{"id":828,"date":"2012-06-12T18:07:49","date_gmt":"2012-06-12T17:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=828"},"modified":"2012-06-12T18:11:20","modified_gmt":"2012-06-12T17:11:20","slug":"born-in-ulster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=828","title":{"rendered":"Born In Ulster"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first in an occasional series looking at some of the more interesting characters in Northern Ireland throughout the years.\u00a0 These mini biographies will illustrate the vast array of talent at many levels\u2014highlighting those individuals that we can call \u201c Our Own \u201c.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rev. W.F.Marshall
\nThe Bard Of Tyrone<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

William Forbes Marshall was born on 8 May 1888 in Sixmilecross, County Tyrone\u2014his father was the principal teacher in Sixmilecross National School and this is where William was first educated.\u00a0 From there he moved to Royal School Dungannon and eventually to Queens College Galway.\u00a0 It was while he attended Royal School, Marshall had the distinction of writing the school song.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0 From Queens College he graduated with a BA in Arts and began a theological course at the Presbyterian College in Botanic Avenue Belfast in 1908.\u00a0 Two years later he graduated in Law from Royal University of Ireland and two years after that he set out on a path within the Presbyterian Church that would last the remainder of his life.\u00a0 He served as a Minister in many churches over the next few years\u2014Aughnacloy\u2014Sixmilecross\u2014Castlerock.\u00a0 Outside of the Church he had a lifelong interest in language and dialect and wrote plays and poetry in both the Ulster and Scots dialect.\u00a0 Indeed in the mid thirties he recorded a series of talks for the BBC which was broadcast in 1935 where he spoke extensively on the Ulster dialect.\u00a0 His ambition was to create an Ulster Dialect Dictionary and he spent many years building up a huge compilation which sadly was destroyed when a pet dog mauled the manuscripts.\u00a0 As a poet he earned the nickname\u2014The Bard of Tyrone\u2014and he produced many poems throughout his life. \u00a0Those he will particularly be remembered for are, Drumlister<\/em> , The Blue<\/em> Banner <\/em>and Hi!<\/em> Uncle Sam<\/em>.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 From the 1920\u2019s until the mid 40\u2019s Marshall produced 4 collections of poems mostly on themes inspired by his native County Tyrone.\u00a0 Also in 1943 he produced a book called Ulster Sails<\/em> West<\/em>\u2014which outlined the importance of the parts played by Ulstermen in building the United States.\u00a0 He showed the expertise applied by Ulstermen in many fields\u2014religious\u2014educational\u2014agricultural\u2014legal and of course political.\u00a0 This was clearly a pioneering work and was much copied in later years.\u00a0 As a playwright he wrote an Ulster Dialect version of Shakespeare\u2019s A Midsummer<\/em> Night\u2019s Dream<\/em> and a three act comedy entitled The Corduroy Bag<\/em>.\u00a0 As a novelist he was responsible for only one book\u2014Planted By A River—<\/em>a novel set during the reign of Queen Anne\u20141702-1714 and similar in style to Robert Louis Stevenson\u2019s Kidnapped.<\/em>\u00a0 WF stood apart from his contemporaries because he was someone who could relate to his fellow man as an equal but had an extraordinary range of gifts and talents that made him different.\u00a0 He almost singlehandedly created a culture and heritage for the Ulsterman.\u00a0 He was certainly one of the most influential and significant figures in Ulster\u2019s cultural life for a great deal of the twentieth century.\u00a0 Reverend Marshall died in January 1959\u2014aged 70 and in the 46th<\/sup> year of his ministry.\u00a0 He was buried close to where he was born in Tullyneil, Sixmilecross.<\/p>\n

\"Share\"\/<\/a>