Ulster History Circle
Encyclopedia
The Ulster History Circle is one of a number of heritage organisations that administers Blue Plaque
s in Northern Ireland
. It is a voluntary, not for profit organisation, placing commemorative plaques in public places in honour of people and locations that have contributed to all genres of history within the boundary of the Irish province of Ulster, or contemporary country of Northern Ireland. Founded in 1980, the group receives no government funding, unlike many similar organisations in the United Kingdom.
Blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....
s in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. It is a voluntary, not for profit organisation, placing commemorative plaques in public places in honour of people and locations that have contributed to all genres of history within the boundary of the Irish province of Ulster, or contemporary country of Northern Ireland. Founded in 1980, the group receives no government funding, unlike many similar organisations in the United Kingdom.
Some of the Blue Plaques Recipients in Northern Ireland
Since the first plaque was formally unveiled well over 100 individuals have been honoured, including:- Cecil Frances Alexander, hymn writer
- Mabel AnnesleyMabel AnnesleyLady Mabel Marguerite Annesley was a wood-engraver and watercolour painter. Her work is in many collections, including the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Gallery of Canada and the Museum of New Zealand...
, artist and wood engraver - Thomas AndrewsThomas Andrews (shipbuilder)Thomas Andrews, Jr. was an Irish businessman and shipbuilder; managing director and head of the draughting department for the shipbuilding company Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Ireland. Andrews was the shipbuilder in charge of the plans for the ocean liner...
, designer of RMS Titanic - Joe BambrickJoe BambrickJoe Bambrick, , was a former footballer who at club level played for Chelsea, Walsall, Glentoran, and Linfield.-Biography:Bambrick scored 12 goals in 11 games for Ireland, including six in one game against Wales....
, soccer player - Samuel BeckettSamuel BeckettSamuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
, playwright - Samuel Black, pioneer cardiologist
- Lilian Bland, pioneer aviator
- Edward BuntingEdward BuntingEdward Bunting was an Irish musician and folk music collector.-Life:Bunting was born in County Armagh, Ireland. At the age of seven he was sent to study music at Drogheda and at eleven he was apprenticed to William Ware, organist at St. Anne's church in Belfast and lived with the family of Henry...
, folk music collector - Margaret Byers, educationalist
- Daniel CambridgeDaniel CambridgeDaniel Cambridge VC born in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, Ireland, was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.Cambridge was 35 years old and a Bombardier in the...
, soldier and recipient of the Victoria CrossVictoria CrossThe Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories.... - Joseph CampbellJoseph Campbell (poet)Joseph Campbell was an Irish poet and lyricist. He wrote under the Gaelicised version of his name Seosamh Mac Cathmhaoil...
, poet - Joseph W. CareyJoseph W. CareyJoseph William Carey was an Irish artist.Joseph was the son of the Rev. J. W. Carey, a Moravian Minister at Kilwarlin Moravian Church, Kilwarlin, County Down, Ireland. He trained as an illustrator with Marcus Ward & Co., publishers...
, painter - Amy CarmichaelAmy CarmichaelAmy Wilson Carmichael was a Protestant Christian missionary in India, who opened an orphanage and founded a mission in Dohnavur...
, missionary and writer - Joyce CaryJoyce CaryJoyce Cary was an Anglo-Irish novelist and artist.-Youth and education:...
, novelist - Francis Rawdon ChesneyFrancis Rawdon Chesneyright|thumb|200px|General F.R.Chesney in 1863Francis Rawdon Chesney , general and explorer, was a son of Captain Alexander Chesney, an Irishman of Scottish descent who, having emigrated to South Carolina in 1772, served under Lord Rawdon in the American War of Independence, and subsequently...
, soldier and explorer - Margaret Clarke, artist
- Edward Coey, mayor of BelfastBelfastBelfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
and philanthropist - William ConorWilliam ConorWilliam Conor OBE was a Belfast, Northern Ireland born artist.Celebrated for his warm and sympathetic portrayals of working-class life in Ulster, William Conor studied at the Government School of Design in Belfast in the 1890s...
, artist - Kathleen Coyle, writer
- James Humbert CraigJames Humbert CraigJames Humbert Craig was an Irish painter.Craig was born in Belfast to Alexander Craig, a tea merchant, and a Swiss mother, Marie Metzenen, from a family with a painting tradition. He was raised in County Down and maintained a studio at Cushendun, County Antrim...
, artist - James Bell CrichtonJames Crichton (VC)James Crichton VC was a soldier in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award of the British Commonwealth for gallantry "in the face of the enemy", during the First World War...
, soldier and recipient of the Victoria CrossVictoria CrossThe Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories.... - William CrollyWilliam CrollyWilliam Crolly was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh from 1835 to 1849....
, Archbishop of ArmaghArchbishop of ArmaghThe Archbishop of Armagh is the title of the presiding ecclesiastical figure of each of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland in the region around Armagh in Northern Ireland... - Edmund De WindEdmund De WindEdmund De Wind, VC was a British Army officer during the First World War, and posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award of the British Commonwealth for gallantry "in the face of the enemy"....
, soldier and recipient of the Victoria CrossVictoria CrossThe Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories.... - George DicksonGeorge DicksonGeorge Dickson is a retired American football player and coach was the head coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League for the first two games of the 1976 season.-Early life:...
, rose grower - William Steel Dickson, United Irishman
- John DillJohn DillField Marshal Sir John Greer Dill, GCB, CMG, DSO was a British commander in World War I and World War II. From May 1940 to December 1941 he was the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, the professional head of the British Army, and subsequently in Washington, as Chief of the British Joint Staff...
, soldier - Gerard Dillon, artist
- William DrennanWilliam DrennanWilliam Drennan ,a physician, poet, educationalist and political radical, was one of the chief architects of the Society of United Irishmen...
, physician and radical - John Boyd DunlopJohn Boyd DunlopJohn Boyd Dunlop was a Scottish inventor. He was one of the founders of the rubber company that bore his name, Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company....
, tyre inventor - Timothy EatonTimothy EatonTimothy Eaton was a Canadian businessman who founded the Eaton's department store, one of the most important retail businesses in Canada's history.-Early life and family:...
, businessman - William John EnglishWilliam John EnglishWilliam John English VC was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.-Details:...
, soldier and recipient of the Victoria CrossVictoria CrossThe Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories.... - E. Estyn Evans, geographer
- Harry FergusonHarry FergusonHenry George "Harry" Ferguson was an Irish engineer and inventor who is noted for his role in the development of the modern agricultural tractor, for becoming the first Irishman to build and fly his own aeroplane, and for developing the first four-wheel drive Formula One car, the Ferguson P99...
, inventor - Vere Henry Lewis Foster, educationalist
- William Gibson, goldsmith and philanthropist
- Sarah GrandSarah GrandSarah Grand was a British feminist writer active from 1873 to 1922. Her work revolved around the New Woman ideal.- Early Life and Influences of Frances Elizabeth Bellenden Clarke:...
, novelist and suffragette - W. A. Green, photographer
- Paul HenryPaul Henry (painter)Paul Henry was a Northern Irish artist noted for depicting the west of Ireland landscape with a spare post-impressionist style....
, artist - Robert Mitchell Henry, academic
- John Hewitt, poet
- Chaim HerzogChaim HerzogChaim Herzog served as the sixth President of Israel , following a distinguished career in both the British Army and the Israel Defense Forces .-Early life:...
, sixth President of IsraelPresident of IsraelThe President of the State of Israel is the head of state of Israel. The position is largely an apolitical ceremonial figurehead role, with the real executive power lying in the hands of the Prime Minister. The current president is Shimon Peres who took office on 15 July 2007... - The HuguenotHuguenotThe Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
Community - Barney Hughes, master baker and philanthropist
- Brian Desmond HurstBrian Desmond Hurstthumb|right|200px|Portrait by [[Allan Warren]]Brian Desmond Hurst was a Belfast-born film director. Responsible for over 30 movies as director, Hurst was Ireland's most prolific movie director during the 20th century.-Early life:Hurst was born Hans Hurst in Ribble Street, East Belfast"". into a...
, film director - Francis HutchesonFrancis Hutcheson (philosopher)Francis Hutcheson was a philosopher born in Ireland to a family of Scottish Presbyterians who became one of the founding fathers of the Scottish Enlightenment....
, philosopher and teacher - Alexander Irvine, writer
- James Johnston, tenor
- Samuel Kelly, coal importer and philanthropist
- Kellys CellarsKellys CellarsKellys Cellars is a public house in Belfast, Northern Ireland, situated at 30 Bank Street in the city centre. Built in 1720, it is one of the oldest pubs of Belfast. It sits in what used to be an alley way off Royal Avenue, but a few buildings were knocked down and now Kellys sits in a square...
, meeting place of the United Irishmen - John KingJohn King (explorer)John King was an Irish soldier who achieved fame as an Australian explorer. He was the sole survivor of the four men from the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition who reached the Gulf of Carpentaria...
, explorer - Charles LanyonCharles LanyonSir Charles Lanyon DL, JP was an English architect of the 19th century. His work is most closely associated with Belfast, Northern Ireland.-Biography:Lanyon was born in Eastbourne, Sussex in 1813...
, architect - Philip LarkinPhilip LarkinPhilip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL is widely regarded as one of the great English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century...
, poet - John LaveryJohn LaverySir John Lavery was an Irish painter best known for his portraits.Belfast-born John Lavery attended the Haldane Academy, in Glasgow, in the 1870s and the Académie Julian in Paris in the early 1880s. He returned to Glasgow and was associated with the Glasgow School...
, painter - Charles LeverCharles LeverCharles James Lever was an Irish novelist.-Biography:Lever was born in Dublin, the second son of James Lever, an architect and builder, and was educated in private schools. His escapades at Trinity College, Dublin , where he took the degree in medicine in 1831, are drawn on for the plots of some...
, novelist - C. S. LewisC. S. LewisClive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
, author - Charles Davis LucasCharles Davis LucasCharles Davis Lucas VC was an Irish born officer of the Royal Navy and the first recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces...
, naval officer and first recipient of the Victoria CrossVictoria CrossThe Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories.... - John LukeJohn Luke (artist)John Luke was an Irish artist. He was born in Belfast at 4 Lewis Street. The fifth of seven sons and one daughter of James Luke and his wife Sarah, originally from Ahoghill. He attended the Hillman Street National School and in 1920 went to work at the York Street Flax Spinning Company...
, artist - Robert Wilson LyndRobert Wilson LyndRobert Wilson Lynd was an Irish writer, an urbane literary essayist and strong Irish nationalist.-Life and career:He was born in Belfast and educated at Royal Belfast Academical Institution, studying at Queen's University...
, writer - Robert Shipboy McAdam, antiquarian and Gaelic scholar
- Aodh Mac Aingil, scholar, poet and bishop
- George Macartney, 1st Earl MacartneyGeorge Macartney, 1st Earl MacartneyGeorge Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, KB was an Irish-born British statesman, colonial administrator and diplomat. He is often remembered for his observation following Britain's success in the Seven Years War and subsequent territorial expansion at the Treaty of Paris that Britain now controlled...
, diplomat - Thomas McCabe and William Putnam McCabe, United Irishmen
- Luke L. Macassey, civil engineer and barrister
- Samuel McCaugheySamuel McCaugheySir Samuel McCaughey was an Irish-born pastoralist, politician and philanthropist in Australia.-Early life:McCaughey was born at Tullyneuh, near Ballymena, Ireland, the son of Francis McCaughey, farmer and merchant, and his wife Eliza, née Wilson.McCaughey came to Australia with an uncle, Charles...
, sheep farmer and politician - John MacounJohn MacounJohn Macoun was an Irish-born Canadian naturalist.- Early life :Macoun was born in Magheralin, County Down, Ireland in 1831, the third child of James Macoun and Anne Jane Nevin. In 1850 the worsening economic situation in Ireland led his family to emigrate to Canada, where he settled in Seymour...
, explorer and naturalist - Henry Joy McCrackenHenry Joy McCrackenHenry Joy McCracken was an Irish industrialist and a founding member of the Society of the United Irishmen.-History:...
, United Irishman - Mary Ann McCrackenMary Ann McCrackenMary Ann McCracken was a social reformer. She was born in Belfast, the sister of the Irish rebel Henry Joy McCracken, who was executed in Belfast following his role in the Battle of Antrim in June 1798....
, social reformer - James MacCullaghJames MacCullaghJames MacCullagh was an Irish mathematician.Born in Landahaussy, near Plumbridge, County Tyrone, Ireland, but the family moved to Curly Hill, Strabane when James was about 10. He was a fellow of Trinity College Dublin and a contemporary there of William Rowan Hamilton...
, mathematician and physicist - Charles McKimm, first General Superinendant of Parks for the City of Belfast
- Michael McLavertyMichael MacLavertyMichael McLaverty was an Irish writer of novels and short stories.-Background:Michael McLaverty was born in County Monaghan and then moved as a child to the Beechmount area of Belfast He attended St Gall's School and then went to College and became a school teacher. Michael McLaverty worked as a...
, writer - Louis MacNeiceLouis MacNeiceFrederick Louis MacNeice CBE was an Irish poet and playwright. He was part of the generation of "thirties poets" which included W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender and Cecil Day-Lewis; nicknamed "MacSpaunday" as a group — a name invented by Roy Campbell, in his Talking Bronco...
, poet - Martha Magee, benefactor
- James Joseph MagennisJames Joseph MagennisJames Joseph Magennis VC was a Belfast-born recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces...
, submariner and recipient of the Victoria CrossVictoria CrossThe Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories.... - Guglielmo MarconiGuglielmo MarconiGuglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor, known as the father of long distance radio transmission and for his development of Marconi's law and a radio telegraph system. Marconi is often credited as the inventor of radio, and indeed he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand...
, radio pioneer - W. F. MarshallW. F. MarshallReverend William Forbes Marshall BA. LLB. DD. MRIA was an Irish Poet and Presbyterian Minister from Sixmilecross, County Tyrone, Ireland....
, preacher and poet - Colin MiddletonColin MiddletonColin Middleton MBE was an Irish artist and surrealist.Middleton was born in 1910 in Belfast. He trained at Belfast College of Art, he was heavily influenced by the work of Vincent van Gogh. He regarded himself as the only surrealist working in Ireland in the 1930s.His work first appeared at the...
, artist - Rinty MonaghanRinty MonaghanJohn Joseph "Rinty" Monaghan was a former world flyweight boxing champion from Belfast. He became famous in the post-war period, eventually rising to become undisputed world champion and a hero to many people in his home city....
, World Champion boxer - James Murray, inventor of milk of magnesia
- Andrew NichollAndrew NichollAndrew Nicholl R.H.A was an Irish painter. He was a founder member of the Belfast Association of Artists and in 1847 was elected as an associate member to the Royal Hibernian Academy, becoming a full member in 1860....
, painter - Sister NiveditaSister Nivedita- A benediction to Sister Nivedita by Swami Vivekananda Sister Nivedita ; ; , born as Margaret Elizabeth Noble, was a Scots-Irish social worker, author, teacher and disciple of Swami Vivekananda. She met Vivekananda in 1895 in London and travelled to Calcutta, India in 1898...
(Margaret Elizabeth Noble), writer and IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n nationalist - Cathal O'ByrneCathal O'ByrneCathal O'Byrne was an Irish singer, poet and writer.-Early life:O'Byrne was born and raised at Balmoral County Down, the son of parents from County Wicklow. He was employed at a grocery on Beersbridge Rd. in Ballymacarret where he would befriend Joseph Devlin.-Career:He joined the Gaelic League in...
, singer, poet and writer - Stewart ParkerStewart ParkerJames Stewart Parker was a Northern Irish poet and playwright.He was born in Sydenham, Belfast, of a Protestant working class family. While still in his teens, he contracted bone cancer and had a leg amputated...
, playwright - H. B. Phillips, impresario
- Sir Henry Pottinger, 1st Baronet, first Governor of Hong KongGovernor of Hong KongThe Governor of Hong Kong was the head of the government of Hong Kong during British rule from 1843 to 1997. The governor's roles were defined in the Hong Kong Letters Patent and Royal Instructions...
- Robert Lloyd PraegerRobert Lloyd Praeger-Life:Of a Unitarian background, he was born in Holywood, County Down, and grew up in that town where he was educated, first in the school of the Rev McAlister and then at nearby Sullivan Upper School. He worked in the National Library of Ireland in Dublin from 1893 to 1923. He co-founded and...
, naturalist and historian - Rosamund PraegerRosamund PraegerSophia Rosamond Praeger, MBE, HRHA, MA was an Irish artist, sculptor and writer.Born in Holywood, County Down, Ireland, she was educated at Sullivan Upper School, the Belfast School of Art and the Slade School of Art in London. She was the younger sister of the naturalist Robert Lloyd Praeger.She...
, sculptor - William Ritchie, pioneer shipbuilder
- Robert the BruceRobert I of ScotlandRobert I , popularly known as Robert the Bruce , was King of Scots from March 25, 1306, until his death in 1329.His paternal ancestors were of Scoto-Norman heritage , and...
, King of the Scots - Paul Rodgers, shipbuilder
- Richard RowleyRichard RowleyRichard Rowley was the pseudonym of Richard Valentine Williams , born at 79 Dublin Road, Belfast, Ireland, who wrote poetry, plays and stories.-Early life:...
, poet - George William RussellGeorge William RussellGeorge William Russell who wrote under the pseudonym Æ , was an Irish nationalist, writer, editor, critic, poet, and painter. He was also a mystical writer, and centre of a group of followers of theosophy in Dublin, for many years.-Organisor:Russell was born in Lurgan, County Armagh...
, writer, poet and artist - George ShielsGeorge ShielsGeorge Shiels was an Irish dramatist whose plays were a success both in his native Ulster and at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. His most famous plays are The Rugged Path, The Passing Day, and The New Gossoon....
, playwright - Sir Robert Staples, 12th BaronetSir Robert Staples, 12th BaronetSir Robert Ponsonby Staples, 12th Baronet was the third son of Sir Nathaniel Staples, 11th Baronet of Lissan House near Cookstown in Co. Tyrone. He was one of the great characters of the early twentieth century and one of Ulster's best known artists...
, artist - George Vesey Stewart, pioneer New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
settler - Robert Sullivan, educationalist
- Jonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
, cleric and writer - Hugh Thomson, illustrator
- William Thomson, 1st Baron KelvinWilliam Thomson, 1st Baron KelvinWilliam Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin OM, GCVO, PC, PRS, PRSE, was a mathematical physicist and engineer. At the University of Glasgow he did important work in the mathematical analysis of electricity and formulation of the first and second laws of thermodynamics, and did much to unify the emerging...
, scientist - Anthony TrollopeAnthony TrollopeAnthony Trollope was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of his best-loved works, collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire...
, novelist - Helen WaddellHelen WaddellHelen Jane Waddell was an Irish poet, translator and playwright.-Biography:She was born in Tokyo, the tenth and youngest child of Hugh Waddell, a Presbyterian minister and missionary who was lecturing in the Imperial University. She spent the first eleven years of her life in Japan before her...
, poet and writer - Sir Richard Wallace, 1st Baronet, philanthropist and art collector
- Ernest WaltonErnest WaltonErnest Thomas Sinton Walton was an Irish physicist and Nobel laureate for his work with John Cockcroft with "atom-smashing" experiments done at Cambridge University in the early 1930s, and so became the first person in history to artificially split the atom, thus ushering the nuclear age...
, physicist and Nobel Laureate - George Stuart White, soldier and recipient of the Victoria CrossVictoria CrossThe Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
- William WhitlaWilliam WhitlaSir William Whitla was an Irish physician and politician.-Early life:Born at The Diamond, Monaghan, County Monaghan, Ireland, the fourth son of Robert Whitla, a woollen draper and pawnbroker, and his wife, Anne, daughter of Alexander Williams of Dublin...
, physician and politician - Oscar WildeOscar WildeOscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
, playwright and poet - Guy Wilson, daffodil breeder
- John Butler YeatsJohn Butler YeatsJohn Butler Yeats was an Irish artist and the father of William Butler Yeats, Lily Yeats, Lollie Yeats and Jack B. Yeats. He is probably best known for his portrait of the young William Butler Yeats which is one of a number of his portraits of Irishmen and women in the Yeats museum in the National...
, artist and writer - James YoungJames Young (comedian)James Young , also known as Jimmie Young, was a comedian born in Ballymoney, Northern Ireland and brought up in Belfast.He performed both on the stage and on television, as well as selling over a quarter of a million records...
, actor and comedian