Lundy The Traitor

Lundy is a name synonymous with treachery. reviled in Northern Ireland as is Guy Fawkes in England.

Robert Lundy was made governor of the city of Londonderry in 1688 just after the Great Siege was started. He was given a commission by King William to hold the city against the Jacobite forces of James II. He was to swear allegiance to King William before receiving this commission but it is not known whether he did, in fact, take the oath. Lundy led a force of between 7,000 and 10,000 Protestant soldiers  at the river crossings near Lifford and Clady but was heavily defeated by the French General Rosen and retreated in disgrace to Londonderry. There were many doubts of his loyalty to King William at the time of the Siege and he advocated the surrender of the city to James II. After the debacle at the crossings he was confined to his quarters for his own protection from the angry defenders. 

He fled the city, thus escaping the wrath of the defenders. One story says that he fled in disguise, carrying a load of matchwood on his back to protect him from musket fire and another says he climbed down a pear tree that grew close to the walls. This tree was still pointed out until it fell during a gale in the winter of 1844.

Whatever the truth is Lundy is reviled by the Protestants of Londonderry to this day, and even now an effigy of this traitor is burned each year at the celebrations held in the city. This event used to take place on the Walker Memorial Pillar but since 1973 the effigy has been burned in various places before establishing the present site in Bishop Street in 1992.