Exactly 200 years after his birth in the rooms above his paternal grandfather's watchmaker's shop, then numbered 14 High Street, Sir Samuel Ferguson was honoured by the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Cllr. Naomi Long, who unveiled a blue plaque on the existing building. The ceremony repeated one that had taken place a century before when her predecessor, RJ McMordie, unveiled a plaque as part of city-wide civic celebrations. That plaque has since disappeared and the Lord Mayor hoped that this one might not suffer a similar fate. Her address is available HERE.

Dr Bob Brown, Heritage Lottery Fund, spoke enthusiastically about the role of the Fund in facilitating heritage projects such as this one and commended the Circle on their efforts.

After the ceremony refreshments were provided at the Linen Hall Library, where a conference on Sir Samuel was taking place that day. The guests were addressed by two distinguished speakers, Prof. Norman Vance of Sussex University and Prof. David Feegan of the Royal Irish Acadamy and entertained by two sixth formers form INST, Justin Drennan and Paul Chambers, reading from Feguson's poems The Fairy Thorn and Lament for the Death of Thomas Davis.

Some photos of the event are shown below.