McKEAGUE, John Dunlop (1930–82), loyalist activist, was born at Messines Cottage, Bushmills, Co. Antrim, one of six children of Thomas McKeague and his wife, Isabella. The family operated a guesthouse in Portrush before moving to Belfast, where they opened a stationer’s shop on the Albertbridge Road; it was inherited by McKeague and in the late … Read more
It is arguable that the eventual decision to send in the troops while leaving the Stormont regime intact was the greatest mistake of British policy during the Troubles. It is clear that this decision was not taken casually or lightly, yet the fact remains that the government’s strategy allowed it to garner the worst of … Read more
Contrary to a widespread impression, the British political élite actually had a reasonable degree of acquaintance with Northern Ireland, and Ireland as a whole, before the Troubles broke out. (Denis Healey’s grandfather, born in Enniskillen, was a Fenian, and his father retained a strong enough sense of Irishness to heckle ‘What about Ireland, Major Healey?’ … Read more
Residential and territorial segregation have been accepted realities for many Catholic and Protestant working-class communities in Belfast since the seventeenth century. It wasn’t until the summer of 1935, however, that the first physical barrier was built to provide social distancing and separation. The British Army, in response to increased sectarian rioting, constructed a temporary barrier … Read more
The magnitude of the events in Belfast during that fateful month can be gauged by the testimony of 2nd Lt Adams to the Scarman Tribunal, describing the scene he witnessed on entering Bombay Street for the first time on the night of 15/16 August: ‘I was horrified. I had never seen houses burning like that … Read more