Auxiliaries in the cause? Loyalist women in conflict and post conflict

One of the more memorable of the many loyalist murals that appeared during the Troubles was painted at Spier’s Place on the Shankill Road. Its imagery addressed the roles of women within loyalism and sought to display continuity over some 90 years of unionism. One side of the mural was a reproduction of a postcard originally issued during the Home Rule crisis, showing a raven haired woman holding aloft a rifle and a Union flag in defence of Ulster, declaring: ‘Deserted! Well I can Stand Alone’. The other part of the mural showed what was seen as a modern equivalent, a masked woman holding a shotgun, while standing on guard, as a man behind her works a field by tractor, underpinned by the text: ‘A Protestant farmer’s wife guards her husband against sectarian attack [from] across the border’.