Royal Visit

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall have arrived in Belfast on a one-day visit.

Their Royal Highnesses were greeted by the Lord-Lieutenant of Belfast, Mrs Fionnuala Jay-O'Boyle CBE.

During their engagements TRH will visit the Florence Nightingale Exhibition at the Ulster Museum, and meet newly qualified nursing staff and museum staff.

Fountain Pen Ink

When I attended Primary and Prep school in the 1960s and early 1970s some of the wooden desks had little ink wells.

These old desks had a lid at the top which opened upwards for storage of books, writing pads etc.

Fountain pens were still commonly used in the 1960s, though ballpoint pens were beginning to supersede them.

I seldom use my fountain pens today; I hardly use any writing instruments, in fact. Instead I type on desktop, iPad, and iPhone keyboards.

Nowadays I use the fountain pen for signing documents, cards, and so on.

It's a shame, really, that I don't use my fountain pens more frequently.

I inherited a lovely vintage De La Rue Onoto pen from my father in 2002.

About 2000, I think, I purchased a very grand Mont Blanc fountain pen and ballpoint.

I wrote an article about the Onoto here.

Dear reader, do you have any notion of how difficult it is to purchase fountain pen ink in Belfast today?

I mean ordinary black ink, not the Mont Blanc or calligraphic premium variety.

I sent out a plea for help on Twitter and Facebook; and, lo and behold! My friend Mags asked me if I had tried Proctor's of Belfast, printers, suppliers of offices, arts and crafts, wedding stationery, not to mention a vast array of miscellaneous goods.

I called them and inquired about fountain pen ink. To my surprise they sell it, Parker Quink, to be precise.

Proctor's, 201-213, Castlereagh Road, Belfast, was established about 1966.

What a Godsend.

Portmore Lough

On Sunday, 20th September, 2020, I paid a visit to Portmore Lough and a section of the disused Lagan Canal.

A stretch of the towpath runs from just beyond Lock 26 (Chapel Lock), under Crannagh Bridge, to Annaghdroghal Bridge.

Annaghdroghal Bridge was the first bridge on the journey from Lough Neagh to Belfast on the Lagan Canal.

The walk terminates abruptly at this old humped-back bridge because the stretch of land from here to Lough Neagh is privately owned.

I watched an equestrian event for awhile at Portmore Equestrian Centre, which is beside the lake.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) maintains Portmore Lough today. 

I enjoyed a packed lunch seated on a bench overlooking the lake.

The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland, dated 1844-45, describes Portmore thus:-

"PORTMORE, or Beg Lough, is a lake in the parishes of Glenavy and Ballinderry, barony of Upper Massereene, County Antrim.

It lies half a mile south and east of the nearest parts of Lough Neagh, ¾ north-west of the village of Ballinderry, and 2¾ miles south-west of the village of Glenavy.

It is nearly circular in outline, and covers an area of 283 acres.

It is stored with pike, bream, trout, perch, roach, and eels, and is frequented by a variety of wildfowl.

About 1740, Arthur Dobbs, author of a pamphlet on the Trade of Ireland, then agent to Lord Conway, and afterwards Governor of North Carolina, drained or rather emptied the lake by means of a windmill and buckets; but the water returning either through springs or by a subterraneous communication with Lough Neagh, he was compelled to abandon his attempt to convert its bed into arable land.

On the flat shores of the lake are the prostrate ruins of Portmore Castle, erected in 1664 by Lord Conway; and either within the walls of this castle, or in a sequestered spot in the lake called Sally Island, the learned and pious Jeremy Taylor, chaplain to CHARLES I, and Bishop of Dromore, and Down and Connor, found a retreat during the Protectorate of Cromwell, and composed some of his celebrated and justly admired works.

The preface of the Ductor Dubitantium, in particular, is dated from his study in Portmore, in Killultagh, on the banks of Lough Beg."

The Hon Barry Bingham VC OBE

IN COMMEMORATION OF THE BATTLE OF JUTLAND, 31ST MAY-1ST JUNE, 1916

REAR-ADMIRAL THE HON EDWARD BARRY STEWART BINGHAM VC OBE

The Hon Edward Barry Stewart Bingham (1881-1939), of Bangor Castle, County Down, third son of John, 5th Baron Clanmorris JP DL, ADC to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and Matilda Catherine, daughter of Robert Edward Ward JP DL, of Bangor Castle.

This is a branch of the noble house of BINGHAM, Earls of Lucan.

The Hon Barry Bingham joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman, after school at Arnold House, Llanddulas, Carnarvonshire; and a spell on HMS Britannia, a permanently-moored training ship at Dartmouth, Devon.

He was commissioned Lieutenant RN and served a year (1904-5) on HMS Cormorant based at Gibraltar; then was given his own command, of the torpedo boat destroyer HMS Star.

In 1915, Bingham was promoted Commander RN, and given HMS Hornet, a destroyer.

Clanmorris arms

In May, 1916, during the Battle of Jutland, Commander Bingham commanded a destroyer division.

He led his division in their attack, first on enemy destroyers and then on the battle cruisers of the German High Seas Fleet.

Once the enemy was sighted Bingham ordered his own destroyer, HMS Nestor, and the one remaining destroyer of his division, HMS Nicator, to close to within 3,000 yards of the opposing battle fleet so that he could bring his torpedoes to bear.

While making this attack, Nestor and Nicator were under concentrated fire of the secondary batteries of the German fleet and Nestor was subsequently sunk.

For his actions, Commander Bingham earned the Victoria Cross, one of relatively few awarded for naval bravery during the 1st World War

The citation reads:

For the extremely gallant way in which he led his division in their attack, first on enemy destroyers and then on their battlecruisers.

He finally sighted the enemy battle-fleet, and, followed by the one remaining destroyer of his division (Nicator), with dauntless courage he closed to within 3,000 yards of the enemy in order to attain a favourable position for firing the torpedoes.

While making this attack, Nestor and Nicator were under concentrated fire of the secondary batteries of the High Sea Fleet. Nestor was subsequently sunk.

Bingham was picked up by the Germans at Jutland, and remained a prisoner of war (latterly at Holzminden) until the Armistice.

After the war, he stayed in the Royal Navy, was promoted several times and retired in 1932 with the rank of Rear-Admiral, having for a year held the position of Senior Officer of the Reserve Fleet, Devonport.

He had several commands, including HMS Resolution, in the Mediterranean.

Admiral Bingham served as Chief of Staff in the Nore Command, 1927-9, and was appointed ADC to GEORGE V.

Outside the Navy, he interests were equestrian; he was a keen jockey and polo player.

In addition to his VC, Bingham was also awarded the OBE and was mentioned in dispatches.

He was also awarded the (Tsarist) Russian Order of St Stanislaus.

He published a memoir of his naval career in 1919, notable for his description of the worst part of naval life being, not nearly being blown to pieces in battle, nor the nervous hours and minutes before battle; it was the ordeal, in that pre-diesel age, of coaling.

Bingham had, in 1915, married Vera Temple-Patterson; this was dissolved in 1937 though they had a son and a daughter.

His nephew, the 7th Baron Clanmorris, was a successful novelist, as John Bingham, whose daughter Charlotte in turn would follow in these of her father's footsteps.

Some maintain that his espionage activity during the 2nd World War provided a model for the fictional writings of John le Carré, the successful English writer of spy fiction.

Admiral Bingham, who latterly resided at Evershot, Dorset, died in London.

First published in May, 2013.

The Plain Loaf

I happened to be entering a major supermarket one morning when I was accosted by Hazel, a reader of the blog, from Portaferry, County Down.

Hazel was quite effusive about my alter ego, Lord Belmont, reminding me of past articles including the one about Irwin's Nutty Krust high-fibre wholemeal plain loaf, which was made until March, 2020.

Mark Thompson the wrapper, in fact.

Here was a loaf of bread which was a perennial favourite of mine: Irwin’s Nutty Krust high-fibre plain loaf.

It toasted very well indeed.

Some batches had a tendency occasionally to be slightly misshapen upon purchase, which necessitated trimming the edges a little for insertion into the toaster.

No matter.

The lucky birds used to get the crumbs.

The standard white Nutty Krust loaf remains on the shelves and continues to be popular.

THE PLAIN LOAF  is a traditional Ulster-Scots style of loaf.

It has a dark, well-fired crust on the top and bottom of the bread.

There is no crust on the sides due to the unbaked loaves being stuck together in batches, baked together then torn into individual loaves afterwards.

This style of bread does not fit well in most modern toasters due to the greater height of the loaf.

This was once the more widely available style of loaf in comparison to the now more common pan loaf.

Irwin's bakery is based in Portadown, County Armagh.

First published in November, 2012.

Prince William in Belfast

THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE, Baron Carrickfergus, has been greeted by the Lord-Lieutenant of Belfast, Mrs Fionnuala Jay-O'Boyle CBE, on a visit to the city.

His Royal Highness is undertaking a range of engagements with the Northern Ireland emergency services and frontline responders.

HRH has been received at the Police Training College, Garnerville, Belfast, by the Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Belfast, Sir Nigel Hamilton KCB DL, where he has met members of the fire, police, and ambulance services.

Prince William afterwards visited the Community Rescue Service at Cave Hill Country Park, Antrim Road, Belfast, and was received by Mr Mukesh Sharma MBE DL (Deputy Lieutenant of the County Borough of Belfast).