Description

"The field was as if a number of
butchers had been extensively at work."
(Unidentified eyewitness quoted in the
Guardian, 1887.)

This was how one person
remembered a Belfast district polling
station, 1 March 1847, the day of the
most violent electoral incident in our
history. The "Belfast Riot" that occurred
on this cold, clear March day has
been noted in history books, and the
story handed down in song and folklore.
Yet we know few details of an event
that saw Islanders battle at the poll,
leaving the blood of many to soak
through the clean snow to the red earth
beneath. At least three participants
were fatally injured.