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Declan Arthurs (28 October 1965 – 8 May 1987) was a
Volunteer Volunteering is an elective and freely chosen act of an individual or group giving their time and labor, often for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency ...
in the
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 ...
's
East Tyrone Brigade The East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), also known as the Tyrone/Monaghan Brigade was one of the most active Irish republican, republican paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland during "the Troubles". It is belie ...
in the mid-1980s. He was killed in the
Loughgall ambush The Loughgall ambush took place on 8 May 1987 in the village of Loughgall, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. An eight-man unit of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) launched an attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) base in the vi ...
, after bombing an RUC base.


Early life

Declan Arthurs was born in Galbally,
County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...
on 28 October 1965. He was one of six children, and the fourth of Paddy and Amelia Arthurs. Declan worked on the family farm learning how to drive
diggers The Diggers were a group of religious and political dissidents in England, associated with a political ideology and programme resembling what would later be called agrarian socialism.; ; ; Gerrard Winstanley and William Everard (Digger), Will ...
. He worked as an agricultural contractor for the farm. He had one young daughter.


IRA Volunteer

Declan Arthurs joined the East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional IRA in 1982 in the wake of Martin Hurson's death on the
1981 Irish Hunger Strike The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976 when the British government withdrew Special Categ ...
. Hurson was also from Galbally like Arthurs, and Arthurs and his friends looked up to Hurson. At the time he joined so did other young men from the same area, like Tony Gormley, Eugene Kelly, Seamus Donnelly and
Martin McCaughey Gerard Patrick Martin McCaughey (24 February 1967 – 9 October 1990) was a Sinn Féin councillor and volunteer in the East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) from Aughnagar, Galbally, County Tyrone, Northern Irel ...
. Over a year and a half year period in the mid-1980s the East Tyrone Brigade attacked and bombed RUC barracks and stations in Ballygawley,
Tynan Tynan ()PlaceNamesNI - Tynan
is a village, townland (of 375 acres) an ...
, The Birches,
Coalisland Coalisland () is a small town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, with a population of 5,682 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. Four miles from Lough Neagh, it was formerly a centre for coal mining. History Origins In the late 1 ...
,
Dungannon Dungannon (, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 16,282 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2021 Census. The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Counci ...
,
Carrickmore Carrickmore () is a small town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated in the historic barony of Omagh East, the civil parish of Termonmaguirk and the Roman Catholic Parish of Termonmaguirc between Cookstown, Dungannon and O ...
and
Castlederg Castlederg (earlier Caslanadergy, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Derg and is near the border with County Donegal, Ireland. It stands in the townlands of Castlesessagh and Churchtown, in the historic baro ...
. They also bombed hotels and other businesses in
Kildress Kildress () is a village and civil parish on the outskirts of Cookstown in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland ...
,
Ballyronan Ballyronan () is a village and townland in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on the north western shore of Lough Neagh. The village is from Magherafelt and from Cookstown. It is situated within Mid-Ulster District. History The village w ...
, Dungannon and
Cookstown Cookstown (, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the fourth-largest town in the county and had a population of 12,546 in the 2021 census. It, along with Magherafelt and Dungannon, is one of the main towns in the Mid-Ulster ...
Arthurs took part in two of the Provisional IRA's biggest attacks of the 1980s. The
attack on Ballygawley barracks On 7 December 1985 the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) attacked the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) base at Ballygawley, County Tyrone. Two RUC officers were shot dead and the base was raked with gunfire before being destroyed by a bomb ...
in December 1985 killed 4 UDR officers, and the
attack on RUC Birches barracks On 11 August 1986, the Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade, East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) attacked the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) base at The Birches, County Armagh, The Birches near Portadown, County ...
in August 1986 killed 3 civilians. Arthurs was a key member of the team who drove a digger past a security fence, stopped it outside the barracks, lit a fuse, ran to safety and wrecked the barracks with a 200lb bomb in the JCB Digger.


Death

Arthurs was killed along with seven other Provisional IRA Volunteers who were ambushed by the SAS during the
Loughgall Ambush The Loughgall ambush took place on 8 May 1987 in the village of Loughgall, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. An eight-man unit of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) launched an attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) base in the vi ...
. Before the SAS fired he lit the 40-second fuse on the bomb and it destroyed most of the station, injuring a British soldier inside. The Loughgall ambush was planned to be a carbon copy attack of the bombing of The Birches barracks and the IRA expected no resistance. One of the photos of the aftermath of the ambush shows that Arthurs died with the Zippo lighter he used to light the fuse still in his hand. Amelia Arthurs, Declan's mother, said of the ambush in an interview with journalist
Peter Taylor Peter Taylor may refer to: Arts * Peter Taylor (writer) (1917–1994), American author, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction * Peter Taylor (film editor) (1922–1997), English film editor, winner of an Academy Award for Film Editing Politic ...
, "He was mowed down. He could have been taken prisoner. They knew that the "boys" were coming and they lay in wait. The SAS never gave them a chance. Declan died for his country and I'm very proud of him. He was caught up in a war and he died." Despite these claims, the killings were ruled lawful. In December 2011, Northern Ireland's
Historical Enquiries Team The Historical Enquiries Team was a unit of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) set up in September 2005 to investigate the 3,269 unsolved murders committed during the Troubles, specifically between 1968 and 1998. It was wound up in S ...
found that the Provisional IRA team fired first, and that they could not have been safely arrested. Thus, they concluded that the British Army was justified in opening fire. Declan Arthurs is buried in St John's Cemetery, Galbally beside IRA Volunteer Seamus Donnelly who also died in the Loughgall ambush.Tirghra I nDil Chuimhne - Ireland's Patriot Dead pp.286


See also

*
East Tyrone Brigade The East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), also known as the Tyrone/Monaghan Brigade was one of the most active Irish republican, republican paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland during "the Troubles". It is belie ...
* Patrick Joseph Kelly *
Jim Lynagh James Lynagh (; 13 April 1956 – 8 May 1987) was a member of the East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), from Monaghan Town in the Republic of Ireland, who was killed by British special forces whilst attacking an ...
*
Tommy McKearney Tommy McKearney (born 1952) is a former Irish volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army who took part in the 1980 hunger strike. Background McKearney was born in Lurgan in the north-east of County Armagh, but he was raised in The Mo ...
*
Pádraig McKearney Pádraig Oliver McKearney (18 December 1954 – 8 May 1987) was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) paramilitary. He was killed during a British Army ambush at Loughgall, County Armagh in May 1987, aged 32. He had 15 years of service as ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arthurs, Declan 1965 births 1987 deaths Deaths by firearm in Northern Ireland Irish republicans People from County Tyrone People killed by security forces during The Troubles (Northern Ireland) Provisional Irish Republican Army members