Marking the anniversary of the Somme

01 July 2015

The Ulster Scots Agency has published ‘Paul Pollock’s War’ as part of the Ulster and the Great War series to mark the 99th anniversary of The Somme and the upcoming centenary of the Great War.

The new title documents the story of a remarkable Ulster Scots family, their reaction to and involvement in some of the major social movements and historical events of their time.  At the age of twenty one Paul Pollock was reported missing on the morning of the 1^st July 1916, he was never seen again. 

Paul became one of the fallen at The Somme and only recently has the omission of his name from the official war memorials been addressed.  The letters he wrote home, from July 1015 – July 1916, have been treasured by the family ever since.

Revealed in the book for the first time, the letters paint and intimate picture of Paul’s experiences as a young man in the Royal Irish Rifles, of his friend the war photographer George Hackney, and of the admiration and anguish of his father, Rev. John Pollock of St Enoch’s Presbyterian Church in Belfast.

Free copies of the book are being made available as part of the Ulster Scots Agency’s Ulster and the Great War project.

You can obtained a copy by emailing cholmes@ulsterscotsagency.org.uk or visiting our Discover Ulster Scots visitor centre at 1-9 Victoria Street, Belfast, BT1 2LG.