Somme Commemoration at St Anne’s Cathedral
The names of 17 sets of brothers from Ulster who died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme will be read at a service in St Anne’s Cathedral to commemorate the centenary of the battle.
The citations of four members of the 36th (Ulster) Division who were awarded the Victoria Cross for acts of valour at the Somme will also be read out.
Descendants of these soldiers will be present at the service at 3.30pm on Sunday July 3, which will be attended by First Minister Arlene Foster, Her Majesty’s Lord–Lieutenant of the County Borough of Belfast, Mrs Fionnuala Jay–O’Boyle CBE and the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Alderman Brian Kingston.
The Northern Ireland Military Wives Choir will sing accompanied by members of the Band of the Royal Signals.
The Battle of the Somme lasted from July 1 2016 until November 18 2016. At the end of nearly five months of fighting there were 420,000 British, 200,000 French and 660,000 German casualties.
In just two days the 36th (Ulster) Division saw 2,000 killed. Four members of the Division were awarded the Victoria Cross for acts of valour. They were Rifleman William Frederick McFadzean VC, The Royal Irish Rifles; Captain Eric Norman Frankland Bell VC, The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers; Rifleman Robert Quigg VC, The Royal Irish Rifles; and Lieutenant Geoffrey Cather VC, The Royal Irish Fusiliers. Their Victoria Cross citations will be read at the service.
The names of the so called Band of Brothers, the 17 sets of brothers from Ulster killed on July1 1916, will be read by Lt Col Kingsley Donaldson WW1 Centenary Committee Secretary and Rt Hon Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP, Committee Chairman, to accompaniment by Tracey McCrory. These losses are representative of the wider suffering of families throughout Ulster and Ireland.
The members of the 16th (Irish) Division will also be remembered in recognition of their heroic service and sacrifice at Guillemont and Ginchy in September 1916.
The service will be led by the Dean of Belfast, the Very Rev John Mann, who will preach and will include an Act of Remembrance and the laying of wreaths at the War Memorial. Representatives of churches in Northern Ireland will lead prayers specially written for this Somme commemoration.
This service has been organised by St Anne’s Cathedral in conjunction with the Northern Ireland First World War Centenary Committee, with representatives from veterans’ organisations, arts and cultural groups, the serving military, historians and the Somme Museum, together with southern Irish interests like Glasnevin Cemetery.
The service is open to all.