A week after the Armistice in 1918, the British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, gave a speech in which he declared the necessity of building a land fit for heroes to live in. The following year, parliament passed the Irish Land (Provision for Sailors and Soldiers) Act which paved the way for the building of houses across Ireland specifically for veterans of the Great War. The houses were built by the Local Government Board until the Irish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust was established in 1924 to oversee the constructions and maintenance of the houses. The ISSLT was also responsible for the administration of the scheme and the allocation of houses.
The first scheme to be completed in Northern Irland was at Convent Street in Armagh, where four semi-detached two-storey houses were built by the end of August 1921. The last of the inter-war schemes was at Ballyhackamore in Belfast, where 34 houses were built at Enid Parade by the end of October 1938. The largest group of ex-servicemen's houses were built at Cregagh, where 146 houses were completed by December 1925.
This talk will include details of the site and the styles of the houses built at Cregagh but will focus on stories for a selection of the Great War veterans who lived in the houses. The talk will also include details on the unveiling and dedication of the Cregagh & District War Memorial, which is located at the junction of three of the main streets in the "colony".
