The Apprentice Boys' story revisited...

Apparently this culture business is all about people, so it is appropriate that we should revisit the story of one of the longest established people centred institutions and re-evaluate its part in the communal mix of heritage and history that has now magically evolved into an invitation to go to the Ball in 2013.

Apprentices have been around here since the beginning - that is the early 17th century beginning when young lads, learning their trade, were sent by the London Companies to assist with the building of “our church and city from the ground”.

The action of some of their successors in the closing of the town’s gates on a bleak winter’s morning against unwelcome visitors 70 years or more after their original arrival, has awarded apprentices some notoriety ever since. It is how the descendants of these apprentices and the neighbours of the descendents have interpreted their action and how it is commemorated and celebrated that we can consider as we prepare for the 321st anniversary of the successful outcome of the whole gate closing exercise.

Who could have foretold that thousands of men, bearing the title of the same humble apprentices, carrying aloft colourful banners - with crimson the predominant colour - and accompanied by a vast array of musical talent would still be parading around here annually and all because of a “spur of the moment” action by 13 young fellows?

Who indeed could have believed that a fraternity bearing their names and distinctive hallmarks would be regarded as a strong stakeholder in our current cultural renaissance?

As I write it would appear that not all of our fellow citizens subscribe to the current cultural euphoria and they have represented their spite by attacking poor old Governor Walker in his garden. Like poverty, desperately sad people have always been in our midst! It is particularly ironic that the work of one of this City of Culture’s most acclaimed men, sculptor Eamonn O’Doherty (now based in Dublin) should claim such rough treatment, virtually within sight of his birthplace.

For almost a century after the Siege, there was a massive hangover locally and apart from rebuilding the town and a lot of Presbyterian emigration to the New World and serious difficulties for Roman Catholics, there wasn’t much happening. The Siege, however, was not completely ignored and, apart from the services of thanksgiving for deliverance in St Columb’s Cathedral, the citizens found their own ways to commemorate the momentous events and happy outcome of 1688-89.

It is generally accepted that the man responsible for initially preserving the Siege traditions was Colonel Mitchelburne, one time Siege Governor, and he is credited with forming a fraternity on 1714, tasked with paying tribute to the 13 apprentices and others who defended the town. A Mitchelburne Club was formed by devoted friends after the Colonel’s death in 1721, charged, no doubt, with continuing with his mission, but no records have emerged from the ether to assist our research of this distant past.

There are, in fact, few references to Siege related celebrations until ‘The Londonderry Journal’ of August 5, 1772 could report that “there were uncommon demonstrations of joy in this city for its Relief” and the feature also mentions that “a procession to thanksgiving in the Cathedral, a banquet in the Town Hall, illuminations, firings and other tokens of joy” followed other “happy” events. This is the first detailed account of a celebration, but it does emphasise later that such activities were not uncommon.

Presbyterian/ Anglican conflict emerged in the aftermath of the Siege, heightened certainly by legislation against Presbyterians which barred them from public representation (Test Act 1704), and this possibly accounted for the low-key response to public commemoration/ celebrations. By the centenary of the Siege, however, all this aggravation had eased a lot and citizens were able to enjoy the special anniversary events.

Community relations had improved so much that the Roman Catholic Bishop and his clergy were eager participants, along with Presbyterians and Anglicans, in the thanksgiving service for the Relief and the Siege was remembered “as a great blow against tyranny which brought liberty to all Christians” by the preacher, the Rev George Vaughan Sampson. Until the centenary celebration/ commemoration had largely been a matter of “private conviviality” but the next half-century (1789-1839) witnessed major changes in the format and general emphasis.

Until the 1820s the resident garrison played a leading role in such events, but citizens were already banding themselves into a variety of often garishly named societies, readily identified with the young apprentices of more than distant memory, and anxious to claim ownership of the annual events.

The first 19th century Apprentice Boys club was founded in Dublin in 1813, with an elite membership of gentry who could claim blood with those who had defended the besieged town.

This club survived until the First World War but it maintained little contact with its poor relations in Londonderry. A local club, possibly inspired by this Dublin group, and bearing the same distinctive title, was formed here one year later.

The first half of the 19th century was a period of dramatic population change and, of course, the local religious make-up changed accordingly.

The military gradually abandoned their role as Siege commemoration organisers - no doubt haunted by fears of accusations of sectarian bias!

Clubs that could be regarded as bearing kindred interests to the 1688 young apprentices then evolved to take ownership and it is how they have managed their often weighty affairs ever since that is the subject of the remainder of this article in our pre-12th edition next Wednesday.