The Ulster Division at the Somme
The 36th (Ulster) Division, raised from the Ulster Volunteer Force, suffers about 5,500 casualties in two days at the Somme, a sacrifice that becomes central to unionist identity.
- The Road to the Somme: Men of the Ulster Division Tell Their Story — Philip Orr, Blackstaff Press (1987)
- A History of Ulster — Jonathan Bardon, Blackstaff Press (1992)
When war came in 1914, the Ulster Volunteer Force, the armed militia raised to resist Home Rule, enlisted largely as a body. It became the 36th (Ulster) Division, recruited from the same streets, Orange lodges and churches. Nationalists, encouraged by John Redmond, joined the 10th and 16th (Irish) Divisions.
- The Road to the Somme: Men of the Ulster Division Tell Their Story — Philip Orr, Blackstaff Press (1987)
- Home Rule: An Irish History, 1800–2000 — Alvin Jackson, Weidenfeld and Nicolson (2003)
On 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the Ulster Division attacked near Thiepval. It was one of the few units to break deep into the German lines, but with the attacks either side failing, it was cut off and driven back. In two days it suffered about 5,500 casualties, killed, wounded and missing, with roughly 2,000 dead. Almost every Protestant town and street in Ulster lost someone. The date was poignant: 1 July was also the Old Style date of the Battle of the Boyne.
- The Road to the Somme: Men of the Ulster Division Tell Their Story — Philip Orr, Blackstaff Press (1987)
- A History of Ulster — Jonathan Bardon, Blackstaff Press (1992)
Coming just ten weeks after the Easter Rising, the Somme gave the two communities rival founding sacrifices: republicans who died for Ireland in Dublin, unionists who died for Britain in France. The Ulster Tower at Thiepval, opened in 1921, is a place of pilgrimage. Today 1 July brings Somme parades, and the battle features on loyalist murals, sometimes alongside the UVF paramilitary group of the Troubles, which took the old name. That pairing is something many unionists themselves dislike.
- The Road to the Somme: Men of the Ulster Division Tell Their Story — Philip Orr, Blackstaff Press (1987)
- A History of Ulster — Jonathan Bardon, Blackstaff Press (1992)
Ulster's men volunteered in their thousands and died for King and Empire while republicans rose against Britain in Dublin. That loyalty, paid in blood, is why Ulster earned its place in the UK.
- The Road to the Somme: Men of the Ulster Division Tell Their Story — Philip Orr, Blackstaff Press (1987)
- A History of Ulster — Jonathan Bardon, Blackstaff Press (1992)
For decades the Irish who died in the British army, including many from the nationalist 16th (Irish) Division, were written out of memory on both sides. Many nationalists now commemorate them too, while wary of the Somme being used as a loyalist or paramilitary symbol.
- The Road to the Somme: Men of the Ulster Division Tell Their Story — Philip Orr, Blackstaff Press (1987)
- Home Rule: An Irish History, 1800–2000 — Alvin Jackson, Weidenfeld and Nicolson (2003)
Why it matters today
For unionists and loyalists the Somme is a founding sacrifice, a blood debt that bound Ulster to Britain. It is marked every 1 July with parades, murals and wreaths. In recent decades it has also become a place of shared remembrance, as nationalists recover the story of the many Irish Catholics who died in the same war.