BH Memoirs: VIII

REMINISCENCES OF LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOHN MATTHEW BLAKISTON-HOUSTON DL (1898-1984), OF BELTRIM CASTLE, COUNTY TYRONE, AND RODDENS, COUNTY DOWN, BORN AT ORANGEFIELD HOUSE, NEAR BELFAST

HE SERVED IN THE FIRST AND SECOND WORLD WARS; WAS AIDE-DE-CAMP TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF AUSTRALIA, 1929-30; HIGH SHERIFF OF COUNTY DOWN, 1944; DEPUTY LIEUTENANT OF COUNTY DOWN, 1946; HIGH SHERIFF OF COUNTY TYRONE, 1954

Just before the War the Belfast Corporation had bought Orangefield farmyard and 46 acres of land as park.

We leased the farm buildings from the purchasers at a very high rent, so I purchased Carrowreagh Farm of 220 acres and left Lettice and Joe Barbour (the land steward) the enormous task of carrying out the necessary alterations and moving into it.

My leave had been extended a further two months at the request of Basil Brooke, our Prime Minister.

As Roddens House was burnt down in 1939, Lettice and the children had temporarily been living in the land steward's house.

We purchased BELTRIM CASTLE, Gortin, County Tyrone, in 1944, but as it was occupied by American forces, we were unable to move in until 1946.

In January, 1945, I stood for the two member constituency of County Down, for the Imperial Parliament.

The Rev Dr Little and Lord Castlereagh were the two sitting members, but Castlereagh decided not to stand again.

I was one of thirteen candidates – Unionist – to present themselves to the delegates and came out top, with Sir Walter Smiles [great-grandfather of Bear Grylls] second.

Dr Little, annoyed that he was not automatically accepted as an official candidate would not allow his name to go forward on the official candidates list.

He then, with another man called Brown, elected to stand as an unofficial Unionist.

Smiles and I were thus the official candidates, and Little and Brown went to the polls against us as unofficial Unionist candidates.

The result, after a very bitter election, was Little and Smiles elected and I came next.

What a horrible life it would have been!

This was my second and last attempt to become an MP at Westminster.

I had been a member of the Down County Council since 1936.

I did not distinguish myself in local government but I’m sure I can claim to be the first member of the Down County Council to give a forwarding address for minutes and correspondence as Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!

THIS CONCLUDES MY EXTRACTS OF THE BLAKISTON-HOUSTON MEMOIRS.

First published in January, 2015.  Extracts by kind permission of RP Blakiston-Houston OBE JP DL

Crevenagh House

THE AUCHINLECKS OWNED 2,616 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY TYRONE

IN MEMORY OF FIELD-MARSHAL SIR CLAUDE JOHN EYRE AUCHINLECK GCB GCIE CSI DSO OBE

THE REV JAMES AUCHINLECK (1646-c1685), Rector of Cleenish, County Fermanagh, married Margaret Keith, and had issue (with others who died young),

JAMES, of whom presently;
William;
Alexander;
Katherine; Margaret; Jean.

The Rev James Auchinleck was succeeded by his son,

JAMES AUCHINLECK (1675-1746), of Thomastown, County Fermanagh, who wedded, ca 1698, Elizabeth, daughter of Colonel James Corry MP, of Castle Coole, and had, with other issue (who died young),

JAMES, his heir;
Alexander;
Rebecca; Margaret; Mary; Sarah; Elizabeth.

The elder son,

JAMES AUCHINLECK (1704-52), of Thomastown, married, in 1734, Susanna, daughter of John Corry, of Lisanock, and had issue,

Leslie;
Armar;
James;
John;
William;
George;
Corry;
ALEXANDER, of whom presently;
Anketell (Rev);
Elizabeth; Sarah.

Mr Auchinleck's eighth son,

THE REV ALEXANDER AUCHINLECK (1749-1833), of Castle Lodge, and Mullans, Fintona, County Tyrone, Rector of Rossory, wedded, in 1784, Jane, daughter of James Corry Eccles, of Shannock, County Fermanagh, and had issue,

James Eccles (Rev);
William;
John (Rev), grandfather of FIELD-MARSHAL SIR CLAUDE AUCHINLECK;
DANIEL ECCLES, of whom presently;
Anna.

The youngest son,

DANIEL ECCLES AUCHINLECK (1797-1849), of Crevenagh, espoused, in 1833, Elizabeth Dorothea, daughter of the Rev Thomas Lindsay Stack JP, Rector of Badony, and had issue,

THOMAS his heir;
William Lowry, Brigadier-General;
Daniel;
Margaret; Anna.

The eldest son,

THOMAS AUCHINLECK JP DL (1837-93), of Crevenagh, and Shannock Green, County Fermanagh, Major, Royal Tyrone Fusiliers, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1872, married, in 1868, Jane, daughter of George Henry Loxdale, of Grassendale, Liverpool, and had issue,

DANIEL GEORGE HAROLD, his heir;
Bessie Sarah; Norah Lilian Loxdale.

Major Auchinleck was succeeded by his son,

DANIEL GEORGE HAROLD AUCHINLECK (1877-1914), of Crevenagh, Captain, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, who wedded, in 1902, Charlotte Madeleine, only daughter of Robert Scott, of Dungannon, County Tyrone, and had issue, an only son, ROBERT PATRICK AUCHINLECK, who died in infancy, 1906.

Captain Auchinleck was killed in action during the 1st World War.

*****

CREVENAGH was eventually to be inherited by Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph Reginald Auchinleck Darling JP (1897-1958), who fought in the 1st World War; was commissioned in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers; fought in the 2nd World War, 1939-43, when he retired due to ill-health.

His eldest son,

Gerald Ralph Auchinleck Darling RD QC DL (1921-96), was educated at Harrow; was an officer in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve; fought in the Second World War; was Fleet Fighter Pilot and Test Pilot Eastern Fleet; Chief Test Pilot, British Pacific Fleet.

On the death of his father in 1958 he had inherited Crevenagh House, near Omagh, where, from his school days, he had spent many happy holidays with his extended family. 

He was proud of his descent from the Auchinleck family who had always lived there, and resolved to maintain it as a family home despite his ties to life in London (in his London office there was a Donegal landscape and a map showing the wartime achievements of Ulster).

In 1990 he became a Deputy Lieutenant of County Tyrone and, in 1993, High Sheriff. 

In his obsequies address, the Right Rev Brian Hannon, Bishop of Clogher, paid tribute to Gerald Darling's contribution to the work of Edenderry parish, where he had served as parish secretary.

The Bishop related how, before a major court appearance, Darling would ease the tension by thinking of his favourite spots on the river, the snipe bogs and the mountains of Tyrone.

Strangely, after a lifetime of trout-fishing, he caught his first salmon only in 1995.

One of his family remembers the fishing picnics in childhood - "as, unfortunately, a mizzly day is good for fishing, the picnics were often rather damp affairs".

But that was balanced by the warmth of bedtime stories in the family flat in the Middle Temple where it is said the family below, willy-nilly, added to the appreciative audience for Darling's dramatic readings of Winnie the Pooh. 

He would, friends say, have been equally at home as a farmer, taking great pride in his forestry and Belted Galloway cattle and never more at home than working in ragged jeans with his chainsaw.

A permanent record of Gerald Darling his distinction as a lawyer will be his contribution to that definitive work, Halsbury's Laws of England (Admiralty and Ship Collisions), the third edition of 1952. 

In 1992 he was made an Honorary Bencher of the Northern Ireland Bar.

Born at Erganagh, Co Tyrone, 8th December, 1921; called to the Bar, Middle Temple 1950, Bencher 1972, Treasurer 1991; Barrister, Northern Ireland 1957, Honorary Bencher 1992; RD 1967; QC 1967; member, Panel of Lloyd's Arbitrators in Salvage Cases 1967-78, Appeal Arbitrator 1978-91; member, Panel of Wreck Commissioners 1967-96; QC, Hong Kong 1968; Judge, Admiralty Court of the Cinque Ports 1979-96; trustee, Royal Naval Museum 1985-90; Lloyd's Silver Medal 1991; married 1954 Susan Hobbs (one son, one daughter); died Londonderry 13 September 1996.

Photo Credit: Gordon Dunn

CREVENAGH HOUSE, near Omagh, County Tyrone, is a two-storey house built ca 1820 by Daniel Eccles Auchinleck, great-uncle of Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck. 

It has a three-bay entrance front with Wyatt windows in both storeys and a projecting porch.

The side is also of three bays.

A lower, two-storey range was subsequently added by Auchinleck's son, Major Thomas Auchinleck, behind the original block and parallel with it.

Photo Credit: Stephen Paskin

The principal rooms in the main block have fine plasterwork ceilings; while the hall floor is of mosaic depicting the Seven Ages of Man.

There are doors made of mahogany from the Auchinleck family plantations in Demerara.

The surrounding parkland is of the same age as the house, graced by mature parkland trees and clumps of rhododendron.

Shelter woods of mature trees are maintained to the north, south and west.

The walled garden is part-cultivated, having three walled sides and one of water.

The farm buildings are listed and there is a gate lodge in good condition.

Crevenagh House was gutted by fire in February, 2026.

First published in November, 2010.

The Irvine Baronetcy

The family of IRVINE, which ranks amongst the oldest and most eminent in Scotland, acquired by marriage, at a remote period, the lands of Bonshaw, Dumfriesshire.

CHRISTOPHER IRVINE, Laird of Bonshaw, Dumfriesshire, commanded JAMES IV of Scotland's light horsemen at the battle of Flodden, and fell then, together with his son, Christopher, the father of Christopher, next Laird of Bonshaw, who held a command, and was slain at the battle of Solway Moss.

He lies buried in the village of Gretna, with a monument and epitaph. From him descended the subsequent Lairds of Bonshaw, Stapleton, Robgill and Annan.

From the Lairds of Robgill and Annan sprang

CHRISTOPHER IRVINE, who resided in Essex, until he removed to Ulster, upon a grant from JAMES I of a considerable landed property in County Fermanagh, and there erected CASTLE IRVINE.

This Christopher Irvine was intended for the Bar, and he entered the Temple in London with the view of becoming a lawyer.

He was connected with the Carletons, an English border family of Cumberland, and the Carletons were related to the Lowthers, some of whom were high in the legal profession in England.

About 1610, Gerard Lowther was appointed to be a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Ireland; circumstance which led to the settlement in that country of his relatives, Lancelot Carleton and Christopher Irvine.

These three gentleman subsequently obtained property in 1613: their lands, which adjoined each other, were located near Lower Lough Erne, in the barony of Lurg, County Fermanagh.

During the civil wars, Mr Irvine was firm in his devotion to the royal cause, and suffered severely in consequence.

He wedded his cousin Blanch, daughter of Edward Irvine, Laird of Stapleton, by Mary Graham, his wife, of the family of Preston, and had, with several daughters, three sons, namely,

Christopher (1618-93), physician, of Edinburgh;

GERARD, his of whom presently;

William, who fought at Worcester.

Christopher Irvine died in 1666, and was buried with his wife, Blanche, in the family burial ground at Lowtherstown, or Irvinestown Church.

The second son,

SIR GERARD IRVINE JP, of Castle Irvine, Lowtherstown, Lieutenant-Colonel to Sir Arthur Forbes, Earl of Granard, fought for CHARLES II at Worcester, and was some time after taken prisoner in Ireland, and would have been executed for his loyalty to Sir Charles Coote, 2nd Baronet and 1st Earl of Mountrath, then Governor of Derry, under Cromwell, had he not been rescued out of that city by his brother William.

In consideration of these sufferings in the royal cause, and for other eminent services to the house of Stuart, Colonel Irvine was created a baronet by CHARLES II in 1677, designated of Castle Irvine, County Fermanagh.

Sir Gerard married firstly Catherine, daughter of Captain Adam Cathcart, which lady died childless; and secondly, Mary, daughter of Major William Hamilton, Laird of Blair, by whom (who died at Castle Irvine, in 1685) he had issue,

CHRISTOPHER, b 1654, married though dsp before his father;
Charles, cornet of horse, died unmarried, 1684;
Mary, m John Crichton, of Crom, ancestor of the Earls of Erne.

Sir Gerard died in WILLIAM III's service, in the camp at Dundalk, and was buried in the chancel of the church of that town.

Following his decease, in 1689, the baronetcy expired.

Necarne Castle (Image: Irish Architectural Archive)

The village of Irvinestown in County Fermanagh was founded during the Plantation in 1618 by Sir Gerard Lowther and named Lowtherstown. Ownership later passed to the Irvines and changed name accordingly.

The Irvines had an extensive estate at Castle Irvine, which they renamed Necarne, as well as further townlands at Killadeas, where a cadet branch of the family was established. Goblusk House was on the Killadeas property.

The following is an article about the 1st Baronet:-

Sir Gerard Irvine, Baronet

Finding that the overtures made on his behalf to the Enniskillen men were rejected, Sir Gerard went to Dublin and was made Lieutenant-Colonel to the regiment of horse that the Earl of Granard was about to raise in the interest of JAMES II.

Being empowered to raise a troop in Fermanagh, he came down to the town of Cavan with such a number of pistols, carbines, swords, and other necessary equipments for the men whom he was about to enlist, that he alarmed the Protestant inhabitants.

The fact having become known, Daniel French and Henry Williams set out from Belturbet with sixty horse, captured the arms at Cavan, and sent Sir Gerard himself a prisoner to Lord Blayney. His lordship did not retain him, but sent him on as a prisoner to Enniskillen.

He told the Enniskilleners that he never meant to serve JAMES II, and that his journey to Dublin was only a scheme to obtain accoutrements for a troop which he wished to raise in the service of the Prince of Orange. If he spoke the truth about himself, he was a traitor great and mean as Lundy.

As the fortunes of JAMES II waned, he threw himself heartily into the winning side; and after the siege of Derry was raised, he collected a troop of horse, with which he joined General Schomberg and subsequently died, where so many brave men perished, in the camp at Dundalk.

First published in March, 2011

Boom Hall

The elder branch of this family was ennobled, in 1663, by the title of EARL OF STIRLING, in the person of WILLIAM ALEXANDER, of Menstrie, Clackmannanshire. The surname of ALEXANDER was assumed from the Christian name of its founder, Alexander Macdonald, of Menstrie.

This branch, on removing into Ulster, adopted into the family shield the Canton charged with the Harp of Ireland, and settled at Limavady, County Londonderry.

JOHN ALEXANDER, of Eridy, County Donegal, 1610, had issue,

ANDREW, his heir;
John;
Archibald;
William;
Robert.

The eldest son,

THE REV DR ANDREW ALEXANDER, of Eridy, married Dorothea, daughter of the Rev James Caulfeild, and had issue,

CAPTAIN ANDREW ALEXANDER, of Derry, born in 1625, who wedded firstly, Miss Philips, daughter of Sir Thomas Philips, and had issue,

Jacob.

He espoused secondly, Miss Hillhouse, daughter of the Laird of Hilles, and had further issue,

JOHN ALEXANDER (c1670-1747), of Ballyclose, County Londonderry, and of Gunsland, County Donegal, who married Anne, daughter of John White, and had issue,

William;
NATHANIEL, of whom hereafter;
John;
Martha.

The second son,

NATHANIEL ALEXANDER (1689-1761), of Gunsland, Alderman of Derry, 1755, married Elizabeth, daughter of William McClintock, of Dunmore, County Donegal, and had issue,

William, of London; barrister; d 1774;
John;
Nathaniel;
ROBERT, of whom we treat;
James, created EARL OF CALEDON;
Mary Jane; Rebecca; Elizabeth; Ann; Jane.

His fourth surviving son,

ROBERT ALEXANDER (1722-90), of Boom Hall, County Londonderry, wedded, in 1759, Anne, daughter of Henry McCullogh, and had issue,

Nathaniel (Rt Hon & Rt Rev);
HENRY, of Boom Hall;
William, Lieutenant-General;
James;
Joseph Josias Du Pré;
Elizabeth; Jane; Anne; Rebecca; Dorothea.

Mr Alexander's second son,

HENRY ALEXANDER (1763-1818), of Boom Hall and Glentogher, County Donegal, MP for Londonderry, 1801-2, Old Sarum, 1802-6, espoused, in 1807, Dorothy, daughter of Francis Rivers, and had issue,

ROBERT, General in the Army;
James;
Mary; Ann; Catherine; Eliza; Frances.

BOOM HALL, or Boomhall, was built ca 1772 by James Alexander to the designs of Michael Priestly.

He had returned from India.

Alexander was later to purchase the estate of Caledon, County Tyrone.

The house was built with cut stone; two storeys over a basement.

Boom Hall (Irish Architectural Archive)

It has a seven-bay entrance front, with a three-bay breakfront centre.

A projecting porch was added later.

The garden front has a three-sided bow and side elevation of five bays.

The window surrounds have blocking and blocked quoins.

The roof was rather high, on a cornice.

There was was a large, cubical central hall.

Boom Hall estate eventually passed to James, 3rd Earl of Caledon.

The Hall was occupied in the early 1830s by the Very Rev Thomas Bunbury Gough, Dean of Derry.

The lessee was Daniel Baird and the lessor was the Honourable The Irish Society.

Daniel Baird lived there from 1849 until his death in 1862; and his widow Barbara continued to live there until her death in 1879.

Baird was a very successful businessman, merchant and ship owner who rose to prominence from fairly humble origins in the 1830s ~ the Cookes and McCauslands were friends and business rivals.

A one-time Mayor of Londonderry and alderman of the city, he was also High Sheriff of Tyrone, where he had acquired an estate of around 5,000 acres in and around Newtownstewart.

When Daniel Baird died, his entire estate was left in trust to his only surviving descendant, his grandson Daniel Baird Maturin-Baird, then aged 13; with his widow and second wife Barbara (nee Delap) having “the benefit and living of Boom Hall for her natural life”.

On her death, Boom Hall passed into Daniel Maturin-Baird's full control.

He was aged 30 by this time and had established a life for himself in London and chose not to live at Boom Hall, instead leased the house, grounds and contents to the Cooke family (John and Joseph Cooke were both trustees of Daniel Baird’s will).

Meanwhile Mr Maturin-Baird built himself a new house on the Newtownstewart estate.

It is believed that the Cooke family continued to live there until around 1920.

Charles Edgar Maturin-Baird inherited the estate in 1924.

It was then leased to Michael Henry McDevitt, whose family ran a hosiery business, until the war when it was requisitioned by the Royal Navy.

The WRNS left the house in a deplorable state and Mr Maturin-Baird received compensation for damages.

Prior to the war, Michael Henry McDevitt had expressed an interest in buying the house, and after repairs had been carried out in 1946-47, the estate was sold.

Mr Maturin-Baird had, by this time, acquired an estate in East Anglia.

Interestingly, McDevitt chose only to buy the house, contents and immediate surroundings of around 26 acres along with the stable block, but not the stack yard or majority of parkland, which originally totalled 135 acres.

The remaining land was sold to various purchasers in the 1950s ~ although it is believed that the Maturin-Bairds still own the foreshore, as it would appear that this was never sold.

Under McDevitt’s sister the house fell into a state of serious dilapidation and the contents were routinely and systematically ransacked.

Pat, who keeps horses in one of the fields now, described how, as a teenager, he witnessed a group of vagabonds remove the contents of the dining room to outside the house, and sit down for a makeshift dinner around the table, before loading it all into a lorry and speeding away down the drive!

A fire in the early 1970s destroyed the roof, since when Boom Hall has gradually decayed.

When Miss McDevitt died, the property was left to a niece who sold off the land separately, and then the bricks and mortar to a ‘developer’.

It is thought that the local Council now owns the stable-block and some of the surrounding land, though not the building itself.

The site of Boom Hall is still a valuable open space, though it has lost many of its attributes.

It is of interest because the core of the late 18th century house remains, with some fine mature trees and a walled garden.

The Foyle bridge sweeps above the grounds, which go down to the shore of the River Foyle.

In 2018, it was announced that a conservation plan was to be developed for Boom Hall and its stables.

First published in August, 2012.   I am grateful to William Maturin-Baird for providing information.

Carton House: 1824

CARTON HOUSE, THE SEAT OF THE MOST NOBLE AUGUSTUS FREDERICK, DUKE OF LEINSTER, FROM ENGRAVINGS BY JOHN PRESTON NEALE

"CARTON HOUSE, the principal seat of His Grace the Duke of Leinster, is at the same time one of the noblest mansions in Ireland."

"The structure is uniform, and extends in length four hundred feet from wing to wing."

"The centre building, two hundred and forty feet in length, is appropriated to a complete suite of state rooms, consisting of a hall, in form of a parallelogram, forty-five feet six inches, by nineteen feet six inches: this apartment is generally used as a billiard-room."

"The Grand Staircase is seventeen feet by nineteen feet six.

"The suite of rooms upon the park front, which is given in the annexed view, consists of a dining-room of grand dimensions, fifty-two feet five inches in length, by twenty-four feet in breadth, and twenty-four feet high; an ante-room, eighteen feet four inches by seventeen feet two inches."

"A noble drawing-room, thirty-five feet six inches long, nineteen feet six inches wide, and twenty-seven feet high: At one end of this elegant room is an organ; the other end opens to the library, which is forty-six feet in length, and nineteen feet six inches wide; to which is attached a reading-room in dimension eighteen feet four inches by twenty-one feet six inches; beyond which is the Duke of Leinster's private room."

"A dressing-room and baths complete the suite."

"The wings are attached to the centre by an open colonnade of the Doric order."

"In one of the wings is comprised the stables, coach-houses, etc, etc; and the other contains the kitchen and offices, all upon a grand scale."

"CARTON HOUSE is situated eleven miles from Dublin, and about one mile from Maynooth, and had been successively a residence of the families of TALBOT and Ingoldsby, previously to its coming into the possession of the present noble family."

"THE ESTATE, with its appurtenances, was purchased by Robert, 19th Earl of Kildare, 27th January, 1739, of Thomas Ingoldsby, of Walridge, in Buckinghamshire."

"The Earl of Kildare greatly improved the edifice by additional buildings, and desired by his will that the whole might be completed according to the plan which he had approved of."

"The Earl died at this seat, 20th February, 1743, aged 69."

Carton House is said to have cost £26,000 to build in 1739, equivalent to almost £4.9 million in 2024.

The estate, near Maynooth, County Kildare, is now a luxury hotel and resort.

First published in June, 2022.

Bank Buildings, Belfast

The Bank Buildings in 1901 (Image: Robert Welch/NMNI)

THE BANK BUILDINGS, ONE OF BELFAST'S MOST ICONIC BUILDINGS, WAS ENGULFED BY A CATASTROPHIC FIRE ON THE 28TH AUGUST, 2018.

The Bank Buildings, Castle Place, Belfast, stand between Castle Street to the south, and Bank Street to the north.

The first building on the site (originally part of the 16-acre grounds and gardens of old Belfast Castle) was designed by Robert Taylor and erected by Waddell Cunningham in 1785.

Cunningham, one of Belfast's most prominent business men, opened the premises as a bank in 1787.

Castle Place, Belfast, 1843

Following the bank's collapse in 1789, the building became the episcopal residence of the Lord Bishop of Down and Connor, the Rt Rev Dr William Dickson.

In 1804, it was converted into a shop and, in 1816, the last public execution was carried on its doorstep.

The Northern Banking Company purchased the Bank Buildings in 1825 for use as their head office.

In 1853, William Robertson and Henry Hawkins from Waterford, J C Ledlie from Cork, and Robert Ferguson, of Belfast, established a wholesale drapery firm, which soon became a commercial department store in the city.

The old Georgian edifice was demolished and a four-storey, seven-bay Italianate building of 1855 was erected in its place by Hawkins, Robertson and Co.

The History Hub Ulster has written an article about the history of The Bank Buildings, including a rare image of the second building built in 1855.

W H Lynn designed the new bank buildings in 1900.

He intended it as a bridge to the 20th century, with a compromise between the classical style of the upper part of the building and the great expanse of plate glass below.

Old photographs show a statue directly above the clock, and a coat-of-arms at third floor level.

I contacted the pre-eminent Ulster architectural historian Marcus Patton, OBE, about this, and he remarked:-

"I have a photo of Bank Buildings which I took around 1980 and there is no sign of the statue then, whereas there is a Hogg one perhaps of 1930 which does show it (a couple of winged cherubs holding a torch)." 

"It could have gone with the bomb damage in 1975 or the subsequent renovations." 

"The coat of arms doesn’t show in the Hogg photo so it must have gone early on..."

Photo Credit: Kyle Leyden

Robertson, Leslie, Ferguson and Co were royal warrant holders to Queen Victoria.

Until 1961, only the ground and first floors were used as a retail store, with the remainder of the building taken up by the company’s wholesale warehouse.

In that year, however, the Bank Buildings underwent total renovation.

The new arcade shop front was lighted at night, and a modernised main entrance was added at Castle Place (or Junction, as it was known when trams operated).

The old pillars and showcases on the ground floor were removed.

The Belfast Telegraph announced the ’bold policy of renovation, repair and the moving and improving of entire departments, has brought it into line with the latest Bond Street ideas.’

In 1969, the shares of Robertson, Ledlie, Ferguson and Company were sold to the House of Fraser group, whose chairman was Sir Hugh Fraser Bt.

It was hoped at the time that the Bank Buildings would benefit from the knowledge and resources of a large national firm, expanding throughout the United Kingdom.

Robertson, Ledlie, Ferguson and Co, however, continued to operate the store as a subsidiary company, and only four years later, Boots acquired the Bank Buildings when it took over House of Fraser.

On the 9th April, 1975, three bombs exploded in the Bank Buildings.

A huge fire broke out shortly afterwards and damaged parts of the building.

In 1979, the Bank Buildings were taken over by the Dublin-based fashion retailer Primark.

Within 18 months, the store was totally refurbished and the exterior restored to its 1903 glory.

A catastrophic fire engulfed the Edwardian building at about 11am of the 28th August, 2018.

The blaze lasted for a number of hours, leaving it a roofless, gutless shell.

The interior was cleared of rubble in 2020, and site works are currently being progressed.

The Bank Buildings reopened in the first week of November, 2022.

First published in August, 2018.

The Princess Royal

Her Royal Highness THE PRINCESS ROYAL KG KT GCVO is 76 today.

The Princess Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise was born at Clarence House, London.

HRH is married to Vice-Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence KCVO CB.

Princess Anne is a Royal Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter and an Extra Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle.

Her Royal Highness is also Grand Master and Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.

The Princess Royal holds the ranks of Admiral in the Royal Navy, General in the Army, and Air Chief Marshal in the Royal Air Force.