Rising Voices: Lisburn at Easter 1916

On March 24th 2016 the Irish Linen Centre & Lisburn Museum opened ‘Rising Voices: Lisburn at Easter 1916’, a new exhibition exploring the Easter Rising and Lisburn, through the story of individuals associated with the town.

When the Rising broke out in April 1916 Lisburn,  like many towns in Ulster, was quiet.  There was little public support for this ‘very silly’ rising, particularly as a large number of men from the town – both nationalists and unionist – had joined the war effort and marched off to the front. Yet a number of individuals from Lisburn were caught up in the Rising.  And, from the activities of IRB men Bulmer Hobson, Herbert Moore Pim and Ernest Blythe and the local Irish Volunteers who mobilised at Coalisland, to the local men and women who helped quell the fighting in the capital – active with the RIC or Irish regiments in the British army – this exhibition explores the different voices and experience of the town and its people during the Easter Rebellion 1916.

The exhibition features:

• The story of Lisburn’s Irish National Volunteers and local nationalist contribution to war service in Lisburn
• Lisburn’s Rising Voices: viewpoints from Blythe, Hobson and Pim;  Soldiers at the Front, and Military Medal winners who fought in Dublin; the views of the Lisburn Standard and the Urban District Council; as well as Nettie Mitchell, Lusitania survivor and nurse in Dublin during Easter week.
• Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC): the story of the local RIC and the rising
• The ‘Tricolour Trophy’: the unbelievable story of Sgt Davis, Dr George St George and how the tricolour that flew upon the GPO made its way to Lisburn!

The Somme, Our Story, 1916

To mark the Centenary of the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the Irish Linen Centre & Lisburn Museum presents its new major exhibition: The Somme, Our Story, 1916 . Packed with letters, photographs, original artefacts, documents and archival footage, the exhibition offers up a social history of the Somme, examining the men from Lisburn and district who fought and died in the battle (which lasted from July to November 1916), and how this impacted their families at home.

The Great War (1914-1918) affected all aspects of live in Ireland, and alongside the story of the local 11^th and 13^th battalions Royal Irish Rifles at the front, and the experience of those back home, the exhibition examines the local medical men and women who nursed the wounded and comforted the dying, and the role Ulster’s wartime industry, particularly its linen factories, had in winning the war.

The exhibition features special displays on:

• Lisburn’s ‘Pals’: the story of how Linen men of the 11^th battalion, Lisnagarvey Hockey and the town’s Orange lodges went to war together.
• A concise overview of the 36^th Ulster Division’s attack at the Somme on July 1^st 1916
• Archival footage of the Battle of the Somme
• Nelson Russell, the town’s youngest winner of the Military Cross (M.C.)
• The 16^th (Irish) Division at the Somme: Ginchy and Guillemont
• RAMC, VADS and Nurse: Medical men and women at the front.
• The first home front: munitions, aerolinen and how the war in the air was won on ‘Ulster linen wings’

‘Lisburn 1918-23, Community Conflict and Commemoration after the Great War’ Exhibition

‘Lisburn 1918-23, Community Conflict and Commemoration after the Great War’ is a new exhibition detailing the events in Lisburn from the immediate aftermath of the Great War (1914-18) to the 1920 ‘Swanzy Riots’, through to the unveiling of the town’s war memorial in 1923. This story is told within the broader context of post-war Ireland, including the Irish War of Independence, the foundation of Northern Ireland and the Irish Civil War.

Using photographs, letters, artefacts, books and uniforms, this exhibition documents the rich history of Lisburn and surrounding area during a turbulent period in the history of Ireland.
Highlights of ‘Lisburn 1918-23, Community Conflict and Commemoration after the Great War’ include:

• Armistice, Peace Day Celebrations, and the erection of the Cenotaph in Market Square
• The story of the 1918 election, from the granting of the vote for women, to the Sinn Fein challenge in South Antrim to Charles Curtis Craig, unionist and veteran of the Somme.
• The story of the IRA assassination of Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) District Inspector (DI) Oswald Ross Swanzy in Market Square, and the sectarian ‘burning’ of Lisburn that followed the murder. Includes rarely seen photographs!
• The partition of Ireland, and the founding of Northern Ireland
• The Irish Civil War: Sir Henry Wilson, the ‘B’ Specials and the new Northern Ireland
• Unveiling of the war memorial, 1923 and commemoration of Lisburn’s Great War dead.

‘Lisburn 1918-23, Community Conflict and Commemoration after the Great War’ is the final display in our now complete First World War series, which includes:
1. Lisburn, 1912-1915
2. Rising Voices: Lisburn at Easter, 1916
3. The Somme, Our Story

Taken from the Museum’s extensive art collection, the exhibition depicts views of Lisburn from its recent past, and examines the town’s architectural heritage, from Georgian townhouses to long-forgotten secret gardens.  The exhibition is open Monday to Saturday, 9.30-5pm and entry is free.

Highlights of the exhibition include scenes of:

• Bridge Street
• Union Bridge
• Piper’s Hill
• Market Square
• Railway Street
• Castle Street
• Seymour Street

And work from Jim Dunlop, Jack Calderwood, Anna Cheyne , Patrick Stevenson PPRUA, Joe O’Kane, Eric McCully, Stephen Gourley and Raymond Piper.

‘Print, Protest and the Polls’ commemorates the centenary of the first female vote in Ireland through the use of print media – through promotion and protest – by the Irish suffragists and their opponents. The exhibition shines a light on a neglected period in Irish women’s history, while simultaneously exploring the powerful relationship between the contemporary political protest and the developing print media.  The exhibition includes material from local suffragette Lillian Metge.

This a travelling exhibition curated by Donna Gilligan.  It was first mounted at the National Print Museum, Dublin.

‘Peace Day, 1919: Living and remembering in the aftermath of the Great War’ is a major new exhibition from the Irish Linen Centre & Lisburn Museum.

The Great War raged in Europe from 1914-18 and affected all aspects of life in Lisburn and district, with almost 1000 local men and women losing their lives.  In summer 1919, as world powers were making plans for peace in Europe, towns and cities across the British Isles looked to honour their ex-servicemen and women, living and dead, through a day of celebrations.

Peace Day was held in Lisburn on 16 August 1919, and the town held a huge civic parade and reception to honour ex-servicemen, while a temporary cenotaph in Market Square honoured the war dead.  The day was remembered as one of the ‘greatest in Lisburn’s history’.

The exhibition features objects and photographs from its collection to explore Peace Day celebrations.  Highlights include:

• Original artefacts from Lisburn’s Peace Day organising committee
• Rare photographs of the parade and ex-servicemen
• Medals, uniforms and stories of Lisburn soldiers and sailors
• Recreated temporary cenotaph and memory wall – record your views, thoughts or family memories of the Great War
• First Edition copy of the Treaty of Versailles

The exhibition coincides with Northern Ireland’s Armed Forces Day, 22 June 2019, and hosted by Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council.