THE THOMAS THOMPSON MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN

This is located at the BBC office block in Belfast and because of traffic I had great difficulty photographing it. Due to constant traffic and parked cars street photography in Belfast is very difficult especially as the local style of driving is aggressive compared to other locations. Many of my photographs were ruined because a car passed into frame while I was photographing.

This is described as a red gothic styled memorial fountain that dates 1885. Thomas Thompson, a naval surgeon distinguished in the Napoleonic Wars, was appalled by the conditions in Belfast during the Great Famine. Even though the failure of the potato crop did not directly affect city inhabitants, hoards of refugees from the countryside brought with them devastating epidemics of typhus, cholera, smallpox, and dysentery. Thomas Thompson was the founder of the Charitable Home for the Incurable which provided comfort for the sick. The inscription on the fountain reads, "Whosoever drinketh the water that I shall give him...shall never thirst again".