LISBURN, Co. Antrim.

Rev. Canon Carmody then read the First Lesson-Psalm 46: –

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore will not we fear, thought the earth be removed, and through the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

Thought the waters there of roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.           Selah

There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.

God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God shall help her and that right early.

The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice; the earth melted.

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuse.        Selah.

Rev J. J. C. Breakey, minister of First Lisburn Presbyterian Church, offered prayer: –

Almighty God, with whom do live the spirits of them that depart in the Lord; We humbly beseech Thee that it may please Thee, of Thy gracious goodness, shortly to accomplish the number of Thine elect, and to hasten Thy Kingdom; that we, with all those that are departed in the true faith of Thy Holy Name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in Thy eternal and everlasting glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Almighty God, we humbly beseech Thee to let Thy benediction ever rest upon this monument which is now to be dedicated in Thy Name.  All art and beauty come of Thee, and we pray Thee therefore that it be a true enrichment to our town, and a lasting memorial of our beloved dead. We remembered today before Thee, those who from amongst us gave their lives for us in the Great War.  We know that neither life not death can separate from Thy love, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord; therefore we leave them with Thee trusting in Thy redeeming love, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Rev R. W. Hamilton, minister of Railway Street Presbyterian Church, read the Second Lesson-Revelations, chap. 7-after which Rev R. H. S. Cooper, rector of Christ Church, led in prayer: –

Lesson: -After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people and tongues, stood before the thrown, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands;

And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the Throne, and onto the Lamb

And all the angels stood round about the Throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped God.

Saying, Amen; Blessings, Blessing and glory, and wisdom and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever.

And one of the elders answered, saying onto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes?  and whence came they?

And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, these are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Therefore are they before the throne of God; and serve him day and night in his temple;

and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.

For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

Prayer: – Spirit of God, who in the beginning didst move upon the face of the waters, descend we pray Thee in mercy and compassion on all those who being them bereaved, still mourn the loss of dear ones, and draw them in their sorrow nearer to Thyself. Grant that this Memorial may ever stand as an emblem of self-sacrifice and courage, and move those who pass it by to walk more faithfully in the path of duty and surrender themselves more fully to Thy heavenly will.  Amen.

O Father of Mercies and God of all comfort, who never failest them that seek Thee; hear the voice of our humble petitions when we cry onto Thee, when we hold up our hands towards the mercy seat of Thy holy temple, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE MONUMENT UNVEILED.

Major-General Sir Oliver Nugent, K.C.B., D.S.O., before unveiling the statue, said-Mr Chairman, members of the Lisburn War Memorial Committee, and ladies and gentlemen, I have to thank you warmly for the honour you have done me in inviting me here today to unveil your war memorial. I esteem it a very high privilege to be asked to unveil this memorial to the memory of those from your town who served and gave their lives for our King and Country in the Great War. It is a privilege, I assure you, I value very highly.

Proceeding, the gallant General said that before he unveiled the memorial he was going to try to tell them as well as he could what he thought the names which would be found inscribed upon their memorial stood for as soldiers-what they stood for that day and what they would stand for in years to come. He would like to speak to them of the 36^th Division; but in doing so he would not forget that there were thousands of other Ulster soldiers who had served their country with unflinching courage and died with the same high spirit as that which characterised the men of the Ulster Division. But he did think that the 36^th Division with the special gift of Ulster to the Empire, and in it the loyalty and warlike spirit of the province found concrete and collective expression. Upon it was lavished organising ability of the highest order, and in it was centred the trust and the hopes of Ulster.

When he took over the command he sensed in the Division an attribute which he did not expect to find in a newly formed division-viz., high morale, without which the best trained and most perfectly disciplined body of troops would go to pieces under strain. Morale enabled the men of an army to hold their heads high under all circumstances, to endure the most outrageous blows of ill-fortune, to retain their nerve, their self-respect, and their will power. In most new divisions at that time morale came of experience; but the Ulster Division was born with it. He believed that every man who left Ireland in 1915 with the Ulster Division knew that in a special degree was centred in him and in the Division the highest hopes and trust of the province, that they were the custodians of the honour of their native land.

Wherever the Division fought, it fought with honour; wherever it worked, it raised enduring monuments, which, he was certain, was still giving infinite labour to reclaim; wherever they were billeted they gained the esteem and respect of the people amongst whom they lived. Always they carried with them that glad competence which was their temperament. He would like to refer to three events in the career of the Division. The first and greatest was the outstanding achievement on the 1^st July, 1916, to which it was not possible to apply the ordinary military standard of comparison. They did that which by every rule of war ought to have been impossible, a feat which could only have been done by men inspired with the white flame of intense resolve that under all circumstances they would be worthy of the trust reposed in them.

Messines was a perfect example of gallant fighting under admirable leadership by regimental officers.  The third episode was that terrible week in March, 1918, during which the Division never lost its morale or nerve. Battalions were wiped out on ground they had been ordered to hold to the end, and the remnants fell back fighting day by day without rest or sleep, and stood firm against repeated attacks.  The opinion of the Commander-in-Chief was that the Division played a large part in preventing a breakthrough between the Allied Armies. He (General Nugent) had nothing but the happiest memories of the battalion with which Lisburn was most closely identified-the 11^th Royal Irish Rifles. They were gallant men, stout fighters, and good workers. They were fortunate to receive their earliest training and first experience of war under the command of an officer upon whose high personal character was grafted the traditions of a great regiment.

There was a unit represented in that great concourse of people he was particularly glad to see, and that was the V.A.D., nurses. All the work of the war was not done entirely by men. The women had risen to the occasion nobly, and how many thousands of the men who served owed health and life itself to the splendid and noble women-the nurses of the British Empire, both regular and volunteer.  (Hear, hear.) And where would the comparatively small body of regular official nurses have been under the stress and strain of war had not been for the splendid and inspiring work of the voluntary nurses?  and great was their debt to them. He was also glad to see such a fine contingent of Lisburn’s Ex-Service Legion. He could not wish them more than that they always remember the days when every man who fought on the same side was a brother and that there was only one common enemy.

He had just one more word to say, and he had purposefully kept it to the last.  It was to those to whom he was certain there must be many present that day-to whom the name of someone on that War Memorial meant far more than that of a mere friend or acquaintance. To them he offered most respectful sympathy and homage; sympathy with them in their personal loss; homage for the spirit that made it. The gallant men whose names were inscribed on the memorial could not have done less than answer the call. You could do no less than let them go.  Neither you nor they could have done more. If at times the day still seems dark to you and there is an aching heart, remember that after darkness comes the dawn, after dawn the Reveille. The names on this memorial will be remembered and honoured when most of us who are honouring them here at this ceremony today are gone and forgotten. The names will be an inspiration and their example a standard of citizenship to generations yet unborn, and the flag that so proudly covers the memorial is proof that they did not die in vain.

Major-General Nugent then stepped forward and released the cord, a burst of sunshine coming out as the large Union Jack gently dropped to the foot of the pedestal, its tribute to the honoured dead.  Simultaneously the large flag in the Castle Gardens and the flags on the Town Hall were proudly hosted to the mast head.

There were few dry eye in the huge assembly, and many bereaved ones unrestrainedly gave way to their feelings as Colonel H.A. Packenham read out the names of the fallen:-

OUR GLORIOUS DEAD.

 To the Glorious Memory of the Lisburn Men who gave their Lives that we might Live.

1914-1918. Their Name Liveth for Evermore.

 There follows a list of the fallen.

 When the long list of names had been completed, on the announcement of Rev B. S. Lyons, Lisburn Methodist Church, the audience give expression to its pent-up feelings by singing the hymn : –