Latest / The History of Ireland: Rebellion, Empire, and Independence — Fexingo History / The Siege of Derry 1689: Apprentice Boys and No Surrender
Transcript
- Lucas: You know, we've talked a lot about the big battles of the Williamite War — the Boyne, Aughrim, Limerick. But there's one siege that arguably matters most for the Protestant psyche in Ulster, and it happened right at the start, in 1689, before William even landed. Luna: Derry, right? Lucas: Exactly. The Siege of Derry. It's one of those events where the legend and the history are almost equally powerful. For 105 days, a small walled city held out against a Jacobite army, and it gave the Protestant cause its most famous slogan: No Surrender. Luna: I've heard that phrase, but I never really knew where it came from. Lucas: It comes from the moment the siege began. In December 1688, James II was losing control in England, and his lord deputy in Ireland, Richard Talbot — Earl of Tyrconnell — started moving Jacobite troops toward Protestant strongholds. One regiment of Irish soldiers, led by Alexander MacDonnell, the Earl of Antrim, was marching on Derry. Lucas: The city had a mostly Protestant population, and they were deeply suspicious of MacDonnell's Catholic troops. On December 7th, as the soldiers approached the gates, a group of thirteen young apprentices — some say they were boys, really — took matters into their own hands. They ran to the gates, slammed them shut, and locked the soldiers out. Luna: Thirteen apprentices? That's incredible. Lucas: It is. And that act of defiance is still commemorated today by the Apprentice Boys of Derry. But it also triggered a chain reaction. The city declared for William of Orange, and when James's army arrived in force in April 1689, they found the gates barred and the walls manned. The siege had begun. Lucas: Now, the city wasn't really prepared for a long siege. They had maybe 7,000 people inside the walls — soldiers and civilians — and only limited supplies. The Jacobite commander, Richard Hamilton, didn't press the attack immediately. He preferred to starve them out. Luna: So how did they hold out for over three months? Lucas: Part of it was desperation. They ate horses, dogs, rats, even tallow from candles. There are accounts of people eating boiled leather and starch. But they also had a charismatic governor for most of the siege — a man named George Walker. He was a clergyman, not a soldier, but he became the symbol of resistance. Lucas: There was also a lot of internal conflict. The original military governor, Robert Lundy, was cautious — some say defeatist. He wanted to negotiate with the Jacobites, and when the relief ships from England failed to arrive, he advised surrender. The townspeople got wind of this and basically forced him out. To this day, the name Lundy is a byword for traitor in unionist folklore. Luna: So he's like the Benedict Arnold of Ulster. Lucas: Pretty much, yeah. Every year, the Apprentice Boys burn an effigy of Lundy. But his replacement, Major Henry Baker, and then George Walker, rallied the defenders. They repaired walls, organized patrols, and kept morale up with sermons and prayers. Lucas: Meanwhile, the Jacobites tried a few assaults. The most serious came in June, when they attempted to storm the walls near Bishop's Gate. But the defenders drove them back with heavy losses. After that, Hamilton settled in for a long blockade. Luna: What about the relief from the sea? I remember something about a boom on the River Foyle. Lucas: Right. Derry sits on the River Foyle, about a mile from Lough Foyle and the open sea. The Jacobites had stretched a heavy boom — a chain of logs and timbers — across the river to block ships from reaching the city. The Royal Navy sent a relief fleet under Sir John Reresby, but it couldn't get past the boom. Lucas: For weeks, the ships sat in Lough Foyle while the city starved. Finally, on July 28th, a small ship called the Mountjoy, loaded with food and ammunition, rammed the boom at full sail. The boom broke, the relief fleet sailed through, and the siege was effectively over. The Jacobites abandoned their positions the next day. Luna: The Mountjoy — that's a famous name in Irish history. Lucas: It is. The breaking of the boom became a legendary moment. And it's interesting because the siege had already lasted 105 days by that point. If the relief had come a week later, the city might have fallen. As it was, the defenders lost somewhere between 4,000 and 8,000 people — mostly from disease and starvation, not combat. Lucas: But the political impact was huge. Derry held, and that gave William a foothold in Ulster. It also solidified the Protestant identity of the north. The slogan No Surrender, the memory of the apprentice boys, and the vilification of Lundy all became foundational myths for Ulster unionism. Luna: It's crazy to think that a small city's stand shaped identity for centuries. Lucas: Absolutely. And it's one of those stories where the history and the mythology blur. The actual siege was messy — there were betrayals, desperate choices, and a lot of suffering. But what people remember is the defiance. And that's still alive today, every December, when the Apprentice Boys march. Luna: Speaking of keeping things alive — this conversation we're having, it's part of a larger project that we keep ad-free by listener support. If you find value in these deep dives, you can help at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Lucas: Yeah, that really matters. It means we can keep exploring these stories without any commercial interruptions. So if you're able, that link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Now, back to Derry — one thing I want to mention is the role of women during the siege. There's a story of a woman named Margaret Dixon...