Volunteer Material
This category also includes the banner of the Braid Volunteers, a tricorn hat, Guidons of the Londonderry and Coleraine Volunteer corps and the Belfast Yeomanry Drum. The drum originally belonged to the Belfast Volunteer movement, begun in the early 1780s. Later, a good number of Volunteers became United Irishmen, intent on rebellion. For many, however, their loyalty to the crown drove them in the other direction and they joined the yeomanry regiments established from 1796 to try to quell the rebellion that would break out in 1798. They were to become in due time what Allan Blackstock has called, in the title of his book by the same name, An Ascendancy Army (Belfast, 1998).
(It is perhaps worth noting that there is 'Volunteer' related material in the department of Applied Art in the Museum, specifically the Volunteer Quilt, 1782. The quilt depicts the Provincial Review of the Leinster Volunteers in Phoenix Park, 3 June 1782 (the quilt was advertised as being available for sale as soon as 14 September 1782). It includes homely scenes such as young boys hiding in the trees, mothers and children picnicking, while fathers drill with wooden arms, a gentleman with a parasol being moved along by a soldier's bayonet etc. The carriage has the initials 'C' and 'M' on the door, 'C' standing for Lord Charlemont and the 'M' for Lord Moira, two members of the aristocracy in Ireland who lent the Volunteer movement more than a hint of authority and acceptability. It can be said to be among the first representations of the gun in politics in Ireland. The other notable feature is that the quilt miraculously survived the bombing by the IRA of Malone House in 1976 where it had been on display with much of the Museum's Costume Collection. Indeed, it was believed to have been destroyed until it was re-located in the Museum in 1998 and used in the museum's 'Up in Arms!' exhibition which marked the bicentenary of the 1798 rebellion.)
Image: Volunteer Quilt, 1782 (detail).
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