By late August 1969 Belfast had settled down to an uneasy calm, with several areas now patrolled by vigilantes and defence committees. The barricades thrown up during August were soon adorned with all manner of slogans: ‘This is Free Belfast’, ‘The Falls will never fall’, ‘SS-RUC’ and ‘B-Men child killers beware’ among them. But while … Read more
Augustus (Gusty) Spence, a shipyard worker and former regular soldier in the Royal Ulster Rifles as well as an active Orangeman, has recalled accepting a lift early in 1965 to a farm near Pomeroy, Co. Tyrone. Once there, he and three others were led into a building lit by hurricane lamps. In the presence of … Read more
Towards the end of 1968 Northern Ireland seemed to have pulled back from the brink. In response to pressure from the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) and from the Labour government in Westminster, and in spite of opposition from within his own cabinet, Prime Minister Terence O’Neill announced a reform package. Buoyed up by … Read more
In introducing this special issue Brian Hanley touches on some of the complexities and contradictions of that fateful year. The events in the North in 1969 transformed Ireland; it could be argued that the violence of that August continues to shape this country to the present day. Yet in comparison to ’68, commemorated last year … Read more
Sir, —Niall Meehan has two errors in his letter on James Craig (HI 16.3,May/June 2008). He says that in my own letter in the previous edition Iquoted the historian Jonathan Bardon as saying that Craig was no bigot.In fact, I did not even mention Bardon. I did, however, refer toPatrick Buckland’s remarks in his biography … Read more