why republican groups are so fractious…

It has long been a cliché that, historically, the first thing on the agenda in any Irish republican organisation is a split. But like many clichés it has an element of truth to it. Most people are probably unaware that the Irish Citizens Army, as well as Republican Congress, organised in Belfast in the 1930s.

National Graves Association book online: 1916-1966 Belfast and Nineteensixteen

As the centenary of the 1916 Rising is being commemorated, it seems fitting to post up a copy of the booklet produced to mark the fiftieth anniversary in Belfast. Ostensibly, the booklet was one of two produced to raise funds on behalf of the National Graves Association in Belfast and defray the cost of erecting

Roll of Honour, Belfast, 1916-1966

The current County Antrim Memorial contains a number of panels listing those considered to have given their lives in pursuit of an Irish Republic in the period from 1916 to 1966. A review of those listed for Belfast appears relatively incomplete when set against the various criteria that appear to have been applied to identify

Prayers in the rain, Milltown 1935

In 1935 the Easter Rising commemoration at Milltown cemetery was banned by the northern government as had happened in previous years. Some 200 RUC men were drafted in to seal off the cemetery and prevent any ceremony being held. In defiance of both the northern government, and the elements (it poured rain), some 2,000 republicans gathered

The bombing of the republican plot in Milltown

This is the story of the bombing and destruction of the original republican plot in Milltown cemetery in Belfast. When most people think of the republican plot in Milltown, they usually think of it as the County Antrim memorial erected on the Tom Williams plot in the mid-1960s. The older republican monument, though, is the