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The Bloody Red Hand: A Journey Through Truth, Myth and Terror in Northern Ireland
A bestselling chronicler of the sea turns to a trio of his own ancestors to see what memory and the selective plundering of history has made of the truth in Northern Ireland.
The name “Lundy” is synonymous with traitor in Ulster. Derek Lundy’s first ancestral subject was the Protestant governor of Derry in 1688, just before it came under siege by the Catholic Irish army of James II. For reasons that remain ambiguous, Robert ordered the gates of the city opened in surrender. Protestant hard-liners staged a coup de ville and drove him away in disgrace, a traitor to the cause. But Robert is more memorable for his peace-seeking moderation than for the treachery the standard history attributes to him. William Steel Dickson’s legacy is a little a Presbyterian minister born in the late 18th century, he preached with famous eloquence in favour of using whatever means necessary to resist the tyranny of the English, including joining forces with the Catholics in armed rebellion. Finally, there is “Billy” Lundy, born in 1890, the antithesis of the ecumenical William, and the embodiment of what the Ulster Protestants had become by the beginning of World War I – a tribe united in their hostility to Catholics and to the project of an independent Ireland.
The lives of Robert Lundy, William Steel Dickson and Billy Lundy encapsulate many themes in the Ulster past. In telling their stories, Derek Lundy lays bare the harsh and murderous mythologies of Northern Ireland and gives us a revision of its history that seems particularly relevant in today’s world.
Excerpt from The Bloody Red Hand :
The other thing I remember is the look the young man gave me, after he had taken the cash, put his pistol away and was standing with his hands in his jacket pockets. It wasn’t the expression of someone who was thinking of shooting me too; I never had that feeling. But the way he looked at me was so familiar – wary and calculating. Many people in Belfast had stared in the same way since I’d arrived for a visit. For a long time, I couldn’t understand what it meant. Eventually, I knew. They were trying to decide “what foot I kicked with” – what religion I was. There were supposed ways to tell, subtle indicators. Was I someone they should fear? Or was I one of them? That was what the armed robber was doing, too. He had just shot a man who knew him by his first name. But he was looking at me, the stranger, and trying to figure out whether I was a Prod or a Taig.
The name “Lundy” is synonymous with traitor in Ulster. Derek Lundy’s first ancestral subject was the Protestant governor of Derry in 1688, just before it came under siege by the Catholic Irish army of James II. For reasons that remain ambiguous, Robert ordered the gates of the city opened in surrender. Protestant hard-liners staged a coup de ville and drove him away in disgrace, a traitor to the cause. But Robert is more memorable for his peace-seeking moderation than for the treachery the standard history attributes to him. William Steel Dickson’s legacy is a little a Presbyterian minister born in the late 18th century, he preached with famous eloquence in favour of using whatever means necessary to resist the tyranny of the English, including joining forces with the Catholics in armed rebellion. Finally, there is “Billy” Lundy, born in 1890, the antithesis of the ecumenical William, and the embodiment of what the Ulster Protestants had become by the beginning of World War I – a tribe united in their hostility to Catholics and to the project of an independent Ireland.
The lives of Robert Lundy, William Steel Dickson and Billy Lundy encapsulate many themes in the Ulster past. In telling their stories, Derek Lundy lays bare the harsh and murderous mythologies of Northern Ireland and gives us a revision of its history that seems particularly relevant in today’s world.
Excerpt from The Bloody Red Hand :
The other thing I remember is the look the young man gave me, after he had taken the cash, put his pistol away and was standing with his hands in his jacket pockets. It wasn’t the expression of someone who was thinking of shooting me too; I never had that feeling. But the way he looked at me was so familiar – wary and calculating. Many people in Belfast had stared in the same way since I’d arrived for a visit. For a long time, I couldn’t understand what it meant. Eventually, I knew. They were trying to decide “what foot I kicked with” – what religion I was. There were supposed ways to tell, subtle indicators. Was I someone they should fear? Or was I one of them? That was what the armed robber was doing, too. He had just shot a man who knew him by his first name. But he was looking at me, the stranger, and trying to figure out whether I was a Prod or a Taig.
- GenresHistoryNonfictionIreland
368 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
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84 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 3, 2020
Title: Men That God Made Mad
Author: Derek Lundy
Source: I borrowed this book from my dad.
This book mentions the old Northern Irish-ism that to explain why you're fighting outside of a chip shop, you've to go back 300 years. It does just that. Looking through his family tree, Lundy looks at why the name Lundy has come to mean Traitor in Northern Ireland and the connection that Ulster Protestants hold within the land. It was nice to read and I enjoyed following Lundy's experience as he comes back to Belfast and explores his childhood holiday home in the Holy Lands.
Author: Derek Lundy
Source: I borrowed this book from my dad.
This book mentions the old Northern Irish-ism that to explain why you're fighting outside of a chip shop, you've to go back 300 years. It does just that. Looking through his family tree, Lundy looks at why the name Lundy has come to mean Traitor in Northern Ireland and the connection that Ulster Protestants hold within the land. It was nice to read and I enjoyed following Lundy's experience as he comes back to Belfast and explores his childhood holiday home in the Holy Lands.
July 14, 2025
"It's as if...[they] never stopped hacking off their own hands. They saw away at their flesh, driven on by fear of losing the thing they desire most"
"Perhaps there really isn't any more need for a struggle; maybe there's nothing to lose"
"Perhaps there really isn't any more need for a struggle; maybe there's nothing to lose"
February 28, 2008
I picked up this one as I'm intimately familiar with the yearly Lundy effigy in Derry. This book is accessible and amusing and is my new "so you want know what it is they are/were fighting about in Northern Ireland, then read this" book.
June 16, 2023
Lundy uses three men and three historical moments (the siege of Derry in the 1600s, the rebellion of 1798, the attempt at home rule in the 1910s and what came after), to show how history gets appropriated, misappropriated, and rewritten to fuel the sectarian violence and hatreds of Northern Ireland. He's an excellent writer - he describes the 'actual' history clearly and engagingly, and then shows how that history gets used with depth and thoughtfulness - and his personal experiences in Belfast (Lundy was Ulster-born, Canadian-raised) are written honestly and with great feeling.
August 9, 2020
This book improves after a slow start.
It gives me a better understanding of Northern Ireland than I had before and as most of my friends in Northern Ireland are unionists I really appreciated the stories of the Lundys over the last 400 years.
It gives me a better understanding of Northern Ireland than I had before and as most of my friends in Northern Ireland are unionists I really appreciated the stories of the Lundys over the last 400 years.
March 25, 2011
Derek Lundy uses the lives of three of his ancestors: Robert Lundy, William Steel Dickson and Billy Lundy to examine the history and progression of Northern Ireland.
"In Ulster the name ‘Lundy’ is synonymous with ‘traitor’. Robert Lundy was the Protestant governor of Londonderry in 1688, just before it came under siege by the Catholic Irish army of James II.
Robert Lundy ordered the city’s capitulation. Crying ‘No Surrender’, hardline Protestants prevented it and drove him away in disgrace.
William Steel Dickson’s legacy is a little different. A Presbyterian minister born in the mid-eighteenth century, he preached with famous eloquence in favour of using whatever means necessary to resist the tyranny of the English.
Finally there is ‘Billy’ Lundy, born in 1890, the embodiment of what the Ulster Protestants had become by the beginning of World War I – a tribe united in their hostility to Catholics and to the concept of a united Ireland. "
Roy Foster
Sometimes a thought invoking read, but did tend to drag on abit in the middle...
"In Ulster the name ‘Lundy’ is synonymous with ‘traitor’. Robert Lundy was the Protestant governor of Londonderry in 1688, just before it came under siege by the Catholic Irish army of James II.
Robert Lundy ordered the city’s capitulation. Crying ‘No Surrender’, hardline Protestants prevented it and drove him away in disgrace.
William Steel Dickson’s legacy is a little different. A Presbyterian minister born in the mid-eighteenth century, he preached with famous eloquence in favour of using whatever means necessary to resist the tyranny of the English.
Finally there is ‘Billy’ Lundy, born in 1890, the embodiment of what the Ulster Protestants had become by the beginning of World War I – a tribe united in their hostility to Catholics and to the concept of a united Ireland. "
Roy Foster
Sometimes a thought invoking read, but did tend to drag on abit in the middle...
October 31, 2012
Fascinating and helpful book which explains very clearly the history of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It tracks the authors three ancestors who were Ulstermen and explains their role in the history of the province and the historical background of each.
July 23, 2011
enjoyable read with a good view of Irelands troubles
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews