of the Mountjoy ship which broke the
boom across the river Foyle. As part of the Club’s anniversary
celebrations they had a designated charity for 2018 which was
in aid of the Survivors of Suicide group based in East Belfast.
They raised money during the year through a mixture of ballots
64 Club News

and church service collections as well as having brought out

badges and commemorative jewels relating to their anniversary.
The Club’s first ever meeting was on 6th January 1894 in the
old Orange Hall Chamberlain Street. As their finale event they
tried to meet almost exactly 125 years on with their installation
meeting for 2019 falling on Monday 7th January 2019. The
Lieutenant Governor of the Apprentice Boys Association Worth-
ington McGrath conducted the Installation of Officers for 2019
with Christopher Cunningham as President, Laurence Gorman
as Vice President, Mark Garrett as Chaplain, Kirk McDowell
as Secretary, Dennis Bennett as Inside Tyler and Maurice Rou-
lston, Ross McVittie, James Lawlor, Ryan McDowell and Alan
Kilpatrick as the club committee all being installed. At the close
of the meeting the Club President Christopher Cunningham
presented Claire Curran from Survivors of Suicide with a cheque
for £1320.50. Claire briefly addressed the gathering on the work
which the group would do with it after which attendees enjoyed
a brief tour of the building.

A Short History of the Apprentice Boys

of Derry St. Michael’s Walker Club,
Castlecaulfield Branch
The Charter for the above Branch Club was issued by General
Committee on the 26th January 1991. Before this 13 Apprentice
Boys who belonged to the Walker Club, Greystone Branch and
 Club News 65

who lived in the Castlecaulfield area met together and decided

to apply to form a Branch of the Walker Club in Castlecaulfield.
The decision was taken as it was felt it was important to com-
memorate the Siege of Londonderry and to Perpetuate the Mem-
ory of the Rev. George Walker, former Governor of the City of
Londonderry, who had been a Rector for many years of the Parish
of Donaghmore incorporating St. Patrick’s, in Donaghmore and
St. Michael’s, in Castlecaulfield. He is buried in the Graveyard
in St. Michael’s. There is a Memorial Window and Tablet in
the Church to commemorate him, as well as a Pulpit and Chair
which now resides in the RBP Hall in the Village.
66 Club News

The Thirteen Foundation Apprentice Boys are Bro’s: Mervyn

Patterson, Eric Jardine, Noel Ferry, Jim Kerr, Keith Ferguson,
Malcolm Ferry, Alan Jardine, Edwin Campbell, Ivan Bristow,
Clive Burrows, Stephen Patterson, John Hawe and Ian Morrison.
Some of these Brethren are still very active Members Today.
Since 1991 the Branch Club has every year attended the
Annual Relief of Londonderry Celebrations in August and have
been faithfully led all those years by Cookstown Sons of William
Flute Band, who are one of Northern Irelands Premier Melody
Concert and Marching Flute Bands, who are highly regarded for
their discipline, march and deportment. Also, since the begin-
ning the Branch Club has continued to grow in numbers and
has a current membership of 21 Members.
In 2016 a significant milestone was marked as it was 25 years
since Formation. Members, Wives, Partners and Friends gathered
in the Royal Hotel, Cookstown on Saturday 19th November
for a dinner and evening of entertainment which was enjoyed
by all present.
Meetings are held in the RBP Hall, Castlecaulfield as they
have always been and take place on the Last Tuesday of the
Month Bi-Monthly in a harmonious and fruitful manner.

The current Principal Officers are:

Worthy President – Bro. Eric Jardine

Vice President – Bro. Carl Dobson
Chaplain – Bro. Geoffrey Patterson
 Club News 67

Secretary – Bro. David Gilchrist

Treasurer – Bro. Stephen Patterson
Tyler – Bro Leslie Grimes

Comber Branch Club Apprentice Boys Of

Derry
On the 31st August 2018, 7 members of the Comber Branch
and 2 of their wives headed over to The Somme, in France and
Flanders Fields, Belgium, for the weekend. As it was the 100th

year anniversary of the ending of the Great War, the trip was
organised to remember our fallen that had given up their lives
for our freedom. However, it turned out to be more of a senti-
mental trip, as two of our brethren on the trip got to visit the
graves of their great uncles that were killed during the war. We
also visited the graves of local men from Comber, men such as
the 3 Donaldson brothers, and Edwin De Wind VC, who lost
68 Club News

their lives during WW1. Our Worthy President had the honour
of laying a wreath at the Ulster Tower on behalf of the Club.
Some of the places we visited included, the Ulster Tower, Vimy
Ridge, Tyne Cot Memorial, Thiepval Memorial and Menin Gate.
When you go home, tell them of us and say, “For your tomorrow
we gave our today”.
Greater love hath no man than this, than a man lay down his
life for his friends
John 15v13.

Donemana Murray Branch Club

Donemana Murray Branch Club celebrates its centenary this
year. It was formed on the 24th October 1919. In 1920 mem-
bership stood at 79, peaking in the 1950s to 179 members.
Current membership is 68.
Events the Club are planning to mark their Centenary are
a dinner dance in October 2019, a new club tie, jewel and a
parade of Donemana.

Gorestown Walker club 1969-2019

Gorestown Walker club was formed in April 1969 by 13 local
men with the warrant being received on the 14th June 1969.
Gorestown is a small townland on the outskirts of the village
of Moy Co Tyrone. The club 1st sat in Moy Orange Hall until
they purchased the old “B” mens hut in 1971 for £1100, this
 Club News 69

Hall is located in the Gorestown townland on the outskirts of

the village.
The club has fluctuated in numbers over the years and cur-
rently stands at 33 members.
On the 13th July 2007 the hall was subjected to a sectarian
attack when it was broken into and 2 fires lit inside the hall.
Thankfully due to the hall being tin there was no structural
damage but servere smoke and fire damage was done to the
inside. They also burnt our original warrant,old pictures,sitting
collerettes and even a bible that the club used. We didn’t sit in
our Hall again till October 2009.
In April 2009 we held a very successful dinner dance in the
Royal hotel Cookstown to celebrate our 40th anniversary and the
70 Club News

Walker Parent Club presented us with a replacement warranty

to replace the one that had been burnt.
It was decided after Derry day 2011 that our banner needed
to be replaced so we decided to go for a bannerette with the Rev
George Walker on it. This was unfurled and dedicated in August
2012 at the Mid-Ulster service which we as a club hosted in Moy
the Sunday before Derry day that year.
In 2013 after further work inside our Hall we opened and
dedicated a new club room within our Hall. This was done in
August 2013.
As a club we our very active within the Mid-Ulster amal-
gamated committee and currently have members holding the
positions Vice chairman and lay Chaplin.
We currently walk the village of Moy on Derry day morning
and also host a church parade on the last Sunday in November
 Club News 71

attending the 3 local churches and inviting a Free Presbyterian

minister every 4th year to hold the service in a local Orange Hall.
To celebrate our 50th anniversary we are hosting a dinner/
dance in The Royal Hotel in Cookstown on Friday 14th June
2019. Should anyone be interested in attending this event you
will be made most welcome and tickets are priced at £20 each
contact club secertary Bro Kyle Whiteside on mobile number
07484 327625.
As a club we are fairly small in numbers but determined to
keep the crimson flag flying in our small part of this province.
No surrender
1688-1689
72 Club News

Randalstown Walker Club

Randalstown Branch Walker Club was established on 28th May

1949, Its founding Worthy President was Bro. Robbie John
Andrews, a WW1 veteran. We are a vibrant and thriving club
with a firm commitment to the crimson cause, maintaining a
significant presence at parades all year round. We are honoured
to have as our namesake the Reverend George Walker, whose
riveting sermons invigorated Londonderry’s besieged to victory.
From our inception we were led by Staffordstown Accordion
Band but for many years now we have been accompanied by
Randalstown Sons of Ulster, many of whom are members of the
 Club News 73

club. We had 68 members returned in 2018, and will commence

our 70th anniversary celebrations in 2019 with a pilgrimage to
the Reverend Walker’s memorial tomb in St. Michael’s Parish
Church, Castlecaulfield. There is also an initiative to produce
a 70th anniversary booklet. In September, the club will travel
to the Somme battlefields to pay its respects to the fallen of the
great war, and on 12th October will host a 70th anniversary
crimson ball in Randalstown Memorial Orange Hall. Further-
more, throughout our anniversary year and indeed indefinitely,
our club will be proactive in promoting positive mental health.
We look forward to many more years of defiantly flying the
crimson flag in Randalstown.

Mitchelburne Club, Saintfield Branch

The Officers & Members of Mitchelburne Club, Saintfield
Branch, wish to share fond memories of our Late Brother Wil-
liam (Billy) Clarke.
Bro. Clarke was the first member of our Club to be present-
ed with a 60 Year Jewel on 16th May 2016, having given loyal
service to the Club for an excess of 60 years.
Bro. Clarke sadly passed away 10th August 2017 in his 90th
year and is survived by his wife Mrs Jean Clarke a member of
Saintfield United Guiding Star Womens LOL 67.
The picture shows Bro. Clarke being presented with his 60
Year Jewel by Bro. Walter Erwin, Co. Down Representative to
the General Committee, who was a proposer for the introduction
74 Club News

of a 60 Year Jewel.
Also in the picture is
Bro. Philip McCormick
who sadly passed away
on 1st January 2019 aged
72. Bro. McCormick is
survived by his wife Mrs
Betty McCormick also
a member of Saintfield
WLOL 67. Our thoughts
remain with the family at
this time.

Solent and South Downs Branch,

Browning Club
Saturday 22 August 1987 was a proud moment for many but
none more so than for the late John McDowell, as he was in-
stalled as the first ever President, of the Solent and South Downs
Branch of the Browning Club of the Apprentice Boys of Derry.
John was a proud loyalist and saw a gap for the South of England
where there was no historical society for loyalists to join. It was
decided set up an ABOD branch and to make our branch a
Browning Club due to maritime links Browning and the South
of England has. Officers of the General Committee were in
Club News 75
76 Club News

attendance along with Bros Peter Robinson MP, Jim Wells and
Officers and members from Kingdom of Fife, Shettleson, City of
London and Thames & Avon. At that time it was the only branch
of the Browning Club in England. After the inaugural meeting
including all of the remaining officers installations, lunch was
served and then Brethren assembled for a Parade and rally which
was addressed by Bros Peter Robinson and Jim Wells. As the Club
is made up from Brethren along the South Coast of England,
the following day there was a parade and divine service held in
Southampton. Both of these parades were led by the Portsmouth
Accordion Band, which is still going strong to this day. The Club
like many others, has had its ups and downs in membership and
at times struggled to find venues to hold meetings but since the
Club has found a permanent meeting room in Southampton,
we have grown in size. We now have members attending from
as far East as Lewes and as far West as Bristol, thus showing the
dedication of our members. It wasn’t until our first President
John McDowell passed away a few years ago now that we all
realised exactly how much he put into the organisation, he is still
sorely missed. In recent years we have forged strong relationships
with the brethren of the Antrim Murray club, who always look
after us during our trip over the water for the Relief of Derry
parade in August. Of our total numbers of brethren we always
get well over 50% making the journey for this parade. Our Ban-
nerette was taken over to Antrim to be dedicated by the Antrim
Murray Club further strengthening our relationship. This year
the branch made the journey to Maiden City for the annual
 Club News 77

Browning day where several new members were made and the
Branch took part in the parade and took the time to visit the
Siege museum and a historical tour of the city. The Club meets
on the 4th Thursday (bi monthly) and any visiting Brethren will
be made most welcome.

Walker Club, 175th Anniversary, 1844–

2019
This is the 175th Anniversary of the founding of the Walker Club
of the Apprentice Boys of Derry in 1844. Another milestone in
the history of the Club. This date can be confirmed by a minute
taken of a Club meeting held in 1897 when Brother John Guy
Ferguson, the then President of the Walker Club stated that this
was the 53rd anniversary of the founding of the Club.
The records of the Club for most of the first half century from
1844 onwards are rather scant. Comprehensive minute keeping
was not the order of the day. However, Club and press records show
that from 1880 the Club participated in the annual celebrations.
Records also show that Belfast, the oldest Branch Club was in
existence in 1886 and is recorded as having taken part in the Relief
Celebrations in that year although the Club Charter was not issued
until 1904. This Club is still a vibrant Branch today with over 40
members. During the early part of the 1900’s many new Branch
Clubs were formed and presented with their Charters. Sadly, over
the years a number of Branches have ceased to exist for differing
reasons. The most recent new Branch Club to swell the numbers
78 Club News

of the Walker family is Redding and Westquarter, Scotland in

2016. There is presently a total of thirty-one Walker Branch Clubs
functioning throughout Northern Ireland and Scotland.
The Walker Club has a proud history of providing Senior
Officers in the Association down the years with the present Club
bannerette depicting the late Bro Ronnie Spratt who was Lieu-
tenant Governor on his untimely death in 2004. The current
Lieutenant Governor, Bro Worthington McGrath and Bro Trevor
Boyd, Assistant Chief Marshall are also members of the Club.
To mark the anniversary a service of thanksgiving is being
held on the second Sunday in May in St Columb’s Cathedral
where it is planned that Rev George Walker’s original pulpit will
be used during the service. An anniversary dinner is to be held
on Friday 14th June, the evening before the Annual Walker Day
on Saturday the 15th. This will give visiting members the oppor-
tunity to attend both the dinner and the annual initiation day.
The Club has commissioned 175 copies of the painting of
Governor Walker that hangs in the Cathedral Chapter House.
These will be sold as a memento for the 175th Anniversary.
In this 175th anniversary year the Officers of the Club are:
President: Bro Peter Evans
Vice President: Bro Trevor Hewitt
Chaplain: Bro William Jackson
Secretary: Bro George Cavanagh
Treasurer: Bro Paul Jackson
Tyler: Bro Robert Jackson
Walker Club
175th Anniversary
Celebrations
1844 – 2019

Thanksgiving Service
Sunday 12th May
4.00pm
St Columb’s Cathedral
Parading from Memorial Hall
3.15pm

Anniversary Dinner
White Horse Hotel
Friday 14th June

Annual Parent Club

Initiation Day
Saturday 15th June
Parading At 11.00am
Rossdowney Park

Vita Veritas Victoria

What Is That Colour You Wear?
The Crimson Collarette of the Apprentice Boys movement
symbolises the blood that was shed in defence of London-
derry during the Siege of 1688-1689.
It also reminds us of the blood that the Lord Jesus Christ
shed at Calvary in order to take away your sins so that you
could go to Heaven when you die.
Whilst it is a wonderful thing, and a holy and sacred hon-
our, to wear the crimson collarette of the Apprentice Boys
movement – that is not enough to get you into Heaven.
You need to have your sins taken away by being covered
and washed in the crimson blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
(1 John 1:9).
You need to be saved.
You need to take that step today and receive the Lord Jesus
Christ as your personal (and only) Saviour.
If you say yes to Him, then He will say yes to you.
For more information on how to be saved, please visit
www.GoToHeaven.cc or www.facebook.com/ComeHome-
ToGod101
Sponsored by Cromkill Campsie Temperance Club.
www.ApprenticeBoys.weebly.com
www.Facebook.com/ApprenticeBoysClub
www.ApprenticeBoysShop.weebly.com
 Club News 81

PLEDGES
This year the Booklet Committee asked individuals and clubs
to ‘Pledge’ their support for the 2019 Booklet in aid of helping
with its production costs.
We are therefore grateful to following:
Peter McCandless, Londonderry; Leo Rossi, Lisburn; David
Lovesy, Bangor; Samuel Morrison, Dromore (Co. Down); Corlea
Apprentice Boys No Surrender Club; Alfie Hennessey, Holy-
wood; Saintfield Mitchelburne Club – ‘In Memory of Departed
Brethren’; Prof. Brian M. Walker, Belfast; Wilson Hanna, Bel-
fast; Martin Kerry (Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry Association),
Nottingham; Anon, NI; Dr Jonathan Mattison, Dromore (Co.
Down).
If you wish to Pledge your support for the 2020 Edition,
please contact the Editor/Chairman via:
andrew.charles@gmail.com
Cost: £10 – Individual / £20 – Club
All proceeds go to assist in funding the production costs of
this Booklet. In return those who ‘Pledge’ receives a copy of the
Booklet as soon as it is available and the option of a credit in
the Booklet.
82 Club News

BELFAST & DISTRICT AMALGAMATED

COMMITTEE
Congratulations on your publication !
Does your club meet within the Belfast & District area? Why
not come and join with us in promoting the association to-
gether in Belfast and beyond?
We meet 5 times a year in Belfast Orange Hall Clifton Street
and would be keen to have all clubs in the locality standing
together in the capital city contact us for more information.
John Wilson Jnr Chairman
Christopher Cunningham Secretary
christophercunningham@hotmail.co.uk
 THE SIEGE MUSEUM LTD.
As Chairman of the Siege Museum Management Committee, I am delighted to
contribute a few words on behalf of the Committee to your publication. May I
initially convey my thanks and congratulations to Brother Andrew Charles and
his team who produce the booklet and for their very kind donation towards the
museum running costs.
May I also express my appreciation to the various groups that have visited
our exhibition. I hope and trust everyone enjoyed the experience and learnt a
little more about the great Siege of Londonderry and the purpose and resolve
of the Apprentice Boys Association.
The museum is one of our most important public relations assets, sharing
and promoting our history, culture and traditions with all communities, in a
friendly and comfortable environment. Through our outreach, we have managed
to ensure that our commemorations and celebrations are better understood and
respected by many who may have opposed or misunderstood our traditions in
the past.
We are pleased to have welcomed numerous student groups from the United
Kingdom, Ireland and further afield, many of whom experienced their first
opportunity to learn about our great history and the aims and objectives of the
Apprentice Boys Association. We trust that in future years, with the assistance of
our new ambassadors, we will encourage and attract greater numbers of visitors
and tourists to our exhibition.
Finally, may I thank the Museum Committee for their commitment and passion.
I sincerely hope that other members will lend their support and contribute
towards ensuring our presence and identity is firmly maintained inside the an-
cient Walls of Londonderry.
I am,
Yours sincerely,
William Moore. General Secretary.
(Chairman Siege Museum Management Committee)
The Siege Museum Ltd.
Apprentice Boys Memorial Hall, 13 Society Street, Londonderry. BT48 6PJ
Telephone: 07713 273 011 Email: tours@apprenticeboys.co.uk