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Charles Harding Smith
Charles Harding Smith (24 January 1931 – 1997) was a Northern Irish loyalist and the first effective leader of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). An important figure in the Belfast-based "defence associations" that formed the basis of the UDA on its formation in 1971, Smith later became embroiled in feuds with other UDA leaders and was eventually driven out of Northern Ireland by his opponents. Development of the UDA A former soldier in the British Army Smith, at the time residing in Rosebank Street on the Shankill Road, called a meeting of other locals at the Leopold Street Pigeon Fanciers Club to develop a response to attacks by republicans from the neighboring Ardoyne area. The location was chosen because Smith was himself a pigeon fancier and a member of the club. At the meeting, it was agreed to establish a vigilante group, the Woodvale Defence Association (WDA), with Smith in command assisted by Davy Fogel, who organised military drilling for the forty or so recrui ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Record Office Of Northern Ireland
The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) is situated in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a division within the Engaged Communities Group of the Department for Communities (DfC). The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland is distinguished from other archival institutions in the United Kingdom by its unique combination of private and official records. The Record Office is not the Northern Ireland equivalent or imitation of any Great Britain or Republic of Ireland archival institution. It combines the functions and responsibilities of a range of institutions: it is at the same time List of national archives, Public Record Office, manuscripts department of a national library, county record office for the six counties of Northern Ireland, and holder of a large range of private records. This range of remit, embracing, among others, central and local government, the churches and the private sector, is unique to Northern Ireland. History PRONI was established by the Pu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ulster Volunteer Force
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group based in Northern Ireland. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former Royal Ulster Rifles soldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertook Timeline of Ulster Volunteer Force actions, an armed campaign of almost thirty years during The Troubles. It declared a ceasefire in 1994 and officially ended its campaign in 2007, although some of its members have continued to engage in violence and criminal activities. The group is a proscribed organisation and is on the List of designated terrorist organizations, terrorist organisation list of the United Kingdom. The UVF's declared goals were to combat Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitaries – particularly the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) – and to maintain Northern Ireland's status as part of the United Kingdom. It was responsible for more than 500 deaths. The vast majority (m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sandy Row
Sandy Row () is an inner city area of south Belfast, Northern Ireland, which is predominantly Protestant working-class. In 2018, the population was estimated to be around 4,000. It is a staunchly loyalist area and heartland of the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and Orange Order. Location Sandy Row is in south Belfast, beginning at the edge of the city centre, close to the Europa Hotel. The road runs south from the Boyne Bridge over the old Dublin railway line beside Belfast Grand Central station, then crosses Donegall Road and ends at the bottom of Lisburn Road. At the north end of the road was Murray's tobacco factory, opened in 1810, while at the other is a large Orange hall. History Formerly known as Carr's Row. For more than a thousand years, a road built along the Lagan River sandbanks was the principal thoroughfare leading southwards from Carrickfergus. "Carraig Fhearghais" – the rock of Fergus (5th century). During the late 1700s, 'Carr's Row' was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tim Pat Coogan
Timothy Patrick "Tim Pat" Coogan (born 22 April 1935) is an Irish journalist, writer and broadcaster. He served as editor of ''The Irish Press'' newspaper from 1968 to 1987. He has been best known for such books as ''The IRA'', ''Ireland Since the Rising'' and ''On the Blanket'', and biographies of Michael Collins (Irish leader), Michael Collins and Éamon de Valera. Coogan's particular focus has been Ireland's nationalist/independence movement in the 20th century, a period of unprecedented political upheaval.20th-century contemporary history: Coogan profile , historyireland.com; accessed 1 March 2015. He blames the Troubles in Northern Ireland on "Ian Paisley, Paisleyism". Biography Coogan was born in Monksto ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Provisional IRA
The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reunification and bring about an independent republic encompassing all of Ireland. It was the most active republican paramilitary group during the Troubles. It argued that the all-island Irish Republic continued to exist, and it saw itself as that state's army, the sole legitimate successor to the original IRA from the Irish War of Independence. It was List of designated terrorist groups, designated a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom and an unlawful organisation in the Republic of Ireland, both of whose authority it rejected. The Provisional IRA emerged in December 1969, due to a split within Irish Republican Army (1922–1969), the previous incarnation of the IRA and the broader Irish republican movement. It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had its main public entrance on the Westminster street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became the public entrance, and over time "Scotland Yard" came to be used not only as the common name of the headquarters building, but also as a metonym for the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) itself and police officers, especially detectives, who serve in it. ''The New York Times'' wrote in 1964 that, just as Wall Street gave its name to New York's financial district, Scotland Yard became the name for police activity in London. The force moved from Great Scotland Yard in 1890, to a newly completed building on the Victoria Embankment, and the name "New Scotland Yard" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RUC Special Branch
RUC Special Branch was the Special Branch of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and was heavily involved in the British state effort during the Troubles, especially against the Provisional Irish Republican Army The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland .... It worked closely with MI5 and the Intelligence Corps. The RUC came under criticism for its handling of its agents within paramilitary organisations, including from other RUC officers. Appointed in 1984 to investigate claims of a RUC "shoot-to-kill" policy, former Deputy Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, John Stalker, said that he "had never experienced...such an influence over an entire police force by one small section" in regard to Special Branch. Vicky ConwayPolicing Twentieth Century Ireland: A History of A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC'', pp. 5, 17, 27, 93, 134, 271; Pen & Sword Books; following the partition of Ireland. At its peak the force had around 8,500 officers, with a further 4,500 who were members of the RUC Reserve. The RUC policed Northern Ireland from the aftermath of the Irish War of Independence until after the turn of the 21st century and played a major role in the Troubles between the 1960s and the 1990s. Due to the threat from the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), who saw the RUC as enforcing British rule, the force was heavily armed and militarised. Officers routinely carried submachine guns and assault rifles, travelled in armoured vehicles, and were based in heavily fortified police stations.Weitzer, Ronald. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John White (loyalist)
John White (born 1950) is a Northern Irish loyalist politician. White was a leading figure in the loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and, following a prison sentence for murder, entered politics as a central figure in the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP). Always a close ally of Johnny Adair, White was run out of Northern Ireland when Adair fell from grace and is no longer involved in loyalist activism. Early years Born in Belfast, White was one of eight children, two of whom had died in infancy, whose father was permanently disabled as a result of wartime injuries. The family had initially lived on the mainly nationalist Ballymurphy area of the Springfield Road, Belfast but had left upon the outbreak of the Troubles to move to the Old Lodge Road area of the lower Shankill.Wood, p. 6 White has claimed that although his house "wasn't a loyalist one" his father "hated Catholics" and was bitter about what he saw as the treachery of the Republic of Irela ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ulster Special Constabulary
The Ulster Special Constabulary (USC; commonly called the "B-Specials" or "B Men") was a quasi-military Military reserve, reserve special constable police force in what would later become Northern Ireland. It was set up in October 1920, shortly before the partition of Ireland. The USC was an armed corps, organised partially on military lines and called out in times of emergency, such as war or insurgency. It performed this role most notably in the early 1920s during the Irish War of Independence and the 1956–1962 Border Campaign (IRA), IRA Border Campaign. During its existence, 95 USC members were killed in the line of duty. Most of these (72) were killed in conflict with the IRA in 1921 and 1922. Another 8 died during the Second World War, in air raids or IRA attacks. Of the remainder, most died in accidents but two former officers were killed during the Troubles in the 1980s. The force was almost exclusively Ulster Protestant and as a result was viewed with great mistrust ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William McGrath (loyalist)
William Worthington McGrath (11 December 1916 – 12 December 1991) was a loyalist from Northern Ireland who founded the far-right organisation Tara in the 1960s, having also been prominent in the Orange Order until his expulsion due to his paedophilia. A house master in Kincora Boys' Home in East Belfast,"Any threat to the majority Is not welcome" ''Irish News'', 8 September 2004. Retrieved 29 October 2009 in 1981 he was jailed for four years for paedophile activities at the Home. Early years McGrath was born on 11 December 1916 near Bleary outside |
William Craig (Northern Ireland Politician)
William Craig (2 December 1924 – 24 April 2011) was a Northern Irish unionist politician and solicitor, best known for forming the Unionist Vanguard movement. Early life From Cookstown, County Tyrone. His father William was a manager in the Ulster Bank, including the Ballyconnell branch between 1938-1941. Craig was educated at Royal School Dungannon, Larne Grammar School and Queen's University Belfast. After serving in the Royal Air Force (as a Lancaster bomber rear gunner) during World War II, he became a solicitor. Politics He was active in the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and led the Ulster Young Unionist Council. He was elected to the Stormont Parliament in a by-election in 1960 for Larne, and became a Minister in 1963. He held several portfolios under Terence O'Neill, eventually as Minister for Home Affairs. His most notable action while in this office was to ban the march of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association on 5 October 1968. He also accused the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
