Many people in Belfast were suffering mental anguish as a result of the raids. William McCready was shaken by the sights of devastation and damage around him. He recalled that he ‘was very fatigued and depressed at this time. I was reporting each day for duty at the head post office, and on my journey in by bike the scenes of destruction were deeply impressed on my mine…It all seemed a terrible nightmare’.[1]
An article in the Northern Whig talked about one woman Eva. Eva’s family had evacuated out of Belfast after the raid and Eva was commuting into the city for work in a shop. Though she was doing ‘business as usual’ she was a ‘bundle of nerves’ ever since the raid.[2]
Newspapers carried adverts for cures and pills that would help relieve anguish. The Northern Whig carried an advert for Koray Brand Tables that would ‘take war worries of your nerves’. They advert recommended that the pink tables helped people cope with the demands of war and eased the nerves.[3]
Other adverts were carried by other papers.
ABOUT
Between 7th April and 6th May 1941, four aerial bombing raids on Belfast killed over 900 people, injured 1,500 and damaged about half of the city’s homes. Thousands were made homeless and over 100,000 residents fled to the country. This period in Belfast’s history has become known as the Belfast Blitz. To mark the 81st anniversary, key events each day over the Blitz period are being retold here on this website and also on Twitter (@drtomstours).
[1] Cited in Brian Barton, Belfast in the War Years, Belfast in the War Years (Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 1989), p.223.
[2] Belfast Telegraph, 26 April 1941, p.6.
[3] Northern Whig, 25 April 1941, p.4.