Sam McAughtry (24 March 1921 – 28 March 2014) was an Irish / British writer, broadcaster and

raconteur A humorist is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking. A raconteur is one who tells anecdotes in a skillful and amusing way. Henri Bergson writes that a humorist's work grows from viewing the morals of society. ...

Biography

Early life

Samuel Jamison McAughtry was born at 130 Cosgrave Street,

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 ...

, Ireland, on 24 March 1921, approximately six weeks before the country's partition. He was the son of Marriot McAughtry, a fireman, and Elizabeth Condit. He was brought up in the

loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

Tiger's Bay The Shore Road is a major arterial route and area of housing and commerce that runs through north Belfast and Newtownabbey in Northern Ireland. It forms part of the A2 road, a traffic route which links Belfast to the County Antrim coast. Histo ...

area of

and was educated at St Barnabas'.

Formative years

He left school at 14 and during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he served in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. On leaving the armed forces, in 1946 he applied to join the

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 ...

, sitting his entrance exam at the

Union Theological College Union Theological College is the theological college for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and is situated in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Council for Training in Ministry. It has been responsible for training people for m ...

, Belfast, he used as the topic for his essay town life versus country life alluding to rural life in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

from where he'd recently returned and with particular emphasis on how young women were involved in the making of

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

by crushing grapes with their bare feet. Having successfully passed the entrance exam his ambition was to become a plain clothes detective, however during his interview with a senior officer it was pointed out to him that his initial posting would be to a rural area, where among his main duties he was to expect to have to help the local farmers fill in their agricultural census in order to record the makeup of their farm. Unimpressed with the prospect he decided not to join the police. He undertook a career as a

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

, ironically carrying out the correlation of agricultural census papers from rural areas, before becoming a full-time writer.

Later life

Describing himself as a '' hybrid unionist'' McAughtry was a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

representative and a member of the

Northern Ireland Labour Party The Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) was a political party in Northern Ireland which operated from 1924 until 1987. Origins The roots of the NILP can be traced back to the formation of the Belfast Labour Party in 1892. Previously, in 1885 ...

. Using this political platform he stood unsuccessfully for elections as a non-sectarian socialist. McAughtry was a founding member of the Peace Train Organisation, which protested against the bombing of the Dublin–Belfast railway line and in which he undertook the role of chairman. He made many contributions to radio and television programmes, giving his memories of life in Belfast as well as political analysis during the troubles. He was also a regular columnist in ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

''. In 1996, McAughtry was elected a member of the

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann ( ; ; "Senate of Ireland") is the senate of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (defined as the house of representatives). It is commonly called the Seanad or ...

, on the

Industrial and Commercial Panel Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominat ...

, succeeding the late Seán Fallon. Others from

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. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

such as Gordon Wilson,

Maurice Hayes Maurice Hayes (8 July 1927 – 23 December 2017) was an Irish public servant and, late in life, an independent member of both the 21st and 22nd Seanad. Hayes was nominated by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, in 1997 and re-nominated in 2002. He ...

, John Robb,

Sam Kyle Samuel Kyle (7 November 1884 – 12 May 1962) was an Irish trade unionist and politician. He was born into a Protestant family at 57 Riga Street in Belfast on 7 November 1884, he was the son of Samuel Kyle, a draper, and Jane Wilson. Kyle join ...

Seamus Mallon Seamus Frederick Mallon ( ; 17 August 1936 – 24 January 2020) was an Irish politician who served as deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2001 and Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 1979 to ...

and

Bríd Rodgers Bríd Rodgers (; born 20 February 1935) is an Irish nationalist former politician. She was born and raised in Gweedore in the west of County Donegal, Ireland. Although born and brought up in a ''Gaeltacht'' area within the Republic of Ireland ...

were

nominated by the Taoiseach A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group or election to an office, in which case a ...

. He was introduced on 28 February 1996, welcomed as a rare northern

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 ...

representative, and made his first contribution in response in which he stated:

Death

McAughtry died on 28 March 2014. He was survived by his three daughters, and by his wife, Phyllis.

Works

*''The Sinking of The Kenbane Head'' (1977), an autobiography *''Play It Again Sam'' (1978) *''Blind Spot'' (1979) *''Sam McAughtry's Belfast'' (1981), a collection of sketches *''McAughtry's War'' (1985), autobiography and autobiographical fiction *''Hillman Street High Roller'' (1994), autobiography and autobiographical fiction *''Down in the Free State'' (1987), a travel book *''Belfast Stories'' (1993) *''Touch and Go'' (1993), a novel *''On the outside looking in, A Memoir'' (2003) * "A Wistful Eye on Titanic" (2012) A review of the 2012 novel 'A Wistful Eye - The Tragedy of a Titanic Shipwright' written by his cousin DJ Kelly (Denise Beddows).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McAughtry, Sam 1921 births 2014 deaths Members of the 20th Seanad Independent members of Seanad Éireann Writers from Belfast Male writers from Northern Ireland Trade unionists from Belfast Industrial and Commercial Panel senators