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William Smith (loyalist)
William Smith (sometimes erroneously spelt Smyth) (26 January 1954William Smith, ''Inside Man, Loyalists of Long Kesh – The Untold Story'', 2014, p. 19 – 8 June 2016) was a Northern Irish loyalist, paramilitary, and politician. He had been involved in Ulster loyalism in various capacities for at least forty years. Early life Smith was born in Mountjoy Street on Belfast's Shankill Road into a poor Ulster Protestant family, the son of shipyard worker Charles William Smith and his wife Isobel. He had three older sisters, Margaret, Elizabeth and Nan (the latter dying in infancy before he was born), a younger brother Gordon and a younger sister Jean. There was rumoured Native American ancestry in his family; therefore in his youth he acquired the lifelong nickname "Plum" after ''The Beano'' character Little Plum.Peter Taylor, ''Loyalists'', Bloomsbury, 2000, p. 45 He was raised in a working class home where his parents sent him to Sunday school and taught him to respect the law. L ...
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Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel. It is the second-largest city in Ireland (after Dublin), with an estimated population of in , and a Belfast metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of 671,559. First chartered as an English settlement in 1613, the town's early growth was driven by an influx of Scottish people, Scottish Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Presbyterians. Their descendants' disaffection with Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland's Protestant Ascendancy, Anglican establishment contributed to the Irish Rebellion of 1798, rebellion of 1798, and to the Acts of Union 1800, union with Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain in 1800—later regarded as a key to the town's industrial transformation. When granted City status in the United Kingdom#Northern Ireland, city s ...
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John McKeague
John Dunlop McKeagueWD Flackes & Sydney Elliott, ''Northern Ireland A Political Directory 1968–1993'', The Blackstaff Press, 1994, p. 222 (1930 – 29 January 1982) was a Northern Irish loyalist and one of the founding members of the paramilitary group the Red Hand Commando in 1970.Martin Dillon, ''The Dirty War'', p. 200 A number of authors on the Troubles in Northern Ireland have accused McKeague, a homosexual paederast, of involvement in the Kincora Boys' Home scandal but he was never convicted. He was shot dead by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) in Belfast in January 1982. McKeague and Ian Paisley A native of Bushmills, County Antrim, McKeague, who long had a reputation for anti-Catholicism, became a member of Ian Paisley's Free Presbyterian Church in 1966.Ed Moloney, ''Paisley: From Demagogue to Democrat?'', Poolbeg, 2008, p. 152 McKeague and his mother moved to east Belfast in 1968, where he became a regular at Paisley's own Martyrs' Memorial Church on the Ra ...
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Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, part of the Wicklow Mountains range. Dublin is the largest city by population on the island of Ireland; at the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, the city council area had a population of 592,713, while the city including suburbs had a population of 1,263,219, County Dublin had a population of 1,501,500. Various definitions of a metropolitan Greater Dublin Area exist. A settlement was established in the area by the Gaels during or before the 7th century, followed by the Vikings. As the Kingdom of Dublin grew, it became Ireland's principal settlement by the 12th century Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest in the British Empire and sixth largest in Western Europ ...
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Jim McDonald (loyalist)
Jim McDonald may refer to: * Jim McDonald (halfback) (1915–1997), college and professional American football player * Jim McDonald (American football coach) (1936–2012), American football coach * Jim McDonald (footballer, born 1877) (1877–1968), Australian rules footballer for Essendon * Jim McDonald (footballer, born 1887) (1887–1954), Australian rules footballer for Richmond * Jim McDonald (footballer, born 1913) (1913-1984), Australian rules footballer for Melbourne * Jim McDonald (pitcher) (1927–2004), Major League Baseball pitcher * Jim McDonald (basketball), former college player and coach, see 1981–82 NCAA Division I men's basketball season * Jim McDonald (third baseman) (1860–1914), Major League Baseball third baseman * Jim McDonald (outfielder), Major League Baseball outfielder * Jim McDonald (''Coronation Street''), character in ''Coronation Street'' played by actor Charles Lawson * Jim McDonald (soccer) (born 1954), Canadian soccer player from the 1970s ...
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Hugh Smyth
Hugh Smyth OBE (16 March 1939 – 12 May 2014) was a Northern Irish Ulster Loyalist and politician who was leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) from 1979 to 2002, as well as during an interim period in 2011. He was Lord Mayor of Belfast from 1994 to 1995, as well as a Belfast City Councillor for the Court and Belfast Area E DEAs from 1972 to January 2014, making him one of the longest-serving members on the Council. Smyth was awarded the Order of the British Empire in the 1996 New Year's Honours list. Emergence in politics Born in the Woodvale Road district of the Shankill Road area of Belfast, Smyth was one of nine children and was educated locally and worked as a metal bonder in the Short Brothers factory before entering full-time politics. Smyth first came to attention in the early 1970s when he served as a public spokesman for the Ulster Volunteer Force although he was not an active member of the organisation. His inspiration for politics was the struggle h ...
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Transport & General Workers Union
The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland—where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU)—with 900,000 members (and was once the largest trade union in the world). The TGWU was officially founded on 1 January 1922 with the amalgamation of 14 individual trades unions. Ernest Bevin served as the union's first and longest serving General Secretary. In 2007, the union voted to merge with Amicus to form Unite the Union. History Establishment In March 1920, the London-based Dock, Wharf, Riverside & General Labourers' Union (DWRGLU) began talks on forming a unified dockworkers' union with the Liverpool-based National Union of Dock, Riverside and General Workers (NUDRW). The two unions' delegations agreed on a provisional amalgamation committee with Ernest Bevin as its Secretary, and Harry Gosling as its chair, with the committee agreeing to invite ...
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Shop Steward
A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a trades/labour union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the union hold this position voluntarily (through democratic election by fellow workers or sometimes by appointment of a higher union body) while maintaining their role as an employee of the firm. As a result, the union steward becomes a significant link and conduit of information between the union leadership and rank-and-file workers. Duties The duties of a union steward vary according to each trades union's constitutional mandate for the position. In general, most union stewards perform the following functions: *Monitor and enforce the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement (labour contract) to ensure both the firm and union worker are not violating the terms of the agreement. *Ensure that the firm is in compliance with all natio ...
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Harland & Wolff
Harland & Wolff Holdings plc is a British shipbuilding and Metal fabrication, fabrication company headquartered in London with sites in Belfast, Arnish yard, Arnish, Appledore, Torridge, Appledore and Methil. It specialises in ship repair, shipbuilding and offshore construction. Today, the company is focused on supporting five sectors: Navy, Defence, Petroleum industry, Energy, Cruise ship, Cruise & Ferry, Renewable energy, Renewables and Maritime transport, Commercial. It offers services including technical services, fabrication & construction, repair & maintenance, in-service support, conversion and decommissioning. Having entered administration (law), administration for the second time in five years, it was bought by Navantia in January 2025. Overview Harland & Wolff is famous for having built the majority of the ocean liners for the White Star Line, including Olympic-class ocean liner, ''Olympic''-class trio – , and HMHS Britannic, HMHS ''Britannic''. Outside of White ...
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EPIC Woodvale
Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) or EPIC(s) may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Film * ''Epic'' (1984 film) * ''Epic'' (2013 film) * ''Epic Movie'', a 2007 film Gaming * ''Epic'' (tabletop game), a series of tabletop wargames * ''Epic'' (play-by-mail game) * ''Epic'' (video game), a 1992 video game * ''Epic: Battle for Moonhaven'', a 2013 video game by Gameloft based on the film ''Epic'' (2013) * '' Epic Card Game'', a 2015 strategy card game by White Wizard Games Literature * ''Epic'' (Kostick novel), a 2004 novel by Conor Kostick * ''Epic Illustrated'', a 1980s anthology series published by Marvel Comics Music Albums * ''Epic'' (Blood on the Dance Floor album), 2011 * ''Epic'' (Borknagar album), 2004 * ''Epic'' (R. Kelly album), 2010 * ''Epi ...
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Maze Prison
HM Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as the Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to September 2000. On 15 October 1974 Irish Republican internees burned 21 of the compounds used to house the internees thereby destroying much of Long Kesh. The prison was situated at the former Royal Air Force station of Long Kesh, on the outskirts of Lisburn. This was in the townland of Maze, about southwest of Belfast. The prison and its inmates were involved in such events as the 1981 hunger strike. The prison was closed in 2000 and demolition began on 30 October 2006, but on 18 April 2013 it was announced by the Northern Ireland Executive that the remaining buildings would be redeveloped into a peace centre, however these plans were later abandoned. Background Following the introduction of internment in 1971, Operation Demetrius was implemented by th ...
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Billy Mitchell (loyalist)
William Mitchell (1940 – 22 July 2006) was a Northern Ireland loyalist, community activist and member of the Progressive Unionist Party. Mitchell was a leading member of the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and served a life sentence for his part in a double murder. He later abandoned his UVF membership and took up cross-community work. Early years Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1940 into a poor family, Mitchell's father died when he was two years old. Although based in the Shankill Road during his adult life, Mitchell was raised just outside Belfast in what he described as "a wooden hut". The area, which at the time was the end of the city's tramline network, has subsequently been redeveloped as Glengormley.Susan McKay, ''Northern Protestants: An Unsettled People'', Blackstaff Press, 2005, p. 53 After leaving school Mitchell briefly worked as a copy boy on the ''Belfast Telegraph'' but found it difficult to advance his position and so left to work as a lorry dri ...
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David Ervine
David Ervine (21 July 1953 – 8 January 2007) was a Northern Irish Ulster Loyalist and politician who served as leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) from 2002 to 2007 and was also a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Belfast East from 1998 to 2007. During his youth Ervine was a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and was imprisoned for possessing bomb-making equipment, and planting a bomb on the Lisburn Road. Whilst in jail he became convinced of the benefits of a more political approach for loyalism and became involved with the PUP. As a leading PUP figure, Ervine helped to deliver the loyalist ceasefire of 1994. Early life David Ervine was the youngest of five children born to Walter and Elizabeth Ervine. He was raised in a Protestant working-class area of east Belfast between the Albertbridge and Newtownards roads. His household was not loyalist at all: his father Walter described himself as a socialist, had no time for Ian Paisley and did ...
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