October 1975 Northern Ireland attacks

Series of attacks carried out by the UVF in 1975

October 1975 Northern Ireland attacks

Part of the Troubles
Location| Belfast, Crumlin, Killyleagh and Coleraine, Northern Ireland
Date| 2 October 1975

Attack type

| Time bombs, guns and grenades
Deaths| 12: 8 civilians and 4 UVF volunteers killed by their own bomb
Injured| 45
Perpetrators| Ulster Volunteer Force

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The Troubles
in Ireland

1960s and 1970s

* Battle of the Bogside/1969 riots
* RTÉ bombing
* Operation Banner
* Battle of St Matthew's
* Falls Curfew
* Crossmaglen bombing
* Scottish soldiers' killings
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* Battle at Springmartin
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* Bloody Friday
* Operation Motorman
* Claudy bombing
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* Sanaghanroe attack
* Benny's Bar bombing
* Annie's Bar massacre
* Belturbet bombing
* Dublin bombings
* New Lodge Six shooting
* Coleraine bombings
* Rose & Crown Bar bombing
* Clogher barracks attack
* Dublin & Monaghan bombings
* Mountainview Tavern attack
* Bleary Darts Club shooting
* Strand Bar bombing
* Forkhill beer keg bomb
* Miami Showband killings
* Bayardo Bar attack
* Tullyvallen massacre
* October 1975 attacks
* Drummuckavall ambush
* Dublin Airport bombing
* Dundalk & Silverbridge attacks
* Central Bar bombing
* Reavey and O'Dowd killings
* Kingsmill massacre
* Castleblayney bombing
* Hillcrest Bar bombing
* Flagstaff Hill incident
* Charlemont pub attacks
* Store Bar shooting
* Chlorane Bar attack
* Ramble Inn attack
* Stag Inn attack
* Andersonstown incident
* Garryhinch ambush
* 1976 Balmoral bombing
* Jonesborough Gazelle shootdown
* La Mon restaurant bombing
* Warrenpoint ambush
* Dungannon land mine attack

* * *

1980s

* Dunmurry train bombing
* Lough Foyle attacks
* Altnaveigh landmine attack
* Glasdrumman ambush
* Divis Flats bombing
* Droppin Well bombing
* Ballygawley land mine attack
* Darkley killings
* Kesh ambush
* Strabane ambush
* Newry mortar attack
* Ballygawley barracks attack
* Birches barracks attack
* Clontibret invasion
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* Remembrance Day bombing
* Milltown Cemetery attack
* Corporals killings
* Avenue Bar shooting
* Lisburn van bombing
* Aughanduff Lynx shootdown
* Ballygawley bus bombing
* Drumnakilly ambush
* Jonesborough ambush
* Derryard checkpoint attack

* * *

1990s

* Derrygorry Gazelle shootdown
* Downpatrick landmine attack
* Operation Conservation
* Armagh City roadside bombing
* Fort Victoria
* Proxy bombings
* Lough Neagh ambush
* Silverbridge Lynx shootdown
* Mullacreevie ambush
* Cappagh killings
* Craigavon mobile shop killings
* Glenanne barracks bombing
* Coagh ambush
* Musgrave Park Hospital bombing
* Craigavon Hyster killings
* Teebane bombing
* Sinn Féin Headquarters shooting
* Sean Graham bookmakers' shooting
* Clonoe ambush
* Cloghoge checkpoint attack
* Coalisland riots
* South Armagh sniper campaign
* Forensic Lab bombing
* James Murray's bookmakers attack
* Castlerock killings
* Cullaville occupation
* Battle of Newry Road
* Shankill Road bombing
* Greysteel massacre
* Fivemiletown ambush
* Crossmaglen Lynx shootdown
* 1994 Shankill Road killings
* Loughinisland massacre
* Killeeshil ambush
* Drumcree conflict
* Thiepval barracks bombing
* Coalisland attack
* 1997 riots
* Quinn brothers' killings
* Banbridge bombing
* Omagh bombing

* * *

See also: The Troubles in Britain & Europe, Assassinations during the Troubles, and Loyalist feud

On 2 October 1975, the loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) carried out a wave of shootings and bombings across Northern Ireland. Six of the attacks left 12 people dead (mostly civilians) and around 45 people injured.[1] There was also an attack in a small village in County Down called Killyleagh. There were five attacks in and around Belfast which left people dead. A bomb which exploded in Coleraine left four UVF members dead. There were also several other smaller bombs planted around Northern Ireland (16 in total) but other than causing damage they did not kill or injure anyone.[2]

## Background

[edit]

There was a rise in sectarian killings during the Provisional IRA truce with the British Army, which began in February 1975 and officially lasted until February 1976. Loyalists, fearing they were about to be forsaken by the British government and forced into a united Ireland,[3] increased their attacks on Irish Catholics/Irish nationalists. Loyalists killed 120 Catholics in 1975, the vast majority civilians.[4] They hoped to force the IRA to retaliate and thus end the truce.[4] Some IRA units concentrated on tackling the loyalists. The fall-off of regular operations had caused unruliness within the IRA and some members, with or without permission from higher up, engaged in tit-for-tat killings.

## The attacks

[edit]

In the first attack of the day on Casey's Bottling Plant in Belfast; four employees were shot and killed in the attack, sisters Frances Donnelly (age 35), Marie McGrattan (47) and Gerard Grogan (18) all died that day, with a fourth, Thomas Osborne (18), dying of his wounds three weeks later.[5] The UVF group, which was alleged to have been led by Shankill Butchers leader Lenny Murphy, had entered the premises by pretending to have an order to be filled before launching the attack. Murphy personally shot all except Donnelly who was killed by his accomplice William Green. The two sisters were forced to kneel on the ground and were shot in the back of the head.

In the next attack Thomas Murphy (29), a Catholic photographer from Belfast, was killed in a booby-trap bomb and gun attack, when two UVF gunmen entered his premises on Carlisle Circus (close to both the loyalist Shankill Road and republican New Lodge areas of Belfast) and shot him in the chest, before planting a duffel bag bomb in his shop.[6][7] The resulting explosion injured several people including a female passer-by who lost her leg.[8]

Next the UVF carried out a gun and bomb attack on McKenna's Bar near Crumlin in County Antrim which killed a Catholic civilian John Stewart (35) and injured scores of people.[6]

In Killyleagh, County Down, a no-warning bomb exploded outside a Catholic-owned bar, The Anchor Inn. Irene Nicholson (37), a Protestant woman, was killed as she was passing by while the attack was being carried out. Three UVF members were later arrested for this attack in Bangor and one of them claimed the attack was "a small one to scare them".[9]

Next Ronald Winters (26), a Protestant civilian, was shot dead by the UVF in his parents' house on London Road, Belfast.[6]

Later at night four UVF members were killed in Coleraine when the bomb they were transporting exploded prematurely.[6]

## Aftermath

[edit]

The next day on 3 October the UVF was once again made a proscribed terrorist organisation. Northern Ireland Secretary Merlyn Rees had unbanned the UVF in May 1974 (the same day the ban on Sinn Féin was lifted, a move never extended to the IRA).[10]

Despite this the UVF were still able to kill Catholic civilians at will for the rest of 1975 and for most of 1976 also.[11][12]

## External links

[edit]

* "SYND 2 10 75 BOMBS IN THE CITY OF BELFAST – YouTube". youtube.com. Retrieved 3 March 2017.

## Sources

[edit]

* CAIN project

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Anne Cadwallader – Lethal Allies: British Collusion in Ireland pp.14
2. ^ "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulster.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
3. ^ Taylor, Peter (1999). Loyalists. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. p.142
4. ^ a b Taylor, Peter. Brits: The War Against the IRA. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2001. p.182
5. ^ Anne Cadwallader – Lethal Allies: British Collusion in Ireland pp.127
6. ^ a b c d "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulster.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
7. ^ "October diary". Fortnight. 114: 9–12\. 7 November 1975.9-12&rft.date=1975-11-07&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:October+1975+Northern+Ireland+attacks" class="Z3988">
8. ^ McKittrick, David (1999). Lost Lives: The Stories of the Men, Women, and Children who Died as a Result of the Northern Ireland Troubles. Mainstream. pp. 581. ISBN 978-1-84018-227-9.
9. ^ Wasted Years, Wasted Lives, Volume 1: The British Army in Northern Ireland, by Ken Wharton
10. ^ "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1975". cain.ulster.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
11. ^ "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulster.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
12. ^ "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulster.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 May 2019.

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The Troubles

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United Kingdom

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Ulster loyalist paramilitaries

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Major events

* 1967–1972
* Northern Ireland civil rights movement
* 1969
* NI riots
* 1970
* Falls Curfew
* 1971
* Operation Demetrius
* Ballymurphy massacre
* McGurk's Bar bombing
* Balmoral showroom bombing
* 1972
* Bloody Sunday
* Abercorn Restaurant bombing
* Donegall Street bombing
* Beginning of direct rule
* Bloody Friday
* Operation Motorman
* Old Bailey bombing
* Sunningdale Agreement
* 1974
* M62 coach bombing
* Ulster Workers' Council strike
* Dublin & Monaghan bombings
* Guildford pub bombings
* Birmingham pub bombings
* 1975
* Miami Showband killings
* Bayardo Bar attack
* Tullyvallen massacre
* Balcombe Street siege
* 1976
* Reavey and O'Dowd killings
* Kingsmill massacre
* 1978
* La Mon restaurant bombing
* Jonesborough Gazelle downing
* 1979
* Warrenpoint ambush
* 1981
* Republican hunger strike
* 1982
* Droppin Well bombing
* 1983
* Maze Prison escape
* 1984
* Brighton hotel bombing
* 1985
* Newry mortar attack
* Anglo-Irish Agreement
* 1987
* Loughgall ambush
* Remembrance Day bombing
* 1988
* Start of peace process
* Operation Flavius
* Milltown Cemetery attack
* Corporals killings
* IRA attacks in the Netherlands
* Aughanduff Lynx shootdown
* Ballygawley bus bombing
* 1989
* Deal barracks bombing
* Attack on Derryard checkpoint
* 1990–1997
* South Armagh sniper campaign
* 1990
* Augher Lynx shootdown
* Proxy bombings
* 1991
* Downing Street mortar attack
* Cappagh killings
* 1992
* Teebane bombing
* Sinn Féin Headquarters shooting
* Sean Graham bookmakers' shooting
* 1993
* Warrington bombings
* Bishopsgate bombing
* Shankill Road bombing
* Greysteel massacre
* Downing Street Declaration
* 1994
* Crossmaglen Lynx downing
* Loughinisland massacre
* Ceasefires of the Provisional IRA, UVF, UDA and RHC
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* Docklands bombing
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* 1997
* NI riots
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* Good Friday Agreement
* Omagh bombing

Political parties

Irish republican parties

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Ulster loyalist parties

* Ulster Unionist Party
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Other parties

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* Segregation (peace lines)
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Category

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Ulster Volunteer Force

During the Troubles

Chiefs of Staff|

* Gusty Spence (1966)
* Samuel McClelland (1966–1973)
* Jim Hanna (1973–1974)
* Ken Gibson (1974)
* Unnamed Chief of Staff (1974–1975)
* Tommy West (1975–1976)
* John "Bunter" Graham (1976-date)

Belfast Brigade members|

* Robert Bates
* John Bingham
* Frankie Curry
* David Ervine
* Billy Giles
* Mark Haddock
* Billy Hutchinson
* Trevor King
* Bobby McKee
* Jackie Mahood
* William "Frenchie" Marchant
* Billy Mitchell
* William Moore
* John Murphy
* Lenny Murphy
* Clifford Peeples
* Brian Robinson
* George Seawright
* Robert "Squeak" Seymour
* William Smith
* Billy Spence
* Harry "Harmless" Stockman
* James "Tonto" Watt

Mid-Ulster Brigade members|

* Harris Boyle
* Mark "Swinger" Fulton
* William James Fulton
* Billy Hanna
* Robin Jackson
* Richard Jameson
* Robin King
* Billy McCaughey
* Robert McConnell
* David Alexander Mulholland
* Lindsay Robb
* Wesley Somerville
* John Weir
* Billy Wright

Red Hand Commando members|

* Frankie Curry
* Billy Elliot
* John McKeague
* Winston Churchill Rea
* Wiliam Smith
* Michael Stone

Units and groups|

* Glenanne gang
* Shankill Butchers
* Protestant Action Force
* Young Citizen Volunteers

Actions|

* RTÉ Studio bombing (1969)
* Battle of St Matthew's (1970)
* McGurk's Bar bombing (1971)
* Battle at Springmartin (1972)
* Imperial Hotel bombing (1972)
* Belturbet bombing (1972)
* 1972 and 1973 Dublin bombings
* Rose & Crown Bar bombing (1974)
* Dublin and Monaghan bombings (1974)
* 1975 Conway's Bar attack (1975)
* Bleary Darts Club shooting (1975)
* Strand Bar bombing (1975)
* Miami Showband killings (1975)
* Donnelly's Bar and Kay's Tavern attacks (1975)
* October 1975 Northern Ireland attacks
* Reavey and O'Dowd killings (1976)
* Hillcrest Bar bombing (1976)
* Charlemont pub attacks (1976)
* Chlorane Bar attack (1976)
* Ramble Inn attack (1976)
* Glasgow pub bombings (1979)
* Avenue Bar shooting (1988)
* 1991 Cappagh killings (1991)
* 1991 Drumbeg killings
* 1991 Craigavon killings
* Loughinisland massacre (1994)
* 1994 Dublin-Belfast train bombing (1994)
* Quinn brothers' killings (1998)
* Murders of Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine (2000)

Prominent victims|

* Jim Hanna (1974)
* John Francis Green (1975)
* Billy Hanna (1975)
* The Miami Showband (1975)
* Maire Drumm (1976)
* Larry Marley (1987)
* Martin Doherty (1994)
* Jackie Coulter (2000)
* Tommy English (2000)

Related articles|

* Combined Loyalist Military Command
* Loyalist feud
* Loyalist Volunteer Force
* Progressive Unionist Party
* Tara
* Ulster Army Council
* Ulster Constitution Defence Committee
* Ulster loyalism
* Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee
* Ulster Volunteers
* Ulster Workers' Council strike
* Volunteer (Ulster loyalist)
* Volunteer Political Party

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