Robert David Eric Gallagher

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, (24 August 1913 – 30 December 1999) was President of the

Methodist Church in Ireland The Methodist Church in Ireland () is a Wesleyan Methodist church that operates across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on an all-Ireland basis. It is the fourth-largest Christian denomination in Northern Ireland. The Irish Met ...

during 1967. Gallagher was born on 24 August 1913 in

Ballybay Ballybay () is a town and civil parish in County Monaghan, Ireland. The town is centred on the crossroads of the R183 and R162 roads. Geography The town is the meeting point for roads going to Monaghan, Castleblayney, Carrickmacross and ...

, Count Monaghan, to Robert Gallagher from County Fermanagh, and his wife Helen (née McIlroy) from

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 ...

. Robert was a methodist minister who later served as president of the Methodist conference from 1946–7. His ministry required frequent moves to new congregations, and the family relocated seven times before Eric was 20. He graduated from

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

in 1936, with a BA in

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and

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. Two years later he graduated from Edgehill Theological College in

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 ...

, and in 1941 he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

. The rest of his career was spent in various ministries and chaplaincies in Belfast. Late in 1971, in a meeting arranged by West

priest

Des Wilson Des Wilson (born 5 March 1941) is a New Zealand-born British campaigner, political activist, businessman, sports administrator, author and poker player. He was one of the founders of the British homelessness charity Shelter and was for a while ...

, Gallagher had discussion in

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

with

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 ...

leaders Seán Mac Stíofáin, Rory O'Brady and Joe Cahill. The republicans wanted him to convey to the British Government (through

Opposition leader The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx (11 March 1916 – 23 May 1995) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1964 to 1970 and again from 197 ...

) the offer of a two-week truce, during which British forces (on the streets since August 1969) would be withdrawn to barracks. The message was conveyed, but nothing transpired until the following June when, as a prelude to secret talks with the government PIRA began "bi-lateral truce" on the 26th. The ceasefire ended on 9 July 1972. In 1974 he was one of a group of

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

clergymen who met with

officers in Feakle, County Clare in the 1970s to try to broker a lasting cessation of the conflict.The meeting was broken up by the Gardaí but the IRA officers, including David O'Connell and Seamus Twomey, had already left. He spent 22 years as superintendent of the Belfast Central Mission, from 1957 until 1979. He died on 30 December 1999, aged 86, and was interred at the Lisburn New Cemetery at Blaris, County Down.''Irish News'' obituary

Legacy

At Gallagher's funeral in January 2000,

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

Cahal Daly, with whom Gallagher had jointly chaired a social issues group behind the ''Violence in Ireland'' report to the churches stated: ''"Not many people have been clear and steady beacons of light in the darkness of the last 30 years. Eric Gallagher was one ... was a privilege to work with him ... he took risks for peace."''

Other

Gallagher was the subject of ''Peacemaker'', written by Dennis Cooke.

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

: Methodist Publishing House, 2005. .

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

web site, accessed 17:55 GMT Monday 19 May 2014

References

External links

BibliographyWorld Methodist Council website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallagher, Eric 1913 births 1999 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of Edgehill Theological College Christian clergy from Belfast Place of death missing Presidents of the Methodist Church in Ireland Christian clergy from County Monaghan People from Ballybay Alumni of Trinity College Dublin