- Volume 10 Front Page
- Contents & Foreword
- New Life for an Egan Harp
- Memories of Glenmore House
- The Brontës & Arthur Bell Nicholls
- Jack Sinclair Local Hero
- Lisburn's Historic Quarter
- The Richard Wallace Trust (Lisburn)
- The effects of the Spanish Civil War on Ireland
- Hillsborough House Twelfth Night Ball
- The Blessington Estate And The Downshire Connection
- A Brief History Of Lisburn's Airbases
- Recollections Of The Second World War In Lisburn
- The end of an era - Barbour's Of Hilden
- Summer outings
2000 - 2005 - Recent Book Launches & Meetings
- Book Reviews
- Historical Journals
Lisburn Historical Society
Volume 10 • 2005 - 2006
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
Ken Armstrong is an Honours graduate of Queen's University in Modern History and has a MA in History from the University of Ulster. He joined Friends' School in 1973 as Head of History and latterly was Senior Master. He took early retirement in 2004.
Stanley R. Bell, former Chairman of Lisburn Historical Society, is currently Vice Chairman of Lisburn Historical Quarter Arts Group and a member of the Creative Arts Panel of Lisburn Arts Advisory Committee.
Arthur Chapman is a graduate of Queen's University in Modern Languages. After teaching in Regent House, RBAI and Portadown College, he was Principal of Friends' School from 1970 until 1989. He has recently returned to live in Lisburn.
An aviation enthusiast of long standing, Ernie Cromie has spent the last 26 years avidly researching aviation history as a member of the Ulster Aviation Society, a voluntary and charitable association of which he is Chairman.
Pat Geary is a member of the History Department at Friends' School. His particular interest is the Great War and he has compiled a database of 1914-18 casualties from the Lisburn area which can be viewed on the FSL website.
Professor Quentin H. Gibson grew up at Glenmore, Lambeg. He graduated in Medicine from Queen's University, lectured there in Physiology and was Professor of Biochemistry at Sheffield University before taking up posts in the USA. He was Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Cornell University, New York 1966-90 and is now Emeritus.
Alan Jeffers is Lisburn City Centre Manager with delegated responsibility from Lisburn City Council for the Bridge Street Townscape Initiative. He holds MBA and MA degrees and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Anthea McWilliams BA (Hoes), Manager of Art Act Gallery, holds a Masters Degree in Cultural Management of the University of Ulster with a dissertation Remembering and Recovering the Case for Sir Richard Wallace, Benefactor and Art Collector.
Trevor Neill is a founding member and former Chairman of Lisburn Historical Society. Now retired, he is an Honorary Member and lives in Scotland.
Ruair í ÓBaoill is a freelance archaeologist working with the Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, Queen's University, Belfast. He is Chairman of the Irish Post-Medieval Archaeology Group (IPMAG) and a Board Member of the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland.
Betty O'Sullivan was a retired teacher, born in England, who came to live in Northern Ireland in 1960. A member of the Brontë Society for some forty years, she was very involved in the Irish Section of which she was Librarian.
Fred Rankin is a former Chairman of Lisburn Historical Society. He is also a past Chairman and President of Lecale Historical Society. Currently he is a trustee and member of the publications committee of the Ulster Historical Foundation.
Kathy Trant is a graduate of NUI Maynooth and is married with two sons, two daughters and two grandchildren. She has published about her local area, west Wicklow, notably, The Blessington Estate 1667-1908, (Anvil Books, Dublin, 2004).
Born in Finaghy, Ian Vincent emigrated to Canada in 1965 where he
completed a Masters degree in Museology. He has nearly thirty years'
experience of working in museums in Canada and Northern Ireland and
became Deputy Curator at the Irish Linen Centre & Lisburn Museum in
1999.
FOREWORD
It is my very great pleasure to introduce this, the tenth Journal of Lisburn Historical Society, and to thank most sincerely all the contributors who have produced interesting and varied articles on a wide range of topics. I also wish to express thanks to the Irish Linen Centre & Lisburn Museum for the valuable assistance and advice of its staff, particularly in providing the services of the Museum's Research Officer, Mrs Brenda Collins, as editor of the Journal. Mr Finny O'Sullivan, a former Chairman, and for many years our Outings Secretary, has been the prime mover in the entire enterprise, ably assisted by our Honorary Secretary, Mrs Olive Campbell, and we are indebted to this small team for its determination and commitment. Several of the contributors have past or current connections with the Society over the years and none more so than Mr Trevor Neill, founder member, past Chairman and now Honorary Member of the Society. Now enjoying retirement in Scotland, with his wife Jean whose own contribution to the success of the Society should not go unmentioned, he remains in contact with several members and we are always delighted to have his news. Finally, the financial support from prominent local businesses is greatly appreciated.
Since the publication of the last Journal a major event for the Society has been the handing over to the Museum of the Society's collection of artifacts which had been amassed over the years. As members will recall, the collection had been stored in part of the old Town Hall under the care of Mr Sam Dixon and a small team. Following the opening of the new Island Civic Centre in 2001, the Town Hall was sold and the Committee of the Society decided to donate the collection to the Irish Linen Centre & Lisburn Museum. The artifacts are now stored under more appropriate environmental conditions than it had been possible for the Town Hall to provide. Several items have been conserved for display including, for example, the original Golden Lion from the shop front at 59 Bow Street, and we are sure that the Society's collection will continue to be of value to the Museum for exhibition and research.
Another recent initiative has been the publication of local history books under the Society's name. In 1997 Mrs Joyce Best's The Huguenots of Lisburn, the Story of the Lost Colony (edited and compiled by Dr Kathleen Rankin) was printed. It was a great success and was reprinted in 2003. In the same year we republished Lisburn Miscellany by Fred Kee, an early member of the Society, which was originally published by the Society in 1976. Both publications sold so well that they are now out of print. These sales greatly helped to subsidise other activities of the Society.
Our regular pattern of activities continues. From September — April, these take the form of monthly meetings with guest lecturers, generally on the first Wednesday of the month. We are indebted to Mr Mister McReynolds, Principal of Lisburn Institute of Further and Higher Education for providing the venue for the meetings at Castle House. Each year we have a number of outings during the summer months and details of some recent outings which we have enjoyed are outlined in the Journal.
I hope that you will enjoy reading this latest issue of Lisburn Historical Society Journal and, if you are not already a member, that you will consider joining. New members will be made very welcome.
David Twigg Chairman
