5,500 Ulster Men Dead At The Battle Of The Somme This Date In 1916

Sergeant William Gordon

On this date July 1st in 1916, 5,500 men of Ulster died in the Battle of Somme. One of them my Great Uncle Sergeant William Gordon went over the top that day never to return.

Oral family tradition holds that all of Ulster went silent as the news broke, only the weeping behind drawn shades was heard.  Ulster which is no bigger than Connecticut East of the Connecticut River suffered greatly that day. He is buried in Northern France close to where he fell. British tradition buries their fallen on the soil they fell, “forever British”, but as my Grandmother said, “The sun may never set on the British Empire, and it’s blood is on every square inch of it.”

Over The Top And Into History, For God and Ulster

Sgt Gordon was just one of many Great Uncles of mine that I would never meet who fell that day, Hewitts, Magills, Boyds, Walkers and Gordons you would not believe the numbers if I published them. Accurate stats and photographs are tough to come by, these men generally speaking had no children and few were married.

The character of the region was forever changed by this large loss of life.

The Hewitts are famous for their Lambeg drums in 2008 they assembled at the Ulster Tower in France. The memorial was built in 1920 to honour the Ulster Dead.  Almost 100 years after the war, Ulster remembers.

Hewitt Lameg Drums at the Ulster Tower