by Mike Gray

Brave Boys of Derry, or No Surrender!
by W. Stanley Martin
Nordskog Publishing
2010 (previously published 1986; original text ca. 1900)
Hardcover: 69 pages
ISBN 978-0-9827074-0-1
Available on Amazon.com

The story of the 1689 siege of Londonderry proclaims the power of God in the incredible resistance of the City of Londonderry against the Jacobite conquest of Ireland by the deposed King James II of England. While the city leaders vacillated, thirteen bold and brave young apprentices took the initiative to close the city gates. “No surrender!” became the rallying cry. Faith in Christ gave the people of Derry the courage to resist in the face of extended siege, blockade, starvation, and disease. — Dr. Marshall Foster

In the vast panorama of politico-religious conflict throughout the ages, the siege of Londonderry seldom rates more than an historical footnote, which is a shame since it epitomizes the very best and the very worst in human nature.

The city leaders, facing a vastly superior military force outside the gates, not only vacillated but also, in a few rare instances, actively collaborated with the Jacobites:

After this little bit of treachery had been satisfactorily arranged, the miserable traitor Lundy privately sent a messenger to the headquarters of the enemy, telling them that they could depend upon the garrison surrendering when the formal demand was made. But this was not to be; Protestants were not thus to be sold to their worst foes; God had better things in store for the north of Ireland than that, although it was to mean terrible suffering for those who were to keep the grand flag of “No surrender” flying.

And suffer they did, from starvation brought on by the Jacobites and needlessly prolonged by the relief forces themselves; from treachery within their ranks; from repeated attempts to breach the walls; and even from a rampant paranoia that led many in Derry to suspect their own worthy leaders. Morale may have ebbed low, but the determination not to surrender and their unswervable faith sustained them.

The author, W. S. Martin, makes no attempt to conceal his sympathies:

In a former book I told you the story of how King James II was sent about his business because he tried to again bring England under the power of Romanism.

But though James ran away as quickly as ever he could, when he found that the Prince of Orange was actually on his track, he did not by any means give up hope of returning once again to the shores of old England, to try once more to accomplish his knavish tricks.

It would have been very easy for the Prince of Orange and his supporters to have put James in prison, and let him feel the strong arm of the law that he had so despised; but there can be little doubt they did not want the trouble of disposing of another troublesome Stuart king in the same manner as Charles I had been dealt with, so they gave him every opportunity to escape. And so one dark night away he went to France, to his dear friend Louis XIV, and these two worthies were soon plotting and planning the downfall of England, and especially the uprooting of England’s Protestantism.

. . . . [however] although James was turned out of the front door in England, he hoped to gain an entrance once more by the back door. The back door was Ireland, and to that “distressful country,” he with the help of Louis was soon speeding his way, and arrived there in due course. He was accompanied by a number of French officers, who were to do their best to reduce the wild hordes of the Irish to a disciplined army, and to teach them the polite manners practised in France. We shall see later on what these manners of polite French society were like.

Despite seemingly hopeless odds, the people of Derry were destined to sample but not to yield to those “polite manners practised in France.”

Brave Boys of Derry would be a good book for younger readers, starting at middle school level, but adults unfamiliar with this phase of history would also benefit.