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On the evening of 23 March 1922, in the context of a bloody sectarian conflict that had been raging for almost two years, Owen McMahon locked up his pub on Ann Street with the assistance of his bar manager Edward McKinney. The Capstan was one of several pubs owned by Owen McMahan in Belfast, the others included the International at the corner of Donegall Street, the Century on Garfield Street, and the Great Eastern on the Newtownards Road in the east of the city.

McMahon and McKinney made their way towards the Antrim Road and to Kinnaird Terrace where McKinney was living with the McMahon family who had tea together before retiring to bed for the night. As they slept, loyalist gunmen posing as police officers sledgehammered their way into the house before gathering together the eight male occupants in the parlour room where they were chillingly advised “you boys say your prayers”. The gunmen opened fire murdering Owen McMahon, his three sons Thomas, Frank and Patrick, as well as Edward McKinney the bar manager. His other son, Bernard, survived the initial shooting but later died of his injuries on 2 April. Such was the horrific scene at Kinnaird Terrace that an ambulance man collapsed with shock on his arrival at the house. ‘The McMahon Murders’, as the incident became known, had ‘shocked almost the entire world’ according to Joe Devlin MP in the House of Commons who went on to quote from the pages of the Belfast Telegraph which reported the incident as ‘the most terrible assassination that has yet stained the name of Belfast’.

In retaliation for these and other Belfast murders, the IRA assassinated the former head of the British Army, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, and a subsequent British ultimatum to the Irish government sparked the first salvos of the Irish Civil War days later. The reluctance of the unionist Belfast government to pursue loyalist killers drove the rift between Northern Ireland’s two main communities even deeper, laying the foundations for the Troubles at the end of the twentieth century.

For this edition of the Historical Belfast I’ve been speaking to Ed Burke, Assistant Professor at University College Dublin about his latest book Ghosts of a Family where he has expertly uncovered the likely murderer of the McMahons in a case that has remained unsolved for over 100 years.

I began by asking him what it was that attracted him to this topic as a subject for his new book…

Buy Ghosts of a Family here.

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More Stories from Belfast City Cemetery is the latest addition to Tom Hartley’s ‘Written in Stone’ series of books that use the story of each of Belfast’s cemeteries to explore the dynamic history of our city and its people. From Catholic to Protestant to Muslim and Jew, from the great and the good to the poor and the destitute, each grave has multiple stories to tell. Since the publication of the previous edition of his Belfast City Cemetery book in 2014, Tom Hartley has continued to research the graves and the stories connected to them. 

The new edition looks at further stories that tell the history of Belfast from the political strife of internment and conflict related deaths to those who lost their lives in industrial accidents in its shipyards and linen mills. It is the story of a dynamic city shaped by many fascinating and remarkable people.

Tom Hartley is, arguably, one of those fascinating and remarkable people himself.

He is perhaps best known for his political activism spanning over 50 years which saw him serve as General Secretary and the National Chairperson of Sinn Fein before being elected for the party as a City Councillor in 1993 and going on to be the city’s Lord Mayor from 2008-2009. 

In his spare time, however, Tom pursues his love of history and is one of Belfast’s foremost public historians delivering tours and authoring books which highlight the importance of our burial sites as a repository of the political, social and economic history of Belfast.

Tom is supremely wise and endlessly witty – an absolute pleasure to sit down and talk history with. We met at the James Connolly Visitor Centre on the Falls Road, and I began by asking him about his first memories of the Belfast City Cemetery…

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If any street, area, or location were to symbolise the rampant neglect of our historical landscape then it surely has to be this one. North Street epitomises Belfast’s disregard for its own backstory. At the lower end is the derelict Exchange and Assembly Rooms, once Belfast’s most important building; at the other end is a huge sign on a gable end reminding passers-by that this is ‘The heart of old Belfast. Home to the City’s Oldest Buildings’. 

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For this episode I’ve decided to re-trace some of my steps from last year.

Early in 2023, while chatting with Eoin Brannigan – Editor In Chief at the Belfast Telegraph – we came up with a plan for a series of articles to feature in the newspaper. The series was directly inspired by Donal Fallon’s brilliant Three Castles Burning book A History of Dublin in Twelve Streets. “Do you think this could be done for Belfast?” Eoin asked me. “Absolutely!” I replied, and so I got to work on it straight away by selecting an initial list of 10 streets to go away and research. The idea was not to provide a dull chronological historical description of each street, rather it was to unearth interesting and lesser-known stories of people & events associated with each street and then attempt to weave them together. The end product, it was hoped, would offer a history of Belfast from the streets – an alternative history, if you like. For me it became a voyage of discovery with every passing street, and I’m pleased to say that the voyage isn’t over because the Belfast Telegraph has committed me to another 10 articles starting later this month. Each of these articles will be repurposed as bonus podcast episodes for subscribers on Patreon – so if you haven’t checked out the Historical Belfast Patreon yet now is the time to do so!

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After a busy couple of months I’m back in the hot seat for Episode 36 and the first of 2024. Joining me for this one is Stuart Bailie. Stuart is a Belfast-based journalist and writer who has been working in the music industry since 1985, writing for the likes of NME, Mojo, Uncut, Q, Hot Press and Classic Rock. He is the author of several books including Trouble Songs: Music and Conflict in Northern Ireland which is essential reading for anyone from with part of the world with an interest in music.

Stuart’s most recent publication, however, is the subject of this episode. Terri Hooley: Seventy Five Revolutions was an opportunity for him to mark Hooley’s milestone birthday by delving into his archive of interviews and adventures to find reason in a turbulent Belfast life. 

Get a copy of Seventy Five Revolutions from No Alibis

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Just when you thought that we knew everything that there is to know about the 1916 Easter Rising, yet more perspectives continue to seep from the archives and from locations more obscure.

A 49-page document, now in the archives of the Linen Hall Library, offers a sensational eye-witness account of the Rising written in long-hand and on Gresham Hotel headed notepaper. It describes the thrilling experiences of 38 year old James Mitchell, a teacher from The Mount in east Belfast. This is his story.

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'A masterful love letter' is how one reviewer has described the latest book by the prolific Professor Feargal Cochrane. Just when you thought that no more could be written on the history of this place, you'd be wrong, because 'Belfast: The Story of a City and Its People' is a timely and welcome contribution to the past, present and future of the place that many of us call home.

I have been itching to have this chat with Feargal ever since the publisher Yale University Press got in touch about the possibility of a podcast episode with the author. And then, of course, I read the book and had so many questions that I wanted to ask.

Finally then, after a long wait, I managed to get on a call with Feargal Cochrane and here's the result...

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On 13th November last year I was on holiday in Rome, on my way to St Peter’s Square in the Vatican City, when news reached me that Dr Eamon Phoenix had passed away. I was aware that he’d been unwell, nevertheless the news left me in shock and disbelief. Eamon was in my thoughts all of that day as I explored the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. Later, I queued for admission to St. Peter’s Basilica and, once inside, I decided that I was going to say a prayer for Eamon and his family. I wouldn’t describe myself as a religious person, and those who know me will know that I’m not even from a Catholic background, but it seemed like an appropriate thing to do at the time. Because, for me, Eamon was a hero, he was everything that I wanted (and still want) to be, and for that reason this episode is very much a personal and anecdotal reflection on someone who I regard as our ‘Historian Laureate’.

*Excerpts Included from an event at Feile An Phobail on Thursday 3rd August 2023 and the Year '21 Podcast Journey from November 2022.

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For this episode I’ve come to St John’s Catholic Church on the Falls Road to meet with the Parish Priest Father Martin Magill. I’m not here to make a podcast episode about the church though, I’m here to find out more from Martin about a project he’s been working on looking at the history of Belfast street names…

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The biggest ship the world had ever seen, constructed by the world’s biggest shipbuilder Harland & Wolff; Titanic was (and still remains) something that Belfast is immensely proud of. 

Belfast bore no shame from the tragedy of the ship’s sinking, for it was the blood, sweat and tears of our own that built it. “She was alright when she left here” was our tongue-in-cheek way of saying “We did our bit”, and suffered in the process. Eight Belfast lads lost their lives during the two-year construction period; I avoid calling them ‘Belfast men’ because the youngest was just 15 years of age – Samuel Scott from Templemore Street in the East of the city – only a child. Samuel had been employed as a ‘catchboy’ – a junior member of a riveting squad. His cause of death was recorded as a fractured skull. In many ways Samuel Scott and his 7 mortally injured colleagues are the forgotten collateral damage that was necessary to make Titanic a reality. In stark contrast to the luxury on board the ship and the billions of pounds and dollars that have swirled around the Titanic brand to this day Samuel Scott lay in an unmarked grave in Belfast City Cemetery until 2011 when Feile an Phobail (the West Belfast Festival) provided a headstone to remember him. 

Titanic is arguably worth more to Belfast today than 111 years ago when she slipped out of Belfast like a palace on the sea. Our Titanic Belfast museum, which took longer to build than the ship itself, cost in excess of £100m and continues to attract millions of visitors who are keen to see and hear more about a tragic maritime tale that has been so often told. It’s said that well over 500 books have been written about Titanic in the English language alone – if you count assorted reprints and books in foreign languages the total number of Titanic texts is somewhere in the region of 1,000. You’d think, therefore, that not much else could be written which hadn’t been written before – and you’d be wrong, because my guest for this episode has managed to do exactly that and seemingly with great success.

Gareth Russell is a Belfast-based historian, novelist and playwright. In 2019 he published his account of the Titanic disaster titled The Ship of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era. It was named a ‘Book of the Year’ by The Times newspaper and a ‘Best History Book of 2019’ by The Daily Telegraph – no mean feat…

And so when thinking about the Titanic and Belfast’s connections to it I figured there would be no better person to speak to than Gareth. 

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