( The greater part of the text on this page has now been incorporated into an article commemorating the date of Bobby Sand’s death – 5 May 1981 ) 1 March 1981 On 1 March 1981, the 26 year old IRA prisoner Bobby Sands began his hunger strike demanding that he and other IRA detainees…
12 February 1981 On 12 February 1981, David Wyatt of MI6 warned the Northern Ireland permanent secretary that ‘UDA/UFF (loyalist) gunmen, with the full blessing of Tyrie (head of the Ulster Defence Association), are going to continue murdering identified Republicans.’ His statement was yet further confirmation of the already overwhelming evidence the government possessed that…
31 January 1973 On 31 January 1973, the Daily Telegraph quoted Ulster Defence Association leader Tommy Herron admitting that ‘it is futile for us to try to stop them,’ referring to murders by Protestant loyalists. He explained that this was because ‘the renewed bombing onslaught by the Republican rebels is a provocation to them (and) they (Protestant…
30 January 1972 On 30 January 1972, fourteen Catholics were shot dead by soldiers of the First Battalion of the Parachute Regiment in the Bogside district of Derry in what was the biggest massacre of civilians by British troops within the United Kingdom for over two hundred years. Some of those killed, were shot while…
LORD KITCHENER DECEIVES SOUTH AFRICAN BOERS WITH EMPTY PROMISES [ 20 December 1900 ] On this day in 1900, Lord Kitchener issued a propaganda proclamation in which he promised that South African Boer insurgents who surrendered voluntarily would be allowed to live in government camps along with their families ‘until such time as the guerilla…
BRITISH OFFICER ORDERS REPRISAL EXECUTIONS IN ARAB VILLAGE [ 20 October 1938 ] Captain Orde windgate is remembered for his heroic role in leading raiding operations behind the Japanese lines during the Second World War. A few years earlier, on 20 October 1938, Windgate is said to have ordered the extra-judicial execution of ten men…
CABINET BACKS WAR WITH CHINA AFTER OPIUM TRADERS ARE HELD HOSTAGE [ 1 October 1839 ] Today in 1839, the Cabinet decided on a war with China after the Emperor’s Special Commissioner at Canton, Lin Zexu, enforced an imperial decree banning the trade in opium and took several traders and British officials hostage until the…
HUNGER STRIKER DENIED A BED, BEDDING AND EVEN HIS BOOTS, DIES FROM FORCED FEEDING [ 25 September 1917 ] Irish republican Thomas Ashe. who had taken part in Ireland’s 2016 Easter rebellion against British rule, died on Tuesday 25 September 1917, just five days into a hunger strike at Mountjoy prison, due to a complication…
SHOOT THE PRISONERS AND THE WOUNDED ! [ 2 September 1892 ] Today in 1892, the army of the Mahdi, a Sudanese religious leader, was massacred by a British force, under General Kitchener, at the so called battle of Omdurman. About sixteen thousand Dervishes were killed for the loss of just 48 of Kitchener’s men….
RUC INCITE LOYALISTS TO ATTACK DERRY’S CATHOLIC RESIDENTS [ 12 August 1969 ] On 12 August 1969, one third of Northern Ireland’s police force, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), was deployed on the edge of Derry’s Catholic Bogside, to enforce a loyalist march, numbering some 20,000, through through the city. The Bogside was an area…
