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Bringing Old Belfast To The New

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York Street, 1968

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Glenravel Local History Project

There is perhaps no more fruitful for of education than toarouse the interest of a people in their own surroundings

These words were written by Richard Livingstone and appeared in a bookby Alfred Moore called Old Belfast over fifty years ago. Looking back itshard to imagine that they are as true today as they were way back then. Moreand more people are becoming interested in the history of Belfast and it wasout of this that the Glenravel Local History Project were born in May 1991.Many could be forgiven for assuming that this name derived from thefamous Glens in Co. Antrim and they would be right but in a roundaboutway. Glenravel Street was situated directly behind in the old Poorhouse onNorth Queen Street and contained quite a few beautiful and historicbuildings. One of these buildings was situated at its junction with CliftonStreet and although it was officially known as the Ulster Ear, Eye and ThroatHospital it was known to most people as the Benn Hospital. This was dueto the fact that it was built by Edward Benn (brother of the famousVictorian Belfast historian George). Mr Benn lived in the Glens of Antrimwhere Glenravel is situated. Although Glenravel Street contained all thishistory the street itself was totally obliterated to clear the way for themodern Westlink motorway system leaving us to question schemes such ashistorical areas of importance as well as buildings.The Glenravel Project was established by local historians Joe Baker andMichael Liggett and has now went on to become the main local historicalgroup in the whole of Belfast. Over three hundred publications have beenpublished by the group as well and several web sites, DVDs and countlessnewspaper and magazine articles. The Project also conducts severalwalking tours ranging from the Belfast Blitz right through to a walkingtour of the historic Cavehill area. One of these tours is also around thehistoric Clifton Street Burying Ground which is also situated behind theold Poorhouse and which was opened by them in the mid 1790s. Althoughour original aim was the historical promotion of this site we have now wenton to cover the whole of Belfast as well as assist numerous local historicalschemes far beyond our city’s boundaries. This magazine is now ourmain focus for the local and factual history of Belfast and we welcome allarticles of interest relating to the history of our city. And our aim:-

To secure a future for our past

5 Churchill Street,Belfast. BT15 2BP

028 9020 2100028 9074 2255

028 9035 1326

glenravel@ashtoncentre.com

www.glenravel.com

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O ld Belfast newspapers are absolutely

fascinating and looking atthe old Victorian editionscan keep you totallygripped for hours. As wehave always pointed outlooking through these re-ally is an enjoyable pasttime and to give you aflavour we have decidedover the next few issues totake a look at the year 1870when Belfast was still verymuch a town and was eigh-teen years away from actu-ally becoming a city.On the 3rd of January,1870, at the local PoliceCourt,Hugh Brennan,a pauper, wasimprisonedfor three

A Look Back at Victorian Belfast

DEAD PRISONERS, BLOODYHUDSON’S ENTRY AND DEAD

BODIES IN A CEMETERY!

months for having threat-ened to burn the work-house and for using threat-ening language towardsMr. Watt, the master of theworkhouse. When leavingthe dock, the prisonerthreatened to have Mr.Watt’s life when he cameout of jail. As a result, hissentence was increased tosix months. Guess heshould have kept his mouthshut!Robert Johnston wascharged with driving a busover a mannamedJohn

McCurry in High Street.He was allowed out on theunderstanding that hewould appear again in aweek once McCurry wasexpected to leave hospital.The Belfast newspapersreported one of the mostnotable signs of rapidprogress in Belfast – theextension of omnibus ac-commodation. A new linewas to commence toOrmeau and Ballynafeigh.The omnibuses enabled thebusinessmen of Belfast toreside outside the town and

The old Belfast Workhouse which HughBrennan threatened to burn down

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travel in, helping to createsuburbs.The establishment of Mr.Owen, 46 Barrack Street,was feloniously enteredand a large number ofwatches and a quantity ofjewellery were stolen. Aman who gave his name asPatrick Doyle was takeninto police custody aftertrying to pawn two watcheswhich fitted the descriptionof some of the stolen items.A house was also searchedin Prince’s Street where anumber of items werefound.

A man named OwenClarke was remanded, hav-ing struck a man namedWilliam Reid several timeson the head with an ironhoop. Reid was injured se-verely as a result. Both menwere in the employment ofMr. Scott, brewer, CromacStreet.

A man named WilliamWalker fell into the waterat Donegall Quay, oppositeQueen’s Square. Harbour-Constables McConnell andSmith, and Captain Smith,of the schooner Rankin res-cued him. When taken tohospital, Walker was in avery exhausted state, andlittle hope was entertainedof his recovery.

Thomas Leyburn, superin-tendent of the Boroughcemetery, reported at theAlbert Crescent Barracksthat he had found the deadbody of a child inside thegate of the cemetery, in asmall wooden box, androlled up in a piece of cloth.

An explosion of gas tookplace in the committeeroom of the Friends’ Insti-tute, Frederick Street, in-juring the caretaker and hiswife – Charles and Mary

Ann Daniel, and causingconsiderable damage. Theexplosion occurred whenthe caretaker attempted tolight the chandelier.

It was reported that a firehad broken out in the Spin-ning and Weaving Com-pany, Smithfield. However,when the fire brigade ar-rived, they discovered thatthe chimney of and officehad been on fire, and sothey returned to the station.

Cornmarket where in theearly part of 1870 localresidents had serious

problems with coal carts.

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Messrs. Harland & Wolfflaunched an iron screwsteamer of 330 feet inlength and 1,800 tonnesnamed the ‘Historian’,from their building yard onthe Queen’s Island. The‘Historian’ was registeredfor Messrs. T. & J.Harrison’s steam line be-tween Liverpool and NewOrleans.

The ship Fleckiford, fromOdessa, laden with Indiancorn for Messrs. J. & J.Davidson, Queen’s BridgeMills, grounded when at-tempting to enter the newfloating dock when in tow.She had to be lightenedbefore she could be got off.

A man named JohnWallace, of Sandy Row,fell into the water atClarendon Dock. He wasrescued by Harbour-Con-stable Carson and a youngman named PatrickMcKenna, and taken to theGeneral Hospital.The statue of the late PrinceConsort, executed by Mr.S. Lynn for the BelfastAlbert Memorial ClockTower, was successfullyraised to the niche con-structed for it in the shaftof the Tower. The statuewas nine foot high and

made out of Portland stone.A meeting of protest andappeal was held by themain inhabitants of theCorn Market and the upperpart of Ann Street to pub-licly express their griev-ances relating to the ob-struction of those thor-oughfares by coal carts andnarrow passages. Thecompletion of the alreadyadvanced widening ofCorn Market was discussedas a remedy.A number of Town Coun-cil officials, armed withsledgehammers, attemptedto re-open Hudson’s Entrybut were offered strongopposition by locals, whohad enjoyed quietness,peace and security since it

was closed. The area hadpreviously been consideredunsafe to walk through,even in daylight. Hudson’sEntry’s name was laterchanged to GreshamStreet.At the beginning of Febru-ary 1870 it was reported inthe Belfast newspapers thatDavid Lockshaw wasbrought up in custody onthe charge of having dis-charged a gun at JamesReid at Ballyvallagh, nearCarrickfergus, the effectsof which he died from amonth later.

Messrs. Cramer & Co.gave a select circle the op-portunity of hearing thenew organ, which they

An 1899 advertisement for gas-light fittings

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erected in the newly-builtEpiscopal Church of St.Stephen’s, Millfield. Mr.Frederick C. Smythe, Mus.Bac., T.C.D presided at theinstrument.

A fire broke out in the shopof Mr. E. Berry, hat manu-facturer, Castle Street.There was very valuableproperty on all sides of thepremises. The fire was con-fined to the shop by the ef-forts of the fire brigade.However, the shop itselfwas completely gutted ofits contents.

Mr. James McKenna,publican, Grattan Street,Belfast, and his wife werefound dead in bed in ahouse in theneighbourhood ofMaghera, County Derry.McKenna’s wife had beena native of Maghera. A firehad been burning in thecentre of the room duringthe night. It seems that Mr.and Mrs. McKenna suffo-cated.

A fifty-five year old clerknamed Edward Conroy,from Carrickfergus, wasarrested on a charge ofdrunkenness. However, hehad to be taken to the Gen-eral Hospital after beingfound in his cell in a ter-rible condition. Despite the

application of restoratives,he died the next morning.A verdict of death from theeffects of an overdose ofopium and alcohol was re-turned at the inquest. It wasalso recommended that inall cases where prisonersbecame insensible fromdrink while in the PoliceOffice, the doctor shouldbe sent for immediately.

An inquest was held in theoffice of J. Rowan & Sons,York Street, on the body ofa seventeen-year old boynamed John McCloy, whowas killed by being caughtby the machinery inMessrs. Rowan’s foundry.The boy had been an ap-prentice in the pattern shop.A verdict of accidentaldeath was returned.

Victorian York Street

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FEVER AND CHOLERA

THE OLD POORHOUSEAND GRAVEYARD Part 3

On the 7th of April, 1846,33-year-old Margaret Owen,who lived in 34 Henry Street,was buried in the poor sec-tion of the New BuryingGround. Her cause of deathwas recorded as fever.Nothing much was thought ofby this death. After all, peoplewere dying of fever at a rateof around one hundred peryear. However, what wasdifferent about this death, wasthe fact that it was the first ina new epidemic for this bury-ing ground.The town of Belfast had beenhit by a fever epidemic in

1836-1837. At that time thefever was accompanied byoutbreaks of Influenza (flu)and Erysipelas, which was askin disease caused by abacterial infection. Togetherthese caused a very high deathrate in the town.The fever which struckBelfast in the 1840s was infact two different types -Typhus and Relapsing. Bothof which were carried by bodylice, fleas and ticks.Both fevers first caused painin the joints and muscles,extreme headache, continuousvomiting, widespread rash,

and later a slow and painfuldeath for its unfortunate vic-tim.At the same time as the fe-ver outbreak, Ireland was fac-ing another, more seriousproblem, the potato blight,otherwise known as the ‘GreatFamine’.The ‘famine’ had a less di-sastrous effect in the north ofIreland, than on many otherparts of the country. One rea-son for this was due to thefact that the people in thenorthern counties were notcompletely dependent on thepotato for survival, since

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oatmeal was traditionally anadditional article of their diet.Nevertheless the North wasseverely affected, and manypeople left their homes insearch of food and work in thetowns. The fever epi-demic which followed wasattributed to the introductionof infection by the ten thou-sand refugees who hadcrowded into the poorer areasof Belfast.Andrew Malcolm, who wasa doctor in the General Hos-pital in Frederick Street, at thetime of the outbreak wrote:We will remember the aspectof the hordes of poor whothronged into the town from

all parts. Famine depicted inthe look, in the hue, in thevoice and gait. The food of anation had been cut off; thephysical strength of a wholepeople was reduced; and thiscondition, highly favourableto the impression of theplague-greath, resulted in themost terrible epidemic thatthis island has everexperienced.

What was happening wassimple; the poor from all overIreland were coming into thealready overcrowded poor ar-eas of Belfast in search of foodand work, and with them theybrought the fever.

In 1847 the People’sMagazine printed a series ofarticles written by Dr AndrewMalcolm entitled ‘SanitaryInspections of Belfast’ and inone of these he presented amap of the New Lodge dis-trict, back-to-back houseswere shown along withpumps, open sewers andother problems. He examinedin detail the various ‘rows’ and‘courts’ and the few streetswhich then existed. In these hefound gross overcrowdingwith most two up-two-downhouses with sometimes up-wards of five families in each.Other poor areas such asCarrick Hill and the Pound

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Loney were worse again.Indeed, all the poorerdistricts of Belfast withtheir appalling conditionsproved no hindrance to thespread of this new feverepidemic.It was not long before largenumbers of people began todie. Bodies were being foundin the streets and others werebeing left outside graveyardsfor burial by their families orfriends. At the New BuryingGround, sometimes up to fourbodies were being found out-side on Henry Place. Forexample on the 27th ofFebruary, 1847, the body of anunknown two-year-old childwas found on the doorstep ofthe graveyard gatehouse, itwas the first of many.

By now the number of peopledying was rising at an alarm-ing rate with sometimes up-wards of one hundredpeople being buried in theNew Burying Ground everyweek. When the fever hadreached its height, Belfastwas struck with outbreaksof dysentery and small-pox.By now, preventing the fe-ver and other diseases wasseen as an impossible task.More worrying, was the newoutbreak of dysentery. Thisdisease attacked the bowelsand abdomen before leadingto a very painful death.The first person to die of dys-entery and to be buried in theNew Burying Ground was 26-year-old Alexander McMurry.He was an inmate of the Poor-

House. The day after hisdeath, another seven peopledied from the same disease -all of them inside the Poor-House.To cope, the Board of Health,which had just been set up,had to enlarge the Union In-firmary and move Poor-Houseinmates (thought to carry thedisease) into it. The Boardalso had built a large shed inthe grounds of the GeneralHospital which was facing thePoor-House in FrederickStreet. Two unused hospitals,the College Hospital, whichwas in the old Barracks, andthe Cholera Hospital were onceagain opened. Later tents wereerected in the grounds of theWorkhouse to accommodate700 convalescent patients.

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Back in the burying groundsof Belfast, burial space wasrunning out, and at the NewBurying Ground, bodies werearriving faster than thegravediggers couldaccomadate them.On the 9th of July, 1847, theBelfast Newsletter describedthe scene in the New Bury-ing Ground:-In the course of the presentweekwe saw no fewer thantwenty coffins, containing thecorpses of persons who haddied of fever in the varioushospitals in town during theproceeding twenty fourhours lying for interment inthat portion of the New Bury-ing Ground appropriated forthat purpose; while cart loadswould arrive before the com-

mon grave was ready for theirreception:A sight so melancholy wasnever before witnessed inBelfast.Some of the coffins containedmore than one body in each,as the registry books of theBurying Ground show, andsometimes up to five bodieswere placed in one coffin(which were really largeboxes). Soon after, coffinswere not used at all. When thepoor ground was full, the chol-era ground, which was lastused in the epidemic of the1830s, was once againopened. Even the gap betweenthe Antrim Road wall, and thegraveyard wall was used.In the Belfast Newsletter ofthe 16th of July, 1847, it wasreported that the parish ground

was full. The congestion atFriar’s Bush was as seriousas at the New BuryingGround. At the same time theRev. Richard Oulton de-scribed how he was shockedby the sights to be seen in theNew Burying Ground, wherecoffin was heaped upon cof-fin until the last was not morethan two inches below the sur-face.The problem now was burialspace. More would have tobe found or the fever epi-demic would have to bestoped quickly. At this time itwas fully realised that tocontrol the epidemic, it wasfirst necessary to control va-grancy, and thus prevent morepaupers coming into the town.To do this a meeting was heldby the Poor-House Commit-

The old Poor House

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tee on the 20th of July, 1847.It was at this meeting that itwas agreed that all beggarswere to be ‘placed’ in theHouse of Correction (prison)and that this was to begin onAugust 3rd.

The following is the firstreport on the beggars first con-victed:August 3rd, House of Correc-tion.Present. Dr Denvir, J.Getty,Dr C. Purdon, A.J. McCrory,J. Knox, Rev R. Oulton, RevW. Bruce in the Chair.Samuel Burns aged 16 fromparish of Kilmore nearCrossgar convicted of beg-ging on Carrick Hill to beconfined for one fortnight.James McDonnell aged 25from Drumane, TullamoreWest, latterly from Glasgow

sent by the town found beg-ging in Hercules Place to beconfined for one fortnightfrom yesterday.Biddy Flinn who had with hera 10 year old son and a childabout 2 years old living inQueery’s Entry, North Street,was found begging in Col-lege Square North to be con-fined for one fortnight fromyesterday with the liberty tohave the children with her.As the days went on the listsbecame longer at each sessionas more and more beggarswere being arrested and con-fined to the House of Cor-rection.If the idea of doing this wasto prevent begging in thestreets by people who hadcome to Belfast for that pur-pose and to scare away oth-ers, then it had worked. The

Poor-House minutes for thework done in the House ofCorrection continue until Feb-ruary 5th, 1848, which waswhen the last of the vagrantswere disposed of either by dis-missal or transfer to the Po-lice Office.From August there was agradual decline in the fever.By November the GeneralHospital ceased to admit anyfurther fever cases, and thefollowing month the Bar-rack Hospital was closed asthe new Workhouse Hospitalprovided sufficient beds forany remaining cases.At the end of 1847 Dr AndrewMalcolm was warning peoplethrough the pages of thePeoples Magazine, that chol-era was spreading at analarming rate towards Eu-rope, and at the same time the

The old House of Correction

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Board of Health, which hadbeen set up to combat the fe-ver epidemic, was being dis-banded, even though Belfastwas still suffering a high deathrate. According to the censusof 1841, the mortality rate per1,000 in Belfast was 28% theaverage age of death was nineyears, and one half of thepopulation was under the ageof 20 years.Dr Malcolm, having demon-strated that Belfast suffered toan unusual extent from pre-ventable disease, went on toexamine the sanitary state ofthe town in detail. He dealtfirst of all, with housing andreported the following:

The great majority of thepoorer houses in this townconsist of four rooms varyingin size from 7 feet to 10 feetsquare in two stories. They aregenerally occupied by twofamilies... We have known asmany as eighteen or twentypersons sleeping within suchlimited apartments;... Poorlodging-house keepers havebeen known to cram threebeds into one apartment andthree persons into each bed.

The first case of cholera oc-curred in the Lunatic Asylumon the 1st of November, 1847,and for upwards of a monthwas the only case.

This was Asiatic cholerawhich had last appeared in thetown in 1832 and affected al-most 3,000 people, killingover 500, most of whom areburied in the poor ground ofClifton Street.Soon this disease began toappear in various localities inthe town. A cholera hospitalwas opened in Howard Street,and the General Hospital inFrederick Street was enlargedto treat cases from the NorthQueen Street and ‘Sailortown’areas, the Union Hospitaldealing with the rest of thetown.In the Poor-House, great carewas taken to prevent the

The General Hospital in Frederick Street

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entry of infection. Duringthe new cholera threat, no in-mate was allowed out and noone was allowed to come in.Only on Sundays did the in-mates get out, and this wasonly to go to their places ofworship under strict supervi-sion.

During this epidemic thePoor-House escaped infec-tion, entirely due to thesemeasures being taken. Thepoor who had died of chol-era outside the house werecausing the committee incharge of the burying grounda major problem of where tobury them.

Wednesday 9th July 1847Present. Dr Stevelly, DrDenvir, Dr Cooke, J Getty, JKnox, R Magee, R Simms.Rev W Bruce in the Chair.This meeting was sum-

moned in consequence ofthe very great difficulty offinding burial ground for thepoor in the present crisis.At the suggestion of the boardof health, a certificate as to thesafety from infection in open-ing the graves of bodies bur-ied in the time of cholera in1832 and 1833, was signed bymany of the most respectablemedical practitioners.

And so, after this meeting theorder was given that the massgrave of the earlier choleravictims was to be reopened.However, the cholera out-break did not last as long ashad been expected and wasclaiming fewer victims. Soonthe scare was over, and whenit was the mass grave at theburying ground was filled infor the last time.

The Cholera Ground at Clifton Street Cemetery

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Exploring Belfast’s Old StreetsRaymond O’Regan

Numbers 1 - 19; Corry House(1881) housing many shops,cafes, etc. In 1840 when itwas the little narrow streetcalled Hercules Place a MissDigby ran a day school. Laterit also housed Tates MedicalHall.

Numbers 21-22; AvenueHouse (1988). In 1882 thiswas the site of the RoyalAvenue Hotel. In 1984 it wasdestroyed in a fire. The Hotelwas popular with Belfastpeople for musical entertain-ment. Some previous guestsincluded Ella Fitzgerald when

ROYAL AVENUE Part 2she appeared at the RitzCinema in the 1960’s.

Here is Rosemary Street(named after the herb).

Numbers 31-39; RoyalChambers (1882). Originallyon this site William Reid’sDrapery Store which was thefirst business to open in thenew expanded street nowcalled Royal Avenue.Today

Ella Fitzgerald

there are various shops on theground floor such as theSchuh Shore Store

Numbers. 41-73; This blockrunning up to Garfield Streetcontains a mixture of Victo-rian and 20th century build-ings.

Numbers. 41-51; (1885)Present day Harry Corry Store

Numbers 53; (1960’s)Nationwide Building Societyon ground floor. Was origi-

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nally the site of the WaterCommissioners office

Numbers. 55-59; HamptonHouse - Argos Store

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Numbers 61-73; LeicesterHouse - Alliance & LeicesterBuilding SocietyHere is Garfield Street (namedafter U.S. President Garfield)

Number 75-79; SPENCERHOUSE on the ground flooris the Irish Linenshop,Subway and Edwardsflower shop

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Nos 81-87 A restored 1888building now used by CULTClothes storeNumber 89-93; (1926) Thefamous home to SinclairsDepartment StoreNos. 95-101; This buildingwas also part of the SinclairEmpire. Sinclair’s are no

President Garfield

longer in business and on theground floor can be foundFirst Trust Bank and RoastCoffee Cafe

Number 101; A public housewas on this site from 1880 to1930. It was owned by thetragic McMahon family whowere brutally murdered intheir Kinnaird Terrace homein the early 1920’s

Here is the junction ofNORTH STREET andROYAL AVENUE (LowerNorth Street was originallycalled Goose Lane as it leadfrom Bridge Street to theNorth Gate of the 1641 Ram-parts were the geese were letout into the countryside. TheRamparts or Rampier were

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thrown up as a reaction to the1641 Irish uprising and itfunction was to protect theScottish and English Planterswho lived in the town.

Junction of RoyalAvenue and Lower

North Street in 1907

Number 103-107; EagleChambers (1883). Originallythe home of the Tea MerchantForster Green and was embla-zoned by a large eagle (see

pictures). Forster Green’sother tea emporium was at thecorner of High Street andCornmarket (now DunnesStore), ground floor nowadays

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a Western Union office andunfortunately the eagle didn’tsurvive the many alterations tothe building over the years.

Number 109-111; Designedby John Lanyon for the North-ern Bank in 1883. Now usedas the Kainan Café.

Number 113; – c1885 – Origi-nally Steel and Sons Gold-smiths and Silversmiths.Northern Bank took over thebuilding in the 1930’s.

Numbers 115-125; (1885)Numbers 115-119 is a bridalshop and was formerly

Bannons Furniture Store andunfortunately has a rather uglycladding covering up this partof a late Victorian building.Where as next door is thehome to the famous MarcusMusical Instrument storewhich externally remains un-altered

Here is William Street

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Number 127-137; DonegallChambers (1890) A threestorey building with ClementsCoffee shop and JNP officeson the ground floor.

Number 139-141 Mark RoyalHouse (1965) Corner of RoyalAvenue and Donegall StreetOn the ground floor is a hair-dressing salon and the upper

floors is the home of theN.I.Small Business Associa-tion

This completes the journeythrough Royal Avenue(incidentally The section ofRoyal Avenue that runs fromNorth Street to DonegallStreet used to be known asJohn Street )

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Castle Junction around 1910

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The old White Linen HallThis stood on the site of the present City Hall

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Then & NowCastle Junction in 1820

The same view today

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The same view today

The Four Corners in 1841 looking from Waring Street

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M any of us walk regularly along our city

thoroughfares without evergiving a thought of its historyand of the people who wereon it in the years before us.As an example I will take awalk along the AlbertbridgeRoad as it was in the periodbetween the end of the FirstWorld War and Partition1919-1922. The road re-mained almost the same upuntil the 1970s. It was a hiveof activity and a road with aheart and a community, withhundreds of people living inthe side streets.

From The Albert Bridge toThe Old Ropeworks

BobbyCosgrove

The Albert Bridge itself wasformally called the LaganBridge right up to 1884, it wasalso known as the HalfpennyBridge as it was a toll gatebridge and that was the fee tocross over. The toll keeper wasa man called William Canmera lowland Scot and the fatherof 15 children

He also ran an inn and coffeehouse at the entrance to thebridge on the Lagan Villageside. He had a daughter calledMargaret who was the wife ofJoseph Campbell famous Irishpoet and writer.

The name Canmer was givento the building that sat be-tween the Ravenhill andWoodstock roads and thename was associated with thearea until the road wideningin the mid 1970s.At the turn of the 20th centurythe road from the bridge to theMountpottinger Corner hadover 100 shops serving thelocal community in the manyside streets that ran off it.The reason for the namechange came about in 1884when the centre spans of theold Lagan Bridge collapsedinto the river taking the life of

The original Albert Bridge after its collapse

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a carter and his horse as theytravelled over it, the NewBridge was renamed theAlbert Bridge after QueenVictoria’s late husband.

Houses for LiquidRefreshments

As you come of the bridgeheading towards the Ards thefirst buildings you would havefound one on each side of theroad where two local pubs.The Armagh House stood atthe start of the Ravenhill Roadand was named by locals whohad come to the City from thatCounty in the 1880s lookingfor work. At the top of theShort Strand stood the BridgeBar I would say it was namedafter the Bridge.The next bar with an addresson the road was the Primroseit also was listed on theWoodstock Road it had a dooron each side and on each road

it was the last bar to survivewhen the bull dozers pulledthe area down during so calledimprovements and redevelop-ment of the area. Just across the AlbertbridgeRoad from the Primrose wasa pup that is not two wellknown but stood there for over50 years it was called theSportsman Bar another namefor it was the Glen Bar.

Another Bar that had two ad-dresses was McShannons atthe Mount Corner this againwas a famous pub and had along history of serving drinkto a thirsty public.

Furlong Terrencenumbers 38-52.

It was in this block of shopsthat St John Greer Ervine(1883-1962) Novelist, Dra-

The Albert Bridge at theturn of the last century

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matist and Critic was raised byhis grandparents. His verysuccessful plays includedBoyd’s Shop a story of work-ing class Protestants andCatholics was based on thisshop and the customers thatwere served in it. Mixed Marriage another ofhis plays and it caused muchcontroversy and riots whenfirst shown in the 1920s.He managed the AbbeyTheatre and resigned after theEaster Rising of 1916. Hejoined the Royal DublinFusiliers and lost a leg whileon active in France in 1918.He wrote the Biographies ofSir Edward Carson, Sir James

Craig and George BernardShaw His Novels include"The Foolish Lovers and theWayward Man" both regardedas classics.St John Ervine became amember of the Irish Academyof Letters and from 1933-36was Professor of DramaticLiterature for the Royal Soci-ety of Literature the onlyIrishman to hold this post inthe 20th Century.

Prices Department Store121-129 Albertbridge Road.

First opened as a shop in the1880s and by the turn of theCentury it had been extended

to a large three-story depart-ment store. Brothers Jamesand Jack Price managed andowned the store and among itsclients were Governor ofNorthern Ireland Lord Grey,and almost all the members ofthe Government. The store was the GraceBrothers "are you beingserved fame" type of store, theinside of the shop was a Vic-torian treasure chest with itshigh wooden counters and itssuction pipes to take your pay-ment to the cashier office onthe upper floors.The store disappeared with there-development of theAlbertbridge and Woodstock

1888

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Roads, as did the communitythat lived around the store. Next to Prices and at theMount Corner stood the wellknown Opticians and Chem-ist of "Davidson & Murray"

Mountpottinger Corner(Two sites)The Mount.

The town book of Belfast1650s showed thatBallymacarrett had only twodwellings and one off thesewas a large house calledMountpottinger and thishouse was sited in the middleof the Square were the presentMount stands. The Pottingerfamily was one of the mostprominent families in the Cityand a Thomas Pottinger wasthe Sovereign in 1688 andsaved the town from the samefate as Derry by negotiating a

truce with Patrick SarsfieldKing James 2nd commander.His grandson Sir HenryPottinger 1789-1856 becamethe most famous of them all.Henry left Belfast at the ageof twelve and travelled theworld first as a sailor then adiplomat and in 1842 he ne-gotiated the treaty of Nankingwith the Chinese that led toHong Kong Island becomingBritish, in 1843 he was ap-

Mountpottinger Corner atthe turn of the last century

pointed the first governor ofHong Kong.He was made a Baronet for istalents as a diplomat the fam-ily estate was sold in 1789 andthe family retired to England,there is a grave that has thisname on it dating back to 1602in Knock Graveyard Henrydied in Malta in 1856 wherehe had retired to.

Mountpottinger Corneraround 1920

CONTINUED NEXT ISSUE

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In June 1922 in theDublin high court acase opened which

related to a breach ofpromise case, which oc-curred in Seskinore,County Tyrone. The casewas between MissKathleen Donnelly ofSeskinore who broughtthe case against CaptainGeorge Evans, describedas a Justice of the Peace,of Greenmount Lodge,Seskinore.

Miss Donnelly was thedaughter of a respectablefarmer; Captain Evanswas also a reputable manwho owned a farm lessthan one mile from theDonnelly homestead.There seemed no doubtthat a promise had notonly been made but thatit was broken, and itseemed that the jurywould only have to de-cide on the amount ofdamages that should beawarded to MissDonnelly.

Captain Evans had treatedKathleen Donnelly in amost insulting and cruel

The Captains Love Storymanner, according to themorality and public opin-ion of the time it was evi-dent that he had actedwith calculated cruelty.

Miss Donnelly was con-vent educated and justthree months after she re-turned home to Seskinorefrom school she was in-troduced to CaptainEvans who at that timedid not live in the local-ity. Captain Evans hadserved in the Great Warand after the war in 1919he came to Tyrone tosettle in Seskinore. Hebought a substantial farmthere for over £5000 witha handsome residence onthe land. In September1920 he proposed mar-riage to Kathleen, whichshe accepted, subject toher father’s approval.Captain Evans gave her avaluable engagementring, then told her father"I don’t want money, butI hope you will fix Kittyup all right".

Her father agreed to thewedding and CaptainEvans inserted the fol-

lowing announcement inthe Dublin newspapers onApril 8th 1921:

Captain Evans, Omagh,whose engagement is an-nounced, obtained hiscommission throughTrinity O.T.C. and servedthroughout the war withthe 10th (Irish) Divisionin France, Egypt andSalonika. His name ismentioned as a Parlia-mentary candidate at theforthcoming election".

Having advertised the en-gagement to MissDonnelly the relationshipbetween the couple flour-ished and the ceremonywas fixed for June 8th ofthat year at theMarlborough Street Ca-thedral in Dublin. Owingto the trouble in Dublin atthe time the place of mar-riage was changed toArmagh Cathedral and fi-nally it was arranged thatit should take place atSeskinore on June 14th.Miss Donnelly travelledto Omagh to arrange for

Elaine Hogg

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the printing of the mar-riage cards. CaptainEvans took Kathleen inhis Daimler car all aroundCounty Tyrone introduc-ing her to his friends soshe began to prepare forher forthcoming nuptials.She went to Belfast whereshe stayed a week pur-chasing everything shewould need in the way ofclothes and accessoriesfor her married life, a po-sition of respectabilityand social importance asthe wife of a landowner,highly regarded memberof society.

A few days before the dayfixed for the wedding cer-emony Captain Evansvisited Kathleen brother,George to tell him that hewould not be able tomarry Kathleen unless hereceived £2000 as dowry.He then visited Kathleenfather, repeated his re-quest and the marriagewas postponed but toeveryone’s surprise byOctober of the same yearCaptain Evans marriedanother girl who wasfrom a wealthy family.

Between April and Octo-ber Kathleen wrote on

several occasion to herfiancé to ask him what thesituation was in relationto their marriage, her lastletter to him was this;

Dear Captain Evans, I amwriting to you on a sub-ject that I would muchrather forget, but I can’tforget. I wonder if yourealise the injury youhave done me. You toldmy brother that I was toblame, kindly explain. Iam anxious to know…after you asking me tomarry you, and having allarrangements made.

It certainly was not theacting of agentleman....Kindly takea little of it to yourself.You need it more than Ido. I wish you wouldsettle matters. Fatherfeels badly about the af-fair. I request an answerby return stating what youintend doing - if you aregoing to fulfil your prom-ise to me or not.

Captain Evans never re-plied to her letter andKathleen Donnelly musthave felt rejected, in-sulted and ashamed. Shefelt she had no other

choice but to take a courtaction to settle the matterotherwise her marriageprospects in the futurewould be damaged.

Captain Evans gave noevidence to defend his po-sition other than to claimthat Kathleen had beenseen with two boys inOmagh in June, who laterturned out to be cousinsof Kathleen. This was hisonly excuse for his ac-tions; he did not at anytime mention that moneycould have anything to dowith his not marryingKathleen.

The jury found that Cap-tain Evans was in breachof promise, what is more,he was ordered to finan-cially compensateKathleen for the clothesand accessories she hadpurchased for her futuremarried life, together withprinting costs for the mar-riage invitation cards thatshe had printed.

The courts were howeverunable to compensateKathleen for the emo-tional trauma, social hu-miliation and shame thatshe felt.

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A ll of us know some sort of ghost story,but there is no doubt that many of the sto-

ries which we were told in our childhood werenothing but mere fiction, the result ofsomeone's overactive imagination. Unfortu-nately when it comes to ghost stories theboundaries between fact and fiction are neververy clear. Many of us, when told a fictitiousstory, were so terrified as children that the storystuck with us and eventually we believed it.Then there was the problem with the ‘addi-tions’ What would happen here is that some-one would tell a story and when it came to thesecond person repeating it various bits wouldbe added on so as to enhance the story. Thiswould go on and on until the final story is noth-ing like the original – the spooky version ofChinese whispers.

ECCENTRICOne ghost story which this has happened to isthe famous Belfast tale of ‘Galloper Thomp-son.’ There are numerous stories surroundinghis ghost and from the ‘bits added on’ it alsoappears he got around a bit. The basic storywas centred around one Gordon Thompsonwho was a bit of an eccentric character whotravelled around the world. When he returnedhe settled into a house in Upper DonegallStreet. A few years later he began to build ahouse on the Crumlin Road. When he movedto here he named the building ‘BedequeHouse.’ This was in 1851 and the house he hadjust built was modelled on a property which wasthen in Prince Edward Island. Thompson livedhere until 1872 when he sold the house toFrederick Kinahan who in turn later sold it tothe Catholic Church who used it as a new hos-pital. They later demolished the house and thesite is today occupied by the Mater Hospital. Butwho, or what, was this ‘Galloper Thompson?’

THE INFAMOUS GALLOPER THOMPSON

STORIESGordon Augustus Thompson was of the oldfamily of Thompson's of Castleton, orJennymount. Third son of John Thompson, oneof the original directors of the Belfast Bank-ing Company, he went out to relatives calledGordon, West India merchants, one of whomwas Governor of Montserrat. Thompson’smother, Anne Wilson, was of the same familyas Walter Wilson, shipbuilder. A faint idea ofhis wandering moods is gathered from the de-scription of his having camped on part of theground now covered by Melbourne. An earlyletter writer confirms the suggestion. "GordonThompson." said a Wilson of Maryville, "re-turned to Belfast after twelve years travel. Hecame to Maryville one day every week anddelighted us all with his stories of the RockyMountains, Andes etc." He was a member ofthe Belfast Town Council in 1849, and for a

Jennymount Mill

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few years afterwards. In response to the callof the wild he returned to Australia, and diedat Melbourne in 1886 at the age of 87. Hisportrait in oils was in the Municipal Art Gal-lery. There is an appropriate FenimoreCooperesque flavour about his monumentalinscription in Carnmoney, "The last of the fam-ily name - Thompson's of Jennymount."

FAMILY OF BANKERSThe Castleton Thompson's were best knownas bankers, of whom there were three genera-tions. Robert (1736-1800) of Jennymount.John (1766-1824) of Jennymount, and John(1798-1874) of Lowwood. The first John hadthree sons, Robert of Castleton (1792-1862),John of Lowwood and Gordon Augustus ofBedeque House. He was one of the foundersof the Commercial Bank (1809) which byamalgamation subsequently with the BelfastBank became the Belfast Banking Company.Both father and (second) son were in succes-sion the head directors of this concern. Theelder Robert Thompson, grandfather of Gor-don, was principal partner in the earlier Dis-count Company, and was probably the firstoccupant of Jennymount, called after his sis-

ter, it is believed. Their father was John Th-ompson (1691-1765), Presbyterian minister ofCarnmoney for 34 years, and their mother wasJane Legg, of Malone House

MERCHANTSThe Rev. John Thompson was succeeded inthe ministry of the same church by his nephew,also John Thompson, a man of very decidedcharacter and great influence during his 62years of active duty. He was a native ofShilvodan, near Connor, and it was probablyhere the family settled originally in the seven-teenth century. His sons Charles and William,were well known merchants in High Street,their mother being the daughter of the Rev.William Laird, of Rosemary Street, and theywere succeeded by their nephews, the Finlays.Sir Thomas McClure was also a grandson ofthe Carnmoney minister, and joined the Finlaysin a business which later became the WolfhillSpinning Company. Among the family papersis a document (with seal) dated 1703, certify-ing that, "Mr. John Thompson, preacher of theGospel, was admitted a burgess of the Burghof Irvine in Scotland, which may give someclue to the source of the family.

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BANSHEEAs in many old houses, popular superstitionattributed a banshee to the Jennymount resi-dence; and in the legendary lore of Ireland"Galloper Thompson" has found a place. Wenow know who ‘Galloper’ Thompson was andwho his family were but what exactly is thestory connected with this ghostly rider. Thereis no doubt that the tale of Galloper Thomp-son is the most famous of all Belfast ghost sto-ries. The story began when Gordon Thomp-son stated to his friends that when he died ifhe did not find a place in heaven then he wouldreturn and haunt Jennymount. A few years af-ter his death a number of people reported see-ing the ghostly apparition of a man riding ahorse at break neck speed along oldJennymount Avenue. As Gordon Thompsonrode a horse at speed almost daily many statedthat it was his ghost. It was this activity whichgave Gordon Thompson the name ‘Galloper’as he rode his horse around the Jennymountestate. The story continues today and whenJennymount was demolished it was claimedthat the apparition could be seen in the areaaround Alexandra Park Avenue which replacedJennymount Drive.

THE ADDITIONSNeedless to say because of the fact that this isa Victorian story it has been told so many timesthat ‘additions’ have been added. In the storyitself there are those who claimed to have beenalmost knocked over by the speeding horse andrider while others claimed that neither had anyheads.

There was also another story added whichstated that Galloper went to the stables of anearby house and take a horse out for a ride.He would then return the horse and the fol-lowing day the owners would be totally mys-tified as to how the horse got into such a dirty

state. The story was often used by parents toscare their children to come in early or to go tobed. Many people continue to remember theirmothers and fathers telling them to be in for acertain time or "Galloper Thompson will getye," while the same line was used to get themto go to bed. We can now wonder if the chil-dren got to sleep after being frightened withsuch a tale?Because the story was based in North Belfastthat left other areas at a disadvantage when itcame to discipline. Often the tale of Galloperwas used in the same way with the only differ-ence being that he had moved to the area wherethe story was being told. Another ‘addition’ tothe story was a new ending. Some people heardthe story that a minister tricked Galloper Th-ompson into a bottle. He then handed the bottleto a sailor who dumped it into into the RedSea, however, where this occurred or how ithappened was never made clear.

Like all ghost stories no one can say if the taleof Galloper Thompson is true or not, but whatis fact is that it is a fascinating story and thatthe ‘real’ Galloper Thompson was one of themost extraordinary characters Belfast has everknown.

Taken from Joe Baker’s Haunted Belfastwhich is on sale in all leading bookstores

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Belfast map of 1955showing the Docks area

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In 2008 the world was shockedby the extreme cruelty of JosefFritzl who had kept his daugh-

ter Elisabeth locked in a cellar for 24years at their Austrian home. Sur-prisingly this is nothing new and inthis country there have been morethan a few similar cases. Cruelty cantake many forms be it physical, men-tal or sexual. One of the most bizarrecases ever found in the North was thatof the young child who was keptlocked in a hen house at Broclough,Crossgar, County Down. The child’smother pleaded guilty to neglect af-ter she was brought before the courtat Downpatrick in November 1956.

PUT ITS HANDS UPThe case was brought to light afterthree schoolboys noticed somestrange activity at one of two henhouses at Halfpenny’s field atCrossgar. One boy, DesmondBannon who later gave evidenceabout his discovery explained howwhen passing one of the hen houseshe heard someone walking about in-side. He went over for a closer lookand after checking the door, which hefound locked, went to look in throughthe window. The windows were cov-ered on the inside by old sacks but ashe was there someone lifted the cov-ering and peered out. "I saw either awee boy or a wee girl with long hair,"he stated. "I could see down to itswaist and it had no clothes on, as faras I could see. I asked what its namewas, and got no answer. I asked again

THE TRUE CASE OF THEHEN HOUSE CHILD

but got no reply." The boys evidencecontinued with more startling claims.He told the police that during theschool holidays he went up to the henhouses again. This time he was ac-companied by his friend. He said thatonce again the door was locked butwhen he knocked at the window theyoung child lifted up the sacking andput its hands up to the netting wireon the window.The children told how they next vis-ited the hen house on two other oc-casions each time with more friendsand on each occasion they saw thechild, it was locked in the hen house.On the last occasion, which was aboutone month before the child was res-cued, one of the boys, SeanMcMullan told of knocking on thewindow. They could hear somethingshuffling inside then, before verylong, someone came to the windowand tried to lift up the bag which wascovering it.

SUFFERINGThe NSPCC and the police were no-tified of events at the farm and thechild was named as Kevin Halfpenny,a seven-year old boy. He was imme-diately taken to the Nazareth LodgeChildren’s Home. While here he wasexamined by doctors who were hor-rified to find that he only weighedtwo stone. His height was a mere 30inches high and it was claimed thathe was suffering from rickets for atleast five years due to continual de-nial of sunlight.

MOTHER CHARGEDThe boys mother, Mrs MargaretHalfpenny, was arrested and chargedwith ill-treating and neglecting theboy in a manner to cause unneces-sary suffering or injury to his health.When she appeared in court NSPCCInspector Alex Mahood gave evi-dence of examining the boy atNazareth Lodge where he looked paleand thin. His arm and leg joints wereswollen and his shin bones were con-cave in shape. Both legs were foldedup beneath his buttocks while he wasin a sitting position. The boy couldonly stand without assistance for halfa minute and then he fell down onhis semi-contracted legs. The child’smother was allowed bail of £100 withone surety of £100. Meanwhile thechild was given all the treatment nec-essary at the Children’s Home.When the case came to trial MrsHalfpenny pleaded guilty to a chargeof wilful neglect. She was also ar-raigned on a charge of wilful ill-treat-ment to which she pleaded not guiltyand the Crown entered a nolle prose-qui on the charge. Judge Hanna ex-plained that had not the Lower Courtrefused the submission byHalfpenny’s defence to prevent pub-licity in the case the public wouldhave been unaware of all the detailsof the case.

HARDSHIP AND SUFFERINGHer defence maintained that thebuilding in which the child had beenkept was more of an outhouse than ahen house even though Mrs

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Halfpenny referred to it as a henhouse in her own statement. MrsHalfpenny also claimed that the childwas not locked in that place exceptwhenever she was going shopping atDownpatrick. Her own life was de-scribed to the court as being one ofhardship and suffering. Her husbandhad died after they had been six yearsmarried and she was left with threedaughters and two sons whom shehad to rear single handed. The medi-cal evidence however proved that thechild had been suffering from ricketsfor a long time and Judge Hanna com-mented that, for four years, the childwas kept for at least some periods inthis outhouse where there were bags

placed over the windows which keptout the light. It was said that the con-dition rickets was caused due to botha lack of sunlight and a diet withoutVitamin D. Basil Kelly who led thewoman’s defence deposed that MrsHalfpenny had no other place to leaveher child only in this outhouse. Atthat time, he said, "some of the chil-dren were out working and somewere at home. Those at home wereat school every day. Mrs Halfpennywas faced with the problem thereforeof finding a safe place to leave thechild while she went about her work.This was the safest place for a dis-abled or subnormal child where therewas no fire, stairs and chairs about."

HATRED OF THE PEOPLEJudge Hanna sentencing MrsHalfpenny said, "I cannot hide frommyself that, while this might havebeen a clean and healthy place to keepa child from time to time if some at-tention had been paid to it, I cannotlose sight of the fact that the windowswere covered by bags. Medical evi-dence here is that one of the thingsyour child lacked was sunlight. Youdeprived him of something God gavehim. You deprived him of somethingthe State was prepared to give fornothing - medical advice and atten-tion."

He also commented on the differenceshe had made between that child andher other children. "Perhaps youwere ashamed of the child. If youwere it seems a sad thing that youshould try to penalise the child."Commenting on the disgust that thepublic have for anyone who wouldvictimise innocent children he said,"If I am a judge of public opinion inthis country, any penalty I imposeupon you will be nothing like the pun-ishment and hatred of the people youwill come in contact with once youare free."

After pleading guilty to a lessercharge and having asked for themercy of the court the judge declaredthat the course of the defence casemeant that the penalty would have tobe greatly reduced. As for showingmercy he said, "I do not knowwhether you are entitled to demandmercy. Perhaps, who knows, theremay be some Divine providence whowill provide it for you - a mercy Icould never provide." Mrs Halfpennywas sent to jail for nine months.

We may have been shocked by the recent events in Austria but our ownhistory shows more than a few cases of similar neglect and abuse.

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The old Lying in Hospital which stood on Clifton Street where the present day garage is situatedThe building was later taken over by Millar & Co., and was destroyed in an IRA firebomb attack in 1922

On the facing page are photographs of the old hospital after it was destroyed by the IRA in 1922 andbelow is the site today

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1950’s BELFAST

ISSN 1757-7284Old Belfast is publishedby the Glenravel LocalHistory Project as partof our Belfast History

Project scheme

www.glenravel.com

1950’s BELFASTA Major Photographic Exhibition of Life in the City

During This Exceptional Decade

FREEMASONS' HALL, CORNMARKETFriday 11th September

Saturday 12th September10am - 4pm Admission FREE

Saturday 12th September

European Heritage Day

EXHIBITION OF MASONICREGALIA

AND JEWELS

Also on Display will be an